THE ARBITRATION COURT.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12825, 8 June 1907, Page 4

THE ARBITRATION COURT.

TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PRESS." —The Employoi.' Associations nt Auokland and Dunedin. hare entered their protest agamst the action of the Arbitration Court in certain matter., but for ivant.of wisdom J think tho award in the recent quartz -ininor.' dispute on the West Coast ixhiibits- th_ most conspicuous lack of understanding of any which havo come under my notice. In order to understand the position it is necessary to not. that the Arbitration Court early in the year 1000 fixed tho wages of quartz minors at 9s 6d per shift, which was the thon current rato fixed by an earlier award. At the expiration of tho 1900 award which fixed tlie rates of wa-gos fer about thirty different oJosi-S of labour employed in and about gold mines and works, including miners, the parties agree;! to continue working on the same terms as tlie award for a further period of two years. In or about tho year 190_ th© last nientiomxl agreement having expired, tho Arbitiation Court was appealwl to, but declined to make any alteration iv tlio rates of pay. So tliat since tho beginning of the year 1900 tile wages qu_'tion lias been decided twire by the Arbitration Court and once by the parties thorn-fyclv-es, without any alteration being made, Ileoentily the Union -Aaiiucd an all-round increase in tho rates of wages for tho whole of tho thirty or moro classes of mining labour, with two or three unimportant exceptions. As tho employers did not corridor any increase warranted, the diuputo Ultimately came before the- Arbitration Court for decision. Tho Union largely based its demand for iun. all-round increase in wages on the alleged increa.so in the cost of living, which content ion the employers attempted to refute. It was tho manifest duty of tho Court to carefully consider "all the evidence brought beforo it and decide whether or not oir-nvrr-r_a'ncc_ had ariravi wlich would justify, any alteration, hi the rates of iva<;es fixed by earlier nuai _;. Had tho Count granted nn a.'l-round increase of five or ten per cent., ono would reasonably conicludo that tho Union had succeeded in satisfymi tJia Court that tho co-it of livimg had materially increased since the last award waa mado. What c\> we find? Tho Court re-affirmed tflio oM award in many particulars, fixirag tho rates of pay in some twenty or more of tlio different clash's of labour at cxr.o'ly tho old ratcft, but increased miners' wages by six.poneo per shift, tuvxl gavo tho same ben>->fit to two other ckiow. of labour h-i-lgnificrvnt. Heretofore truckers havo raoeired 8_ per shift and miners 9r, Gd. a difference of Is Gd_, and it is to hi remon-ibercd that this difference in rates of pay was fixed by tho Arbitration Court, affirmed subsequently by the parties, and later on re-affirmed by the Court, only now to l>o set aside by the earo. tribunal. As tlie majority of the Court (Mr Brown dissenting) by their recent judgment fixed the difference between the wago? cf tlhc ordinary min?r and trucker nt 2s par shift, what the Court will decide should the same qnestion come beifore it next year it is impossible even to guess, as" tho Arbitration Court seems to havo lost al! respect for its owr_ precedents. Employers of recent years have had much to put up with. Ccnciiliation Boards for iuainv reasons have ceaiwl to command the respect they should,' but hitherto the nublio has believed that in the Arbitration' Court it had, a sta'vlo tribunal, on<? which pronouMDcd judgment only after careful imveistknation and mature deliberation,, and that a judgment once given was a precedent to be followed untij the facts upon which it -was based had ciVm.ojed in some material particular. The Courfc as at present constituted appears to havo thrown procedomts to the winds, and so the past work of the' Arbitration Court* is deprived of its value. Tlio Industrial Conciliation amd Arbitration Act was passed with the avowed object of ending industrial strife, but I fear the recent action, df tho Arbitration Court is more calculated to provoke war than bring peace. If tho president of tho Arbitration Court fails to respect th© decisions of hie oredeccssors, then when a- mew president is appointed we sha3l hare ro-op«n©d numberless disputes which all parties had considered settled. The industries of the oolony cannot prosper unless wo have steblet industrial conditions, nnd those wo cannot have if the Arbitration Court fails to adopt a continuous policy. I might igo on to point out tho precarious nature of cold mining from an. in-vei9tor's point of view, and emphasise the fact that evory increase of wages comes dir<. t out of the employcTs 5 pocket, for gold being the standard of value, has a fixed price, and so any extra cost of production cannot be passed on to the consumer, as it may be in tho caso of coal and other rnininig products. These are very real troubles, but they apply only to one industry, whereas the object df this letter is not to air a local grievance, bnt to point out tho grave *ri*k which tho Arbitration Court runn of losinie the TR-mect of its well-wishers if it fails to adopt a 6talble amd rational policy. Tho mew president of the Court has, by deipartinig from the find inc. of his oredeo .sors. materially ass'ited thr*?* who wish to see the word "failure" written ncrnm the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. The proposal to establish Wages Boards on the Victorian Trotter© may be a stcn in the right direction, bnt most thoughtful people wiM. I think, ac-r*. that tho Arbitration- Cenirt should be ended or its ways amended. —Yours, etc., _ • IXTBRESTFTD. Lower "Riccarton, 4th June, 1907.