TYING UP THE ACT.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14583, 6 February 1913, Page 6

TYING UP THE ACT.

J When tiro deputation from" tho recent I Labour Conference waited on tho i Prime Minister, it made a strong point i of an alleged grievance, under tho Arbitration Act. Also thero was much sound and fury about it at tho Conference, and previously in the official "Red" organ. Tho gentlemen who mado tho protest would not come under the Arbitration Act themselves, but ivante to prevent other people coming under it. They presented a resolution asking that tho law bo so amended that where a union cancelled its registration no new union be registered unless a majority of the members of the uniuii ■which had gone out. expressed, at a •'secret ballot," their desire to so register. We pointed out the ho'.'.ow--110-s.s of thus method of tying up the Act. whoso enemies, and not whose friends, were to have the ~ower of deciding whether it should be used or not; but we also pointed out that the claim that a union registering could exclude members of its trade was quite fallacious. That tho whole grievance was imaginary, there has been a singular proof furnished by the slaughtermen. They cancelled their registration so that they might strikewithout incurring the penalties of tho Act. Now they havo re-registered while still on strike, so as to prevent any other 'union filling the- position they vacated. This way of getting round the Act, of breaking its spirit

while observing its letter, is ingenious, whatever may be thought of its propriety; but it illustrates precisely the point we made in connection with the deputation's request to Mr Massey. that there was no bona fides in it. :»s there was nothing to prevent a union registering if it wanted to do po. and if it let another of its trade register, there was nothing to prevent- its members joining that union, always provided that they joined it to remain under the Act, and not to defy the Act.

To-day's war njcssnsv? show t-V^Nau-tili i.ic-s haw !>»«';! rv-s»im*«<» in earnest. A tremendous cannonade began at Adrianonle immediately the truce was over, tho Bulgarians being assisted by heavy Servian artillery. The Allies expect to capture the town in a fortnight, but the Turkish commander says ho can hold out for two or three months, which seems quite impossible. Important developments are proceeding in the peninsula of Gallipoli, Greek and Bulgarian armies threatening the Dardanelles. If the forts there could b? captured from behind, the Greek Fleet might be able to defeat the Turkish Fleet, and sail up the Sea of Marmora to the help of the Bulgarians at Tchataldcha. In tho meantime, tho Turks are still suffering from internal dissensions, and all the circumstances considered, it is difficult to see how they can drive back the Allies.

When the Arbitration Act was first introduced it was entitled "An Act to encourago the formation of Industrial Unions and associations, and to facilitate tho settlement of industrial disputes by conciliation." In the light of what has lately happened in connection with tho slaughtermen this reads like the bitterest irony. It is now apparently an Act to enable men to striko without incurring any penalty, and to

prevent men who wish to settlo their disputes by arbitration from forming a union for that purpose. | i It is interesting to trace out tho soA'oral. stages in this remarkable development. (1) Tho slaughtermen i form a union and by its means get 1 every concession which the Arbitration Court can be induced to sanction hay- ! ing regard to equity and tho laivs of ! economics. (2) The slaughtermen i thereupon have no further use for tho ' Act and cancel their registration. (3) \ Having thus put. themselves beyond tho ; reach of the law they ceaso ivork, stop- | ping tho wheels of the whole industry I and refuse to submit their dispute to arbitration. (!) Fearing that other ; workers may form a union with a view ito bringing tho disputo within the pacific operation of the Court, tho slaughtermen who went on strike hur- | riedly re-register, so that it tvill bo im- , possible for any other slaughtermen who | wish to come under the Act to form a I union for that purpose. The move is ! a clever one, but we doubt if there ever ' was a more impudent attempt to wrest ! a IaAV from its original purpose, making use.of its provisions so as to effect j tho exact opposito of Avhat its framers intended. Clearly this much botched I Act requires further amendment.- It i is doubtful, however, whether tho tvifc lof man will ever succeed in making it ! into a reaJJy good and effective i measure.

An interesting theory has been put ; forward by Air H. A. Hunt, the Aus- , tralian meteorologist, to tho effect that tho country no longer need fear droughts, so long as it keeps rabbits in check. Tho rabbits and not tho drought aro tho real danger. At first : sight the proposition might, with apti ness, bo described as "not holding j tvater," but it has been endorsed by leading pastoral authorities. In tho ; terrible years of the opening of this , century, Australian pastoralists had j not taken the precautions against drought which they havo since taken. Air Gatenhy then proved that irri- ; gated lucerno would feed seventy-five sheep to tho acre. Sir Samuel Mc- , Caughoy showed how irrigation would i provide food reserves. Tho value of j "bush hay," too, was mado evident. Since then bores have been put down by the hundred, and dams made; so , that the water need is. much better i provided.

Still, though the experts already referred to claim that ivere it not for the rabbits the dry spells need not. be feared, thero havo been—and not so Aery long ago—dry. spells in which parts of tho Western pasturo country became simply shifting sand deserts. Where the rabbit does come in is that it eats down to tho roots of the herbacious and scrub forage, virtually exterminating salt bush and tho like, already weakened by prci'ious overstocking, and eats tho bark from trees that would otherwise provide edible foliage for stock, thus precipitating tho shortage. It is estimated that tho rabbit trouble has cost Australian pastoralists "hundreds of millions" in tho destruction of food plants thus, for apart from what it destroys ten rabbits eat as much as one sheep, and rabbits aro in millions. And, besides, this last, thero is tho enormous cost of wire-netting, ploughing, poisoning, fencing, shutting down of paddocks to permit poisoning, and the rest. There is probably a good deal of truth in tho theory now promulgated, but it is by no means the whole truth.

i Somo of our readers may have won- ' dered why the engineer-in-chief of the ; Panama Canal should consider 25,000 j soldiers necessary to guard the Canal. | Of this phase of Canal maintenance Mr ; Foster Fraser has something interesting j to say in a recent article. According j to him "the real thought" behind tho ; Canal. "is to provide a quick i means to get United States | warships from one seaboard to j the other," and that being so tho de- : fence of the Canal ivill be a vitally im- | portant matter to tho United States. | The American Fleet in time of trouble would be divided between the ; Atlantic and the Pacific, and tho Canal , Avould be the weakest link in the chain. j Heavy fortifications are being planned j and constructed; but Mr Fraser thinks 1 that more will have to be done in this | direction, and that the cost ivill startle Americans. The ten-mile strip of canal territory, from tho Atlantic to the Pacific, is to be depopulated, save of course, for canal workers, the object being to keep tho ground clear of people Avho might be troublesome in timo of Avar. It will be necessary to keep a considerable military force in the zone, l>ecause once hostilities break out it will be difficult to move troops thero quickly. It is held in some quarters that so far from the Canal being a gTeat commercial investment,

the cost of maintaining it as an instrument of war is going to result in a largo annual deficit. 1 '