The Press. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 1914 Industrial Unrest.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14919, 18 March 1914, Page 8

The Press. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 1914 Industrial Unrest.

The real facts of the present-day industrial situation have rarely been stated so well in such small compass as they* were stated by Mr Cyn*-> Williams in the course of his report to the Lyttelton Harbour Board this week. The absence of any word or phrase to indicate that Mr Williams's sympathies lie on either side makes.his observations specially telling and persuasive. The strike, as he pointed out, failed because the community showed itself capable not only of repressing syndicalist lawlessness but also of carrying on its concerns without the assistance of the strikers. Yet, in spite of this, the militant labour section believes that its failuro was duo only to its insufficient organisation. Its leaders, Mr Williams says, "talk as if a

" little more organisation, and a little "more evidence would give the em- " ployees whatever they wish, as if the " purse of the employer were unlimited, " instead of being limited by the. price " for which he can sell his productions." Tho fundamental causes of labour discontent cannot be removed by any of the fchemes which commend themselves to the labour organisations. But wo need not attempt to better Mr Williams's words on this point.

It would be disingenuous (he cays' to pretend that these causes can ever be removed as Jong as fairly intelligent people are required by an industrial system to perform unintelligent work for a small remuneration. Yet this is the necessary consequence of our eoucstior.it system, combined with our industrial e-ystem. We cannot get rid of our educational system, ncr do we with to, aor can we remunerate the fcir.i-skilli-d workmen at a very much greater rate, and oven if we eon Id. ro rate would ratiefy him while he thought that by any device he cou'd pet mere. The best we can look forward to s jrr-ater moralifation of indiwtry, so tbat th? essentia! hards-hips of economic law may V>e rr.jtijrated by fair dealing ax.d human sympathy.

By the moralisation of industry Mr Williams means, no doubt, what we should mean if wo used the phrase, namely, the growth of a mutual recognition* of the actual expediency oi fair-play and tolerance.

There may have been a time when the employer felt himself tinder no obligation to study any interest whatever save his own, but that that time has long passed away nobody can honestly deny. Tho positions of the two parties to industry are almost reverhod. It is in trade unionism that we now find that indifference to or intolerance of other people's rights which in earlier time might have been found on the other side.- IV)th employers and employees are entitled to further their own interests by any legitimate means, but neither they, nor tho nation of which they aro parts, can benefit from action on the principle that industry is war. The unjust employer and the unjust employee are alike bad citizens, corrupting the State and impairing tho efficiency of the nation. There are so many handicaps upon industry (by industry we mean everyone and everything involved in it) that it is foolish to increase the difficulties. Industry has to face, first, the tact that the capacity and spirit of no man arc equal to tbe capacity and spirit of another— a troublesome foundation upon which to build securely. Then this country is, peculiarly powerless, through its geographical and commercial situation, to turn the laws of economics as much to its advantage as we should like. Neither of these barriers to the goal of happiness and prosperity for everyone can be overcome, and tho wise course, therefore, is to make tho best of things. By recognising tho.se limitations and by recognising that others besides manual workers have rights, organised labour will lose nothing. No nation can do more or loss than its 6ense of justice commands, and nowhere moro confidently than in New Zealand—where every man and woman has an equal voice in tho work of government—can labour rest its case upon the nation's senco of justice.