The Industrial Outlook.

Press, Volume L, Issue 15163, 30 December 1914, Page 6

The Industrial Outlook.

Tho year 1914 -will go on record in'the history of industry 'in New- Zealand as the year without -strikes. Those good people who hold that nothing standing to the credit of tho Government must bo allowed to pass unchallenged will no doubt find some means of contending that the entire absence of strikes or industrial friction or unrest is somehow proof that Mr Massey has signally failed to redeem his promise to promote industrial peaco. To anticipate their arguments is boih impossible and unnecessary, but no doubt they will urge that for the industrial peace of the last five months we must thank, not the Government, but the Wo should all like to be ablo to agree to thafc argument, at any rato. but nobody can agree to it quite unreservedly -who Temombers the only clear indication we have had of the spirit of tho Reds, namely, the refusal of a section of the West Coast miners to do anything to meet tho extra.demand for coal for warships J and .transports. At any rate, the year ! has been ono of industrial peace; no J account need bo had of tho few poor embers of tho big strike which just succoeded in outlasting December. 1913. In 1913 thero were five, or perhaps six strikes, apart from fivo trifling disturbances which ended as soon as they began. One of the main Btrikos was tho big strike, in which the Federation of Labour succeeded in involving a largo number of unions, and although tho Opposition ]ovo to count the case of every such union as a separate strike, tho public naturally and proj?erly regard tho affair as a single disturbance. Actually-tho striko-rate under tho prej sent Government has boen much lower than under the Ward Government, but nobody claims any special credit for Mr Massey for tho facts in this particular prior to tho passing of tho Industrial Disputes Investigation Act and tho repression of tho Red Fed's.challengo to tho community last year. That Act, and tho firm and courageous manner in which the Government protected tho public, aro the real causes of tho peaco of 1914. The Act has yet to bo tested, but it is now admitted that it is the most notable and statesmanlike measure of industrial regulation which has yet been devised. It was agreed to almost unanimously by tho House of Roprosentativos, and yet, when Mr Massey first brought it beforo Parliament, it was greeted with howls of execration ey tho Opposition and tho Labour Party. Wo havo kept a collection of thoso criticisms, and wo do not believe that any legislative, measure over j introduced into any Parliament in the I world was ever assailed with such extravagant frenzy and bitterness. That after all their amazing violence the ! Opposition should have calmly approved ! the Act is one of the most- significant of comments upon the Opposition method of playing politics. But it was the firmness of the Government during tho strike—its refusal to deviate an inch from the path of duty—its indifference to everything but tho interest of the nation—its determination to resort unflinchingly to every measure necessary to the repression of anarchy and outrage—it iras this that has onabled the community to go about its business ever since, undisturbed by industrial etrife. It was this, and this aloue, that forced tho extreme Labour-Socialists to adopt tho Ward Party as an ally. Everyone knows ihat so long as tho Reform Party .iiea.ains,uj office stria vu»l*n<v»

trill nofc reappear, aHhoush, of course, men who choose to do so may strike in a lawful manner. "What would happen if tho War<l Party ivcro placed in offico by the Federation's "endorsed" members everyono knows as wol! as the Federation's managers. In this connexion tv*o may observe thafc tho Federation's official organ, anticipating an anti-Reform victory, bejian about election time to renew its former talk about the necessity for industrial action.