INDUSTRIAL CRISIS.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17401, 11 March 1922, Page 9

INDUSTRIAL CRISIS.

POSITION IN AUSTRALIA. EMPLOYEES AND EMPLOYEES CONFEB. (moil OUR STECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) SYDNEY, February 28. The round-table,, conference between representatives of the employers and the employees, convened by the Prime Minister (Mr Hughes), which was opened in Sydney this week,, is probably without precedent in Australia, and for that reason it is being looked upon with a good deal of suspicion by labour generally. So much 60, in fact, that many of the invited organisations, including the Trades and .Labour Councils of Melbourne, Brisbane, and Adelaide refused to attend, alleging that the conference was merely part of a huge conspiracy on the part ot the employers to reduce wages. . However, those who attended the conference might be said to' be fnlly representative of both sides. On behalf of the employers there were r®P re " sentatives of the Central Council of Employers, Commonwealth Steamship Owners' Association, Broken Hill Proprietary Company, Mines and Metal Association, Associated Chambers ot Manufacture, Collieries Proprietors Association, and the Graziers' Federal Council. For the employjes there were representatives of -the Trades and Labour Councils of Sydney, Hobart, and Perth, Amalgamated society of Engineers, Coal and Shale Employees Federation, and the Australasian (society of Engineers. At the outset it appeared that there would be trouble because of the employees' objection to the nomination by the employers of Mr Hughes as chanman, but eventually his appointment was agreed to. . , Some interesting facts were given by the Prime Minister in outlining the reasons for the calling of the conference. "There are," he said, two parties to this conference —partners in production they have been described by one section —the employers and the employees. The functions of the former are, broadly, to supply necessary plant and machinery, to. direct the operation of the industries,_ and to carry on their various activities in such a manner as to leave a margin over the cost of production. 'Before a share of the margin can be divided, or before it can be determined whether the share will be greater or smaller than at present, there must of necessity be a margin. At the present time there is in many industries no margin at all. The employeos say, in short, that the. businesses are not run in the most efficient and up-to-date way. Whatever the reason, many men have been discharged, anci tne. indications are that it is proposed to dismiss more. Are we to sit down, until these and other industries are overwhelmed in the morass that threatens them, or are we to meet the situation frankly r ' -Mr Hughes uttered a timely' warning to the extremists: "If we are to deal as practical men with affairs as they are, he said, "we have to recognise it is quite wrong to 6ay to an Unemployed man, 'The remedy for your trouble is revolution —it rests in communism or syndicalism.' Those who say this know very well that before the workman can get into the . paradise offered by revolution and syndicalism there is a long, a bloody road to travel. Meanwhile he will get very hungry.", Dealing with the economic side of the question,. Mr Hughes said that the wages paid in any country were limited "by the wealth 'produced. In 1913-14 the * production was £218,000,000, and in 1919-20 £343,000,000. In 1907 £2 2s waß considered a fair and reasonable wage, but the purchasing power" of the soverei.cn had so depreciated.that what could be bought for £2 2s m 1907 would cost £4 4s in 191?; so that the actual value of production in 1919-20 was £173,000,000. What had happened in this country was that the rate of production was falling off, and it was necessary to produce more wealth; and in order to produce wealth it was not sufficient to and employment, but it was essential that it. should be found under such conditions, that would enable industry to be earned on. The man in the street wanted increased production so that he could get employment. Takihg the year 1913-14 as a standard, Australia produced £45,000,000 less in 1919-20 than we did Mr Hughes intimated that the Government was prepared to create machinery which would enable the establishment of some permanent bodies with authorities, much greater than those of the Whitley Councils. The question of the basis of discussion was also, the cause of some aisfigr6em<snt, but at last tho following basis was settled on. . , The general economic and industrial situation in Australia. . , The position of particular industries. The employers' proposals arising out of the conference. The employees' proposals. During the discussion on the nrst> question, some; startling figures were given by one of the employers repiesentatives. He stated that the qualitative mass production of Australia had fallen off since 1913-14 by more than 20 . per cent., and that, allowing for increased: population, the production per head had fallen off 2S per cent .He added that generally nearly two-thirds of the expenditure on industry went m wages. In Australia, fuel, administration, and depreciation absorbed about 28 Mr. cent, of the total proceeds of industry. If the whole profit of distributions were taken by labour, the result, would bo to yield only a few shillings a week to GJtch, worker.