THE ARBITRATION COURT.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20088, 18 November 1930, Page 13

THE ARBITRATION COURT.

Sir —Tfa 111 l EDITOR 01 THE PKE3'J'BS item ' ,av< ' been some inierestiss S nev, 's in your recent ' lan <Js j n aS ,S c P° l 't'*-' t - 1 that tho flax mill have the os * on ''ad petitioned to ' RoVer "' n 2 their in°>iglit he -?r ln or der that they %P#rentlv a* e( * * O ,K e t back to work. Market hav r prices in the world s of r, r J ,Cn - anJ at the old - eduction the industry could

not carry on. The owners apparently have been willing to keep the industry going as long as they could clear their overhead. The men want to work ut lower than award rates, but the Act has stood in the May. 2. A timber miller at .Mcthyen was fined the other day for allowing two men to work overtime, and not paying overtime rates. At the same time the two men were fined for working overtime anil not netting paid. 3. Tho owners of tho tin mills have been cited that thev might bo brought under the award. Anyone connected with grain growing knows that the many costs of threshing since the threshing award came into operation raised the costs of grain growing tremendously. To reduce costs many tarmers bought small mills of their own and have on occasion threshed neighbours' grain at a cheap rate also, perhaps getting assistance at harvest time in return. Apparently the idea is to prevent tliis; method of . economy

or of reduction of costs bocominjr Loo general. 4. The Sydney unions have disciplined the * crew of the Niagara l'or allowing the boat to cross from Auckland to Sydney with two firemen short, and have'compelled a large number of men to leave the ship and not take employment, on it again for six months. Apparently there were plenty of men on the boat, and they' were well paid. At a time when our national income is much reduced, and. if we arcto compete in both outside markets and our own home market, a general reduction in production costs is necessary. those things are interesting. Thev point this moral, that the legislative control of wages and of the details of industrial employment can be grossly overdone Take ease number one. " Probably but for the presence of the Court the workers in our flax industry would have l>een financially much better off than they are to-day,

tile .owners would not have had to vbut their mills money for flax products would have, been- coining n'to the country, and the taxpayer would not have been called on to provide relief work to keep tho unemployed men going. Cases two and four Npeni to serve no purpose except the glorification of union officials. Case three appears to be a case of using Ihc A ct to prevent costs of production -ing reduced. There was a time when were considerable exporters <•( - " and seeds. Threshing costs became one considerable factor in making this impossible. The labour secretaries apparently would have such a condition of affairs continue however much s - uc [ a course may limit the use of Inborn in cereal production. The activities of Parliament seem to centre as on a pivot of interest on the Arbitration Court and its effects. There are two policies before the country. One is that of labour to recognise tho Court, its systems,• and its awards as sacred;

to decree that if these awards happen t> limit pn];i!ny!ißMit. then men in placed in private industry must be provided for by the State opening works !•> provide employment. either taxing in borrowing to. enable payment to .ie made. This policy has led the country into engaging in the construction oi many works, the cost of which is bouni. to be excessive, which acknowledgedly will not pay when constructed, •' llu j which the country is not in urgent neei. o.t and cannot alloril. It [in- resulted in an immense increase of taxation at a time when such taxation cannot lie afforded, and which results in lurthei unemployment, and it lias led us into a borrowing policy demanding a call to' twenty million pounds in two years, the burden of which wastef'ully used will mean further taxation and resulting unemployment. With it all the number o! men unemployed is increasing even with the winter season over. ' policy iri fact lias uol beguu to ileal

with the fringe of tlie problem. The other policy is to take measures to .get men back to private cmplov ment. Its advocates believe that there is no real reason why in a young country such as ours efficient men vvlio want work should not find plenty. They believe that one large cause of the unemployment problem is our much vaunted political policy; in other words that wo v 'have i-i'eated 'our own difficulties j to- a very great extent. The remedy . thev believe will commence with the I removal of 'rest fictions which prevent: | master and man managing their own | affairs industrially'. They realise that ! to get industries functioning again a I little time will be needed difficulties overcome, and they realise, too, i tha't' produe.ion costs, taxation, the cost i of administration, the losses on our pubI lie services, "'ill all have to be faced. I They believe it. is quite possible in faeI in" them so to reduce living costs and ! increase employment that the men geu-

erallv will be better off than they are to-day, with so many on short time or out of work. In any case they believe that it is the only practical policy, in that the one we are following can only last so long .as. wo can borrow to pay far it; and our debts are already a very heavy burden. When the large sum the workers are call'-cl 011 to pay in trade levies is considered on the one hand, and the immense call that is-being made on the taxpayer ou the other, really for the purpose of bolstering up the Arbitration Court; and when we take the instances ot' its operation T have quoted, the marvel is that >ve, who pridp ourselves on being a free people, have stood it 80 long. ' The. time has surely come for us to free ourselves ironic the dominion of the Trades Hall, which, when labour tails for bread, thinks .fit to offer an award of the Court.—Yours, etc., J.-E.T. ■November. l<th, 19311,