“NARROW LOYALTIES” IN N.Z.

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25548, 16 July 1948, Page 7

“NARROW LOYALTIES” IN N.Z.

MR MULHOLLAND SPEAKS ON SECTIONAL STRIFE

(P.A.) DUNEDIN, July 15. An absence of discipline, the presence of narrow loyalties, and a spirit of disharmony that was affecting the entire social and economic structure of the Dominion were legacies of sectional organisation, said Mr W. W. Mulholland, past president of New Zealand Federated Farmers, in an address last evening at the annual meeting of the Otago-Southland Manufacturers’ Association. . x “We have arrived at a point where there is real danger in the success of sectional organising in the community,” Mr Mulholland said. He thought that the remedy for disruptive sectional struggles was for employers’ and workers’ organisations to unite to obtain discipline. Each organised section in the country, whether it represented the employer or the employee, was attempting to grasp more for itself. Mr Mulholland deprecated any suggestion that the farmers of New Zealand should strike. If they did, the Watersiders would not need to strike — they would not have any produce to load, and it would take years for the country to return to normal. Mr Mulholland said that all sections in industry could take a step to enforce their demands by wnat was known as “drastic action,” yet sectional organisation, ’if wisely approached, could be of benefit to all. Collective bargaining with the workers had everything to commend it, and he would not relish the return to a system of bargaining with the individual employee.