THE ARBITRATION ACT.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 91, 4 June 1912, Page 6

THE ARBITRATION ACT.

GOVERNMMT . jifiFMriEt). AUCKLAND, June 2. The t strike at Wajhi received, much attention, at a dinner held at Manurewa last evening to celebrate the improvement, in, the suburban railway services. The gathering was attended by four Ministers, the Leader of the Opposition, and seven other members of Parliament.

Early in the evening the subject of industrial unrest was disoussed by Mr George Elliott, president of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. Mr Elliott said that he did not wish to criticise the Conciliation Act harshly, but it could not be denied that the Act had nut done for New Zealand what its promoters claimed it would d 0.,, New Zealand was not the workers' country that they claimed it would become. He could not understand how one small section of the community with a dispute in one part of the country should be a casus belli in all parts of the country. Any grievance shuld be remedied by a conciliatory method. The only possible conclusion was that a party which used threats and coercion had no faith in its cause, and it was peculiar that such a section of the community could paralyse all industry. That condition was possible only while the majority of the people, the great third party, stood idly by and permitted such a paralysis. Unfortunately such methods would bring in their turn rioting, wantonness and lawlessness, but he believed that the majority of the people were animated by the spirit of obedience to law and order, which was characteristic of the race, and would not submit to the domineering actions of tho small section. That section was led by men who made the open boast that they cared for neither God nor man, Hag nor country; who issued orders as if they were vested with Government powers, and who were trying to destroy the secret ballot audi to lead their followers back to the days of open voting. He could not believe that onefourth of the men who followed these leaders believed in such principles. (Hpar, hear.) "The Arbitration Act is not being carried out by the Government as it ought to be," continued Mr Elliott. "Surely our legislators are not afraid of these street-corner dervishes. Some time ago an amendment of the Act was proposed that would have prevented any official of a Labor Union from holding his position unless he was actually working in the trade. That clause was dropped audi the only reason so far as I can see was that the legislators were afraid of the howls of those would-be leaders."

Mr Myers: Not all of them. Mr Elliott: You were on the otlier side.

Continuing, he suggested that Parliament should consider the wisdom of re-introducing that clause and of wiping out the blot on the Act —the provision that.a union could cancel its registration. (Hear, hear.) If the Act was to be carried out in its entirety, every industrial union should be forced to register under the Act and to abide by its provisions. (Hear, hear.) "The people who are behind every Government," Mr Elliott added, "are the loyal, moderate community who are in-

fluenced by the traditions of the race, by love of their country and by respect of their flag. Unless something is done, and done very quickly, this majority will rise and demand of our legislators laws to govera properly the labor unions of the country." (Loud applause.) Mr G. L. Peacocke, chairman of the

Auckland Railway League, said that all would agree with Mr Elliott in lamenting the grave mistakes which had been made by the leaders of the men on strike. Everyone would absolutely con demn the sentiments of the strike lead ers, who, he believed had misled a majority of the men. He suggested that before long there, must be an international conference to devise some means of settling the world of industrial unrest. A reply was made by Hon G. AW

Russell (Minister for Internal Affair?). "I have not come here for the purpose of making a political speech not to throw the apple of discord into an harmonious meeting," he said. "It is a question of taste whether such a speech, which would be perfectly appreciated from the chair of the Chamber of Commerce on a question of such grave importance, should be made at a gathering of this kind. It is idle for anyone to point to the position of this country

and endeavor to hold the Government, a body of legislators, responsible. To charge inferentially any body of men, whether the Government or its followers, with cowardice because they do not take a certain line is not right. Through the whole world there is a vast unrest which is the result of the effort of the working classes to obtain a greater share of the" good things of this world than they had hitherto had. What we must consider is that we arc only one little section, one rock before the great tide of unrest which is rising, and instead of blaming your legislators and your laws the wiser course is to sit down quietly and wait until things settle down for themselves, and, when we find how these things aJ'e settling, endeavor to adjust our social conditions so that we may be just to the workers at the same time as we are just to ourselves." Mr Russell deprecated the suggestions made by Mr Elliott. "Are, we to thrust .these men by the hundred into prison?"* he asked. "The result would be that barricades would be erected in your streets, wou'd be got outj and there would be civil war. The men in England who opposed compulsory military training knew what they were about. They realised that if you place guns in the hands of uneducated and uncultured men, you are possibly providing them with a weapon which they might use to upset your entire civilisation." Mr Russell said that the course suggested by Mr Elliott that would make striking something in the nature of a crime was against the principles of humanity, for every man had a right to sell his labor at the price he chose. He remarked that he had

no wish to trench upon party politics— at this remark there was loud laughter. The question was too large to be settled by after-dinner speeches. It required the attention of the keenest intellects and the fullest measure of religious brotherly love.