OUR LABOUR LAWS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 67, 12 December 1907, Page 7

OUR LABOUR LAWS.

MR. SLATER INTERVIEWED. lIS ■ EXPERIENCE ON THE ARBITRATION COURT. ' WAGES AND THE COST OF LIVING. CBY " TELEGEAFH—SPECIAL COERESTONDENT.) •i : Christchurch, December 11. ;.Mr. R. Slater, the workors' representative on the. Arbitration Court Bench, who retires from that position shortly in favour of Mr. M'Cullough, has been interviewed by tho ' ?^. ess " regarding his experiences and opinions. Mr. Slater is the oldest momber of tho Court, having sat on it continuously 6ince it was set up in November, 1895. "I wont on the Court in the first 'instance/' he said, " without any sort of remuneration, and not knowing what the remuneration' would be. In fact, until. I had been on the Court for some considerable time 1; got no remuneration. I got my first ( chcque on Christmas Day, 1896, and it represented one guinea a day to cover everything, including my travelling expenses. For the first four years 1 never got a cent when the Court was sitting in Dunedin, because the allowance was only paid when the member was absent from the town in which' he 'resided. The position was greatly improved by tho payment of extra travelling allowances and so- forth until November, 1906, when I was paid £500 per annum and £1 per day travelling allowance. Prior to that, the payment was on a daily basis, and Hover came anywhero near the amount above- ' montioned. I have never missed a sitting of the Court since it was established. i; :■. THE-FIRST SITTING,' . " The Court's first sitting was in this city ' on July 7, 1896 ; when wo were called upon to hear a dispute m the bootmaking trado. We found, however, that we had no jurisdiction, as.the Conciliation Board, after naving considered only the first clause in tho Union's demands, and boing unable to effect an agreement, referred tho dispute to the Cour.t. Consequently, the remainder of the demands were not before the Court, and nothing could I>e:doue'in the matter. In September of tho samo year the Court visited the West .Coast, and-heard and decided the coal-miners' dispute: at Denniston, the Westport Coal Company boing the other parties. This was the first case that was properly before the Court. The work has grown considerably. Up to 1899 all the awards made by tho, Court are contained in ono small volume. To cfato seven volumes, each succeeding one being larger, in bulk than its predecessor, have been issued. Tho eighth, which will be issued shortly,' and which will contain the awards made this year, will bo tho largest yet issued. During the period from 1901 to tho' present tliCiCourt lias on an average sat eight months ouvof, tho twelve every year." .- ..''EFFECT. ON THE WORKERS. : Asked as to the effect of the Court's work on the workers of New Zealand, Mr. Slator referred.-to the increase in wages in numerous industries',-though he did not think they had increased-in the same ratio as the cost of living. ; "It |b often asked," lie Baid, "how much better- is the worker now than ho was twenty years (ago. or before the Arbitration Court was established, and the answer is that the 'working.man,now is better clothed and fed, better. noused, and his children' have more educational advantages, and tho general con- , ditions under which he does his work have been v improved. Factory and other legislation^has helped in these directions, but, apart, from' that, the workers' hours navo beon shortened, and,his conditions have been bettered in every way." A^HE^MPJjQYE^;-" I '''' '• Mr:. Slater' expresseti £he''sp?nitSH f ft the Ibwards , have, not injured l the employers, except perhaps in a' few isolated cases. In many-instances, -hoi saidpth(uincrcasesrh(ive becn .pas3ed on to tho general public, and that may havo something to do with the increased cost of living, but not everything, because it has arisen from causes over which the; Arbitration Court has no contro] whatever. For instanco, tako the dairy industry, with which' tho Court has had very little to do. " The: fact that the export of butter has increased so greatly has been responsible for s(n in price to tho consumer in the Dominion.. In a lessor degreo the same ap- • plies to' tho;meat industry. Tho exportation of - meat to Great Britain has certainly increased tho cost of moat in Now Zealand, and has not improved the quality supplied to tho Dominion consumer. In many instances where wages have been increased the increase has (been passed on with a very heavy percentage." ' :y: THE RECENT ELECTION. 'As to the recent election of Mr. M'Cullongh, >Mr. Slator asserted his ability to prove'that, ■ had tho occurrence at . the Addin Workshops nover taken placo, Mr. M'Cullough would never have seen the position. ".Mr. M'Cullough was supposed to be the chosen of the Trades and Labour Conference; but what is that worth? In 1895 the Trades and Labour Councils choso mo as their raprosontative by a very largo majority, but despite that fact tho president of that conference was nominated for the position. On tho. second occasion there was no election, and, I, don't remembor whether on tho third occasion the Trades, and Labour Conference selected any candidate, but there were candidates—ono from Auckland, and another from Wellington. I had a good majority over both. /Three years ago tho conference held in this-city decided to support mo, nevertheless tho Dunedin Trades and Labour Council ran-Mr. William Hood in opposition, so that tho conference's recommendation doos not amount to much. Had the issue been j decided only on tho nominations of Unions affiliated to tho Trades Councils I would have had tho majority. I don't think that half tho Unions in tho Dominion are so affiliated. From tho information I had up to the time that Mr.-M'.Cullough left the public service, .wo. wero about equally supported in North Canterbury. As to I think Mr. M'Cullough had a slight majority among tho Uhions'affiliated to the Council, but my support camo chiefly from tho Unions in tho Wellington district that aro not affiliated to the Council. Somo of the Unions that originally promised to support mo must havo gono back on their promises, because I had intimation by letters' and by statements' in itho' public Press that 140 Unions intended .supporting mo. If it be accurate that 125 supported Mr. M'Cullough, it is apparent that my surmise is not far out. •I havo good- reason to believe that if the voto had depended on the majority of Unionists I would have got a largo majority, bccauso some of the Unions with the largest membership supported mo. Amongst these wore all miners' Unions on tho West Coast, tho Waihi miners—-in fact; all the minors' and tho ; tailoresrjcs' Unions, except tho Christchurch ono —and tho.timbor workerß in Auckland and Wellington also voted for mo." "I would not care," "Mr. Slater said, in reply to the reporter's question, " to say anything about gratitude or ingratitude on tho Dart of the Unions, but I believe that tho actual state of affairs, as-shown by tho nominations, has not expressed the minds of , the Unionists of the Dominion."