PRESS OPINIONS.
THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION. The presentation which was made to Mr. Massey on Saturday week may be said to havo. possessed a personal as well as a political significance. It was a token.of esteem from sottlers who havo known Mr. Massey for many years not merely as their member in Parliament but also as their friend and as one of themselves. Chiefly, however, it-re-presented an expression of appreciation of tho services rondered to his constituents and to tho country by Mr. Massey in his capacity as a legislator. ... The unwearied industry which Mr. Massey. has brought to bear upon the performance of his duties has enabled him, however; to cope, with distinct success, with the heavy demands that aro mado upon him. At ho time was tho strain to which tho Leader of the Opposition is subjected more severe than it was in tho long and arduous session of last year, and wo can well beliovo that no idlo compliment is involved in the assertion that had it not been for tho regularity and persistence with which Mr. Massey remained in his placo in tho House and the vigilance, with which lie discharged his duties tho legislation of the session would have been much less satisfactory than it actually was. It-is not easy to determine to what extent tho proposals of tho Government in 1906 for tho complete abolition of tho optional system of land tenure would have boen modified if it had not been for the defence by the Opposition of tho freehold system; but we question whether the settlers throughout the country will feel that - they would : havo been left 1 with much cause for satisfaction if tho freeholders in ,the Ministerial party had been all- that stood between thom and the adoption of a policy which would have represented tho first step towards the abolition of the freehold.: Even now, as Mr. Massey reminds them, a party is.being organised in Now.Zealand which gives'a prominent place on its gramme, to a project for tho nationalisation of the land, with'tho view of reducing all tho cultivators of tho soil to the level of tenantry. In the circumstances ; one of the questions tlie settlers will have to consider at tho general election this year will bo whether, they-are prepared to submit: to such ; a programmo and to return.to Parliament men who. will .weakly refrain from offering to it tho most-strenuous resistance in their power.—"Otago Daily Times." . '■ IMMIGRATION. We cannot see' how the Minister can reconcile his knowledge of' the needs "of the country , in the matter of labour with this determination to stick t-o; a; policy which obviously ib not 1 supplying those needs. l No one in his senses has ever suggested, or dreamed of suggesting, that the Government should "flood tho country with workers frcm outside"; for ourselves ,we havo 110 mere wish to have an unemployed problem hero than has--.Mr. Millar. But there is a wide difference between a Wild-cat policy of-whole-sale immigration and a common-sense scheme for bringing out a sufficient number of workers to enable the development of the country, to proceed steadily and without .check,. and it is/the latter policy which we would have the' Government' adopt. Mr. Millar's contention l that " under the present arrangement peoplo are coming out here from Homo .in numbers. is contradicted, not only by, the. condition of the labour market,; but by- official figures quoted, by the Premier in his recent speech at Auckland. These showed that .the; excess of arrivals over departures last year was only 5730, or very little more than half tho annual average of the previous four years.. The net increaso of population during the yeai - ' was 20,763, or 8000 less than in the previous year, and several thousands below the number for several years back, the growth of; -{Stipulation . being only- 2.28 per cent,-as agajfjst 3.26 in 1906.- These . figures' 1 lire'' by - lio 'fnearis' satisfactory, especially whbtf?it'is' remembered that tbo slackened growth of population, occurred, during a year of general prosperity/and expenditure on public works. But though Sir Joseph Ward admitted'that tho position-was a serious one, he could'suggest nothing'better than a con-' tinuance of tho Government's present immigration policy. The objection raised by tho labour-unioiis to any extension of that policy may not-bo the last word on the subject, but it seenis' to be tho word to which the Ministry is most willing to listen. —Christ-church 1 "Press."
. In particular, we learn on tho authority of tho Chief Inspector, of Factories, that pick-and-shovel men aro simply not. to bo'found for different parts of the North Island whero labourers .of their kind are required. - But this is not an isolated circumstance. In fact, the demand for unskilled labour seems, at the present time, tho samo authority says,-,to be practically insatiable. Of. course it does not follow. from this that employment. will offer, as Tcadily during the -winter months as ; Tiow,' and it would bo a serious mistake to hold out beforo unskilled;' labourers the expectation that-there is ne'rmanent,,w;ork' awaiting -all of their class wno may be induced to come to New Zealand. But in view of < tho_ circumstances that are known to exist, it would certainly, not. be in tho interests of the community that tho Government should take any steps to check the limited stream of immigration which is flowing to this country. For this reason, wo welcome' tho assurance which the Minister for Labour has given, that the' Government intends to continue tho importation of agricultural labourers and domestic servants, and to endeavour to obtain, within a period of two years, 2700: immigrants ,of these classes, including 500 young women. The Otago Trades and Labour, Council, 'in company with some kindred'or-' ganisations, is concerned over the prospect of increasod immigration, since it believes the offcct would bo to "prejudice; the national condition.". Surely, however, such - a view as this bot-rays a singular conception of ecoIf wo were to accept as sound the proposition to which the Trades Council has committed itself, wo should be forced to tho conclusion that tho economists who regard every individual in the State as a national asset are completely in- error,-, and that the prosperity of our laud would be niost successfully promoted if we were to restrict our population: as far as-possible. No view of_ this description will commend itself, how-' over, to thoughtful people, by whom.it will be recognisecl that a country such as ours-is, which/is still in the developmental stago, requires population, and that the more peo-. pie for whom she can find employment under liappy conditions, tho greater will be'her material progress. If so, "then it should' bo apparent that a reasoned policy under .which oncoiiragement 'will be offered to persons, whose services are in distinct request, to settlo in New Zealand, is really in the interests of tho community .--"Otago Daily Times."
PARLIAMENT AND THE ARBITRATION COURT. Til his address to the Canterbury Employers' Association, the president has put very clearly and forcibly the impropriety of Parliament overriding the decisions of the Arbitration Court or interfering - ivith" its functions. The Court was created by Parliament for tho purpose of settling in a judicial manner disputes arising between omployer and employed. It .should bo left to do justice between the parties impartially, without a shadow of interference. It is a monstrous injustice for Parliament,. having constituted a Court for tho avowed purpose of settling disputes on an equitablo basis, to take upon itself afterwards to interfere with -tho action of the Court so as to securo advantages to one sido in tho dispute. As Mr. Hobbs pointed out, to override the decisions of tho Court by Act of Parliament virtually implies that Parliament has no confidence in tho Court. In that caso, however, the Court should be abolished, and something better set up in its place. If employers are to bo subjected to interference on tho part of both .tho Court and 1 Parliament, they will never know in .whatposition they stand. . Mr. Ilobbs said that tho Employers' Association recogniso no political parties and take no interest in party warfare. We fear that that is not exactly tho way to influence Parlia-' mont to listen to their demand for justico. If they want to stop political interference they must bo prepared'to exert political pressure to bring Ministers and members round to their way of thinking.—Christchuich 1-
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Bibliographic details
Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 138, 5 March 1908, Page 9
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1,397PRESS OPINIONS. Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 138, 5 March 1908, Page 9
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