THE ARBITRATION ACT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 212, 1 June 1908, Page 6

THE ARBITRATION ACT.

( It is impossible to over-state the .gravity of the situation that is created by the Government's decision to refrain fftiHi .prosecuting the Auckland strikers in'aiviiiiiaily., If the Government had tyidenice. that it has staked .tiyk'ijMfflif b% -tbS- desperate hope that it can postpone until after the general electio'rl the' Qiiiy b't either ending o'r trie" Arsit*aiion Act, we Ministers have , been tryit(£ .tii 6'xcel 4 l li p'/iiist rfecb'rdS in' Hie wy\s. wilrf W&go've'fM'enit:. B'etiirMi (lie a,M. fc'onrafii of tfiil' p'iiß; lie 'tiiSid tiiiisi ii'fe it ffe'felifig 01 affiaicment di'ttiit iaiiMiiiS refiiiesiness of -the Ministry, ife Almost incredible ifidiftefSfteW ttf obliS. Stittiib'n;., iii suecissiv'e' . p'a;n---lißfifi§ i& itiSiistflii Although the public's,capacity fb¥.stfrprisi Has. idmSsh aigaffieiifefl; ffi&st p'eSple must Wfivfi fftlfc. c'6fifiderit tti&i iife. Qover'n'meriti ■iWffild fiot fifl&ci- this fafce' 6'f flf6'ik6Ubi(i§ iiiis Tra&ways t/n'l6'ii. ihii is Mat tfc Governfcent. has. defiided fro .14 was tfti'iiiitttl oiit . last year ofi fcehaif .n'f cfife' Gflvferhraent, in connection ftith\ the' slaughtermen's strike, t that it would. absurd to attack strikes by prosecuting Unions,' which could make themfcelveS impeciinio'iis, arid, thus render the prosecutions futile. Yet'this'was tli6 absurd course which the Government followed in connection with the Bfc&kBall s'trilce,- and; as everyone knows, the absurdity' was" made apparent jilst as', had -been predicted. Whit conclusion is the public fo draw from the Government's decision , to' employ, the roundabout machinery which it had learned for itsfclf was the one sure wiy of nbt punishing the strikers ? What conclusion other than that the Govc'riimerit has adopted tliait way. for its futility, rejoicing that a way has been foiltid of doing' nothirig under the appearance of. enfo'reirig. the law? .Will the' public believe that that , is enforcement of the law which carefully extracts beforehand all sting from any p'ossiblc penalty for the infringement of the law? What is the public to think of a Government that thus deliberately ,chooses the. one mode of procedure which is utterly useless,- and which would be the one selbetbd by a Government that actually desired to.encourage strikers? The Government means, in short, to do nothing that is of any use, and it would be very much ' better if it would honestly say so. : . Then we should know where we were. should, fHsraaver, bo aparod tlio oxponso of ft fttf ; cical proeocufcion. Tlioro aro people, alao,

who wince at the conversion of the machinery of' law to uses that degrade justice and disgust common sense. Mr. Tregcar's remark at Auckland, that he had come " to help the law," is a staggering commentary on the state to which law'and order have been reduced by the Government. The Government is merely making more heavy and bitter the price that it will have to pay on the day of reckoning.