Untitled

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 223, 13 June 1908, Page 14

The futility'Of attempting to make arbitration effective when awards are displeasing to employees, says an exchange, was> quits' unconsciously forcibly illustrated by the Hon. J. A. Millar in his sneech at Dunedin. He stated: —"The penalties inflicted on employers between 1903 .and 1908 amountea to £3159, aud 93 per cent, of that sum had been paid. The penalties inflicted on workers during the same.. period amounted to £120, of which 75 per, cent, had been paid. The penalties inflicted on the slaughtermen totalled £J. 350, of which 47 per cent, had been paid. The sum of £329 was owing by men whose whereabouts were unknown. These were the men from Australia, who, having brousht about the trouble, cleared away and left our own workers to face the difficulty." It will be seen that while it is comparatively easy to compel the employers it is only in a few instances that the faw can be made effective against the em- , ployce. Mr. Millar, however, while making this statement did not realise its significance, or lie would never propose to free the employeo from the risk of imprisonment which alone causes payment of fines for breaches of award.