OUR LABOUR LAWS

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 227, 18 June 1908, Page 9

OUR LABOUR LAWS

S.PSECH BY DR. FINDLAY. REl?.y TO ADVERSE CRITICISM. : ■ LEGISLATION. ■ V. ■ ~rj , ' u ' ' • . . : i\ ■ js "ti... . ■■ ■ - vi an important speech on labour ' ' matteiji was delivered by tho Hon. Dr. -Find- ' la-y .(Aitoriiey-Genoral) boforo tho Liberal and Godber's Booms, in , ' whicji;ihoi address, was delivered, was crowd- ' . ed/ hithviihstanding. the ..unfavourable weather; 't'Mr. G. Windor ocoupiod the chair. ' Amonj^thoso'present were Mrs.'Findlay, Sir Wiljiajn Stewart,, tho Hon. C. M. Luke, and - llri'vgirborj. Si.P. Dr. Findlay.,had an enthusiaitici.Teception, and during, tho address he. was frequently applauded. He received an hearing during tho wllolo of his two-hour speech. , "He j began with a reference to the newspaper' criticism of his Wanganui speech, and remained. that "the' temper of this criti- , cisni^though. 1 often , adverse—has on tho whole beeji ;fair and unembittered by party - feelinj/' liideed, : several of the most iiiflueiital. journals haveshoTrn by their tono ;-; thalf'nisdukt'rial peace,'''like national-safety, " Bhqvll'jbe'(.'lifted above the gamo of politics •"/ ; 'i-o|c(rp..tse play and partisanship of party .. higher; level of discussion iri yhich all seetiona.l differences are sunk in . ari- ! iiriited 'effort to devise ' and obtain the faii-'tijnl fjf an'improved' imdiißtrial arbitratiot.'systom'." '~ . • '? 'not a' fighting speech.

"Tam not hero to-night," ho went on, "to delivEg l a fighting political speech. I am not goinj.to attack or defend any party. I am here to contribute .such serious thought and ' info-matiohi' as -I possess to a better understanding.'of the "most difficult, the most vital, . i ■ anj'the most urgent question of the day—the "dafour question—and before I proceed let mo ' .'.eamostlVimpress this .upon you as intelligent .'Him and;women. No solution of any problem ■ • cai bo- hoped-for. until the.facts aro dispas-■fciciatoly-ascertained and considered, and un- : ritilHv'ays. and means can be seen. Facts aro 'oT«ii "disthsteful —they frequently shatter olctished illusions,.. they. disappoint our "h<p6s, .they condemn, many of our antago- • nerfts anil bitternesses, and above rill they u?. ; from tho fool's.-paradise of 'irhicb r,3Tpll-meaning fanatics and sentimental day;id;eame'r£;flattering our 1 discontent sometimes .-Tfnal{o:/usn ; tenants. Heated language; .fiery. ■,[iJiiiiurieiations •of ifixisting.evils, will help lis lttle. -We must get ■ down to facts —truly fiagnose complaints and.their causes, dccide . jheir remediesj and then ascertain if ways i nd. moans are availablo. It has been said uha'fc many of. the advertisements of modern patent ihedicines aim Chiefly at persuading jgople'-they have got the disease rather than ;Bily - reliable proof that it is curable— -.yid inany of our. platform sooiol physicians ■ follow the same practice. Heaven ?HknowS''we all recognise tho evils well enough. ■-"j-Whiit' is Wante'd is a "true &tid 'perrnarieiit ? ,"remrfdy; and-that remedy, is'certainly not to •l';be fblfnd by inflaming drafts of revolutionary ''■'•rhetoric." •' ;; - A\GENERAL OUTLINE. '/ Bo divided his address under three.heads, .■ m:—lst, A defence; 2nd, A criticism, and 3rd,_;An amendment of our Industrial Arbitration Act. In his Wangahui speech ho had tried to. establish the following pro- . positions:—'.' l._ That the English wage system was originally non-competitive, and that until the beginning of last century Wages wero determined and regulated either by law, cus--tom, or the Ci'aft and .Merchant Guilds. ■■■ 2. That such regulation gave place under machine industry and tho doctrines of natu- . .Taj liberty- to*a system of' competitive, wages. 3. That this system produced tho so-called "iron law:,of •n'itgcs,''. .a bare subsistence or sweating wage/'and with it produced evils so widespread'-and'revolting as to- set agencies l at work to check-its-operation' and limit this "iron law." Those a£ericies wbre philanthropy, public opinion,, trades unionism, and finally legislation. ', / _4. That this broad movemont beginning with wage regulation is passing through tho stage' of free competition,; and in New Zea-' ■ land at least is setting back to wage regula- . tion again. •. ®. - That the most effective check upon the iron law of wages yet devised was the legist lation which we called our Compulsory In-, dustnal Arbitration,and that it. was this Act which arrested and exterminated tho sweating .proved to .exist, in ..New Zealand : before ..the "Act came into force.

>. IN. REPLY TO CRITIC 3, . ' Much of all this had been admitted by his critics, but'some-of them had said that sweating in this country was not eradicated by the Arbitration Aqt, but by tho Factories Act, -passed . beforo , it or shortly after- it. In,reply,. he appealed, first to'tho Arbitration .'Act itself, which- oprned a' Court to every seven industrial workers to;securo for them at least a living wag©, in thoir calling; second, he appealed,,to the.facts. 'At Yvnnganui he quoted figures-taken from official reports and awards'to provo- the rise in wages since »IS9O paid to certain classes of workers.-. , The question was, wore these marked advances, from a sweating to a lair a SO effected by the Factories Acts. Plainly hot. Tho Factories Act/ 1804,- • and tho earlier Factories Act. of 'Now Zealand containedno Srovision whatevor, for-a' minimum • wage. Lence an employer could, until the awards oi the Arbitration Act camo into forco, pay a factory operative 110 wago at all, or as low a wago as tho operative would agreo to take It was not until 1899 when the Employment of Boys and Girls without Payment' Prevention Act, 1399, was passed—five years, after the .Arbitration Act .became law—that any' miiiilnuni waco was fixed for factory operatives in Now Zealand. Vi'hat was that minimum wago ? Here v/as, the only statutory provision' until ISo2Section 2 or tho Act cf 1899 provides that every boy, or girl under 18' years or age 13 to be paid in no caso less than -Is. per ,week for. girls and ss..perweek for.boys, 11 , re^P®® tlve P f : overtime. Towards the end of 1901 a new Factory Act came into "operation and Section 31 provided that for liovs and girls under 18 tho rate of wago was to bo not less than os. per week, and thcmu'eian annual increase of not less than/ 3s weekly until 20 years of age. But 0/1 the passing of the Arbitration Act, 1304, airy seven, workers in any factnrv could form ii ■union, bring_a dispute as to wages' beforo the Court, . and have at least a living minimum wage, fixed. In scores of. trades and factories; tho minimum wago was fixed by award-; of tho Court, and not by any Factory Act,- . before, indeed, any Factory. Act provisions for minimum wages existed. ! PURPOSE OF THE ACT. But he further contended that the Act was designed in part to prevent sweating, and not to prevent strikes alona. The Act hud ■served and was intended.to serve the (loublo purpose of sweating ami strike prevention purposes 'very-far, indeed, from being identical.' i'iie Act had tor many years prevented str>k<"-s. and-if reasonably used'in the spirit intended by its former framers, would always irevent them. . The Attor'ney-Gchcral then dealt with tho .trice question. He said that there were in ISGG, 290,000 wage-earnoVs of all kinds in hew Zealand, and tho ; average number throughout the-whole carc-cr of the Act would be .over 250,000... TJp to tho present time, 18 strikes' had taken place in Aew Zealand, all really small and short-lived, and only 12 of those had been illegal, since in six tho Act bad had 110 application. 111 these six there was liii union award'or binding agreement In these illegal strikes 740' men all told were engaged, that is, less than 1.3 per Cent, of the riibuyo. averago of total wage-camera in {his country, and if those engaged in'siriko;, legal and illegal, woro included, not one half per cent. of theso 250,000 workers. Tho days oi idleness of workors duo to these ■trikes had been very few. In some cases tho strikes, had lasted only a day or two. In ,tlio Motherland, from 1891 to 1900, thero wero 7931 labour conflicts in Great Britain, .involving directly 2,732,169 workers. It

was estimated that the total of wage-earners of Groat Britain of all classes was, in iiXJO, 14,640,000,' and, during the decade in question, would bo about 12,700,000. Thus, during this decado, ovor 20 per cent, of the British workers had been at somo .time oi other directly involved ill a. labour -eonflijt. The' total number of days British, workmrn were idle in these ten years, - owing to strikes (i.e., multiplying tlio > days idle by tho number of men idle),'was 100,191,528, making an average idleness of about 3D days per man. Most of us in connection vrhli tho work of our Arbitration. Court' fell hito a very common error—that of .measuring iho importanco of incidents as woll as of individuals by tho extent of their fioisy obtusion upon liotico—treating them'as typical (which they are not) rather than as freaks (which they are). It was a samplo of this error which had seomcd to induce some peoplo, even editors (if ona nny includo them without.• profanity), to treat tho Act as a disabled and useless maclurin, 'because of a fow short-lived strikes. But let peoplo follow the career of tho Court-, and the Act since their inception, and they would admit that tho Court had done ar.d was doing splendid work; discharging one of. tho.. most .difficult tasks with fairness, ability, and patience. THE COST OF LIVING.

It was very important to dccide whether the operation of ' the Act was merely to increase the nominal wage, leaving'the real -wago stationary. If this was truly its operation, lie would admit that tho Act as it stood was of ho value to tho workers as an instrument for getting for them a better real wago. His proposition was that the Act had not caused an increase of tho cost of' living of the workers, that is, of tho wage-earning class, which-it was passed to protect or deal with. It iftight—and probably did—affect tho cost of living or the wealthier sections of the community. As ho had said at Wangßnui, quoting a report from the Registrar-General, in 12 years since the Act passed tho cost of tho workers' living, based upon the chief articles of diet, had increased 18.6, while tho general iticreaso in wagos effected by the Act during the same period was 17.9. If rent or clothing had been included tho- increaso in the cost of living would have been greater. Probably tho increase has "not been less through new Zealand than 20 per cent-. How much of this increase was duo ■to tho Act? A reliable answer can bo obtained only by examining th'o items of exponditurd which make up a worker's cost of living, and. ascertaining how much, if any, the Arbitration Act ha? affected tho prices of theso items. Lot us tako a worker on 50s. per Wcok, Hero ho quoted a statement regarding the weekly cost of living, computed from actual expenditure for a family of father and mother, with three children, whose ages woro 3, 5, and 7 vears respectively, living in a four-roomed houso in Christchurch.'. It was: —Groceries, including kerosene, buttor and egra, Bs. 4d.; bread, 2s. Od.; meat, 65.; floli, Is.; coal and firewood, 2s. Sd.; milk, 2s. -3d.; vegetables and fruit, 4s. 6d.; newspaper, 6d.; rent, lis.; Lodge and other society, 25.; clothes and boots, 10s.; total, £2 9s. 9d. Ho went on to contend that tho cost of wheat, oats, milk, potatoes, and meat depended on seasons and trade conditions, and that .farm labour had 'not • groatly varied hi >cost. Moreover, thcro had to bo considered tho food export pricos. Theso prices had plainly not been affected by our cost of production—by the wages we wore paying, but by tho competition and by supply and demand in the world's markets. .The foreign markets for our foodstuffs practically control, on tho average, the local prices. '

RENT. . With ' regard to' rent, tho increase was mainly due to increaso in unimproved value of city lands. Tho Attorney-General repeated his contention, made''in .his "ffang'anui .speech, that, the increased .cost 'of building did not account for tho riso in rent, and declared. that tho inorense in. rent of.-a'worker's "cottars duo';, to "increases in wages paid , toall tliose . in building.' iysfs' not',?p<srwoek.;With-i regard ..to clothing, lib' quoted 'figures, Blip-, plied by local clothing firms, to show that tho cost„of clothing for ,aii average Worker's' family liad increased from. £17 or \£lß in 1894 to £21 or £22 in 1908. His coiyslus-j ion, therefore', was that whilo the wprKors'; cost of. living had increased probably'. 20, por ccnt. since tho-Act camo into force, this increaso had been : only. in very small, part duo to thfl operations of the Arbitration Act. Tho workors .benefited by the Act wero but a class, and tho burden '.of. their increased wages did not return in: the shapo of prices upon. themselves alone, but- was. distributed over tho whole l body, of the consumers, of whom -they might be .but a small section. Of tho 80 trades in which Wages ■ had • risen the great majority wore not engaged in any'way in supplying any. of tho articles upon which a workorV wage was • almost . .invariably ' spent, i THE DEAD LEVEL WAGE. ' Passing on to the criticisrfls of tho Act, the Attorno.v-Goneral summarised his remarks at Wanganui oil this point and incidentally talked of tho "dead level wage." "I neod not," he said, "dwell upon the evils of such a tendency. It ba3 tended to deprive superior care, skill, and industry, of the reward and onconragement essential to their exercise, and tho dead level of the wage tends to impress itself upon the energy of the worker. This is tho evil the Prime Minister referred to in his speech at Onojiunga when he declared that what *the Act wanted was some provision, some machinery, by means of which, while preserving to- the. workors all the present benefits of the measure, a proper reward should bo provided as an incentive to superior, care, skill, and industry." ■ CONCILIATION BOARDS. Speaking of ■ tho Conciliation Boards, ho said it would bo idle to deny that they had entirely failed to achievo .'the results Mr. Reeves anticipated. When tho parties gave up trying to settle those t disputes, and worked tne'Act for the Sold purposo of wage and labour regulation, conciliation really had no place,'and the Boards as thoy now stood had become a kind of fifth wheol in tho coach, of which thoy wero intendod to be the 'most important part.' ENFORCEMENT OF FINES.

Another point of criticism was that aa it at presont stands the Act mado rio satisfactory provision for tho enforcement of fines. It was trub that tho Court of Appeal had decided that by a procoss of attachment strikers may bo imprisoned for-non-payment of fines imposed on them, but this roniedy was not provided by tho Act, and sprang from.an old principle of our law. Even this method'was exceedingly clumsy and circuitous, but ho was opposed to imprisonment for taking part iu a strike. In the abscnco of imprisonment, and as the Act stands, it contained 110 effective inothod of enforcing fines, as exporionco had already shown, and some amendment in tho direction of an offectivo method was required. Again, tho provision in the Act with regard to what was called "victimising" (although so far it had not permitted any miscarriago of justice) seemed to require some amendment. This the Primo Minister lias already foreshadowed. Lastly, tho Act had in practice, and owing to 110 fault of the Court, been unable to secure that expedition of its operation, which, in heated differences botween employers and employees, -w?is so desirable. TO SECURE INCREASED WAGES.

Eefore ho proceeded to outline amendments he would remind _ them by. a few facts and figures of tho limits which, circumscribed the sphcri) within which Industrial Arbitration, however perfect, could benefit tho workers by increased wages.. No Arbitration Act could create a Fortunate' purse out of which the rewards of labour can be indefinitely innrunscd. No arbitrative Act can increase tho stock of wealth out of which increased wages could bo paid. If, then, it could bo shown thai our present national income was such as made impossible any marked improvement in the remuneration of the vnge-earnors, wo must first seek somo menus of increasing our production J)oforo we set ourselves to increase our distribution of wealth. This increased production could be clfoctcd only by an increased efficiency on tho part both of the entrepreneur and the employee. Horc Dr.

Findlay introduced a roturn, prepared by tho Registrar-General, showing tho means available in Now Zealand to improvo tho workers' lots, and tho limits to this improvement. Average Annual Earnings. Males.

Total' aggregate earnings:—Males, £21,539,900; females, £2,671.200: total, £24,211,100. Suppose, he proceeded,, a benevolent Court decreed that all wage-earners should have a shilling a day -more—not a very magnificent increase—it would require an annual sum of no less than £4,528,243; and if tho Court were in a still more kindly humonr and gave the wage-earners 2s. a day moro, it would require only £9,056,486 per annum! THE STANDARDS OF WAGES. , It may bo said that these wcro idle calculations, since tho. great , body of the wageearners are receiving a wago which justifies no increase,. Unfortunately, No I Of the 290,272' wage-earners in New Zealandj including the highest paid managers and officials outside the Civil Servico, only 1835 receive in salary over £300 a year, while in the Civil Service (including for tho purpose school teachers), 643 get moro than this £6 per week. " I have had other returns prepared," said tho speaker,, "showing what wage the vast majority of our workers receive, not on an averago, but individually; and without swamping my address just now with figures, lam in'a position to say that it is lower, I am sure, than what most reasonable ana sympathetic investigators would like to see. But sympathy and well-wishing are of little use if mot by stern facts, which show that to increase tho wage-earners' income by Is. a day involves a payment of over Vl* million sterling every year. This illustrates tho ant-to-be-forgotten fact that to confer any widespread benefit upon tho workers' requires a substantial increase of our national income ?J Last year we had'raised tho wages of tho polico force 6d. a day, and this, cost this young country £8170 per anuum. 'profits.

Perhaps it was supposed tho profits made by tho employers ot our industrial classes were such as should yield substantial in- . creases in wages. Tho Commissioner for laxes had given' him the following figures :— . -total number of incomo taxpayers, 10,420; amount of not income assessed for tax before deducting exemptions, £10,105,573; number and salary earners who pay tax, .243 d; number of civil servants and teachers who pay tax, 648; numbor in privato employ (including: those employed by local autliori-i •ties, 1835; numbor of taxpayers who aro traders, manufacturers, or'carrying on any and firms, 4827 (income,- £4,052,553), non-resident traders, 174 companies, 884 (income, &3,094,900). ' ■ Salaried officers who were incomo taxpavers Wero:—Civil' servants, 492; teaches, 156; j others, 183 a; firms and persons, 4827; nonresident traders, .174;. companies', 884; professional and lins'pccified, 2052—total, 10 i'>o The net incomo assessed for tax beforo deducting, exemptions was:—Traders, manufacand business men, £7,775,579: others ■ £2,329;994—{0ta1, £10,105,573. ' ' Me found that of all the shopkeepers, wadors, manufacturers, .factorv owners, or other business men or firms, 'only 4527 in Ncw.Zealand (and absentees) mado"over £300 a' year. "We also: find, that" onlv SS-l com-' panies mado any profits at all, oxcludiii", of .Course, land compahios aiid incomes on mortgages. Now,. thoT.profits earned by this: for--tunate 5885 in pxcess of the exemntion, whero allowed, were £7,775,579. pbr aniium. ■ But let no ono fancy that these profits were, from -a national point, of view, a filial balance of profits over all losses iir industrial enter- 1 prises. To consider-how tho whole general body or workers could he bettor* naid out of profits, wo must investigate the profits of all the .'industrial enterprises in which the general body of-wage-earners'are employed. Industrial enterprises einoloying labour wero pl-oducing no profits at air, though, of course, not so year in and year. out. The Commissioner of Taxes, on the 'fullest consideration, thought this loss on the year's balance-sheet amounted to a • total equivalent to 25 per cent, of the £7,775,579 assessed as profits by the Income Tax Commissioner, viz.. to . nearly £2,000,000 a year. So beforo an estimate was made on tho net amount of profits M all businesses, and availablo as a fund to increaso wages, ono must deduct those great annual losses—arid so reduced wo would nrobably find that tho wholo sum, if seize'd as available for distribution among tho workers employed iii. _ business in increased wages, would not yield a' rise of very much por day. AN IMPORTANT. CONSIDERATION. _ But .there, was still another important consideration regarding those profits, and it was this: If a man bogan business, and ' put £10,000 into it, which was lying invested at ■ interest on cilt-edged securities, and yielding him, without any earo or effort at all, £400 a year, he would expect to get out of his business, with all- its risks, fluctuations and anxieties, sufficient incomo to provido interest proper on.his invested capital and a reasonable amount of profit propor in.addition. Now, what capital, upon which no interest was deducted tor income tax purwas invested 'to produce this £7,775,579 ? Ho had not tho definite amount, ■but such figures as he had would help. Ho could givo the capital so invested by private persons and firms, who represent nearly fourfifths of all tho businesses upon,whoso profits ■incomo tax was paid. RETURN O? PUBLIC COMPANIES. Ho read the following return of public companies (not including British, foreign, or land companies) showing tho paid-up capital in each district. It was as follows:—

Private companies doing business in New Zealand Number, 394;- nominal capital, £3,807,937. But oven if the proportions wero the samo the paid-up capital of. private companies would probably amount to £2,327,083! That gavo a total capital invested of £24,'176,593 by companies to earn in Now Zealand. From all those figures and others in the Commissioner's possession, the latter was of opinion that at least £40,000,000 sterling was invested to produce the £7,776,579 in respect of which invested capital no de< ductions aro made in income tax returns. This sum at o por cent, is £2,000,000 a year. Hence a reduction for losses ho had .'mentioned, and for interest on this invested capital, would redtico those assessed profits to somo £3,700,000, which would givo all persons, firms, and companies, great and small, an average annual profit over the exemption (where allowed) of about £G3O. . TO THE WORKER. He had ;;onn into theso figures to givti the workors somo idea' of what ainount of profits fairly and properly so called could, under any circumstances; be made available for distribution as increased wages. Hence if they took the profits of every trading, manufacturing, and commercial business in New Zealand, which was making over £300 'a year, Unci all the profits of the company, aescssod, and deduct from the whole oaccess

tlio .groat periodic- annual losses of those establishments in any given year, and further deducted that portion of this excess which was really interest on capital, and not profits at all, they would find that tho filial balance of profits so produced, would, if distributed as increased wages among all tlioso wage-'earnors, leave tho latter but a very small increase indeed. Then again it had to bo remembered that any attempt to lay violent hands upon tlioso profits for such a purposo would, of course, put an end to all business enterprise, and thus destroy tho very source. TO RAISE THE WAGES LEVEL. "I have not adduced these figures," said Dr. Findlay, "to show that tho general level, of tho wages of labour cannot bo raised. I think it can." Ho desired to. demonstrate that unless moro wealth was produced both by increased effort and co-operation 011 tlio part of both employers! and employed there was not much prospect of any marked riso The average business ability of this country in the general level of tlio workers' wages, was high, and also the avorago industrial efficiency of tho workers. The ono great desideratum now ill Now Zealand was some inducement, satisfactory to both the great agents—employer and worker—to establish and maintain that genuine co-operation which would produce tho best results. Ho believed that dosidoratum could bo at loast largely supplied by an improved Arbitration Act. Tlio Arbitration Act had 3ervcd and must serve, two purposes which woro _ distinct. It now discharged tho function of a standard wage regulator—a kind of State Wages Board to which, and not to their eniployors, the workers in practice appealed to fix a fair wage. This ap j peal was not mado to prevent a strike, for there was rafoly a genuine dispute, and the fiinctiou of tho tribunal had become that of , saying what the Stato. (as represented by the Court, or, at any rate, by tho president) thought'tho standard wagd should be. Tho second function which tho Act was asked to dischargo was strike prevention by pains and penalties. What direction or guido does our present Act contain as to what'should he tho .standard wage in tho different callings? Absolutely none. Tho Court itself had not propounded any basis. What basis then for fixing wanes had tho Court mainly employed? Plainly not a competitive standard, for that would fix itself, without tho intervention- of the Court by tho market rate, and tho competitive standard' was one which the Court was especially established to chcck. Equally plainly it could not be a profit-shar-ing standard. Profit-sharing as, a method of industrial remuneration had been found illusory and unsatisfactory. No standard that could bo devised was at all" a nerfoct ono. It was a choice of the least inadequate. A V/ACE REGULATOR. "In my belief," ho said, "if our compulsory ' arbitration system is now to continue to ho a wago regulator, the best standard that can bo devised for its guidance is, I think, a double or rather a primary .and a■■■ supplementary standard. The primary standard should be 'tlio needs of tho workor,' and when I suggest this standard I do not mean what tho worker thinks to bo his needs, or what tha employer thinks to be those needs, but i the needs wliich Society, through the Arbitration 'Court, taking an enlightened viow'of the means available of the worker's position and welfare, and of social interests,- deems necessary or proper." This was tlio rationale of' tho labour movement in its struggle for a "living" Or a minimum wage'. A wage based 011 this standard was, not ,a bare subsistence wago, but 0110 which would allow for all tlioso ■ conventional decencios as wero essential to a worker's self-rospcct.

WELLINGTON AWARDS. In fact, so far as- Wellington nwards aro concerned, this basis was constantly urged upon the Court as'tho proper one, and was in fact, if not professedly, tho basis of many 'of tho awards mado hero and elsewhere. lii the absenco of any prescribed standard, it Was thn one the. Court had moro and mors fully n'dopted, either expressly, or inferentially. This standard was not staticrarr, but one which must increase as' the' general standard of comfort roso with increasing wealth and civilisation. Nor was a needs wngo necessarily uniform for air trades and callings. A perfectly adjusted living wage should look beyond 1 -worker. himself to..bis burdens and responsibilities, ami on this basis married workers with wives and young families dependent, on them should rereivo'a needs wane sufficient to maintain .in decency himself, his wife, and young children. CAIN-SK ARIWC. ' It was suggested that, in addition to tho needs wage, thoro should ho a progressive Wago, based on "gain-sharing." This gainsharing, it would l)e observed, was sharing tho gain or saving of tho cost of production, irrespective of tho rate of profit :roalised by tho employer, and was to bo definitely distinguished from* Schemes of profit-sharing ■ undor which tho amount of tho bonus was depondent upon tho'realised .profits (if any) of tho 'businesses—an entirely different thing. This schema has been tried successfully in several great enterprises—tried, lot It be , remembered, in the absence of any State guarantee, of fairnoss, such as could bo secured by the Arbitration Act. Jtt was introduced in 1891 in tho workshops of the Hand Drill Company at Shorbrooko in Canada by Mr. F. A. flalsey. Tho essential features of Mr. Halsey.V plan consisted in fixing ' 011 tho basis of previous oxperience : tho timo required to do a given pioeo of work, and offering tho. workman if ho could get tho job done in less than this standard timo a premium for every hour saved in' * its execution. Mr. Halsey took caro to fix tho standard timo on. tho basis of what an average man and not a quick operative required , for tho performance of tho ■ job. If tho workers had got tho wholo increase duo to their additional exortion, instead of dividing it with tlio company (as undor Mr. Halsey r s system), workers on, say, 50s, aweek needs wage would receive with their exortion wage from C2s. Gd. to 6/3. por week—a very substantial supplement. Ho • also.gave a further illustration of.another form of this exertion warn. Sinco 1891 until now, as far as ho know, thoro had been in force in the engine works of a largo firm (Willans and Itobinson, of Rugby and Thames Ditton) a successful trial of the progressive wago or gain-sharing system. Their practice was as follows:—(1) In respect of all work done in their works a certain sum termed "a reference rate" was fixed. (2) If tho amount earned 011 tho job as ordinary time wages fell boloiv tho reference rate, then tho balanco (i.e., tho difference between tho actual cost in timo wages and tho reference rate) was divided equally between tho employers and tho workman or tho group of workmen ' employed 011 tho job. That'is, the employees received by way of bonus (in addition to their time wages) one-half of the amount by which the referenco rate price exceeds tho sum of these timo wages. Of courso, the workmen received thoir full time, or needs wages in any case, even if thay should amount to' moro than tho reference rate. This scheme mado a basic, principle of keeping tho reference fixed—unchanged. Another point was that tho workmen knew before they started tho work what tho referenco rate was, and what the rate of exertion wage was to be. Tho general result of this scheme was to givo the worker a special interest in his work and increase his wages without impairing tho general oxcellenca of his work. Dr. Findlay then gave an exhaustive account of other systems based 011 similar principles. Ho explained that ho was not seeking to introduce into the operations of tho Act some unnecessary experiment. He held it to be of paramount importance not only to tho workers and employers, but tho wholo community, that tho _ workers should havo some direct pecuniary interest in tho product' of thoir labour.

ARCUMENTS FOR THE NEW SYSTEM. Tlio system suggested could, not injure tho workers. Under it they wero secured tlio 9nme minimum or needs wage as they now :rcceivo under tlio Court's awards, and assuming the standards woro reasonably fixed by agreement between the employers and omployecs or by the Court, tliero was no reason why without, any over-exertion tlio great bulk of Hie workers should not materially inereaso their Wages- The employers could have no reason to complain, for'the system only provided that the workers' additional wage was to bu paid out of tlio adclitinual production of their, labour. He bo-

liovcd that in a groat many industries and trades this system, either of individual camsharing or collective gain-sharing, could bo applied, especially if it received the support and co-operation of the labour Unions, in closing this part of his speech, ho said: 1 desiro it to bo understood that I hnvo dona 110 moro than oxplain views and material which are having tlio closcst attontion of the Government." PREVENTION AND PUNISHMENT. . Or. Findlay went 011 to discuss the change in tho attitude of tho Stato towards strikes. Ho reviewed tho labour legislation of JSligland, Victoria, Canada, ami Nelv Soutli wales, and distinguished between "strikes til at directly causo great damago or privation to tho peoplo and those which do not," but added that tho view is extending that all strikes inflict somo loss upon tho community —that tliej' arc a breaili of c that implied understanding between tho great independent classes that if one class _ will do its part the other classes will do theirs. Strikes wore in this aspcct a desertion of duty. They were, moreover, a breach of industrial pcace, and just as a private assault involved both tho individuals concerned and tho State, so with strikes. They now partook of" both a civil and penal character. HOPES POR THE FUTURE. It should bo the aim of every country to prevent strikes, not by sovero pains and penalties, but by providing, if it be possiblo, such conditions of labour and such a fair prompt and compcteut tribunal as would secure to tho workers all tlioy could ever reasonably hops to attain by- a resort to tho blind force of a strike. This they were trying to provide, but no such provision could achiovo its purpose if it has to encounter invincible prejudice or irrational antagonism. Its best hope lay in enlisting for a fair trial the moderation, intelligence and enlightened selfinterest of tho great body of the workers themselves. The sanity, tho fairiiess, and tho industry of the great body of our workers wero not to be judged by tho silly demands and violent designs of a noisy few. Sinco ono might as well doubt tho genoral sobriety of our whole people because a few aro given to intemperance, they must "not confound noise with numbers,-as they were apt to do, owing to tho widespread publicity the ; Press' gave to the vehemence of every litt-lo knot of discontents. THE LAND QUESTION. .Concluding, Dr. Findlay said that the audience would note that ho had confined himself to workers and tho employers in industrial pursuits. He recognised that a proper corollary to his address would bo to show the bearing of tho land question upon tho wages question.' I3ut this would require separate and even longer treatment, and must be left for a future' occasion. Moreover, the land question was not hound up as was the industrial question with tho Arbitration Court. Henco lie had confined his address to tlio industrial sido' only. , On resuming his scat Dr. Findlay received loud and prolonged applaxiso. A RESOLUTION. Tho following resolution was passed, 011 the motion of Mr. E. Arnold, seconded by Mr. E. G. Hicks:- ' . • " That the mombors of the Wellington District Branch of tho Liberal and . Labour Federation of New Zealand. sincerely thank tho Hon. Dr. J. G. Findlay for his presenco amongst them this evening. They also desire to record their appreciation of his ablo and interesting . address upon the industrial problems, of tho day; and, further, to oppress their, conviction that the present Government, is in every respect competent to framo and pass all such measures "of social 'reform as .arc. at present realisable in Now Zealand. In that conviction tlioy would assure Dr., Findlay of their confidence in him and his fellow-members of tho , Ministry." • The' motion was carried with cheers. Afterwards refreshments wero handed round, and an entertainment programmo was provided, tho contributors being Miss Minilie, Miss Lissicks, and Messrs. Hicks, J. W. Minifie, and Goodie.

Occupations £ Professional ..; 144.8 Domestic ... ... 79.3 ; Commercial 115.9 '■ Transport . ... •. ... 108.0 Industrial 94.1 Agricultural, pastoral, mineral, and other primary producers ... 73.3 Indoiinito ... ... 95.0 Fomalos. £ Professional 67.2 Domestic N ... 37.3 Commercial ... ... 37.9 Transport ... 59.8 Industrial ... ... ... ... 40.1 . Agricultural, pastoral, mineral, and othor plriraafy producers' ... 22.4 Indefinite ... 50.0

' ' Nominal Capital No. Capital. Paid'up. Auckland ... 305 10,609,030 ' 6,402,0(J0 Otapjo ... 271 10,553,419 8,538,970 Wellington ... 242 7,196,146 3,160,897 Christchurch ... 151. 5,146,710 2,867,841 New Plymouth 70 593,325 237,187 Iuvercargill' ... 60 492,572 307,494 .Hawko'a Bav ... 37 856,000 350,473 Nolson 28 420,950 169,022 Poverty Bay ... ' 13 273,850 ' 102,691 Marlborough ... 12 . .64,500 12,954 Westlaad ... Return not yet to hand. Totals ... 1,1® 36,266,502 22,149,510'