LABOUR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 247, 11 July 1908, Page 6

LABOUR.

MR. TREGEAR'S ANNUAL REPORT CRAVITY OF THE BIRTH-RATE PROBLEM. ARBITRATION DEFENDED. Mr. Edward Tregear, Secretary for Labour, in his annual report which , was presented'to 1 Parliament yesterday, states that throughout, the Dominion skilled labour generally has-had a successful year. The building trades especially have been in full swing of employment in'the larger cities, whilst in the country towns there was even a shortage of'the necessary hands. The boot trade, which a few years ago seemed destined to die but .almost entirely, has regained its old footing of security, and promises exceedingly well in /the near future. Engineering has not been buoyant, but in most places trade was fairly steady. Cabinetmaking, tailoring, dressmaking, coachbuilding, agricultural implement making, confectionery and jammaking—all these trades have been busy, and some o£ thein have had a record year. Woollen, mills have been running full time, and complain of. shortage of workers. In many occupations this shortage has been reported by- employers, who state that tho expansion of trade and business is'impossible if sbme mean's cannot be found to promote immigration. Sawmilling generally has been brisk, but differs greatly with locality; for example, in Westland tho industry is growing fast/ whilst in tho Forty-mile Bush (Dannevirke) it has almost disappeared, the. bush'man being replaced by the farmer. Flaxmills, owing to the high price of flax, ran.at -full speed for tho first part of the year, but the sudden fall in value of I the staple lias made' only too many of tho mills close down for a time.

.Unskilled labour has very fully and generally found employment. In spite of the large iiumbers of immigrants, tens of thousands of whom have been quietly absorbed i during the' last, five years, milking hands' and farm labourers are scarce, and town labourers have', had 'almost continuous employment. ■ Tli» extensive building operations in the ..first an 3 second class towns, and drainage, works at places ]ike\Timaru and Nelson,-, account for the ease with which surplus labour has been provided with employment,- , • The Department found work for 6305 men during til's year.

' There a '0 11,586 factories with 78,625 employees, £ mowing increases respectively of

edin, in his report draws attention to tho fact that tho average daily attendance at Dunedin schools fell from 41*48 pupils in 1887 to 2882 in 1907. These returns are taken from tho report of the Education Bonrd of Otago, and, in spite ,of the large increase of population, show generally a remarkable abscnce of that class of increase — of those from five years of age to fifteen years—useful for training to industrial and commercial life. Tho figures regarding the boys are very much on the same lines as .thoso of their sisters. Such figures, a,s the result of twenty years' national growth, are absolutely startling to thoso who. have to take prevision for tho welfare of the people generally. The difficulty may not be evaded or shirked. Either' our industries, instead of expanding, must shrink and disappear, or workers to carry on industries must bo found. _ That there are' few and fewer recruits available from among the children of tho Dominion will appear certain as time goes on, and even if there could be a remarkable filling-up of cradles from this moment onwards, it would still take years to close the present vacant spaces in the thin ranks of our children who are now between five and fifteen years of age.'' , INDUSTRIAL ARBITRATION ACT.

"This Act," says Mr. Tregear, "has been subjected to an unusual amount of criticism and discussion' during the past year. In my judgment the principles underlying the Arbitration Act are impregnable, and have been practically unassailed. The attacks on the system of 'compulsory arbitration' are generally confined to l the process of its administration or to the weakness attributed to it in not being ablo to cover the whole industrial ground clown to the minutest detail. The employers, complain that the punishment awarded for a breach of award is unequal, because the employer having property is compelled to pay his fine, whilo the worker being in many cases without property escapes. The worker says that the punishment is "unequal because the employer, in writing a small chcque for a fine, does a thing which cripples him not at all, while tho worker, if ho cannot pay his fine, is threatened with the sale of his furniture or the disgrace to his family through imprisonment. Expectations w'cro too highly raised' at first as' to what the result of the Act would be. It has performed everything which could be expected' from a single, legislative measure. It has raised wages generally to a small extent, but in some' cases very It has shortened hours, given payment for overtinie for holidays and for travelling! granted preference to unionists in a restricted way, and many, other similar, privileges and benefits. It steadied trade and business for many years till it brought prosperity to the employer and reflected prospority to the employee through tho continuity and perman-, once of work. With all this'to'the credit of the 1 Act thero is a certain vague disappointment experienced by many that it' has