The Dominion. TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1908. THE STATE' OF THE SESSION,

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 273, 11 August 1908, Page 6

The Dominion. TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1908. THE STATE' OF THE SESSION,

Assuming that it will be the end of August before Parliament settles down after the present interruption of sittings, the question presents itself: what will bo done in the six or seven weeks that will then remain for the transaction of business 1 Of the vast programme outlined in the Speech at the opening of Parliament, practically tho whole still awaits such attention as can be given to it by members who, as time passes, give up their thoughts more and more fully to. the impending struggle-at the polls. Only a proportion of the measures proposed by the Government will be gone on with; a few others may be given a preliminary canter. At this moment it is impossible to say which of the very important Bills in the programme aro to become law. Those which the country requires are very few; nearly all could be jettisoned without loss. A word is due upon the Bill which proposes to render a tardy measure of justice to the school teachers. The teachers will be'well advised to take steps' to prevent the disappearance of their Bill. They will be very foolish if they take its introduction as evidence of the Government's determination to pass it into law this year. We do not desire to discourage or alarm the tcachers, but they should keep sharply on the alert.

Of the important Bills the fate of which is an open question,' tho public is most concerned over tho Arbitration Act Amendment Bill. Tho extraordinary, suggestion was made in a local journal last Saturday that this Bill may with advantage be postponed until next year. The existing Act, we are told, will do very well for a while if it is properly administered. This is a most important reservation, if not a virtual denial of the main affirmation. What measure of reform in administration can be expected from a Government that,' at this moment, is maintaining its policy of inaction 1 Wo shall believe in the Government's good intentions when we see the illegal Denni3ton settlement and the illegal Auckland settlement brought under review by the Arbitiation Court. We shall remain sceptics until the law is unflinchingly applied to the hundreds of law-breakers involved in the. Blackball and Auckland strikes, and the strike of bakers, not to mention the many other minor revolts. As our readers are aware, we are convinced that compulsory arbitration as it exists in the Act, with its permanent coercion of employers and its pretence of coercing employees, is a failure, and should be removed from the Statute Book. If it is to bo retained, however,' it must be retained in an Act that will not depend for its operation upM the political necessities of the Government. It cannot be retained in its present form, which, excellent as it is in theory, is worthless in practice, and will remain worthless so long as tho Government is ready to purchase Labour support by overturning the law and violating tho most sacred right of Society, the right to have its laws enforced.

Tho Government would be glad to shelve llv. whole matter, but the time for evasion has passed. Tho employers, who are the victims of the present intolerable position, will have behind them'the whole body of fair-minded men in demanding that the law shall be revised. 1 At the back of the suggestion that the country should endure another year of exposure to lawlessness is probably a hope that the air will be calmer next year,- and the bad principle may be patched,up for a further term. But will tho maintenance of the status quo —the one-sided Act that trades-unionism can dofy but that the employer must obey, and that is liable to nullification by such Ministerial fiats as the Attorney-General's definition of a strike—will it secure tho desired peace] On the contrary, trades-unionism, already exultant in its conquest of the Government, will be. strengthened in its determination to do as it pleases. The suggestion that the whole question should be quietly dodged is so preposterous that it can only be received as an attempt to help the Government out of difficulties at the cost of common sense and common justice. Amendment or repeal must be accomplished before Parliament prorogues. What is required is a little of the Wade policy. If tho Government shrinks from repeal or amendment, surely it will shrink still further from going to the country as the Government that feared to relieve the country of an intolerable wrong.