ARBITRATION BILL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 320, 6 October 1908, Page 5

ARBITRATION BILL.

IMPRISONMENT PROVISIONS. The vigorous stand taken by the Hon. J. Rigg on the question of imprisonment for striking during tho discussion in committee of tlio Legislative Council on tho amending Arbitration Bill was warmly appreciated by members of the Cooks and Waiters' Union, at its monthly meeting held last night. The following resolution on tho matter was carried without dissent:—"That this meeting of the Cooks and Waiters' Union congratulates the Hon. J. Rigg on his firm stand against imprisonment for' striking, and desires to. give him every credit for enlightening the workers of the Dominion on tho fact that strikers can still be summarily imprisoned under Section 9 of tho now Bill." Tho secretary of the union, Mr. Carey, who moved the resolution, said that he and most of the other union secretaries realised that as tho Bill emerged from tho Lower House, , wilful failure to obey an order of the magistrate attaching wages would in the long run spell imprisonment, and the intimation of tho Attorney-General that tho section dealing with the question had been amended by the Labour Bills Committee of the Council, so as to preclude the possibility of imprisonment, would be joyful reading. Nei- • ther he nor any other union official had, to his knowledge, realised the' legal meaning of "summary conviction" in Section 9 of the Bill till Sir. Rigg had so vigorously drawn public attention to it. As apparently tho membors of-the Labour Bills Committee of tho Lower House had, so had he and other secretaries, been deluded into the belief that the striking out of the words "or to imprisonment for three months" by. tha committee altogether abolished imprisonment as a punishment for an offence against the section. They had, however, all been deceived, and had failed to repogniso the true meaning of "summary conviction" as against the fines and penalties of the other sections. Mr. Rigg was to bo congratulated on his study of the effects of the Bill, and on the lone fight he was. putting up to defeat it. The seconder of the motion maintained that under any conditions a worker should retain tho right to refuse to sell his labour, and no Government should attempt to imprison a worker for so doing. If Mr. Rigg was right, then a striker in industries governed by Section 9 of the Bill,. willing to pay his fine of £25, but unable to do so because lie had not tho necessary cash, could be summarily convicted and put to gaol. Such n state of affairs was impossible, and he hoped overy unionist would help Mr. Rigg to defeat tho provision.