INDUSTRIAL LAWS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 92, 12 January 1939, Page 10

INDUSTRIAL LAWS

Advisory Council To Be Set Up

MINISTER’S OBJECT

Conference In Wellington

Next Week

Fits inti" 'ion to arrange tor a conference .ti Wellington next week on the lines of those already held in Invercargill. Dunedin and Christchurch. at .which the Employers' Federation, the Federation of Labour. the chambers of commerce, the Farmers’ Union and the Sheep Owners’ Federation have been represented. with the hope of at riving at a decision to set up an industrial advisorv council on which all the interests will be represented to deal conjointlv with their problems, was announced by the Minister of Labour. Mr. Webb, in an interview last evening.

y lr Webb said that for some lime he* had felt -Hw ueecl lor » reater cooperation between tlie productive a'-eueies of the country. It seemed a wrong policy for tl'<’ different sections of Gw community to be standing •marl, throwing stones at eacli other, instead of getting together and cooperating in facing the problems confronting them. ' Country’s Economic Welfare.

-So I decided to convene conferences in the various cities between representatives of Hie Employers liedeialion, the Federation of Labour, the chambers of commerce, the !■ ai im Union, and the Sheep OWJ*ers b etlet dtion,” Mr. Webb said. In tact, ut J section of industry is mvtted to be represented for tlie purpose ot discussing problems affecting the country's economic welfare. '••During the holidays 1 availed myself of Ibe opportunity of convening meetings in Invercargill, Dunedin, and Christchurch, and contacted the tal - ons organizations m Auckland. nl-ased J- say that the conterenees were exceptionally well attended, an a most hopeful’ spirit prevailed I>. determination seemed to be expiuscd bv both employees and employeeis o nut aside political prejudice and bias .'.ml -et together to consider ways and means of more advantageously vvoikin- existing industries and developing others. During my whole tour .1 did not strike one discordant note ,to Hie programme outlined.” Consulting Industry. The Minister said it was his desire, before introducing legislation the industries, to consult them and ■•ive them an opportunity ot preparing a Bill that would give’expression to their wauls. Ln short, he wanted to eel every element, of knowledge ot the industries expressed in his legislation. •1 adopted that, principle wlieu building up the Coal Alines and Muimg Bills, where representatives of the miners, tlie mine managers, the mining inspectors, and Hie mining companies were invited to send in suggested amendments to the Bills in question the .Minister said. "On receipt of these I prepared Bills which embodied a great number of tlie suggestions made. . “Some of the clauses were not acceptable to the employers, while others did not meet with tlie approval oi the workers. But theyagreed to compromise their differences in order to hand me Bills that would give practical expression to the needs of the nidustries.” w Petroleum Legislation.

In framing the petroleum legislation the Minister stiid, he had adopted similar methods. After outlining the policy of the Government in connexion with the ownership of all oil discovered he had consulted the interested parties and informed them that he was prepared to amend the Bill from A to Z in order to meet their requirements .provided the cardinal principle of ownership was not interfered with. “Oil company representatives from all over the world gave very valuable evidence, as this class of legislation was new to New Zealand, Mi. W . said “The Farmers’. Union also gave evidence, and when the Bill was eventually agreed to there was little discussion in tlie House because it was recognized that this, along will) the mining Bills, w as the result of the co-operative effort’s of all parties affected. I think I can reasonably claim, on the evidence submitted by people from overseas, that our mining, coalmining and petroleum legislation is the flnest of the kind on any Statute Book in the world.” - . Avoiding Friction.

Mr. Webb said that in contemplated legislation governing labour conditions it “was his hope that there could be developed the same spirit of co-operation, and he was confident that if that was done much friction would be avoided and better results obtained. “I am further convinced that, no imitter how big the problems and the difficulties of handling them may appear to be, with the combined intelli■rence of the parties concerned expressed in a sympathetic way those problems will soou be solved,” the Minister said. . '

FARMERS’ UNION TO BE REPRESENTED Christchurch Decision POSSIBLE IMPORTANT WORK FOR COUNCILS Dominion Special Service. CHRISTCHURCH, January 11. Surprise that the provincial executive of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union should have only one seat of the 10 employers’ seats on the proposed Canterbury Council of Industry was expressed by 'several speakers, including Mr. W. W. Mulholland, Dominion president of the union, at today’s meeting of the executive. The meeting elected the provincial president Mr. 1. L. Al. Coop, as its representative on the council. In the discussion the possible work of lhe new councils was the subject of conjecture by several speakers, but there was general support for a motion that the union should be represented and also fora suggestion by Mr Mulholland that tlie cxcriitivr should take care to make it verv clear in tin me.'ltniuiv that farmers were not bound by the council’s decisions. Mr. Mulholland, asked by a member to

give his view on the proposal, said that it seemed to him that at the moment the Minister did not yet know exactly what he wanted. However, lie thought that the union should accept the invitation to send a representative because it was possible that much good work would be done by the new councils. It was or the utmost importance, however, that the union and farmers generally should retain a free hand. The need for this free hand was obvious, continued Mr. Mulholland. Barniers in their negotiations with farm labour had to deal with an organization which had in its ranks very many members whose interests were actually in conflict with those of farm workers. He had a suspicion that the councils were really designed to do much more important work than seemed likclj tr 01 1? a surface view. was posst.de that thev were designed to have a measure of control over industry, and that possibility, too, made it important .hat tarmei’s should retain freedom of action. “We have to look gift moutb these days,” added Air. Mulholland. However, provided it retained its freedom, the union could do no harm bv being represented on tile council. Even if its representation, one member out'of a total of 20 (10 employers ami 10 workers), was small, its influence and that of the primary industries would be stronger than it seemed nuinerically. . , t . Other members agreed with Mr. Mulholland that the invitation to join the roiniril should !•<' il<*< opted. .Hid said tluil. though lhe numet teal repre.-eitta-fioti was 100 small, such other pitmaij industry representatives as the sheepowners’ union might be included.