THE TRADES COUNCIL'S IRE.

Evening Post, Volume LVII, Issue 23, 28 January 1899, Page 4

THE TRADES COUNCIL'S IRE.

The Wellington Trades Council is apparently growing rather fractious under criticism, and pettishly desires to gag tha» press, so far as the exposure of the uses made of the so-called Conciliation Board is concerned. At the next Trades Conference it proposes to raise the question of asking the Government to have the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act amended so as to prohibit newspapers from commenting on cases under consideration of the Conciliation Boards. Before 'a reform can legitimately be asked for an abuse must be proved, and we can safely challenge the Trades Council to produce instances of reputable journals in this city commenting upon points at issue ir cases still sub judice before the Conciliation Board. The truth of the matter seems to be that the Trades Council objects to the newspapers discussing the tactics pursued by certain professional Unionist officials in forcing cases into the Industrial Courts. In the interests of the ordinary members of Trade Unions as well as of the general public, it is expedient that the fullest publicity should be given to the actions of these " guides, philosophers and friends" of the wage-earning classes, and the mere fact that they wish to avoid the light of day will not tend to allay any suspicions tneix conduct may

have aroused. We should hardly believe it possible that, the Trades Conference, which is a more representative body than the local Trades Council, would support the Wellington malcontents in their groundless crusade against the press. The subjects that have been discussed most in the columns of this and other journals are not the respective merits of the issues between employers and employed in particular cases, but the manner in which the Act of 1894 has been used to foster disputes. This is the cause of offence in the eyes of the Trade Councillors. They apparently wish not only 'to use the Act for their own purposes, but also to do so without inourring public criticism. It would really be better, if the Act is to be further amended, to abolish the Conciliation Boards altogether, and to eliminate the word conciliation from the title, for in the light of recent cases the Act can scarcely be held to be consistent with its promoters' aims.