CONCILIATION.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 148, 19 December 1907, Page 3

CONCILIATION.

■o THE RECENT RAILWAY TROUBLE. INTERVIEW WITH MR. W. P. REEVES. ' ' FRIENDLY CRITICISM. ■ (From Our Own Correspondent.) ' LONDON, Btb November. ' When the railway dispute had been settled on conciliation and arbitration lines, I had an interview with the Hon. W. Pember Reeves. ' • ■ • - IHe referred to the enormous number of sectional conciliation boards and the complexity of the system- which had just been adopted. He thought that in full working order there would be something like 166 of these boards,' and at least between 30 and 40 conciliation boards, with appeals from them to arbitrator or arbitrators. . x "If the men's society is the guiding spirit, and the arbitrator is the 'same man," remarked Mr. Reeves, '"and he is a really competent arbitrator who goes on taking the cases that come, I think there will bo- a certain uniformity and continuity of policy, and that some sort of a fair modus vivendi in the way of hours and wages will be thrashed out gradually — very gradually — because you have 30 or 40 companies to deal with. If Mr. Bell's society does not manage to impress the general policy, or if you have half-a-dozsn different arbitrators, you may get a. very considerable state of friction' and confusion ; a great deal will depend on whether the best men will be frightened and unwilling to work on the boards with their own -bosses'. Generally speaking, I think the extraordinary good sense and moderation shown by Mr. Richard Bell and his -people in accepting this, and the feeling on both sides, with the fact that the public won't stand ai big raihvn,}' strike or lock-out, will all co-operate in favour of their coming to some working basis, so that in that way lam fairly hopeful. On tho face of it." Mr. Reeves continued, "this scheme is ostensibly 'a non-union system altogether. Our. system in Kcw Zealand is absolutely based on unionism — the union of men and the union of employers. As tho piecor-togcther of tho Act, I was determied it should be based on unionism. Here, ostensibly you iguore the union element. If this system is not perfect from 1 a union point of view, however, you must remember that this is a compromise arrived at bet-ween two contesting, parties on the verge of n. strike. It wouid be unreasonable to expect an ideal system. ' DOUBTFUL ISSUES. "If I point out doubtful issues, it must not be understood I am criticising an arrangement entered into to avert a national calamity. I am only too thankful that it has been arrived at. But if you ask me how I think it is going to work, I am obliged to fallback on cold analysis, based on experience. Its harmonious Avorking will, 1 suspect, depend largely upon how* far the Amalgamated Society ol Railway Seivants manages to permeate it. I imagine Mr. Bell is pretty sanguine of that. If-<he is right, then I think it may work. If he is wrong, I think you will have a 1 * gradually increasing amount of friction. The direct recogition of unionism is the first thing I aimed at ill New Zealand ; but if under this system a powerful body like the A.S.R.S. is able to make use of it to help the men, that would go far towards the same goal in another way. "One is immensely stiuck, of course, by bhe extremely elaborate nature of the scheme. , Con&ider the number of sectional ;boarcls there will be converging, on tjie central arbitrator^ In such .v. system as that there must be many openings lor inconsistency and friction. Of course, -the more tho influence of the A.S.R.S. is felt-, the stronger en'ort there will be to bring, the decisions of the different companies into line. There can bY no doubt' that its influence will be in favour, of unifomnty, while at the same trnie fheye- will be lesisting powers try-ing-'to obtain particular ad-vantages or disadvantages in the various companies. "At the presom. stage one has only the barest skeleton of the scheme to consider. The thing is so elaborate that columns of rules will have to be laid down. -Wlicr will draw them up? The Board of Trade, I hope! You have had this proposal signed by eleven important companies. Arc the lest of the companies coming iri? Supposing some do not, Parliament. would ; *l think, bo entitled to add them. The questions to be settled by this elaborate machinery are to be confined' to wages and hour*. Why, !,omc of 'the.m ost appalling Labour disputes have turned on other questions. EXTENSION DESIRABLE. "My opinion is that it* would be much better 1 if other questions, as' a's well as wages and hours, could be dealt .with. Peruaps they got that idea from the original draft o*f the Victorian AYages Boards Act, which", confined tho questions to wages tlnd hours. But the object of that was not 'to put an end to strikes, but to stamp out the grosser forms of sweating. The main object of this arrangement, on. the other haiid, is to prevent strikes. • ' "Of course, I .regret that there' is no (legal compulsion for cavrjing the awaids Ot . the' arbitrator into, otfeci ; but Ldo not suggest it wa;> possible to insist upon it. However, even without legal comyul-siun-such a scheme should stand a better chance "of "working oii the railways than in almost any oilier iform of industry, becituic the picssure of public opinion w.Quld\ bo so Uemenclousi against the party tha.t caused a. lock out or' a strike. "1 tiust that barristers will not bo employed to plead bef6re th-? aibitrator. TheY would, of course, -raise technical points "and defeat practical ' justice. Highly inspected as "the Speaker and Master of the Rolls are, tho Government of this country might have been trusted 1o appoint 'the arbitrator. But the question of the continuity of the arbitrator is enormously important because he is the link between one company and another. If he is not, each company might hay«» its own system, and you cannot have Ihiity or forty systems in a matter like this. "Do I think it will work? Certainly. Even if amendment be piesently requited. A great stop forward m tho cause "of industrial arbitration" will have been taken meanwhile."