ARBITRATION ACT

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 37, 12 August 1927, Page 11

ARBITRATION ACT

AND PRIMARY PRODUCER

NEED FOR INVESTIGATION"

The necessity for some immediate investigation into the Administration of the Arbitration Act from the point of view of primary production generally was urged by Mr. E. M. D. Morton, president of the Canterbury Sheep-ownerss Union, in his presidential address at the annual meeting of that body. # Mr. Morten referred to the Arbitration Court's decision in the freezing workers' dispute. It was held in some quarters, he said, that had there been fewer freezing works, the workers engaged would have been assured of a longer period of employment, ana the need for.increasing their rates of pay would not have arisen. There could be no question that there were too many freezing.works in the Dominion, but the difficulty seemed to be as to which of them had to go out of business. Each one, naturally, was anxious to maintain its position in the hope of recouping to its shareholders the capital invested. The hope was expressed that some arrangement would be found possible on a voluntary basis between the companies concerned, whereby the present excessive overhead charges may be reduced, as this represented an added burden to those already carried by sheepowners. With regard to the representations being made by the various farming associations throughout the Dominion, urging the repeal of the I. C. and A. Act, the speaker pointed out that it did not necessarily follow that if the present Act were repealed no' protection would be available for the worker against sweating and unsafe and unhealthy conditions of working. These, where they were not already covered by statute, would require to be provided by additional legislation in the interests of both workers and employers. To his mind, the present position was the natural outcome of the pernicious attempts by the Court at fixation of prices for labour under all conditions, and without respect to the value of the product of that labour. This could no more be possible or prove successful with regard to labour than was the case when attempts were made to fix prices for other commodities, a recent example being that of the Butter Control Board's policy of price fixation which came to such an abrupt conclusion recently.

The present opposition to the Aefc was the natural outcome of a realisation of his position by the primary producer. The awards for pastoral labour were not as serious as the effect of awards of the Court as applied to other industries. In comparison with pre-war days, the price of primary produce was increased by 48 per cent., while everything required by the farmer, mainly as the results of the Court's awards, were increased by 91 per cent., and recent awards of the Court directly affecting sheep owners had placed an additional burden on the industry of approximately £150,000 per annum. If this sort of thing were allowed to continue, then the natural result must be a general movement from the land to the cities to an even greater extent than had already occurred.

"1 think it will be generally agreed that the time has arrived for a very close investigation into the effect on primary production generally of the operation of tho Act as at present administered," concluded Mr. Morten.