TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 14, 17 January 1930, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY

In carrying out the duties of his high office the Governor-General has been eminently successful in gaining the friendship and esteem of all classes of the community. He has shown that there is common ground on which men and women may meet without regard for political party or social class distinctions. Because he has given this lead in good fellowship, his appeal to the people to seek a solution of unemployment difficulties on the same basis should command attention. One cannot doubt that the difficulties would disappear if a united effort were made to ( overcome them; but hitherto there has not been real unity. Political parties have followed their separate paths. Employers and workers were brought together for a while in the National Industrial Conference, and in the Unemployment Committee which was subsequently set up; but these efforts, so far as we can judge by the results, lacked the determination necessary to assure success. Is it not possible for a new endeavour to be made, in the spirit of service and sacrifice, for the common good as suggested by His Excellency.

Strangely conflicting news comes from the New South Wales industrial fighting front to-day. One message reports that the mine-owners are meeting to consider Mr. Scullin's proposals for a settlement, and that there is a feeling of optimism that a solution may soon be found to settle the dispute. At the same time it is reported that the New South Wales Labour Council has decided to form I a "Workers Defence Army." The official bulletin, it is stated, admits that this army is a permanent revolutionary force. "We must prepare not only for resistance, but also attack." When such reports are received it is clear that the dispute has passed beyond the strike or lock-out stage. In a thoroughly democratic country there is a possibility of armed revolt. This raises an issue quite distinct from that involved in the original dispute. It is no longer a question of wages and industrial conditions, but of the maintenance of Government authority. No Government, whatever its political colour, can permit its authority to be usurped by a section of the community which proposes to take the law into its own hands. But there are complications on the coalfields because there are two authorities—State and Federal.

Since the Labour Government came into office in the Commonwealth the coal minqs dispute has resembled a game of chess. . The miners' delegates had agreed to a settlement, but the terms were rejected by the lodges. The reason for that rejection has never been made clear. It appeared at first that the miners were counting upon securing better terms because of the advent of a Federal Labour Government. This conclusion was supported by some of the subsequent events —the reference of the dispute to the Federal Arbitration Court resulting in Judge Bceby's order for the resumption of work on pre-dispute conditions. The mine-owners declined, to accept that order, and carried the matter to the High Court

with an appeal against the interven; tion of the Federal Arbitration Judge. The High Court has not yet given its decision, but in the meantime the State Government has proceeded to work the Rothbury mine, and this has led to the active resistance of the miners' march. The course followed by the miners is strongly suggestive of a policy dictated by men who are intent upon fomenting trouble. In meeting these moves the Federal Prime Minister has sought, with very little success, to keep on both sides of the fence. He has worked actively for a settlement, and with that activ- j ity one can find no fault; but he has not discouraged the Labour Defence Corps movement as he might have done. He has deprecated the use of violence on either side (this in response to a demand that the Federal Government should mobilise the military power to seize the mines); but his rebukes seem to have been directed as much against Mr. Bavin's State Government as against the miners who were using force. Mr. Scullin must realise that he, no more than Mr. Bavin, can tolerate the use of force against the State; but he has not said so in unequivocal terms. The danger of the present position lies in the Federal Government's weakness. Mr. Scullin hesitates to offend industrial Labour by standing behind a State Government of opposing political colour, and this hesitation weakens the authority of both Governments. » ♦ » While it cannot bel deemed conclusive, the evidence of eight leading Waikato farmers as to the suitability of pumice lands for settlement must carry great weight. It may be said that a two-days' visit does not give the farmers the knowledge necessary for a final judgment; but these men are farmers of standing, and they have been satisfied with what they have seen. Yet it would be more convincing if they had reported their findings in greater detail. The conflict of opinion on the pumice lands has been on just those points on which the farmers are vague: the actual cost and time necessary for development. The cost is said to be "very moderate," and the time necessary "remarkably short." One gathers, however, from the third clause of the report, "that for successful settlement a railway is absolutely essential," that the cost is not so moderate that haulage charges can be ignored. The point, therefore, arises: if a railway will assure successful settlement, will that settlement be sufficient to make the railway a payable proposition? Here, it seems to us, the inquiry might well be carried further by supplementing the farming investigation by a traffic inquiry. Unfortunately, the issue has been clouded lately by party politics, but it should not be impossible for a Government which makes land settlement a leading item in its policy to bring the inquiry back to a proper economic basis.