FIFTY YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 50, 27 August 1938, Page 17

FIFTY YEARS AGO

ITEMS PROM THE "POST"

IMPENDING STRIKES

"We drew attention yesterday to the points in dispute between the colliery proprietors in New South Wales and the coal-workers there, which have led up to the present strike on the part of the latter," says "The Post" of this date fifty years ago. "No one can "foresee the consequences of such a strike and it will undoubtedly cause the loss of much national wealth. Deplorable as that strike is, however, its importance is' almost insignificant compared with the far more extensive strike threatened by the Seamen's Union, arising primarily out of a dispute originating in this colony, and which would include New Zealand if the men should unfortunately determine tb go out. The origin of the dispute, which may attain such enormous proportions, was comparatively trivial. It arose out of the employment by the fcj|Northern Steamship Company of non- *\ *;mion crews, that company, not a very "strong organisation, alleging that it was unable to afford the employment of union crews. A general strike by the Seamen's Union, threatened because of the inability of the parties to agree, would entail the direst misery on many thousands of perfectly innocent people, and would do incalculable injury to the colony as a whole. No effort should be left untried to obviate the necessity of extreme action, and it is devoutly to be hoped that moderate counsels will prevail on both sides. Capital and labour each have their rights, and the rights of each equally deserve respect and conservation. The tyranny of capital cannot be tolerated in a democratic community such as the colonies, and it will be a bad day for all parties when any attempt is made to establish a tyranny of Labour. Instead of the capitalist and the labourer regarding each other as natural enemies, and each endeavouring to get the better of the other, they should regard themselves as partners in co-operative enterprise, the claim of each for fair return for their investment, whether of capital or labour, being freely admitted by the other. If this were done we should hear less about strikes, and all parties would benefit in the end. We have very rarely known either strikes or lockouts result to the advantage of either party. Both usually suffer severely, and nothing short of the most extrajrdinary circumstances can justify resort to such methods. It is not for us to attempt to apportion the respective responsibilities of the parties to the present dispute, but we have no hesitation in saying that it will not be creditable to either side if a general strike is evolved out of the present .differences between the Seamen's Union and the Ship Owners' Association." RAILWAY CONTROL. "If Parliament is prorogued leaving the Ministry unfettered in regard to the constitution of the Railway Board, the colony will probably wake up some morning to find that its railways have been handed over to the absolutely irresponsible control of a board presided over by someone in whom the public will feel it quite impossible to repose confidence. It is absurd for Ministers to pretend that they are still on the look out for a suitable man from Home. They have had much more than sufficient time to ascertain whether a qualified expert can be obtained at the salary named. Evidently they do not intend to offer higher inducements so as to get a really firstclass man, and we have little ■ doubt that the pretence of negotiations still pending through the Agent-General is merely maintained to tide the session over, so that, Parliament once prorogued, they may safely perpetrate a job which would not be permitted if the Legislature were in session. Once the appointments are made, the mischief will be irrevocable." THE MOKAU REPORT. "In regard to the Mokau case, Ministers are still sheltering themselves behind the miserable, pretext that they have not received the official copy of the report which they know has been sent in to the Governor. Of course the latter has really nothing to do with the matter, and if the report has not been forwarded to Ministers they could get it in a moment by asking for it. They are also compelled to acknowledge that they have already received a copy of the report from the Commissioners, so that they are really perfectly aware of its contents. As the end of the session, however, is approaching, they are glad of any excuse to prevent an authoritative exposure of the injustice suffered by Mr. Joshua Jones. Time is fighting for them, and they well know that if they can only delay matters so that. no substantial relief is afforded by the Legislature this session, the strong probability is that Mr. Jones will be in the position of a certain party at a faction fight— 'the subsequent proceedings will interest him no more." Then, of course, the ring, for which Ministers, or some of them, exhibit such affection, will be triumphant." THE DESTRUCTOR. •The City Councillors are making themselves very ridiculous by their weak hesitation regarding the Destructor site. They have had ample time and opportunity to make up their minds on the subject, and they have no possible excuse for hanging the matter up. Some of them seem to think that a mistake was made in ordering a Destructor in the first place. Why they should doubt the wisdom of the step, we are at a loss to understand. The evidence of the value of the invention is overwhelming. Its use has long passed the stage of mere experiment, and city after city in England and America is adopting the Destructor as the most efficient and economical mode of dealing with rubbish and refuse. There is no possible reason for suggesting that it will not act as well in Wellington as in Leeds, Bournemouth, and other places. Having obtained the Destructor, it is most certainly the duty of the City Council to put it into working order with the least possible delay. It is unjust to the ratepayers, who have paid for it, to keep it lying idle and useless in .store. The question of site should not be a difficult one to decide, ] and the present councillors are quite \ capable of determining the best loca- j tion. The suggestion that the matter \ should be left over, for the new j council to deal with is a most improper j one." HARD ON DRUNKS. "The attention of the Department of Justice should certainly be called to the extraordinary conduct of Sir William Fox on the Auckland Police : Court Bench, in inflicting the maximum penalties on all offenders against sobriety. It is a most dangerous precedent to establish, that a judicial officer is to administer the law for the gratification of his own individual fads, instead of according to the merits of the case before him. If the Legislature had intended that the maximum penalty should be inflicted in every case, the amount would have been made a fixed one. This was not done, however, and a fairly wide discretion was left to the Magistrate in order that the penalty might bear some reasonable proportion to the nature and circumstances of the particular offence."