DEFERRED.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 10451, 5 December 1927, Page 5

DEFERRED.

FARMERS’ EXEMPTION FROM T'., ' arbitration.

HUT NO FRESH AWARD MEANVgE . TIME . MR LYSNAR’S FINAL PROTEST. WELLINGTON; Dec. 2. , lu the House the Prime Minister rose to mate a statement on rlie subject of the ’ industrial Conciliation, and Arbitration .Amendment. 4 Bill, oh which progress was . reported in committee on Thursday' night, .tie said it would be remepibeVed. that, when the Bill'wag hi committee, members took up some time in’ discussing the advisability of holding a conference of. the parties of all shades of opinion. ' The time then came when lie had to intervene] and he made a suggestion that the Bill Should be allowed to pass and that a conference should be held during- the, recess. Later, progress was reported'-on the Bill in order that further private discussion might proceed. Those discussions had taken place on his side of the House, and the . Labor party info, been consulted.. As; a result of those conferences, the’ Government was now prepared to modify the Bill insofar as it concerned the clauses dealing with industries closely allied to farming, payment by results and several. similar clause's, until September 1 next, by which time Parliament would bo in, a position to review the whole situation. Arising out of the conference proposed to that end the Government had had a series of amendments drafted as follows : Clause 2'to 10,. to omit these clauses. ' Clause 11, to omit this clause and substitute the following clause: 11 A (1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the principal Act, no award relating to any agricultural, pastoral, or dairying operation or to any other work effected on a farm or to manufacture or production of butter, cheese or other products of milk or to persons engaged (whether as : employers or workers) on a farm or in such manufacture or production, shall, after the passing of this Act, be made at any time before the first day of September, 1928;. (2) nothing in the last preceding sub-section shall operate in any manner 1° terminate any award in force on. the parsing of this Act and every such award shall continue in force as if this section had net been passed, save that no such award shall be in any manner amended or extended before the said September 1, 1928. ./ Clauses 12 to 21, to omit those clauses. Mr Coates, stressed the importance and magnitude of the work . belore members at the conference. The Government would sketch out a course which, they believed should be followed in order t-o get at the root of the problem, but, if, they budded to in a right spirit, lie saw no reason why it should not be crowned by siiccess. Some members might be disappointed with the course adopted, but' for that the - Government took full responsibility. , Mr Holland said his side of the House had favored . the conference arid had.made a definite suggestion to the Government in that direction. Details of their proposal had uot ah been adopted, but out of their suggestion had come a. proposal which the. Prime Minister had just hud before the House’. They had seen the text of the proposed amendment and that would have to be examined carefullv before it cuuld be, accepted. But, generally, he approved of the step which was being taken and tic felt sure there was enough common sense amongst those Concerned to ensure a satisfactory settlement of the whole problem. The House then returned m committee on the Bill, which was reported with amendments as above, which were moved by the Minister. Mr Lvsnar, on tlxe third reading, protested against the abandonment of the Bill in the way proposed, lhe farmers wanted to be cut out of arbitration and their demand was cither right or it was wrong. It T were wrong, there should be no Rll, and if it were right, the bill Tmuk l be passed. It was a pity the Minister had given way on his Bill. U had been brought down earlier in the session, it would have become law and could become law now it the Government had only stuck to it The Hon. G- J- Anderson, m replj, said he regretted his Bill was not going through, but, under tlie circumstances he felt the best thing haa belu draio Ho n> confident tlmt,. as a result of the conference, tamers "would be in a better position than they are now, because the a hole situation’would then bo conveyed from every point of view, and they would be Acting in k spirit ot conciliation, which he had advocated when introducing the measureThe Bill Was read a-third time an passed-—P-A. . PREMIER EXPLAINS ALIERACONFEREN T ci _ Tb HE HELD during recess A HUGE UNDERTAKING fSnpcinl to. tlic Tinios.) P WELLINGTON, Dec. 3. “The new Clause, put in the Bill takes the place + of tile BiU , -« a d the Prime Minister. • it is the B- • It means that the status quo \\ ill be maintained, but the Ai-b.traton Court will not be able to ; deal in any way with the fanning industry until September Ist of next year, it was .difficult to lix jjefiiu . ■ date, but September next liad been decided on because, by that tmie Parliament will have had T-nothe 1 opportunity of considering the positloMr Coates -said 1 that the other side had asked that no industi al aoreements should bo made, but 1111 mediately they touched that question it affected the whole principle the Government had m view. All 1 1 we are concerned about m the nieatime- is that the Arbitration Court S not arbitrarily fix any agreement relating to one. side, ox the other, tart we arc entirely m favoi of conciliation and of the Concilia ti’on Council, which can summon either party to it conference or to the Council, itself”, continued the Prime Minister. J Mr Coates Went bn to discuss , the conference which is to be held during the . recess between,, employer*? and employees and- the Government.. Some wanted to postpone the eflects of conciliation altogether, Ihat he .Thought,, would: he -a mistake arid it was not <th©' intention .J all kiiew that a/large mqjbntv of the House favored any method of conciliation. ..They were genuinely/ concerned about both ., woi kei and the employer and anxious; to see if they could, mutually outer upon this' work, which .was a large work, arid meant; a' separate organisation. It meant an organisation m which they could havO - .thd .services ot some of tlie liest in oil in the country in order to. make- it a success. As.to the method.and the general course -to he adopted, it- would be for the. Government to get to work and sketch out the general idea and the method tif carrying it out. The Government were anxious that members of Parliament should ' he *■ associated .with.them in. theirgiyofk, but the final responsibility - must rest .oh' the ./shoulders) * of ■ the ’ G.oV- , efrimeht. He himself. realised that some members of Parliament would be disappointed and no doubt they -would ihe jeady ; to complain alSout himself.' hut lie. would' hp Vreadyv -to take op tlie responsibility in that

respect. It had been through a sin■cera desire to do the best that they could that be had been actuated. “It is? a . huge' undertaking . that' lies in front'of me”/ concluded ’ the Prime Minister. Y “So far.’: as the Government is concerned, I, hope that' it will sincere .helpers and-workers uff that connection, - The Leader, of. the Opposition (Mill. E. Holland,) said the .final responsibility: ini connection' witli the proposed conference, must vest on the Government, but members on the; the Opposition side were ."prepared to cooperate with the Government in ’ making fit a success., Ho” ' felt that, if the conference was convened, it would make it possible (to place legislation’ ’on the statute book whiph would be satisfactory to both employers; and employed. When the 'Bill was in' committee tlie amendments proposed by the Prime Minister were agreed to. PREFERENCE! TO UNIONISTS. SHOULD;. IT BE CONDITIONAL ? Then Mr J. G. Elliott (Oroua) brought forward liis ;1 amendment* making the inclusion of the preference to unionists provisional conditional upon agreement by all tha parties to be bound by the award. . The Leader of- the Opposition said the clause was not in accord with the agreement arrived at and he protested against it. He hoped Mr Elliott would drop it. Mr Elliott said he had not been consulted in any way, although he knew -an arrangement was . being made. He had interviewed the Minister of Labor and told him that the original Bill was, an importantmeasure and for liis part he (Mr Eliott) would sledge hammer it through the House. Seeing the way things were going, however, life was quite prepared to fall in with anything the Minister might wish. lie was not aware that any ’ arrangement had been made that his amendment should not come before the House and he could not allow any charge of unfairness to be levelled against him by the Leader of the Opposition. Under the circumstances, he was willing to withdraw the clause and to bide liis time until the Bill came forward again next session. , . The amendment was withdrawn and tlie Bill was reported to thq House. r MR LYSNAR, DISAPPOINTED SOME OF THE REFORMERS WEAK-KNEED " Speaking on the third' reading, Mr W. D. Lysnar (Gisborne), said he was not pleased with , the result. lie sympathised with:, the Prime Minister in his difficulty, hut’ all the work put into the Bill had now been lost. Members: “No.” Mr Lysnar said the whole question would have to be gone over again next session. The farmers bad voiced tlicir .opinions with no uncertain sound and did not ask for the present postponement. Members: “Some of them.” Mr Lysnar said they were not genuine farmers’ representatives. Tlie farmers depended on the House toi protect them and, * if a large conference of all interests was to be called, including Labor and employers 1 organisations, then tlie farmers would bo overwhelmed' and the conference would be a failure and lie thought they would have nothing to do with it. The weakness was in the Reform Party members. A member: “They compromised.” Mr Lysnar repeated that, in such a matter, there could be no compromise; it was a question of right and wrong. The genuine farmer l ad no quarrel with liis workers and all the trouble occurred through the agitators, who went out on the farms and stirred! up the men. Mr J. S'. Dickson (Parnell): “Would you object’ to the farmers joining an employers’ organisation:”’ Mr Lysnar: “1 would.” He considered it a great pity the Minister had not stuck to liis Bill. Unfortunately, there were a lot of weakkneed members supporting . the Prime Minister. .(Laughter.) The Minister of Labor (the Hon. G. J. Anderson) asked if M'r Lysnar thought lie felt pleased' because his Bill had not gone through. . Mi- Lysnar: ‘‘l sympathise with you.” The Minister: “Then you turn round and call me weak,” ..He was. a poor man who could' not look -atevery side. The farmer, under the amended Bill, would be in a better position pending the conference which iwould 1 have been held /in any case. The Bill was passed.