The Hawera Star. THURSDAY, MAY 17. 1928. NO ROYAL ROAD.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 17 May 1928, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

THURSDAY, MAY 17. 1928. NO ROYAL ROAD.

Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera. Manair.. Norxnanby, Okai&wa, Eltham, Mangatoki. Kaponga. Alton, Hurleyville Patea. Waverlev. Mokoia. Whakamara. Ohangai, Meremere. Prases Road, and Ararata.

The Teport of the committee of the Industrial Conference proves most clearly that there is no royal Toad to the solution of the industrial problems of this country. It is- not that our problems are any more difficult than those facing industry in other parts of the world, for it is happily the case that, compared with the older countries, or even with Australia, New Zealand is in a fortunate position, 'but it is obvious that the committee that was set up to bring down a report to the main conference has 1 found that there is l -a great deal of ground to be cleared before it can make any headway with the question it was appointed to consider —the finding of ways and means of keeping the wheels of industry moving without interruption by strikes and without the intervention of an Arbitration Court. The most striking feature of the report is not what it says, but what it leaves out, and it is to be feaTed that many students of the position will bo disappointed, while many others will adopt an “I-told-you-so’ ’ attitude. It is to bo regretted the committee found it impossible to advance any suggestion of value in regard to the • Arbitration Court, or its substitution by any other system. The committee deals at length with unemployment —indeed its report suggests that the unemployment question has loomed largest in its discussions —the need for training more of our youths for rural occupation, the control of immigration, and the improvement of ■our compensation laws, but not. one word appears to enlighten the public as to means of settling disputes between capital n.nd labour in regard to wages, hours, and conditions of employment in the industries in which the .workers are unionists I Doubts as to the efficacy of the national conference were not confinedl to those who openly expressed them; many who kept their opinions to themselves welcomed the conference with certain mental reservations. It is well known that conferences are prone to indulge in a great many platitudes and to talk themselves into a state satisfactory to themselves, but which gets nobody very far. The industrial conference.l has not been able to avoid .this tendency altogether, for we find one of the members of the committee expressing gratification at the manner of the reception of the Teport by the main body of delegates. The fact that its findings -have found favour with the members of the conference may be gratifying to the committee as a reward for the hard' work which it has undoubtedly put into its task, but, after all, neither the committee nor -the conference was appointed to satisfy merely itself that it 'had arrived at the only possible findings under the circumstances, and the fact that members of both bodies arc gratified will mean little to the general public. The bald and discouraging fact remains that the conference and its committees have held many meetings, have studied all the statistics available and have had before them the opinions of the best brains in the Dominion on various subjects, including economies, and are now unable to toll us anything we did not already know —nor can they show us how many of the objects which have been long acknowledged as desirable are to be brought any nearer achievement. We knew, .for instance, that it would be a splendid thing if many bf our boys could be induced to become farmers; the report tells us the- same thing, and though it points out. the desirability of urging, boys to study agricultural subjects instead of book-keeping ,it does not tell us how these boys arc to be provided. with land and the finance to work it.. The report says nothing in Tegard to immigration that has not been said before; it does, indeed, emphasise the need for an intelligent study of the subject of supply and demand for labour and recommends the collection of accurate data by the Government Statistician; it further recommends that this information should be supplemented by the investigations of a special commit-

too of throe, but the only point at which it breaks new ground is in. regard to workers’ compensation. These are decidedly not the revelations which the public, and particularly the farming public, was awaiting. The people wanted to know how industry was-.to be relieved of some of the burdens and restrictions imposed by the arbitration system without subjecting the employees to exploitation on an unprotected labour market. This is a question which the committee has side-stepped, in the meantime at least, and it is the question which is going to be most difficult to answer, either by the conference as at present constituted ot by any other representative body that may be appointed.