DISCUSSION IN PARLIAMENT.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, Issue LXV, 15 November 1913, Page 5

DISCUSSION IN PARLIAMENT.

SHI WEBB'S BILL

+ i. a^ 41^ for, }?av* *° Produce the Settlement of the 1913 Industrial Strike and Lock-out Bill, Mr P. C. Webb said that he was actuated by a desire to effect a settlement of the "existing industrial crisis, so as to allow the industries' of the country to con*l nH?-. He-submitted that the Federation of Labor was a perfectly legal organisation, duly constituted in conformity with the law. The law of the land had not been infringed or broken m any way by the strikers. The Bill suggested a penalty for strikes or lockouts, the cases to be heard before a magistrate* whose decision shall be final. If the strike continued there would be thousands of farmers and business men ruined and thousands of -wprldilg peioplevwould be reduced to want. Hundreds "ofthousands of peo-

pie were looking to Parliament to effect a settlement. The shipping companies should not be allowed to dictate (•to the workers just how they should ; organise, nor should they be allowed [to keep their ships out in'the stream, j holding up the whole of the Dominion commerce on account of dogmatism. "Mr J- Robertson spoke in support or the motion.

Mr G. W. Russell said that it was time that Parliament took into its hands the settlement of the greatest strike New Zealand had known. He dwelt upon the enormous amount of money the strike was costiiTg the country, both in the cost of the preservation of order and the losses of farmers and business men. He put it to the Prime Minister whether he did not think it would be a statesmanlike thing to realise that some^ assistance was desirable to brings this disastrous thing to an end. He did not think the present state of affairs should continue for one day while the people were being ruined. It was Parliament's duty to step in and put the matter right on a righteous basis. Mr W. A. Veitch said that it was very difficult for them to sit in the House day after day seeing minor matters being dealt with, while the greatf est crisis known to the country existed. If the strike were allowed to fizzle out the workers would go back in .anything but a peaceful frame .of mind, and the trouble would be by no means over. The trouble was one where two extremes had clashed. They had on one hand the syndicalist unionists and on the other hand combined wealth, neither of which were in the interests of the country. He asked, What had the Employers' Association done to assist in ,a settlement? They knew who were going down, and he wanted to know what would happen to the country if it were wholly controlled by full-pursed combines. The whole cause of the discontent amongst the wage-earners was the actions of wealthy monopolies. He submitted that there were five per cent of lawless people in the strikers, and the rest were decent working people, and those people were going to go down unless Parliament took a 6tand. He suggested the setting up of a Parliamentary committee to arrive at a fair means of settlement.

Mr J. Payne submitted that the shipping combine was taking up an illegal attitude,' and was, over-riding the law* and Parliament by saying that the men should not be provided with work unless they registered under the Arbitration Act. He pleaded for the extermination of what he termed "the middleman octopus—the Employers' Federation," which rode on the backs of farmers and workers.

Mr A. H. Hindmarsh. said that the penalty for a breach of contract provided in the Bill wae just as efficient as the Arbitration Court award. Experience had proved that the ultimate result of the 6trike was of some benefit to the workers, whether they won or lost. He felt convinced that the wharf laborers' conditions would in future receive the attention of the Legislature. He was .satisfied that Parliament.could do something to solve the difficulty. The House divided, and the motion was negatived by 45 to 13.