EMPLOYERS' ASSOCIATION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 16325, 22 August 1913, Page 4

EMPLOYERS' ASSOCIATION.

ANNUAL DINNER. AND BUSINESS MEETING.

Tho annual meeting of the Canterbury Employers' Association was held last night at Aschoff's dining-rooms, the meeting, in accordance with the usual practice, being preceded by dinner. There was an attendance of about eighty members, presided over by Mr H. D. Acland. The guests included Mr F. G. Wickham, British Trade Commissioner; Mr W. Hop'kirk, president of the Employers' Association, and Mr 11. Hill-Fisher, president of the Chamber of Commerce. PRESIDENT'S SPEECH. Mr Acland, in moving the adoption of the annual report, dealt at length with commercial and industrial problems. The Association, he said, had had a useful year, and had dealt with many matters of great interest to business men. The stringency of the money market, and with it the riso in tho rate of interest, although in no sense duo to local conditions, had seriously affected the position of employers, but, whilst it had checked their energies as employers, it had not prevented a great deal of quiet advancement or an increase of solid prosperity. The prices of raw products had been more than maintained in the markets of the world. The revenue of the country, which was a sure guide to the industrial position, continued to expand. " THE RULE OF LAW." During tho year there had been two industrial conflicts,, both of which had ended in the triumph of the law. These results had been due, not merely to local conditions or to the Government of tho day, but really to the trend of public opinion, which represented tho combination of employers and the great moderate section of employees. In British communities, the rule of law had gradually asserted itself, and the habits of the people, through centuries, Had always been to uphold the law. Both of these upheavals, when the principles governing theni had been analysed, had been found to'moan defiance of the law of the land. In New Zealand, with its universal adult suffrage, no law could remain upon the Statuto'Book for any length of time which was not approved by "public opinion and the majority of the people, and those persons who proposed to revolutionise society, by militant methods, direct action and the like, would do well to consider whether by continuing their existing methods they could ever exert any real influence upon the affairs of the country. The public had realised that in the Waihi and tho slaughtermen's strikes, those expressing dissatisfaction were receiving for their labour a far larger share of wealth than the averago man in the community in proportion to their exertions and risks incurred ; yet, notwithstanding this, they were prepared to disorganise the whole industry and throw "many loss fortunate people out of employment, thereby showing a disregard for the principles of brotherhood so strongly advocated by their leaders. PREVENTION OF SWEATING. One result of tho Industrial Arbitration Act had been to prevent the growth of sweating and the infliction of long hours without sufficient remuneration upon tho average worker, and thus doublv prevent this iniquitous system becoming established in New Zealand. In consequence, the hours and pay in industrial undertakings carrying on the same work were practically the same. As a result an increase of pay to the employees in one undertaking meant a similar riso in all other similar businesses in tho dominion. In many cases the employers' method of dealing with ' increased pay was met by tho practice of " passing 'it on " and a " bit more to tho public. This, however, could only bo done successfully in those industries such as transport, newspapers, building and the like that no outside competition could affect, and which might be called middle or secondary industries. A 6 a result both the employer and employed when negotiating with each other both knew that any increase or decrease in wages or otherwise must ultimately be passed to or be borne by tho public. Consequently a strike nowadays in these middlo industries resolved itself into an issuo vitally affecting tho public and was no. longer merely a duel between tho employer and employed, but an issue between the employer and employed on the one. hand and tho public on tho other, lhat this aspect had long been realised by some of tho more far-seeing controllers of certain of these industries, one had only to be reminded of the fact that in shipping there had been no serious upheaval in New Zealand for over twenty years, whilst the or employment and wages had steadily improved. Fares and freights had shown a marked increase from time to time proving his contention that the pubho had paid the piper every time. "Nowadays," added Mr Acland, "Ave constantly hear complaints nbout the increased cost of living, and the facts just stated must be partially responSlble '' TWO POLICIES

The aims of the Employers' Federation were:—(l) To oppose tho extreme agitators, syndicalists, and revolutionary socialists; (2) To promote tlie unity of the genuine workers and employers for the purpose of developing the industries of the dominion; (3) Tho education of public opinion; (4) The securing of industrial legislation which will benefit all classes of the community, as opposed to the class legislation; (5) The establishment of a defence fund to be used in the furtherance of the above objects, and which would he strictly controlled by trustees appointed to carry out tho instructions of tho federation, . , . . i The objects of industrial organisation laid down by the Unity Congress in Wellington in January last were stated to be:—(1) To. secure employment of our members in preference to non-unionists; to maintain a spirit of fraternal sympathy with tho workers of this and other countries by assisting them when necessary; (2) to use our united efforts to discourage the contract labour and bonus systems, and as soon as possiblo to abolish these, believing the said systems to be detrimental to the best interests of organised labour; (3) to enable and provide for tho federation to own, publish and control a newspaper or newspapers; (4) to ensure to rnembors who aro'proved to have been unjustly treated tho support of the federation; (5) to link up" with the industrial organisations of all other countries for the achievement of international solidarity, and also for more effective work-in"-'class action in time of interna-

tional industrial conflict; (6) tho United Federation will always act with the end in view of securing to the workers the full product of their labour. , •• ■ . , He submitted that the Federation's policy was constructive and tho Unity's destructive. One was a project aiming at the general betterment- __ of emplovers and workers in their several grades. Who could define the line where the worker ceased to exist and the employer began? The other set out proposals for the problematical betterment of one class only, and that at the expense of the community. THE PRODUCT OF LABOUR.

"I confess to be unable to appreciate exactly what is meant by securing to ' workers' the full product of their labour," said Mr Acland. "Is it suggested that coal taken from a mine should be the full product of the miner's labour and if so who is to pay for opening up the mine, making the necessary roads, bridges and wharves and the machinery to work the mine, all of which require an immense deal of labour before any return can be obtained? Is not the effect of such words to appeal to the 6elf-interest of those who do not trouble to think sufficiently deeply and to mako them imagine that they are by extreme action going to obtain more for their labour than at present, and that at the expense of somebody else? Would the attainment of these objects result in a greater production of wealth for distribution amongst all the "members of the community? The distinction in principle between the two 6ets of objects appears to be this:—-One sets forth with the object of increasing wealth and production without making any attack upon others when pursuing those objects. The other sets forth with the object of taking wealth from others and with little or no constructive policy for increasing wealth and production." PURCHASING POWER. Discussing the question whether legislative attempts in the past had raised real wages, namely, raised the purchasing power of the money received for work done, Mr Acland said that the development of the factory system had effected the greatest social revolution the world had ever known. With the growth of the factory system, fireside industries had tended to diminish, and with the growth of factory legislation the hours of work had gradually diminished, and consequently those employed in factories not having fireside work had demanded means or recreation for their leisure time, and with it some means of gratifying their demands. Unless, therefore, wages were proportionately raised to satisfy this want complaints must arise that there was not sufficient left for other purposes and that it was harder to make both ends meet. Employers, to exist nowadays, must have customers, and the greater the purchasing power of those customers the better for the employer. It was foolish, therefore, for anyone to assert that employers were opposed to increasing the purchasing power of the workers as a whole. The

true aim of employers and of all employees was to attempt by mutual understanding to raise the conditions of all classes rather than to stand opposed to each other, for strife could only be a hindrance to progress. The struggle was not with ono another but with their environment. The only real way to benefit tho community was by a greater increase in primary products, which must mean more work for all transport industries, repairing shops and the like, a greater spending power for primary produoers and consequently more employment for all those engaged in the distributing business and ultimately for the whole community. ECONOMIC SOCIALISM. Mr Acland dealt in detail with the Shops and Offices Bill and remarked in passing that' unfortunately the Bill dealing with industrial arbitration had not been submitted to Parliament yet, as its contents were of great importance to the Association and would require careful consideration. He went on to condemn the continual increasing of wages, which, he said, assisted in raising the cost of living. The only remedy was for the food-producers in the country to do their own business of marketing their goods and buying their requirements in a businesslike method and so eliminate some of the enormous toll taken between producer and consumer. Dealing with the causes of social unrest Mr Acland said that the real strength of unrest was. the existence of the present system of capitalism, and the destruction of the existing system would moan the destruction of the driving force of unrest, but economic Socialism, the proposed remedy, appeared to he a submission to difficulties and had been called the philosophy of failure. Such a system had only to be tried, as it was in "New Australia," to show what' a complete and disastrous failure it must prove, it was there, discovered, under the system pursued, that the interests of society and of the individual were opposed and that they actually ate up one another's profits. Mr Acland added that it was the duty of everybody holding a responsible position to _ give such problems a patient investigation and to point out where erroneous opinions would lead. In conclusion Mr Acland thanked the executive and the secretary, Mr F. C.

Cooper, for their work during the year. • ELECTION OF OFFICERS. * The following executive was elected: Messrs H. D. Acland, W. C. Aiken,: S. P. Andrews, A. W. Beaven, R. C. Bishop, G. H. Blackwell, G. T. Booth, T. Bunting, K. F. England, J. A, Frostick, W. Goss, P. L. Hallenstein, J. R. Hayward, W. Hayward, F. W.; Hobbs, F. E. Hyman, A. W. Jamieson, A. Kaye, H. Laing, J. B. Laurenson, N. L. Macbeth, S. H. Maddren, W.-r Morley, A. Peppier,. A. Smith, F.--H. Steel ; and C. H- Hewlett. Mr J. R. Hayward (vice-president), in seconding the adoption of the report, congratulated Mr Acland on his hand-, ling of the events of" the 'past "year, and expressed the hope that the Association would continue its good work in the future with a greatly increased membership. The report was adopted. ADDRESSES.

Mr R. Hill-Fisher, who was' called on to speak, said that the sympathies of members of the Chamber of Commerce were with the Association, but the Chamber, as such, could not identify itself too boldly with political matters. It had been a great pleasure to listen to the speeches that evening, which had clearly dealt with many difficulties and the real remedy for them. He bid the Association every success in all its efforts.

Mr W. Hopkirk spoke at 6ome length on the internal affairs of the Association, his remarks being taken in corn* mittee. -.' ' • •/.

Mr W. G. Wickham also: spoke on various industrial matters; and on tha president's motion a vote of thanks to the speakers was carried by acclamation.

Mr A. W. Jamieson read a paper on the " need for compromise," and Mr C. H. Hewlett read a paper on the "Increased cost of living in relation to the increased cost of production." On Mr G. T. Booth's motion, a vote o{ thanks was accorded to the speakers by. acclamation. ' . On Mr A. W. Beaven's motion, a vote of thanks was accorded to the Employers' Federation for its work during the year, and to Mr 'Hopkirk for his attendance in Christchurch. On Mr F- Large's motion, a vote of thanks was accorded to last year's exe« cutive, and Mr Acland responded.