THE ARBITRATION TANGLE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 170, 20 July 1908, Page 7

THE ARBITRATION TANGLE.

(By Frank Morton)

It will be time enough to deaf" in detail with the Arbitration, tangle when the matter comes fully and effectively under the notice of Parliament—always supposing that there is then anything with which these easy notes can properly be weighted. Meantime, the general matter demands tho consideration of the country. The general matter is easy to epitomize*. Years ago in New Zealand the tide of what we know as democratic government began to set in strongly. The country was fertile, isolated, rich in minerals, well provided with good agricultural and pastoral lands; at all points a country well suited for industrial experiment. The experiments were carried out courageously and without scruple. The franchise was extended to the. fullest possible extent. Associated labour was afforded every facility to make its convictions effective in law. Every safeguard that could be contrived against the mean or unscrupulous employer of labour was eagerly adopted. Every possible device to extend, the liberties and secure the rights of the workers was given honest trial. The employers, exposed at times to great loss and grave anxiety, submitted loyally to the tests. At the dictates of Labour, tribunals of conciliation and'• arbitration were established. The workers themselves eagerly declared their .conviction that the wrongs, and disabilities of their class were in a fair way to be for ever removed and forgotten in this country. Thanks to the lavish lubrication of incessant enormous loans, public works were pushed on liberally, and a great wave of apparent prosperity swept over the land. Thanks to the political and social "pull'; of the "unions* reacting on the courts of conciliation and arbitration, the wages of workers were raised in every trade and calling, while the conditions of labour were at all points materially improved. In order that local industry might be protected j against the competition of the-world, a h.igh tariff wall was erected. ' In harmony with, the general tendency, the municipal franchises were broadened and extended till in civic affairs also the workers had a preponderance of influence. In their enthusiasm for the changes they had wrought, the . workers began to talk of New Zealand as the Workers' Paradise, and. even, (with a curious religious fervour) as God's Own Country. Fervent partisans of the new, came from the ends of the earth,; and 4 were sent away filled with hysteria and garbled information relative to our blessed state.' A book that glorified us, called "A Country Without Strikes," was widely circu- . lated and read in. great centre's of the older lands. n; : :

Then (despite all'our orations and; banquetings) natural law began to assert itself. The high wages of the workers naturally increased the costs of products. The employers, harrassed and beset by new anxieties and limitations, insisted on obtaining reasonable profits. High as the ■ tariff | wall was, there began to be ominous murmuringg at the back of it. The courts of conciliation and arbitration, ! giving lavishly with both hands, slowly realised that along certain avenues they could give no more. All the just demands of the workers were liberally conceded; but there came a day when occasionally the demands of the daughters of the horseleech had to be resisted. The workers, growling in their paradise, began to get sniffs of something that they thought was brimstone. Some of them found that their high wages brought them less comfort and narrower life than they -had previously secured with their lower wages. All over the country, poor political craftsmen began to grumble at their tools. v Many of the workers began to suspect, although few were found willing to admit, that there might be worse taskmasters than the employers had been. Kis a fact indubitable that you cannot prevent the sunrise by legislating against it. You will sooner overtake the sunrise by remaining where you are than by hurrying over the hills of the west," as Thoreau says. When the workers could get no more by force or persuasion from the tribunals appointed to their order, they commenced to turn against those tribunals.! It has always been so. The worker stands, by reason of his multitude,' for man in the average; and man in the average has always been more impulsive than intelligent. You must not expect great wisdom or keen perspicacity from the person whom the French, in a fine phrase, have called 1 homme sensuel moyen. Government by democracy is excellently sound in apparent principle; but it must be remembered that government by democracy is always and essentially government of the- average by the average, and the average is seldom the plane of high achievement. Here, then, is the position, for the' consideration of men of intelligence. The workers have had all that the Conciliation and Arbitration Acts can give them. They have had all the protection that a- Government pledged and bound to the workers dare provide for them. They have dominated and monopolised legislation for more than fifteen years. They, through their chosen and approved legislators, have borrowed money till the sum total of their borrowings has become a flagrant scandal. And now they liave turned to bite the hands that nave helped them; they have gone back to the brutal barbarism ofstrikes—they have repudiated the laws passed by their partisans in their interests^-they have trampled

under foot the fences their own hands have raised.

What is to come next? ;That is the question men of intelligence have now to consider; and, of necessity/ it will be considered , most honestly and courageously outside Parliament. In Parliament, we have a government the most socialist in the world, declaiming against Socialism; ■ and we have an Opposition individually weak and as a party ill-led, opposed to Socialism, but apparently willing to swallow as many socialist pills as the prescription of the electoral majority shall impose. What, then, is to be done for the worker? If the workers really expect to get all that the unions demand,,, their .first step should plainly be' to force an amendment of the Electoral Laws; they will need one-worker-two-votes. They might with advantage add to that a special vote for vociferation. A permanent retainer to Mr Tom Mann (perhaps £1500 a year might tempt him) should be arranged. One vote should be granted to all children of unionists, over the age of fourteen years. If this would not provide the unions with sufficient reformative force, there might be a vote for overtime— one-hour-cne-vote. In two years, Mr Collins would be Prime Minister, the financiers of fhe world would have stopped lending, the professional classes would have emigrated in a body, there would be no more "universities or "luxuries of the rich," and generally Elysium would have come in with a flourish. New Zealand would be truly God's Own Country. In three years, faith in God would be on the decline. In four years Mr Collins" would be glad to emigrate to Russia. In five years—but there is a limit to my powers of prophesying.

And this in fairness I must add. I saw a good deal of the Arbitration Court in" the South Island, in the days when Mr Justice Chapman was. President. I travelled with, the Court and attended all its sittings during one extended tour. I was especially impressed by the wonderful patience of the Court with the unskilled advocates appearing for the unions. I never knew another court on earth that .gaye1 any advocate such latitude. I was further impressed by the fact (although here I was doubtless deluded) that the, Court always tended to favour the Unions. They alyays had the benefit of the "doubt. If any point could be~ stretched tofavour them, that point was stretched cheerfully, or so it seemed to me. The President was most fastidious and scrupulous in the clearness of his statements. I could detect few loopholes left for any possible misunderstanding. , Now Mr Justice Chapman has given place to Mi- Justice _ Sim; and Mr Justice Sim has speedily become the pet bugbear of trades-unionism. That is to me a most astonishing thing. I doubt whether you could find a fairer or more humane, man than Mr Justice Sim anywhere. Of course I observed him against the somewhat sombre background of Dunedin; but he alwsfys: showed as a man genial and sympathetic. All■'this ■talk •■ of him that one hears from >trades-unionists is, I am convinced, mere farrago and balderdash. Mr Justice Sim came into his post at a time when the unions were looking "'-for : % scapegoat, i If the Lord Chief Justice of England presided in that court now, he would get nothing but abuse for his pains. No man presiding there and honourably administering the laws govern-, ing the court would win any sort of tolerance. The Arbitration Court the workers want is an Arbitration Court of (say) Mr McCullough, Mr Collins and Mr Tom Mann. And because the employers don't want a Court like that, they are very wicked and contumacious persons. Another word. If this sort of thing goes on, what is to become of the trades and callings that have no unions? There is, for instance, the disconsolate army of the clerks. By comparison with, let us '"-'say,1; the bricklayers, all clerks are wretchedly underpaid. You need make no ex-r ception of the bank-clerks. I heard just the other day what bank-clerks in Wellington are paid, and X was filled with, an abiding pity. In the pity was a tinge of contempt.. Your bank-clerk must be punctual, scrupulously honest, and of .considerable skill and trustworthiness in his groove, j Also,!the work has a curious trick of unfitting the man for any other calling on earth, unless it be the calling or a politician. The bank-clerk has to dress well, to cultivate a superior manner and appearance,, to conform to all sorts of galling regulations and restrictions^ to yield whatever soul he may possess to the pompous corporation that jbuys him; arid by comparison with 'him, a bricklayer (taking everything into account) !is a highly-paid specialist. But you 'must never expect the bank-clerks to. combine. They seem to take a sort of pride in their pitiful poverty. I can well imagine some poor dog of that company reading these notes, with his laundry-bill preying on his mind, and ■ stuttering with indignation because I speak with irreverence of his caste. But the great army of clerks has all my sympathy. It is composed of men who work hard and live on the whole very decent lives—men who are better citizens than the majority, and who would be positively valuable citizens if ever they had a chance. But they seem to be unable to combine. There is positively, no doubt at all that there would be a great improvement in' the position of the clerks if once the Arbitration Court were enabled to take them in hand. The unions get their • increased pay, and growl at the increased cost of living; but the clerks, with no increase of pay, are the men who pay the price. They are a useful and a necessary class. They are intelligent far above the average of workers. They have the habit of-the small wife and large family in unusual development. _ And unless this Arbitration tangle is straightened out soon, the clerks will go to the wall. Most of them are there already.