CAPITAL AND LABOUR

Northern Advocate, 18 June 1926, Page 5

CAPITAL AND LABOUR

NEW RELATIONSHIP NEEDED. APPLICATION OP GOLDEN RULE. WELLINGTON, This Day. The following is an extract from the annual report of the Chairman of Directors of the Bank of New Zealand, delivered today;— The strike, in the Dominion, last August, of seamen on British ships, resulted in serious loss to producers, exporters and others. Large shipments of meat were held up, some of which had been sold to arrive on certain dates. As a consequence, contracts were cancelled, and the meat on arrifval in England was dumped on to a glutted market, and had to be sold at a loss. The season, in any case, was not a good one for meat exporters, and this additional loss greatly aggravat|od the position. '< The recent general strike in Great Britain, too, though not of long duration, must also have its effect on the well-being of our primary producers. While strikes or lock-outs may be justifiable under certain eircumstan- 1 ccs, they are, as a rule, senseless and futile, and bring in their train suffering ‘ and hardship to' the whole community. Much study has been given to the subject of fostering sympathetic relationships between Capital and Labour, and many plans have been evolved to harmonise their interests. Better working conditions, profit-sharing schemes, workers’ committees of man-| agenicnt, are all steps towards the ul- j timate goal, but they are none of them in themselves an absolute solution of the difficulty. My own personal conviction is that if industrial peace is to be secured at all it can only be secured by both the employer and the employee making honest efforts to un-j dcrstfHid and follow the teaching of the Nazarene- of - nineteen centuries j ago: Until the spirit of that teaching! prevails, all attempts to bring about I industrial ‘peace must be , temporary I and evanescent—at the best, mere ex-1 pedients.