North Otago Times. PUBLISHED VERY MORNING, TUESDAY, MAY 26, 1908. DR FINDLAY ON STRIKES.

North Otago Times, 26 May 1908, Page 2

North Otago Times. PUBLISHED VERY MORNING, TUESDAY, MAY 26, 1908. DR FINDLAY ON STRIKES.

.There is one thing that nearly every ono is agreed upon, and that is that there should be no imprisonment oi men who strike and fail to pay a line ; and there is another thing that must strike those who give the subject any consideration, mid that is that if there is no imprisonment there eaii be m punishment meted out to those, who ■lo strike, and therefore Hie Conciliation and : An....;.u0n Act is a dead letter, and might as well bo suspended liom operation. The' members. , v df the Ministry express, as we have done, hostility to the process of ; imprison-' nient Jjeing used as n means, oi punish" meat under (lie Arbitration Act; bill neither the Ministry nor ourselves tt r.t j foolish enough to believe (hat when (he ; iaw is shorn of the means of punishing : strikers that it will be worth the' paper it is printed on.' Sir Joseph' Ward would; follow the sinker, to infinity in pursuit of ihc line that' is never paid ; but he would nnver put him in gaol and would not distrain on his.household rhnllek IVo feel disposed view the matter from the, same standpoint; but at (he same lime it mentis the annihilation of tin Act, Every law is supposed to eonlain a method of punishing those who infringe ils provisions. When this is omitted it is not a law, but a mere,, ivasfc' of words. That is what tho Arbitration Act. would be were ini- ,. prisonment arid distraint eliminated I .from its provisions ; tor ii distraint is i never enforced in the ease- of the work- [ man it should equally' not be enforced I ; n the case of the employer. When , that is accomplished' there can be no pimlsnment mr offences under tin Art. and consequently the Act is dead. We arc satisfied of the' soundness of this reasoning. l)r Eindlay makes excuses for tho Act and explains the reasons for (lie frequency with which it is broken, and said something oracular, almost Delphic in its nbstiuwness,' when he uttered tlio words that "as strikes and lock-outs affected the whole country, the Stale was enlitkd to compulsorily stop them,'whether the workmen or ''employers liked compulsion or not," How will Dr Findlay. , stop strikes if imprisonment and 'distraint nre swept out of the provisions of the Act ? A workman must be able lo maintain his family, and it would be equally hard ' lo distrain on hiwages as on his furniture, for ii distraint is made on his wages his fnir.'Hy may starve, whereas if distraint '• ( s made on hit! furniture temporary inconvenience is all (hat may result. Dr I'indlay's apology for'the existence of the Act is but the prelude, like the song of (he swan, to its death.' ■]( cannot live under-.the go-as-you-please provisions propounded by Ike Ministry and endorsed by everyone else!; Therefore it must 'die, % cannot possibly, . exist unless its -provisions arc civ' forced with dracoiiiau hln'slincss,' and unless they are such that the'ordinary i'l'imiiml would dread thorn, and no ono'wants, to see such'a "law hh that, Dr Findlay indicated that while lie would do away with imprisonment niid, distraint, lie would ntnk» ii a|) offence, for any employer to giro work to ut striker who had not paid his (inc. The punishment of this .man, Dr ■l'intllny. say*, would bo (hat ho would be compelled to leave the colony. That may be bo, but it/is uiorfl, probable thai this provision of (lie 'Act' would, have an entirely contrary effect, The mfitf ' who could 'not pay his fine could no; lenvo tho colony, and if lie is doprived of tho means of making a living h," would bo'compelled to make an appeal , to a benevolent institution,, and., bo saddled on tho colony for tho ro- ■ mnimlcr of his days an a pnupor. Thai. .• ja the effect Dr Findlay's method.' .would have on the man who did • not '; pay because he could not pay. Besides it.would; lie inhuman to follow a- man". round in this way—a maji, too, < whj may have a-wife and family defending upon him, The process would be-as bad in ils aim' as -a" Corsiean or Sicilian vendetta, nnd.itlscertninly not likely to lie adopted in New Zealand.