TRADE UNIONS AND FREE LABOUR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10972, 28 January 1899, Page 3

TRADE UNIONS AND FREE LABOUR.

TO THE BDITOB.

Sir,—l am glad to see a letter by Mr. F. G. Ewington in your issue of to-day dealing with a most important matter affecting the progress of manufacture in this country. It is in the interests of trade in New Zealand, and especially in the interest of that large majority of our population which is free from all connection with trado unions, that special attention should be drawn to a portion of certain recent judgments of the Court of Arbitration, and that tho bearing of the same on commerce, and on the different classes in the community, should bo ox--1 plained in tho press. I refer to tho obligation imposed by the Court on employers of labour to give members of trade unions preference of employment in all ca»cs where both unionists and non-unionists are available, with a certain proviso as to their effioiency, which will bo practically » deadletter.

This will probably seom a comparative. ; small matter to persons who do not realise the extreme care and economy, and the nice adjustments, essential to successful modern manufacture. Let such a person inspect with attention a modern, fully-equipped factory, and observe the wonderful and minute adaptation of means to ends, the absence of waste in all the operations, the general arrangements and special appliances for saving human toil, and he will realise that such a factory is a complex organism with its parts interdependent, so that if one part is injured or rendered inefficient the whole must suffer. Now, let him further observe, with regard to the labour employed, its dexterity and quickness, the precision and punctuality of the different operations whereby intricate co-operation is rendered possible, and, as essential to this end also, the cheerfulness, loyalty, tho mental and moral energy of the operatives. A mere clod may do at the tail of a plough (though that is being changed), but in a modern factory the requisite qualities are largely mental and spiritual. There is no place for mere " main force and stupidity"—the engines and boilers supply that. Now, sir, of what avail will be all the knowledge and skill dovotcd to industry by the , manufacturer if the most important thing with which he has to deal, viz., labour, is rendered inefficient by the Government of the country? That it must be rendered inoffioient by such interference as that referred to above is a moral certainty. The manufacturer is the absolute and responsible judge of the quality of the labour he employs; ho may makt a mistake, but if so he pays the penalty in diminished profit* or actual loss. He alone is face to face with hard fact, and no other judge or court can be other than irresponsible in such a matter. It is idle to suppose that he can explain to an industrial tribunal why one man is more efficient than anothei; the great fabric of British industry was built up by, men who felt rather than comprehended such things, and who would have been altogothei nonplussed if required to support their judgment (however correct) in a court of law. Yet, if he cannot give reasons which, to a totally untcchnical person, seem good and sufficient, he is to have a less efficient man thrust upon him in place of a more efficient, merely because the former is a member of a trade union! What signal service have the unions rendered to this country that the whole people should, through the medium of their Government, delight bo to honour them? I am afraid it would be hard to find; but some disastrous and abortive strikes, the outcome of their policy, are prominent in recent history. If one inquires as to the numbers of this favoured people, Mr. Ewington's letter tells us tbat they constitute about one-tenth of the working population. How it comes about that the free labourers, who are in such large majority, have allowed this small fody to seize on the Legislature and employ the latter in its service is a matter for surprise and regret. I believe, however, that if all the working class were collected into affiliated unions, a much better state of things than the present would ensue, for it would be speedily found that tho present trade union policy could no longer be carried out. One-tenth only being unionist, they are able to make the J voiceless and unorganised nine-tenths suffer that the favoured minority may gain. Leaving out the general public, there are three parties to • every industrial dispute—the employers, tho trade unionists, and the free i workers. The second body seems to be aimi ing at a State-granted monopoly of employi ment, which will severely cripple the other i two, and which will certainly prove as dis-

astrous to trade as the tyrannous and iniquitous industrial monopolies granted by tho State in tho time of Henry VIII. and some subsequent sovereigns, and which, with encroachments on liberty, had to be wiped out in civil war in the reign of Charles I. Tho only difference i» that in those days monopolies of special manufactures were granted to individuals or corporations, whereas now it is sought to grant a monopoly of a.l essential factor of all manufacture, that is, labour, to a close corporation. Such policy is not (as is often boasted) modern and progressive; it is 300 years old; it has been tried, and has failed. I believe in unions of workmen. They are an outcomc of the spirit of sell-help, which has spread tho British race over the earth. You cannot have one effect without the other. But the policy of modern unionism is suicidal, and has already disgusted many of tho firm friends of the working class. It is said to bo never safe to prophesy unless you know, but a forecast may with some confidence be hazarded as to the f.ituro of trade unionism, With in the Old Country and elsewhere. If the present grab-all policy continues to be pursued, the time will como when tho inertia, the trade jealousies, and other obstacles which separate manufacturers will be overcome in tho presence of un intolerable oppression, while at the same time the frco workmen (who in the Old Country, as in New Zealand, are in the immense majority) will find a voice and a policy, end iu that day a trade unionist will apply in vain for employment, except on revolutionised conditions. There is no need for this to come about; there exists, on tho contrary. tho strongest inducement for every member of the community to try and avert it, for while British trade is disorganised in fighting these battles foreign trade secures a firm footing. It is for this reason that I venture to call attention to the enforcement of a principle which is fraught with the greatest dangei to industrial peace.—l am, etc., M.OTFACTFBBIi. THE PERFORMANCE OF "ELIJAH.' TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—Tho arrangements nt th.) Exhibition as a rule only afford matter for aaiuiement to a well-constituted mind, but when one suffers oneself it discounts tho humour of the situation badly. To forco a crowd of tho most respectable people in Auckland, and mostly ladies at that, to souffle willy-nilly in the way they had to do lost night is a record oven for the Exhibition Executive, and that is saying something. No seats were reserved —a perfectly fair arrangement, if the Executive understands how to get its audience into 1 a hall— everybody had to wait at tho [ side door of tho Choral Hall, in the Eihi- • bition grounds. Tho box for the issue of , tickets was placed close to the steps of the i entranco. Many took advantage of an early , arrival to get their tickets at once. Then) [ was a largo crowd at half-pa.' seven, the adi vertised time for opening ♦ .Ie doors. In ipito f of angry protests, the door—or half of it, that 1 is a space of baroly 'it— not opened till • a-quarter to eight. Then ensued tho most 1 disgraceful scuffle that could possibly havo > been devised. Tho people who had not got 5 their tickets wero blocking tho way for thoso 5 who had; least one lady fainted in the / crush, and after 25 minutes of absolutely un« t necessary scrimmago we were tumbled, with , torn clothes and trampled toes, in a heap into - the hall to get our seats as best we could. 3 Suggestions to the Executive of tho Exhi- , bition have boon so invariably ignored that t one has no patience to point out the lesson c of this, obvious as it is to anyone but sn f Exhibition official. 1 enclose my card.l t am, etc., A Worm, Turned. a Auckland, January 27, 1899. o ———- _