ARBITRATION COURT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12211, 5 March 1903, Page 7

ARBITRATION COURT.

. The sittings of the Arbitration Court— Justice Cooper (president), and Messrs. Brown and Slater—were, continued yesterday. ■'" ■ at the Supreme Court Buildings. THE BAKING TRADE. • The first matter dealt with was an application by the Bakers' Union to enforce the sward of the Court in the case of Messrs. 1 Preston Brothers, bakers, who, it was alleged, had been paying less than the standard wagr prescribed. Mr. Martin appeared for the union, and there was no appearance' of defendants. G. Murray, recently in the employ of the Messrs. ' Preston, said that when ho first went to work with the firm he r received £1 10s per week, the understanding ;■ r being that Preston Brothers had been ;-. granted permission by the secretary of the union to work at a lower rate of wages than . ; ! that set forth in the award. On finding out that no such arrangement hac l been made, witness asked for the increased wages he was entitled to, but this was refused, and he 1 .left the employ. He had been doing the I f-i work of a fully qualified journeyman when ! in the employ. The secretary of the union (George W. Whitcombe) being sworn, stated that he had never been approached by Preston Brothers with regard to Murray, and no errangespnt had been made for his employment on a lower scale of wages than the : amount prescribed' in the award. The Court fined the defendants £9 15s, the advantage the firm --had gained through employing Murray at the lower rate of pay, . the money to be handed to the union to be paid over to Murray. Defendants were also ordered to pay- costs, including solicitor's fee «nd witnesses' ..-xpenses. The Court then adjourned till eleven o'clock this morning, when the decision in the tailor- '. ing dispute will be given and other matters dealt with. " 'The Wellington Post of Monday has a leading article on the recent developments of the Arbitration Court, in which it says: — .The Court was originally intended to be the au- . thority in reserve for the final and compulsory adjustment of disputes that could not be settled by the less formal procedure of the Conciliation Boards. In actual practice its Junctions have been far more widely extended. Comparatively few disputes are disposed of by the Boards. Conciliation has become almost a. dead letter, and compulsory arbitration, instead of being held in reserve for exceptional cases, is now the regular means of ending differences between employers and ■ employees. The disputes brought before the , Boards and the Court are seldom such as would, had we no industrial tribunals, have caused strikes or lockouts. They are not disputes in the strict sense of the 'term, but (appeals to the Boards and the Court for regulation of the conditions under which labour may be employed. What under the older industrial regime was regulated by supply and demand, by the mutual bargaining of capitalists and workers, either individually or in combination, is now determined ab extra, by the Arbitration Court. Almost every amendment made in .-.the Conciliation and Arbitration Acts since 1894- has tended to bring the industries of. the colony more surely under the State regulation exercised through the Arbitration Court. The change, though gradually effected, is none the less "revolutionary. It goes far beyond what was contemplated by the majority of those who supported this legislation in 1894. and justifies .. the hopes of: the extremists of those days Who aimed at something more socialistic than • the mere settlement of industrial disputes. The remarks of Mr. Justice Cooper, and which are but typical of others that might be quoted, raise the question whether the Arbitration Court can, as the colony grows and its industrial activities expand, grapple successfully with the problems, so wide in one aspect, so detailed in another, with which it is called upon to deal. The Boards and the Court have repeatedly felt the extreme difficulty of drawing up a satisfactory log for the clothing trade. The questions raised are of so technical a character that it needs an expert to decide them after taking tho evidence. In what seems like despair the President of the Court now suggests that experts should bo appointed to draw up a colonial log? ,Is not this perilously near to an admission that the demands upon the Court are more than it can meet? The clothing trade is, perhaps, the hardest of all to regulate, 'but similar difficulties occur in relation to other trades. The arguments advanced by Mr. Justice Cooper in defence of the award in the coal miners' dispute are drawn from an exhaustive investigation of the mining company's operations and bal-ance-sheets. Can any Court examine in this way all the trade and industry of the colony end form a just estimate of its various requirements? -■ Are the requisite, labour, knowledge, and commercial judgment to be expected from any single tribunal? These questions must inevitably occur to the minds of those who study closely the development of. compulsory arbitration in this country. They illustrate the stupendous character of the, task that lies before any community which undertakes State regulation of trade and industry. The trouble is to find the machinery to bear the strain.