NOTES AND COMMENTS,

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13146, 7 April 1906, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS,

THE WORKERS AND ARBITRATION. Thk i dissatisfaction of the unionists with some recent I awards '.> of : - the Arbitration Court, and the disrepute into which it threatens to bring the whole system of conciliation and arbitration, are stirring up the Ministerial : press to desperate. efforts to find a ; remedy for the existing state of things. Our Southern contemporary, the Lyttelton Times, admits that the Auckland unionists have a grievance, but oracularly remarks that "the trouble is they do not know how, to express it." What they should do, it seems, is not to be led into any " rash or extreme action by way of protest," but to resort to "persistent and well-directed political agitation." "Parliament," they are told, " cannot refuse to legislate if the pressure of public opinion is only strong enough, and it should be the policy of the seamen, and indeed of all workers, ;to secure the betterment of the conditions :of employment 'wherever they can by statute. Arbitration awards are liable to periodical revision, and may he varied according to tile caprice of arbitrators. But there are certain conditions of every trade that can and should be fixed by statute, and it is in no spirit of hostility to either Arbitration Court, or employers that we urge the workers very strongly ' to keep; their needs constantly before the notice of the Legislature." The true inwardness of this advice is to get all that can be got from the Arbitration Court, and to get whatever more is wanted from Parliament by persistent and well-directed political agitation." In other words, if we understand the Times aright, it would prevent by statute the Arbitration Court from lowering any award once made. The Court would have the power to go on increasing wages and shortening hours, but would be unable to reverse this proceeding. One might venture to remark that such an arrangement would be a trifle one-sided, to say the least; but the Times evidently does not think that that is an objection worth taking into account. THE NEW FRENCH PRESIDENT. M. Fallieres will make a good President, and will carry on the Elysee traditions with the same calm dignity as M. Loubet lias done this many a year. Stouter, whiter of beard, slightly more lethargic, perhaps a thought less careful of the niceties of apparel—especially when he is rusticating in his Gascon vineyard— chief point about him that proves him to be a younger man than his predecessor is his rubicund visage, which overflows with good humour and camaraderie. He has known M. Loubet all his life—for a time they were fellow studentsand at the State .shoots at Rambouillet they would stand shoulder to shoulder, and bringdown their birds side by side. M. le Presidentappears at his best when lie is ensconced in a Presidential chair—whether in the Senate or in a court of law, or again when he, at rare intervals, turns up at the opera on a field day. Many are the devices that the new President has adopted to reduce his embonpoint, which, is the one defect in a physique otherwise singularly robust. Sometimes he will set out for a promenade from' his apartment to a distant point on the outskirts of Paris, or, in the afternoon, after returning from the public offices, he will mount a fixed, bicycle arrangement in his dressing-room, and get exercise in this way. M. Fallieres' chief pleasure is found in roaming about his vineyards, watching the progress of. the 'grapes; and studying how -.best | to cope . with the insect pests which : have done so much harm in recent years to the produce of the Bordeaux country. Madame is an ideal hostess for the Elysee, none the less so because sire also brings to her duties the simplicity learned in humbler spheres. To see her raven tresses, which are the envy of many a Frenchwoman in the high society of the capital; one 'would never credit her with being the mother of a stalwart son of 50.