"A DAY OF RECKONING."

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14511, 27 October 1910, Page 6

"A DAY OF RECKONING."

THE LABOUR UNREST. EMPLOYERS' FEDERATION. [BY TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] Wellington, Wednesday. The New Zealand Federation of Employers met to-day, the Hon. C. M. Luke presiding. Delegates were present from all parts of New Zealand. The annual report of the General Executive recorded the affiliation of the New Zealand Sheepowners' Federation, and expressed regret that the New Zealand Farmers' Union has not yet become part of the federation. "If the affiliation of that body were secured," the report continues, " our organisation would then fully represent, industrially, the whole of the labouremploying classes of the Dominion, and in that case representations made by the federation would have the whole weight of the individual influence of employers engaged in all trades and industries." Regarding legislation, the report stated that Shops and Offices, Stone Quarries, Tramways, Factories, Workers' Compensation, Education, Coal Mines, and Mining Bills would each, if passed into law, impose further disabilities on trades and industries, many of which are not in a position to bear additional burdens. A strong protest had been made to the Government against the imposition of further burdens, and this action, it was hoped, would cause the powers that be to consider whether it would not be wise to confer on the Dominion a rest from the class of legislation indicated. " Demands for higher wages and shorter hours are," continues the report, "becoming more insistent and persistent than ever, and signs are not wanting, especially amongst the stronger and better organised trade unions, to show that they realise that the Conciliation and Arbitration Act has done as much for them as is possible, and that they are now prepared to adopt the 'might is right' attitude, and to drift back to the old order of things. It would appear that a day of reckoning is not far off, and that ere long the question whether the arbitration law is to remain will have to be faced. There must be either a law governing labour conditions, or the workers must depend on the strength of their organisations to secure their rights. The present half-and-half position is most unsatisfactory, and either the workers, as a whole, must be loyal to the Act, or the Act must go." The platform of the New Zealand Labour party is also referred to in the report, which says : " The demand for the gradual public ownership of all the means of production, distribution, and exchange, means nothing at all, if it does not mean socialism, and as such a proposal is opposed to private interests, and would, if any attempt were made to put it into operation, kill all enterprise and progress, it should meet with the stern disapproval of all who have the best interests of the Dominion at heart. Altogether the industrial outlook is not so reassuring or so satisfactory as it appeared to be at the date of the last report, and indicates the necessity for much care and watchfulness on the part of the federation." The Hon. C. M. Luke was elected president, and Mr. W. Hopkirk vice-presi-dent. . Mr. H. Broadhead was appointed reporter. The following Finance Committee was elected :—The Hon. C. M. Luke, Messrs. D. Goldie, T. Hodgson, J. A. Frostick, A. W. Beaven, W. Hopkirk, T. Ballinger, J. C. Thomson, R. Chisholm, H. G. Warren, K. G. Turner, A. E. Bennett, and the federation secretary. Mr. Wm. Scott was again nominated as the employers' representative on the Arbitration Court, and Mr. Wm. Prior was also again nominated as deputy representative. It was resolved that the Finance Committee and secretaries present consider the amending Arbitration Bill, and report tomorrow. In the afternoon a complimentary luncheon was tendered the visiting delegates by the president and executive of the Wellington Employers' Association. The president of the association (Mr. W. Hopkirk) presided. Apology was made for the absence of the Prime Minister and the Hon. J. A. Millar, who were busy with Cabinet matters. Mr. Jas. Allen, M.P. for Bruce, replied to the toast of " Parliament," and the toast of " The New Zealand Employers' Federation," proposed from the chair, was responded to by the Hon. C. M. Luke.