WHAT'S WRONG?

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14807, 10 October 1911, Page 8

WHAT'S WRONG?

A BOARD TO INQUIRE.

SCHEME BY SIR JOHN FINDLAY

INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS.

THE COST OF LIVING.

AN IMPARTIAL TRIBUNAL.

TO FIND THE FACTS AND ADVISE

Speaking on the industrial law at his meeting in the Oddfellows' Hall, Parnell, last night Sir John Findlay outlined an interesting proposal for the appointment of a permanent board to investigate industrial conditions in New Zealand.

Beginning with a reference to the Arbitration Court. Sir John Findlay said this Court: to-day got more kicks than compliments, but he appealed to the strong militant unions to think what it had done for the weakest classes of workers, increasing their wages, he maintained, by 50 per cent,, and in some cases 100 per cent, and 200 per cent., and so lifted them from a pinching or starvation wage to one of reasonable subsistence. If the, present system could be ; improved so as to satisfy reasonable critics they should try to improve it; if it could not be improved it should be abolished and something else tried. He wanted his audience to consider a proposal winch touched deeply the interest not only of workers and employers, but of the whole community—a proposal which may do more to make our industrial arbitration satisfactory than anything else we have tried. He was not in any way going to commit the Government to it—he had no authority whatever <-to do that. ,

Why Is Living Dear? The all-important thing about a wage, proceeded Sir John Findiay, was not its nominal amount, but- what it would buy. Workers may have nominally high wages and yet hot have a real subsistence wago —in other words the standard of a real wage is the cost of living. In New Zealand, it must be admitted, that the increase in the cost of living had equalled--if it, has not* outstripped— rise in wages .in many trades, and hence it must be conceded that in many cases there had been no increase in the real wages of the workers. Now , the man who faced this problem had to ask himself several important questions. Some of these are :— .;■ \ '-'

1. What is this increase in; the cost of living due to? sls it due. (a) to monopolies, rings "and combines raising prices and .so exploiting the workers 5 (b) to''the, higher prices our staple articles of food are bring- a ing in the Old World markets; (c) mainly, to increasing land values;, and higher rents; (d) to protective or other Customs tariff; (e) to increased cost of labour, or to the increase of, the gold output; (f) to some declining productiveness lor efficiency [ o« labour itself; (g) to the higher cost of living, or really the cost of higher living? 2. Can employers .in aft or many callings really afford to ..pay higher wages? r 3. la more' protection in our Customs duties required to enable manufacturers to pay, higher,wagesJU.- . ... .-*-, ~, ~> : . 4. Should such.higher duties be imposed in the best and permanent interests of the consumers as a : whole? * '•'.•■■♦.'' *5. Would State enterprise in ; substitu,tioa lor private "enterprise, in any, particular trad? or industry reduce the cost of living? * 6. What "is the real effect of our present, "system of taxation? and would any practical alteration reduce the; cost of living? v / Jf.

:"\fr Unanswered Questions. *>: v ; J These were , all difficult questions. The' conditions prevailing in different countriesdiffer so widely that what may be the true answers ■in .;; ■ England, for instance, may not be the*lrue answers here. ' What reliable ;' and impartial answers have we now got to them? What facts -are available':' nere on which to base replies? Wo s had Aplenty > of ;rpolitical and' v v parti'sans.-; replies—a? mass of > i contradictions, ; recriminations, half-truths "f and; palpable ■ absurdities. But what, .machinery for reliable and impartial investigation • into - such complications; ,— the increased cost of living-— we got now? None; Yet no real remedy was possible until these facts were ascertained. Suppose, * Labour, pinched by the increased cost of living, found the ruling wage in some great trade too low. "It dfecided to , strikestrike against what? The nominal wage. j But that might be as ]-' high as the - employer could pay if he was to; escape bankruptcy, or it might not. it might he that the evil' was too low a protective tariff.; |It might, be other things but in striking in these, circumstances the workers were really striking In the dark. iil The real evil may not lie ; 5 in the \ so-called industrial . dispute' at all, but in some other cause beyond the control of both the employer and the men. t What was wanted 'above all in these days is-to get down to causes, and these ascertained, to devise and apply remedies.

A ; Board to Find : the Answers. ,:"Hence," proceeded Sir John Findlay, "Ithink the time has arrived when there should be in "this' as there should be in other - progressive democracies, ; , a standing board _■ of industrial investigation, whose members should be chosen for ; their experience, .judgment and impartiality. This should include two of the best men labour find (one to represent factory and protected' products; 5 the other to represent, con-factory and non-protected work) one, the best man the farmers could find, one the best manufacturers can find, one the best commerce can find, and the last

an expert accountant. Legal questions can be dealt j with; by a good "lawyer invoked for/ the occasion. ■ The personnel of this board should be absolutely nonparty, and must have the fullest confidence of the people. It must be equipped by law with all reasonable powers necessary to its investigations. Provision must -be made for ■ its being set in '* motion, in proper cases by Parliament, by the Arbitration Court, by the labour unions acting in complete or substantial agreement, by the federation of employers, and probably by other authorities.

What: Does Parliament Know? Such a;board would have no jurisdiction j to propoge.or ;devise, schemes. : Its work | would be,; limited to 'expert and impartial investigation and report. It would furnish the'facts; Parliament and, in many cases, the Arbitration .Court would act on these facts. At present what does Parliament ;or the country Vat 'large often know of the complicated facts upon which a reform is baaed! Too often legislation has to fake-place on assumptions which are kittles better than the dark. V Again, if r an arbitration court could have these investigations made it could in many cases shape its awards far more justly and satisfactorily than it does ,at present. For, it must be remembered, that the Court has not now the power or the machinery for such investigations. Labour, too, could thus learn definitely and reliably the real causes of its disappointments and its injustices. The board must be as independent as we can make it, and should be elected for a term of years. I need scarcely multiply possible advantages.' A Concrete Illustration. But let me add another concrete case. The- iron founders, for example, of New Zealand say that their industry is languishing, that they cannot pay fair wages or

work full time unless the tariff gives them more protection. What at present is Parliament to do! It should not take the necessarily interested statements of ;'k. : the ironfoimders themselves, an expert inquiry is necessary to decide :■— (a) Should that industry be encouraged in the- interests of the community; (b) is the present duty sufficient; (c) would an increase be fair to the people as a whole? The facts involved in each of these questions could be properly ascertained by such a board as 1 have outlined, and then Parliament could decide what should be done. This applies not only to all divisions of the tariff, but to all the other questions 1 have previously stated. I repeat then that the great need of the hour in seeking the solution of great pressing social questions is information reliable and definite. The facts found, the truth seen and declared, remedies would be infinitely easier and loss a guesswork. These proposals have not been considered by the Government, and I do not expect that, consideration this year. The Royal Commission, however, which is to bo set up to investigate the problem of the cost of living, cognate matters, may pave the way to the end 1 have, outlined.