THE ARBITRATION ACT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20989, 28 September 1931, Page 6

THE ARBITRATION ACT.

CONDITIONS UNDER AWARDS.

SUGGESTION OF\ REVISION

[BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER.] WELLINGTON, Saturday. Among the first things Parliament will be called upon to handle when the House '

of Representatives settles to business after the short adjournment is a revision of the existing working conditions under the Arbitration Court, to which the new Minister of Labour, the Hon. A. Hamilton, is understood to be applying himself assiduously between interviews with departmental heads and frequent meetings of the Cabinet. A bill embracing the intentions of the new Government will probably be a most contentious one and it is not likely to have a smooth passage through the House, as it is believed its provisions will involve disagreeable alterations to the Industrial .Conciliation and Arbitration Act.

Insistent requests have been made by various sections of the community for the removal of some of the irksome restricttions in existing awards, which are held to be influential in retarding industrial recovery. The representatives of farmers in the House have from time to lime pressed for the abolition of award conditions as they affect primary producers and some secondary industries have advanced the claim that their overhead costs are being held at an unduly high level by Court awards. An extraordinarily large surplus of labour at present has strengthened the opinion that if any adjustment is desirable in the operation of awards, aow is the time to have it made.-