COMPULSORY ARBITRATION IN NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1716, 18 January 1905, Page 27

COMPULSORY ARBITRATION IN NEW ZEALAND.

INTERVIEW WITH THE HON. W. P.

REEVES

(W, F. Black in “Labour Leader.”)

A recently-issued report of Secretary Tregear, of the New Zealand Department of Labour, has been extensively quoted and ha© excited a great deal of comment. Not only so, it was used by a section of the press as a weapon wherewith to attack the Industrial Conciliation and of New Zealand. Secretary Tregear's remarks were interpreted to mean that the Act was the immediate cause of increased rents and higher-priced commodities. The point of Mr Tregear’s report may be summed up in the following quotation: “Such effects —i.e., the general benefits or the operation of the Arbitration Act—are, however, becoming neutralised. Some of the necessaries of life cost more than in former years; their price is rapidly advancing, and this out of all proportion to the rise in wages of producers. Of course, the rise in wages given by the Arbitration Court to certain classes of workers is asserted by some to be the reason for the increased cost of articles and services, but this argument runs in a vicious circle, for it is the increased cost of necessaries which has caused the higher wages. The fact is, there is a third hand in the game beside© the employer and employee, and it is this third man, the non-producing ground landlord of city and suburban property, who alone will rise a winner in the end."

In order to get an authorative opinion on the matter a representative of the “Leader" waited on the Hon. W. P. Reeves, Agent-General for New Zealand, and had a conversation with him on the reception accorded to the report in Britain. Mr Reeves received the “Leader” man with great cordiality, and talked freely on the subject ot Mr Tregear’s report. He denied that the secretary’s words bore the construction placed upon them by a section of the press. The process going on in Wellington, continued Mr Reeves, which is an entirely natural one, is the result of ten years of excellent trade, and the very rapid increase of population which has taken place in the town. Owing to the lie of the land on which Wellington is built, which sists of narrow strips, shut in by hills, the growth of the town has been confined to a somewhat restricted area, and in consequence rents have risen very considerably. Now, however, electrio tramways aire being constructed, and the congestion of the town will be relieved to a great extent by carrying the people to the outskirts, where the ground landlord i 3 as yet not so much in evidence. “Then the conditions bo which Mr Tregear refers have no connection with the Compulsory Arbitration Act?"

“None whatever. The rise in rents and the enhanced price of commodities are entirely due to the general prosperity and the rapid growth of the town. We may regret the increase of rents, and the higher price of the necessaries of life, but Wellington is not alone in this respect. The process is going on, not only in New Zealand, but wherever

there is a crowded population and trade is brisk. There are certain olasses of people, and certain writers in New Zealand who do not like the Arbitration Act, and they naturally have blamed it for many things. But I can assure you that the Act has had little to do as an Act with the higher rents and prices. Besides, it must be borne in mind thkt Mr Tregear singles out Wellington for its increased rents, while the Act applies, of course, to the whole of New Zealand. Wellington Je the fourth largest town in the colony." “But the phrase in the report, The work of the Court is being neutralised by malignant collateral action,’ seemed to bear that interpretation." “No; I think not. Mr Tregear is speaking in the general sense. He is expressing the opinion that the landlord class is taking more han its fair share out of the generail prosperity of the community. Wliat the Arbitration Act has dorm in this period of prosperity during which trade has been booming, and wages have risen considerably, has been to save the community an enormous sum by avoiding those strikes and trade disputes which always accompany a period of brisk trade, and which are so costly both to the employers and the workers. I do not claim that the Arbitration Act has been the primary cause of the rise in wages. What I think it has done has been to secure a more equitable and a more gradual advance in remuneration of labour. It has acted as a steadying force. It has raised the whole standard of industrial life in New Zealand. It has enabled all the workers in a given trade to participate in the prosperity of that trade. It has helped more especially the women workers and young people as well as the great mass of the unskilled and the unorganised to get a share of the rise in wages."

“Has the Act done away with strikes altogether ?’’ “There has not been a strike or lockout worthy of the name in Now Zealand for ten years —since, indeed, the Act was Ttassed. These years, as I have said, have been distinguished by rising markets and general prosperity. Wages had fallen unusually low after a long spell of bad times, and the boom when it came was long continued, and an exceptionally brisk one. The Arbitration Act undoubtedly saved the community from the inevitable series of strikes which invariably accompany such a condition of things. After some little friction, which was inevitable owing to the altogether new and strange circumstances, was overcome, the Act was recognised as a good thing and gladly-re-sorted to. I do not claim that it is perfect. As the author of the Arbitration Act, I have never that it was a sort of philosopher’s stone, or that it woTild be a panacea for all the social ills. But I maintain that it has steadied industrial conditions, and improved them very considerably, especially in the case of the poorest worker. This class is now taken into consideration, as workers, iu a way to which they were never accustomed before. The Act has virtually abolished sweating." “Are you satisfied with the progress that arbitration is making in Britain?" “I know that a majority of the organised workers here are still opposed to the idea of compulsory arbitration in trade disputes. I am content to let time work the cure in this matter, believing that when the beneficent effects of the Act in New Zealand become known, and have had time to percolate into the minds of the workers here, they will recognise its value. The Act must stand or fall on its own merits, and I am satisfied that experience will prove the best teacher in this respect. I think, however, the Trade Unions are wise to keep, the weapon of the strike in reserve under the present industrial conditions. Such decisions ae the Taff Vale and others recently given in your law courts do not at all help the progress of the arbitrar tion idea."

“You hold, of course, that the principle can be applied universally?" “Certainly. Just as peace is better than war, and the arbitrament of reason preferable to the unreasoning and barbarous method of the' strike. Compulsory arbitration is The Hague Tribunal of the industrial world. It is a matter of education, 'both of the employers and the employed, but of the ultimate triumph of the idea I have no doubt. Arbitration, organisation, and law-mak-ing are, in my opinion, going to be the great solvents oftothe social problem in the future."