CONCILIATION.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4425, 3 August 1901, Page 4

CONCILIATION.

Does conciliation conciliate P That [|a the great question with tbe conciliation department of the famous Indus* trial statute which is getting daily to be more in evidence in- this country. The Premier touched it sharply in hie reply to the member for Bruce in thn House of Representatives the other af* ternoon. The Boards, ho said sharply, are sitting too much; possibly, he add« ed, they were riding the whole thing to death. He went on to say that many] people were drawing to the opinion that the .remedy would be loss Board and more Court. Now, it would certainly be very well if there were less Board and more Court. The whirligig of time has brought it about that the Court, which was only to enjoy a shadowy existence as the power to ho invoked in the last resort, is likely to get the whol a of the work to do. When they began life, the Boards did very good work, threshing out questions, throwing light on dark places, bringing together the two parties to knotty questions, and making them understand one another. They did more; they brought a number of men out of the ranks of labour who impressed all by their moderation, good oense, and grasp of practical ques* tions. But as they grew older and sur. veyed their growing work,, the Boards began to be assertive, and by degrees their advice was shunned and the Court got mere work to do. So greatly has this state of things grown, that the Premier has to publicly express his disappointment that the Court has now become a thing of delays. The need for uniform decisions prevents the ape pointmont of another or mere Judges. It is not very clear what is the best thing to do. What is clear is that something must be done to prevent the work going on piling up and giving colour to the accusation of the enemy that the labour market is in a state of unrest. In this emergency it will be advisable for the Conciliation Boards to mend their procedure. If they do not, the Legislature will have to end them. The paramount necessity is to maintain the principle cf arbitration in industrial disputes, with the compelling power of the Supremo Court behind the decisions; but there must be an end of the interminable and annoying methods of the sadlyi misnamed Boards of Conciliation, The situation as between employers and employed at present is remiiV.cent of that “charming pisantry” who were whimsically dee scribed a century ago as “fighting like devils for conciliation.”