MASSEY CHECKMATED

NZ Truth, Issue 540, 23 October 1915, Page 7

MASSEY CHECKMATED

PERFORATING THE FACTORIES ACT

LABOR LEGISLATORS BAIL BILL UP

1 How "Square Deal" Hits Back

Something over two months ago "Truth" reported an interview -which delegates from the various Waterside "Workers* Unions of the Dominion, had with the Hon. Mr. Massey on the question of alleged victimisation along the waterfront, particularly at Auckland and Greymouth. The Premier gave the deputation a patient hearing and intimated at the close that he felt convinced thin pa were not what they ought to be on the wharves of tbe ports specified. He Bald that he would confer .with the President of the Arbitration Court, and if Judge Stringer, thought it advisable he would get Mr. Rowley, of the Labor Department, to draft a short bill of one or two clauses which would remove the Injustice that he was convinced, from the evidence which the dejmtatipn had placed before him, the men- Wer» ; suffering under, on whose behalf they had made their appeal. On the_ Order Paper far Friday, the Bth Inst., there appeared the name' of a bill seeking to amend, the Conciliation and Arbitration Act. This bill etood la the naihe of Mr. Massey and was, the result of HIS CONi^BRIL'NCE WlTk JUDGE STRINGER and the drafting skill of Mr. Rowley, Secretary to the Labor Department! As the bill was expected to be reached j during the evening sitting, the Secre- I tary of the Wellington Waterside ! Workers' Union and several other prominent personages la Labor circles were present. Rut The best laid schemes o' mice an' ' men ! Gang aft agley; and the passing of this long-overdue measure was destined not to prove the exception. i, 1 Before the bill referred to could be reached, the Habuse was first called I upon to dispose of a Factories Act ( Amendment Bill! (No. 2). Thiß bill j consisted of ; two^clauses only, and was j introduced by the Premier. Just prior: to the dinner adjournment. Wfty WII- ! Ham moved the bill m an off-hand j careless fashion as if it was of no great importance to anybody and he was sort of APOLOGISING FOR TROUBLING the'haouse' with the worthless little waif at all. At first It almost! seemed as if the bill would go through without discussion, : but the plausiblti Premier, after hay- j ing said his say, saw fit to start again, ; and something 1 h<£ said stirred the errey 1 matter m. Jlmmj* MeCombs's and Alf. j Hindmarsh's omniums, and ho these ' members took H into their nappers to put a few pertinent queries to the! sponser of the new measure. Instead) of answering the Labor men's questions In his usualj cool manner, the Premier betrayed his concern by allowing considerable asperity to creep into his replies, This thoroughly roused Hindmarsh and so ho demanded to know why the bUJ^had not been sent to the Labor Bills Committee, as was the custora with all sue)) measures. By the time I^inamarsh had done worrying wily Lyttelton's j light-weight took it into his head that he had another crow to pick with tho Premier over; his demure, diminutive but dubious little amending measure, and he talked at the Premier until the dinner- adjournment was $announced. During tho smoke-oh several members looked more closely into what It wad that the innocent looking meaeure was supposed to do. and they soon convinced themselves that they had narrowly escaped having allowed a, MOST DANGEROUS AND REACTIONARY MEASURE to find itn way on to the Statute Book. Tho unofficial Opposition then arrayed its forcew nnd ttjrie word was passed round thnt all constitutional means were to be* used to dolay, if not to block, the bill. Wbon tho Haou.se resumed we had an effective speech from McCombßj then vVobb nnd WHloru and Dr. Thacker atfdpd weight as well na worth to the arguments against the measure becoming law. But certainly the • honors He with Mr. Hindmarsh. Alf. excelled himself, .and the manner m which he made Massey rear and roar showed^ that he had got the Tory leader on tho raw. Mr. . Massey seeing he had "bought tho rabbit." rose and most petulantly threatened to withdraw the Arbitration Amendment Bill standing' In his name, further down tho Order paper, )f his Wipe Mantling- ! wasn't allowed to go through without any further spanking. Hero again wo got a glimpse of Tory ethics— give nothing oxcopt for v quid pro quo. It wuh nothing to Massey that those responsible for the blocking of his fond- ( ling hud nothing whatever to do with j tiim or hiH prumlsKo to bring down the j oih«*r bill. That promise hud been j mado unconditionally, and because, as ho Hal (1 nl tho time: ho wan convinced j that Urn mon hud a »rt>nuin»> nrii>Viinot>. j Tiiwie ihing« wore as nothing to Bucclio Hill now h« wan baulked. After a few more speeches ho Intimated that he woufd do n» the I^abor members de-sired—-send tho bill to the Labor Bills Committee, which moan't the shelving of the measure for another year.

Now, when John Payne Introduced his Amendment tin Hip Factories Act whk'h nought to allow female workers to work t'lfjht und thn-e-quartor hourH four day« a \v«wk and nine hour* on om« liny, ia or dor that ihoy ml^hi huv<|bo Hnl^rdny. not i\# it half, >»wl ntf v Whole holiday. Premier Massey made a parurtn of litn concern for the inU'rekt of tlu< workem, especially I; lv* ftMiiaW* workers. Ho declared that it would ha a danger-

ous experiment to interfere with the eight-hour day principle at all, but worst of all were it interfered with m order to allow women and girls to work for more than that number of hours per | day. And John Payne's bill had the support of all the Labor members bar one-7-and that one doesn't count except m a division! John Payne's bill only sought to permit the slight departure from the eight-hour day principle where employees and employers were agreeable. Yet here was the Hon. Massey, the Chief Minister of the Crown m God's Own, literally RAMPAGING, "RED WET SHOD," because the whole of the Labor members dared to oppose a bill, which was admittedly introduced for the pecuniary benefit of a particular company, and sought to set aside the provisions contained m section twenty-two of the Factories Act dealing with the limitation, ot overtime, so that this particular company might work women and girls and boys, not three-quarters of an hour extra on four days a week, but three and a quarter hours extra, and likewise rob them of their Saturday half -holiday arid Sundays for the four summer months of the year! And because the I^abor members, backed by Wilford, Thacker and several others, strenuously stone-walled m order to defeat the Square Deal's dastardly endeavor, Mr. Massey thought to hit the the workers' champions where they live, by threatening to withdraw the Anti -Victimisation Bill, which ho had definitely promised to the waterside workers of New Zealand. As already stated the result was that what wo might call the Condensed Milk Manufacturers' Excessive Overtime Enabling Bill fake was flummoxed, the Premier saying he would send it, and the VICTIMISATION PREVENTION BILL. to the Labor Bills Committee. From tho castigation ho received m reply to his Hi -timed, ill-natured threat it was the common talk of the lobby that he would not withdraw the latter, and ; this conviction was strengthened when j it was observed that tho anti-victim- j isation measure was still on the order paper on Monday. This caused the Labor men and the unofficial Opposition generally to rejoice, for whatever j tho final fate of the measure, they were j sure of an opportunity of getting m some telling work from ttye Labor and Radical point of view, and each one bejgan to think that after all Jiig i Bill's bark was worse than his bite. But magnanimity m Massey were mis- j placed. The purpose and point of the Bill's presence on tho order paper was that he might tho more pointedly punish Labor for its pugnacity of the pre- j vlous Friday. And, worse still, tho j weapon with which he was to deal the j blow was one placed m his hands by j those who have hitherto been looked I upon as tho friends of Labor, some of | them paid officials of Trades Unions. | "When the Bill was reached . on the Order Paper, the Labor and Radical benches were eagerly expectant and ready, tho occupants thought, for any attack, When the Premier rose, however, instead of moving tho Bill, he intimated its withdrawal and that as it was a contentious measure, GIVING SATISFACTION TO s NEITHER SIDE. he had decided to delay it till next session, so that it might go before the LabQr Billa Committee and evidence for and against be heard thereat, On the Labor members interjecting that tno Bill was accoptablo to them, Mr. j Massey said he had , received a comI municatlon from tho Auckland Water- ; side Workers' Uriion—a union of twelve hundred men — which said that I the members of that union hud no ! fault to find with tho present procedure of obtaining employment on the wharves. Then there was a long telegram which had been received by Mr. Iwuroru, signou by many Auckland Labor leaders, objecting to the Bill bepoming law. The I^abor members were astounded, the friends of the wharf I laborers m tho public gulleries wore shocked, and the names of these precious leaders eagerly called for. Here is tho telegram referred to with the nanuiß of tho senders attached: — We, tho undersigned representatives of liabor, strongly protest 1 against latest proposed alterations i m Bill, relating to workers' appeal ' ngainst exclusion from union. .«'roposftla to great extent completely nullify tbe remedy sought for tho I abuses which have arisen. Result will be that worker of good character m any industry is liable to j bo prohibited from following hl» ' 1 daily calling, because- his views I I may not exactly coincide with those ! of executive. Proposals placo a premium on narrow-minded and captious oomtnltttV's of nu\na&cI moitt. Hotnomber that rvc-try award CONTAINING A PREFERENCE ULAl'Stt \ makes provision for admitting all persons who are of good character, and why not apply this provision to all Industrial ann'omcnis? — M. J. Savage, R Photon. T. Cain, T. Low?. W. E, Rlcharrtß. J. F. Catloy, U. Martin, H. Carter. J. K. Kneon, A.tßoHser. T. McLaughlln. W. Manson T. Bloodworth, .1. W. MortenBen, 11. U KorniiiK. 0. Puvle. Wrtly the way U> boll \n \>nv<<\ with good Intcntionw. No doubt tho MtitnatorloH to the übovc.*coinmuHU".tlton iu*tcd In good fiitth uiul with tho btHt intiwtloMH. .Still, it docß seem n little precipitate on their part to Interfere

m connection with a Bill, the provisions of which it is doubtful if any one of them was familiar with at the time [the con'dernnatory wire was sent. The contention contained m the concluding clause of their wire is perfectly sound, but tho Amending Act would not have affected that adversely, while, at the same time it would have given the presently victimised waterside workers the redress long sought for. It is doubtful if Mr. Massey, despite his peevish threat, would have had the courage to withdraw the Bill had not the above telegram come to hand. If was known that he was looking for a way of escape. The above communication provided him with an open door and he took the means of "getting out." While "Truth" does not say that the declaration of the Auckland Labor leaders is without virtue altogether, IT WAS MOST ILL-TIMED, i as it was also the most blundering: of I tactics to keep back their conclusions 1 till the Parliamentary session literally ! had the death rattle m its throat, instead of getting m early witb a communication to the Labor members so that their objections might have been sifted, and if found sound, an alteration sought m the clauses of the Bill to obviate tbe dangers pointed out. j As an evidence that the victimisation is very real, and the need of redress most urgent, "Truth" prints the following letter, as one among many which have been received from time to time by the Secretary of the Wellington Waterside Workers: I am one of the members of the Greymouth Old Wharf Laborers' Union, and as I can see no chance of being admitted to the new union, could you kindly let me know if you think I could make a living on the Wellington waterfront? I am a widower with two young children and was formerly, some five years • ago, a member of your union. And this at a time when the workers I are flocking m thoir thousands to do or die for the Empire— that Empire, the j deny their fellow-workers the Right ! to Work, which Is also the Right to I Live! I