The Otago Daily Times. SATURDAY, MAY 14, 1898.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11113, 14 May 1898, Page 4

The Otago Daily Times. SATURDAY, MAY 14, 1898.

It is sincerely to be. hoped that the working of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act •will not be made a question of angry polemics. For our own part, we may claim to have regarded the subject frerii.-the.. first ••'in a non-party light. Many of Mr Eeetes's legislative proposals Avere, in our opinion, unsound in principle and crude in detail; but in this matter of the settlement of industrial disputes the ex-Minister for Labour did himself reasonable . justice. "We recognised the honesty of his intention; we gave a general support to his proposals; and we have watched the operation of the Act with an interest at once sympathetic and duly critical. The exis-, tence of certain weaknesses has been clearly shown, and the Act may still, no doubt, be said to be on its trial; but we are quite unable to endorse that verdict of failure which some critics pronounce so decisively and, as it seems to us, so ' prematurely. We spoke just now of polemical bitterness, and something of this is to be traced, unless we err, in the criticisms of Messrs Alms ' and Ewington which have recently been engaging Mr Beeves's attention. The tone adopted is lacking in that Sis- { pa3sionateness which the subject de- j mands, and.in this respect, at all events, the Agent-general appears to better advantage than his opponents. It will be said that the Minister for Labour of 1894 | did not speak. in such a judicial strain j as does the Agent-general of 1898; J but it is fair to remember that even in 1894- Mr .Reeves made no pretence of having produced a perfect measure. jSo far from claiming that he had finally solved one of the most difficult of contemporary problems, he distinctly warned Parliament that the Act would, probably require to be amended .again j and again. He now frankly admits that the Act is still on its trial, and there is every reason to believe that he ;. recognises the weaknesses which have 1 manifested themselves- in its working.

We certainly think that, when speaking or writing on the subject in England, he should mention these weakly nesses, —giving his ideas as to the best , means of: removing them. We are not inclined to uphold the . notion that an Agent-general must always emphasise the favourable points in his colony's institutions and legislation and avoid mention of all that tells the other way. It is right to observe, however, that Mr Reeves's s lecture, as well as his article in the " National Review," were prior in date to the serious manifestation oE some of the weak points to which reference lias been made; For instance, it cannot be ! said that the frequency of industrial s disputes before the courts and boards assumed the dimensions of a, public , nuisance until the early part of the i present year. j After examining the different deli- j verances in the cpntroversy' we are I constrained to say that, on the whole, ! Messrs Aims and Ewington have the worst of the case,in argument as well j as in manner. The Agent-general, in j | a: letter to The Times, deals with Mr j Ai/dis with considerable effect, both as regards general remarks and specific allegations; while Mr Ewington's onslaught is still more severely and successfully treated in ,an article in •" The Critic" of March 26. To take an instance: Mr Ewlngtow had said:—" Since the Act was passed (in 1894) 111 local industries have been entirely closed, 2491 fewer work-people are employed in the remaining industries, and ,£302,267 loss yearly wages are paid." Now, the writer in " The Critic " has no difficulty in showing the unfairness, not to say the disingenuousness, of J ! the suggested inference. Mr Ewiitgxo'N' confuses post liog with propler hoc— " since the Act was passed" with " because the Act was passed." The failure of the hemp industry, ' not the passing of the 1894 Act, was responsible for the state of matters which he. indicates. "As the first case | under the Arbitration Act was riot j heard until early in 1896, it is clear that the Act had nothing whatever j to do with a decline in flax exports from 12,587 tons in 1893, valued at ■£219,375; to 1806 tons in 1895, valued at £21,040." The Agent-general; too, catches Mr Alms tripping more than once. The fact is, as it seems to us, that while the general trend of the so-called "Liberal" policy has injured the reputation and well-being of the colony, and while specific damage has been done by certain Acts of Parliament, it cannot be even, plausibly urged' that the effect of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act has, so far, been injurious or damaging. It may be true, as Mr E-wtsgton1 declares, that "the Act, originated in a time of political turbulence," but we believe that the motive: of its author or authors was honest, and that its main tendency is, and must be,' towards peace and reasonable industrial conditions. . ; But the, obvious weaknesses must not be forgotten. In an article on January 28 we dealt wjth the comparative failure of the Boards of Conciliation, and conditions have not subsequently improved. We attributed the failure, in a large measure, to the absence of a central body representing the whole bf the employers '(with affiliated sub-com-mittees representing the various trades),' and—at all events so far as Duhedin was concerned—to the'refusal of the employers to neminate representatives to; the Board of Conciliation. .-If employer^' cases have- not usually shown to much advantage before the board, the employers themselves .are' largely to blame for thi3,—as also for the fact that the, decisions of the board carry little weight. This weakness as' regards the Conciliation Boards, together with the undue frequency of references, will certainly have to receive the attention of the Legislature. It is often urged (arid rightly) that in cases where both parties wish to go direct to the, Arbitration Court this course should be adopted; and we .may point out that -the, Act practically m akes the necessary provision, Sub-section 2 of clause 45 pro* vides that any board may "refer any matter before them to be settled by; tlie courk" We take it that no board would, under ordinary circumstances, refuse ..the wish of both parties for an immediate reference to the court. As regards the frequency of references, it is sincerely to be trusted that the industrial unions will act with wisdom and reasonableness, and so help to win for the Act—and for themselves—-the continued respect of the colony. Par- j liament may perhaps be called : upon j to take some action in the matter.' More' than one 'suggestion; has', been i made as to the possibility of" modify-' ing ~tbe initiative power of the unions without: impairing the intention and eiiect of the. Act; but. the matter is not an easy one. There is no; reason, however, why the unions and the Labour party should not discuss such a possibility in a reasonable spirit, and, as a matter of fact, there will have to be a considerable amount of give and > take before this legislation approaches perfection. We finish as we began, by saying that the question ought to be discussed without partisan feeling of any kind—whether political or social.

II lII— I Theee is no one in the city who has the least regard for its welfare but will deeply regret the trouble which has overtaken the Harbour .Board as the immediate result o£ the sinking of the Laira by the s.s. Wakatipu. We'have, already expressed our opinion that on the evidence presented to it the court which sat to inquire into the cause of the accident delivered a sound and equitable judgment when it exonerated Captain Smith from blame and returned his certificate. If; is, no doubt natural that to the board and its officials the court's decision is extremely distasteful, and we are disposed to make full allowance for any feeling of chagrin that may have arisen. .We venture to say, however, that there are few people in the community who will approve of the harbourmaster's method of dealing with the position. His attempt to set at nought and practically. over-, ride the decision of the court, as disclosed in the letter he wrote, to the board recommending the suspension of Captain Smith's pilotage exemption | certificate for 12 months, was most ! improper, and we are surprised that any member of the board should have | attempted to justify the action of their official. The board may be able to present : more convincing evidence when the case ' between the Union Shipping Company and itself comes before the law courtß, j (as it apparently will do ; but with the | : facts at present before the public and on which the Court oP Inquiry adjudicated, there would have bmi no jn.si.i-, iication for such arbitrary and impolitic

action as that suggested by the harbourmaster. We do not think the matter calls for further discussion at present. The chairman put the case very sensibly when referring to the unfortunate selection of Captain Boyd to act as nautical assessor, and the only thing that is now left to the board to do is to see that it presents a very much stronger case—if it is possible for ! it to do so—when it appears before the j ! court as plaintiff or defendant in any j case that may arise out of the unfor-1 I tunate collision.