THE IMPARTIAL CONCILIATOR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13893, 3 May 1907, Page 4

THE IMPARTIAL CONCILIATOR.

The fact' that the Conciliation Boards liavo failed to serve the purpose for which they were established has been tho subject of prolific comment, and the reasons why tho Boards havo sunk to so inconspicuous and indefinite a place in the scheme for the State settlement of industrial disputes have been well ventilated. The majority of tho Conciliation Boards of the colony Jiave not been criticised advorsely without reason. Tho members composing tho Boards have, as experience has shown, not been always actuated by those high principles adherenco to which alone could maintain tho status of these tribunals, and the not ungrounded accusation that certain members, when business was slack and fees not abundant,, have actually helped to stir up. the unions to bring along disputes with a view to giving the Conciliation Boards something to do, has been far from elevating. Little wonder that the Boards have shrunk in importance and usefulness. A small element of consolation is perhaps found in 'the f.ct that the Dunedin Board has received general credit for its work. But the restoration of the Conciliation Boards to a more assured and satisfactory place in tho scheme for the settlement' of industrial disputes is Hardly likely to bo expedited by what has just transpired at the meeting of the Wellington Board to hear a dispute in the timber workers' trade. The extraordinary conception which one of the members of the Wellington Board appears to havo of his duties in that capacity affords food for serious contemplation, though tho situation has tven a humorous side. A few days ago the Taranaki newspapers told how Mr Andrew Collins, a member of the Wellington Board, had been visiting that district trying, according to ono correspondent, " to bring tho wage-slaves of the dairy companies to a sense of their lost opportunities.'' In other words, Sir Collins had evidently been combining the role of conciliator and agitator. Naturally Mr Collins has been the subject of a deal of hostile criticism since this light was shed upon his combination of avocations, and it appears to have been all deserved. And further celebrity or notoriety is falling to Mr Collins, inasmuch as it turns out that it was actually he, a member of the Board, who signed the application for the reference of the timber workers' dispute to the Board in the capacity of secretary to the Timber Workers' Union. Comment is almost superfluous. It should be evident, however, that to whatever heights Mr Collins may attain in the future it will not bo as a member of a Con-

ciliation Board that he will achieve his greatest usefulness. Ho will no doubt find it necessary to abandon his present dual career willy nilly, for certainly his presence on the Wellington Board is not likely to increase- • tho confidence of the employers in that body or increase the business coming before it. It may be, as the chairman of the Hoard suggested, that the matter is one for the Legislature to deal with, but the average citizen will have no difficulty in coming to a conclusion as to tho value of tho impartiality of Mr Collins, and the courso which that gentleman should adopt is obvious. It is regrettable that ho did not tako it ere this.