ARBITRATION COURT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18348, 12 September 1921, Page 6

ARBITRATION COURT

THE VACANT LABOUR SEAT. MR REARDON SEEKS NOMINATION. (From Our Own Correspondent.) CHRISTCHURCH, September 10. A striking development has occurred in the situation arising out of Mr J. A. Ai’Cullougli s resignation irorn the post ot workers’ representative on the Arbitration Court bench, by reason of the root that Mr M. J Kearuon seeks ■ nomination to the vacancy. Mr iVl’Cuhough reiterates that nothmg will induce ihim to resume the oltico which he lias vacated. The recent conference ot the Alliance of .Labour in Wellington, at which all the industrial unions in Now Zealand had an opportunity of being represented, has recommended all the unions to nominate no one to succeed Mr M’Cullough. Now Mr Reardon, who has bee i Mr ivi’OuHough’s deputy since 1916, has circularised all the unions asking them to nominate him for the vacancy.' "X realise, ■’ says Mr Reardon, “that there are strenuous times ahead ot the workers, but I can only promise that I shall strive to bo worthy of the position if I am nominated.’’

Mr Reardon’s announcement (says the Sun) ’comes- as a great surprise to the Labour officials, because it was understood that he was considering the difficult question whether ho should obey the summons of the court to take Mr M’Cullough’s place upon the bench for the remainder ot the latter’s term—some 18 months. The decision of the recent conference, which Mr Reardon, is co.isidered to have completely disregarded, has been endorsed by meetings of union representatives in both Auckland .and Christchurch. The conference was an open one. In other words it was not confined to the eight large organisations comprising the Alliance of Labour and representing the railway servants (the A.S.R.S.), the waterside workers, the seamen, the miners, the drivers, the tramwaymen, the engineers, and the freezing workers. All the unions in the country were invited to send representatives, but it appears that a large number of the smaller unions were content to bo represented by the delegates from their respective Trades and Labour Councils.

One feature of tho system by whidh candidates arc nominated for the Arbitration Court bench is that the consent of the nominee has not first to be obtained. In these circumstances it isrf thought likely that a large number of unions will nominate Mr M’Cullough in spite of his protests. Some local Labour men are of. opinion that if this occurs Mr M'Cullough is not unlikely to sink his personal feelings and agree to sit again, if tho Governor-General invites him to do so. Whether Mr Reardon’s new move may lead to a serious division in the Labour ranks cannot yet bo predicted, but it is obvious that he is asking the unions to set aside the decisions of a conference which in theory at any rate was representative of organisations both inside and outside of the Alliance of Labour, although it was called together for another purpose than to consider the emergency which had arisen

THE ALLIANCE RESOLUTION. STATEMENT BY MR ROBERTS. (Peh United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, September 11, Some misapprehension appears to have been created over the wording of the resolution passed by the recent c'onferencc of trades union representatives regarding the position of the workers’ representative on the Arbitration Court rendered vacant by the resignation of Mr M'Cullough. The resolution stated: “That this conference requests the deputy representative of Labour on tihe court not to occupy the position vacated by Mr M'Cullough, and recommends organised Labour not to nominate any other person as the representative of the workers on the Arbitration Court.” On being asked to moke a statement on the subject, Mr J. Roberts (secretary _of the Alliance of Labour) said the resolution asked the workers not to nominate “any other person” for the position. It did not prevent them from re-nominating Mr M'Ouilough, who had resigned. “As a matter of fact,” said Mr Roberts, “the conference was unanimously in favour of Mr M'Cullough being re-nominated. There is no doubt about that whatever. Tho Alliance of Labour is also_ in favour of Mr M'Cullough’s re-nomination. All the telegrams received since the passing of the resolution are in favour of his re-nomina-tion.” THE ARBITRATION ACT CRISIS. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —As the representative of the sheepowners before the Arbitration Court in tho recent shearers and shed hands’ dispute, I wish to express my surprise at the reasons given by Mr M'Cullough for his action in resigning his position on account of the recent judgment of the Arbitration Court in connection with this dispute. It must bo admitted by any fair-minded person that Mr M'Cullough can have no genuine grounds for stating that the court has gone back on its stabilising scheme in any way. It must be obvious that this could only apply to an industry where the extra price paid for labour could be added to the price of the article produced by that labour. The primary producer is not in the position to do this, and it would bo manifestly unfair to fix a standard rate' for labour unless a standard price can also be guaranteed for the product of that labour sufficient to cover the cost of production. The court stated in plain language that it laid this principle of stabilisation down as a guide to parties coming before it, and that it would not depart from the pronouncement unless “ extraordinary circumstances” were shown. <f>

If there have ever been “extraordinary circumstances ” in the industrial history of this dominion, they are surely with us now in connection with the wool industry. In fact, they must be self-evident to ail, and more especially to Mr M'Cullough himself. who by virtue- of his position on the court has had access to figures ami information which must demonstrate to the meanest intelligence that the time has emphatically come when a substantial reduction must take place in the working expenses attached .to the sheep-farming industry, if those immediately connected with it are to survive. Mr M'Oullough’s reference to wool values suggests wilful blindness to the actual position. Mr M'Cullough denies that there are anv extraordinary ” circumstances. Well, that, of course, may be his opinion, although it is difficult to see how that opinion could be arrived at by him, but what have those connected with the industry to say? A novice in industrial matters must know that the bottom has dropped out of this industry, and that in consequence employers are being ruined and workers thrown out of employment. It is incomprehensible to mo how Mr M'Collough can deny the position, and it compels one to ask whether there is not some other cause behind his resignation ; especially as since the pronouncement where “ extraordinary circumstances meant increased wages he' had no grievance.” It is equally strange that MrM'Oullough, after having sat for so many years on the Arbitration Court, where ho was placed by the great body of workers who have stood by the Act, should have felt it incumbent upon himself to state his reasons for his action in the first place to the Alliance of Labour, a. body quite outside the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. I have always understood that Mr M'Cullough stood last Tor conciliation and.arbitration, and was a believer in the ’Act ho assisted to administer.

In the circumstances it appears as if those bodies of workers who appointed him have been misled. ■ If the workers of New Zealand wish to bring about industrial chaos with reduced wages t all the easiest and surest way to go about it is to follow the lead of Mr M'Cullough and rely upon the Alliance of Labour and its determination to wipe out the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. The employers, I feel sure, will not stand in their way. Mr M'Cullough has for years sat on the court and drawn his good salary whilst wages were rising, and now that the tide has apparently turned he throws his arms up and goes under, leaving some comrade to take his place under the altered circumstances. f trust his nominees will appreciate his action. As far as shearers and shed hands are concerned, however, I do not admit that the tide has turned to their detriment. The shearers tinder the new conditions are still in a position to earn a good living. They are ns well off now as they were in December of last year. The big drop in the cost of living, which has taken place since that time, and which will be still more favourable by December of this year, makes it highly probable that the purchasing power of their money will he quite as high, and will go as far, if not further, than the wages of last season did. Will the shearers please note this? The workers who have not had their wages reduced are already in an exceptional Iv good and improving position and have the court to thank for it. I am of opinion that the person who discredits

For Bronchial Couchs tako Woods' Great Peppermint Cure.—Advt.

the court nnd thus risks its existence is more a friend of the employer than the worker.

If the workers think they 'can do better without the Arbitration Court, then of course they have every right to work for its abolition, but this does not explain how Mr M'Cullough, who represents labour on the Arbitration Court, and was voted there by industrial unionists, should report this extraordinary action in the first place to the Alliance of Labour, whose avowed object is to destroy the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, and. as a natural sequence, the court also.—l am, etc., W. 11. Nicholson, a Secretary New Zealand Shcepowners’ and Fanners’ Federation. Christchurch, September 9.