THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20318, 28 January 1928, Page 18

THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

NEWS AND NOTES. By J. T. Paul. THE ARBITRATION SYSTEM. During last session of Parliament much interest was evinced in the bill introduced by the Minister of Labour amending the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. The Bill contained some distinct departures from the established system. After the short title was passed the Minister gave a promise that a conference of delegates from employers aD d workers would be convened during the recess to endeavour to effect a workable compromise to put before next session of Parliament. The Alliance of Labour District Council has convened a meeting of executives of the Auckland unions for Thursday next at the Trades Hall, to discuss any amendments . proposed to be submitted in an amending Bill. These decisions in turn, will be laid before a National Conference of trade s unions on February 9 at Wellington, after which the delegates to meet the Government and employers in joint conference will be elected. PLUMBERS AND EMPLOYMENT. There appears to be a diversity of opinion as to whether registered plumbers are plentiful or not, as shown by recent happenings in Wellington (writes “ Industrial Tramp in the Auckland Star). Recently, the authorities instituted proceedings against certain firms in Wellington for employing unregistered plumbers on sanitary work, and these proceedings were held up owing to the employers pleading that they had difficulty in replacing unregistered by registered men. Mr J. Clark, member of the Plumbers’ Board of New Zealand, who is also secretary of the Auckland Plumbers Union was in Wellington at the time, and stated'to the press that there would be no difficulty in sending 20 or 30 reg,J*ored plumbers to Wellington from Auckland to cope with the situation. The secretary of the Wellington Master Plumbers Union immediately wrote to the Auckland Union requesting the names and addresses of 20 or 30 registered plumbers to enable him to “take the necessary steps to get into touch.* * . ‘i. The Auckland Union replied stating its resentment at the “plan for an inquisitorial inquiry into the qualifications ot its members but if the Wellington complaint of scarcity of registered plumbers was . a genuine one a request for Auckland registered men to bo sent would meet with immediate response, provided the ruling Wellington rates were paid, and a guarantee of at least six month’ employment given,” The 'Wellington master plumbers are considering this communication at their next meeting. It is only fair to mention that the Wellington Plumbers’ Union contends that there are 105 registered and 66 unregistered plumbers in Wellington, and 95 per cent, of these, are on its. roll of membership. It also gives the opinion that it had sufficient registered members to do all the sanitary work required in Wellington plumbing. The following figures were also given showing the proportion in other centresAuckland 200 registered, 50 unregistered ; Dunedin 80 registered and 16 unregistered; Christchurch 50 registered and 50 unregistered. Tho plumbers’ unions express their opinion that master plumbers’ are opposed to the registration of competent plumbers, desiring to revert to the position that obtained prior to the passing of the Registration Act of 1913. Be this as it may, last month in Wellington dozens of letters discussing the question were published in the local press, and a deputation from the union interviewed the Mayoron the position. ARBITRATION AND WAGES. We dissent from many of Professor Tocker’s opinions in regard to the Arbitration system and its effects (nays an editorial in the Auckland Star), but we must concern ourselves for the moment only with a single point in his address to the Science Conference at Hobart. “ The disappearance of sweating and the improvement in conditions generally (in New Zealand),” he said, “ was duo to an increase in prosperity rather than to the Arbitration Court.” We may point out that Professor Tockcr is hero in direct opposition to Broadhead, who, in his well-known “ State Regulation of Labour in New Zealand,” says definitely, ‘‘everyone recognises that the (Arbitration) Act has stopped sweating.” This view is supported by W. P. Reeves, who drafted the Act, and in his “ State Experiments ” shows that the original object of the arbitration system was not so much to stop strikes as to prevent sweating. It is curious that Professor Tocker, in criticising arbitration, should ignore such authoritative interpretations of the system as these. THE FALL OF TROTSKY. The expulsion of Trotsky from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (remarks a a English exchange) ma rks the last stage in the fight between the successors of Lenin since the death of the leader of the Communist revolution. For Trotsky it has been a losing fight from the first. His original onslaught against the growth of bureaucracy and the stereotyping of Communist policy was defeated by the combined efforts of the rest of the “Old Guard,” and even when he was Joined by some of the repentant victors the new “ Opposition ” was no majeh for Stalin, who . out-manoeuvred it in a manner worthy of the best traditiqns of the American “ boss.” Tho “ Opposition ” has a strong case, and can state it forcibly but has had no chance against the organised forces of the Government. It failed entirely to capture the party machine, it had little better success in its efforts to capture the. allegiance of individuals, and. though it fought with the courage that is the conspicuous characteristic of Trotsky—the only Bolshevist who never despaired of Bolshevism—the end was never in doubt. Deprived of the magic card of party membership, he will now rank as that in the eyes of the Government if he continues the struggle in the good old underground way, and to-day they make short work of the counter-revolu-tionaries in Russia. WORLD’S OUTPUT OF COAL. Notwithstanding the increased use of tho various substitutes for coal, particularly oil fuel and hydro-electric energy, the world consumption of coal is to day greater than it was in 1913. This is, perhaps, the most conclusive fact that can be staled to expose th«- error ihat the coal mining industry is doomed, Mr Finlay A. Gibson, secretary of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners’ Association, stated recently Even in 1926, when the production in the United Kingdom was reduced by the seven months strike to less than half its norma! quantity, the world production of coal and lignite was greater than in the pre-war year According to the latest available returns, the quantity of coal and lignite produced in 1913 was 1,313,000.000 tons; in 1925, 137,000,000 and in 1926 1,329,000,000. Production m 1927 suffered from the st.-tice in the American coalfields, but it has also been favourably affected by the absence of industrial strike in the United Kingdom and on the Continent, and it is probable that the year’s total production of coal and lignite will create another “ record.” On the basis of the returns published by the League of Nations, it is likely to show an increase over 1926 of over 12,000,000 tons. Mr Gibson added that Britain 6 trouble is that she has not been able to claim her pre-war proportion of the worlds coal output. Taking South Wales, which is tho largest coal exporting district in the country, its output in 1913 was 57,000,000 tons, and its exports 30,000,000 tons of coal. For 1927 the output will probably not exceed 47,000,000 fons and tho exports 22 000,000 tons. Many factors have contributed to this retrogression, but the active factors have keen continual stoppages and threats of stoppages, heavy increases in railway rates and dock charges and in social services, which in the aggregate represent over 3s per ton on tho disposable coal in the South Wales coalfield.