THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22213, 16 March 1934, Page 3

THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

By J. T. Pape.

NEWS AND NOTES

Democracy ... is something greater than a mode of government by mathematics. It is a way of giving to each individual person, as such and because be is such, a voice and an influence in determining the conditions of life in his community. Democracy is not, in its essence (though it is in one of its external forms), a matter of voting.—Professor Ernest Barker, Litt.D,, LL.D.

DOMINION PAINTERS’ DISPUTE. For several months those engaged in the painting industry have been endeavouring to arrive at terms and conditions for carrying it on. Conferences and meetings of the Conciliation Council were held, but a satisfactory basis of agreement was not found. Employers and workers’ unions were both agreed that definite conditions were best for the trade in order that something like fair tendering and fair wages and profits would be made possible. It was eventually unanimously agreed that the whole should be referred to the Arbitration Court for hearing and settlement. In view of the comparatively few disputes covering all points in an industry which now engage the attention of the court the. award in the painters case will be awaited with interest. The hearing of the dispute was commenced beiore tne Arbitration Court at Christchurch yesterday, and the award will be delivered at a later date. APPRENTICESHIP SERVICE. The question of the. legality of female apprentices standing down for a month was raised in the “Arbitration Court at Christchurch when the recommendation of the Conciliation Council in the dressmakers and milliners’ dispute was under consideration. After some discussion the following proviso was added to the award to replace the clause which had been agreed to between the parties, but which it was now suggested was in conflict with section 32 of - the lactones I “ Provided that an employer shall not be held to have committed a breach ot this clause if by reason of slackness ot work he dismisses an apprentice and reengages her .within a period of four weeks, and if the aggregate of the periods covered by such dismissals (if more than one) does’not exceed four weeks in each 12 months. Any such period shall not, for the sole purpose of computing the term of be deemed to have broken its continuity.”

LABOUR AND ONE-MAN TRAMS. It has been generally agreed the organised Labour is opposed to one-man trams, and at the recent election m Christchurch for members of the. Tramway Board the innovation was condemned bv Labour candidates. The board is now almost wholly composed of Labour members, and the question of borrowing money to convert) some of the present cars into one-end drive one-man cars was under consideration this week. The chairman (the Rev. J. K. Archer) said that the safety of passengers was being carefully considered. The new cars, if adopted, would be provided with special exit doors to be used in emergencies. The representative of the Public Works Department had been consulted about this point, and the matter was now before the head oflice of the department. Mr Archer added that the loan proposal would be considered on March 20, and if the board was satisfied that one-man cars could be made safe, a larger number would be used. The use of one-man trams would not mean an increased burden on the public, because there would be a saving in expense. • They would give a more frequent service, as they would be operated without trailers, and would have to run oftener. A RAILWAY FOR NOTHING. It is, indeed, surprising what Labour members of Parliament say about finance and financial subjects (says the South Australian correspondent of the Australian -Worker).; The following will possibly illustrate the point. The contrast is''remarkable. The first speaker, who is "a candidate in the Senate selection ballot, in a speech, said, or inferred, That the east-west. line was built for nothing. Such an idea is preposterous. How could a railway 1000 miles long be constructed for nothing? Before the gentleman referred to goes any further with his talk about constructing railways for nothing he would be well advised to take a trip to the east-west line and ask employees what they think about that railway. Should he take this hint he will come away a wiser and a sadder man. CHILD LABOUR PROHIBITION. The Legislatures of Maine, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia have ratified the child labour amendment to the Federal Constitution. This is interpreted as indicating a positive trend towards protecting the children of the nation by conferring upon Congress the power “to limit, regulate, aud prohibit the labour of persons under 18 years of age,” which the amendment proposes. The State Federations of Labour in these four States conducted vigorous campaigns for approval of the amendment, and were largely responsible for the favourable action of the Legislatures. When the 1933 Convention of the American Federation of Labour met in of this, year, only 15 States had ratified the amendment. lowa adopted it a few weeks ago, and Maine, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia bring the number up to 20. COST OF UNEMPLOYMENT. According to a report presented to the Premiers’ Conference at Melbourne, unemployment relief in Australia during the last financial year totalled £16,000,000, equal to £2 8s 6d per head of population. These figures were compiled by a conference of Federal and State Ministers called to discuss co-ordinatiou of social services. _ . The conference decided against blending the administration of social services on a basis similar to the arrangement between the Comimonwealth and State Taxation Department. It decided that there should be complete co-operation between Federal and State departments, and that there should be an interchange of information to check frauds, ihe Commonwealth undertook to collect the information from the State and to act aa a clearing house to distribute it among the different Governments.. THE SENSIBLE BALANCE. It is generally agreed that the ideal state of industry is a well-balanced system of production—primary and secondary. In one of his informative interviews the well-known journalist-traveller. Dr Walter Williams, devoted some attention to Japan. In Japan, he said, one saw the perils of too rapid industrialism. In hardly more than a generation the people had been turned from the farms to the factories, and now the military party m power was in desperate need of markets. It aimed at commercial dominance of the Far East and of Australia aud New Zealand as well, but although there was a certain amount of sabre rattling, Japan’s financial resources had been so depleted by her disputes with China that she could hardly afford war as a means of expansion. However, a purely domestic dispute between Japan and Ruf 8 . la was not beyond the bounds of possibility. Japan, however, was on the verge ot labour troubles, and these would probably influence her future to a marked extent during the next few years. Ihere was a sharp cleavage between the military party and the liberal party and men like Tokugawa, who forsook rank and wealth to work among the people and to understand their difficulties, were likely to alter the whole course ot national affairs., TRADE UNION CONGRESS IN JAPAN. The second annual conference of the Japanese Trade Union Congress was held at Osaka under the presidency of Mr K. Hamada. The conference was attended by 74 delegates representing 11 affiliated organisations. The total membership or the congress was reported as 275,704, or about 80 per cent, of all the organised workers in Japan. The conference adopted resolutions calling for the following:— 1. Promition of social legislation, including a demand for the speedy enactment of legislation regulating trade

unions, collective agreements, unemployment insurance, seamen’s insurance, and the protection of dockers. 2. Extension and improvement of the Health Insurance Act. 3. A movement to hasten the establishment of an Asiatic Labour Congress. 4. The establishment of ' local federation affiliated to the congress. One of the resolutions adopted by the conference called for measures to hasten the establishment of an Asiatic Labour Congress. , , This proposal has been discussed by the workers’ delegates to the International Labour Conference since 1925, and an agreement as regards a preliminary conference was reached between the workers’ delegates of India, China, and Japan during the seventeenth session ot the International Labour Conference in June, 1933. After the conference a declaration was issued which, after referring to tne deplorable situation caused by economic nationalism detrimental to both employers and workers, laid stress on the need for promoting the workers’ welfare by strengthening the trade unions and col; laborating with the International Labour Organisation and the proposed Asiatic Labour Congress. AX AMERICAN VIEW. “I have whole-heartedly welcomed the great gate which has opened in America by the New Deal. I* or the first time in my generation it becomes possible to think broadly,” writes Mr A. A. Eerie, juu., in Scribner’s Magazine. ‘ In spite of an intellectual predilection for orthodox economics, I have to recognise that orthodox economies, unfortunately, are not to be found anywhere in any world available for me to live in. “For the time, at least, they are a dream only. Realistically, I have to live in a world in which men insist on making economics, rather than economics making men; and if that is' the situation under which I have to work, I have no choice but to prefer a Government which takes into its hands all necessary tools with which to work. . . “ 1 have a bias in favour of the freedom of private business; and a still stronger bias in favour of the general idea that business men can solve problems both in social philosophy and in economic functioning, if they are willing to regard themselves aa a public service ot supply, and not as a private racket. “But as an honest student ot finance, I have to admit that private finance ana private business, under the conditions prevailing to-day, may break down at any time. This is partly due to their own fault, and that can be rectified by education and by change of personnel. It is partly due to the fact that in certain respects, notably those revolving around large corporations and the financial banking systems, the structure is radically wrong. T “ Like every sane person, I cannot allow my emotions th get away with my judgment; I cannot say that, because on the whole I like the individualism of private property and of private business, therefore I will nail my flap; to the mast, although my family, my friends, and the population generally starve, in the vindication of a noble theory. Nostalgia is never a substitute for realism. • • • “ gut there are claims of the community which are regarded as superior to private profit, and there are great areas of profit which are no longer considered legitimate, because they impose sacrifices on the community. ’ “A danger is that human nature does not change, merely because government has entered the field of economics. The racketeer in business is the grafter in politics; the unrestrained exploiter in finance is the ambitious demagogue in government: the irresponsible _and cut■throat competitor in commerce is the intriguer and the self-aggrandiser in a Government job. “ There is, however, a distinct dinerence in point of view. For one tiling, the holder of a strategtic commercial posi. tion who is abusing it can be dislodged only by a terrific outbreak of popular sentiment, whereas a single general elec tion can explode the positionof an unscrupulous or unworthy public servant. For another, the objective in business is precisely this aggrandising and accumulative process, whereas in public service that very fact alone makes an individual •the object of suspicion. Briefly, the ideal and object of the whole game is shifted. "Private initiative can be translated into, so many other fields! There is no restraint, for example, upon 1 , initiative inart, -in ■ literature, in finance, in study, in the whole field of the humanities. irerhapg a little less private initiative in, the field of making money would not be such a bad thing, after all, “Included among the men who are emerging now is a much larger percentage of those who attained their position because they thought deeply, and contributed honestly to the general welfare."