INDUSTRIAL WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23866, 21 July 1939, Page 3

INDUSTRIAL WORLD

NEWS AND NOTES

By J. T. Paul

It is as impossible for a human being to be happy who is habitually idle as it is for a fine chronometer to be normal when not running. The highest happiness is the feeling of well-being which comes to one who is actively employed doing what he was made to do. carrying out the great life purpose patterned in his individual bent. The practical fulfilment of the life purpose is to man what the actual running and keeping time are to the watch. Without action both are meaningless.—Orison Marden. AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL REGISTER DIFFICULTY On Monday next the forms for the national register of man-power and wealth will be available to every male in Australia between 18 and 65 years of age, and the Government expects them to be filled in and returned before July 29. Under the wealth register all persons with property of a capital value of more than £SOO will be expected to supply the Government with information about their assets as at June 30 this year. The immediate point of interest Is the divided attitude of organised Labour on the register the possibility of a split in the ranks, and the effects of that possibility at a time when Labour in politics in Australia appears to be in the ascendant. The by-elec-tions in all the States have resulted in defeats for the Governments opposed to Labour. The Australian Council of Trade Unions has decided to boycott the register and to take all possible steps to defeat its object. This body comprises the industrial unions and can doubtless create much difficulty foi the Government Its power is generally recognised, and it can rely on a large measure of loyal support from its affiliations. On the other hand, it is worthy of note that the Australian Workers’ Union, the largest single industrial organisation in Australia, is strongly against the proposed boycott. The executive declares itself as “ implacably opposed to the national register of man-power and the Supply and Development Act.” They are denounced “ as undemocratic, and in the highest degree inimical to the liberties of the working masses of the people, since they can have no other purpose than that of preparing the way fo” industrial and military conscription.’ The executive declares that “ it is impossible to exaggerate the gravity of the situation. The organised working class have only too much justification for the hostility the” are manifesting in the register. Its boycott is being proposed. The workers it is urged, should ignore the requirements of the law, and refrain from filling in the questionnaire forms to be sent out by the Government.” On this point it is affirmed in the name of the union:— “We are in complete accord with the indignation which prompts that proposal. But, taking into account all the circumstances obtaining, we are firmly of the opinion that it would be unwise to permit that feeling to dictate our actions in this crucial matter. “We cannot with the approval of our judgment, direct the members of the Australian Workers' Union to take part in any such boycott as that advocated. “The defiance of a law enacted by Parliament, obnoxious though that law may be, would react disastrously upon the working class- movement, which aims at the realisation of its great and beneficent objectives by the exercise of parliamentary power." The Federal Executive of the Australian Labour Party has decided not to support the proposal that the national register of man-power and wealth should be boycotted but expressed'its determination’to fight the register by constitutional means and to ensure its repeal by the next Labour Government In the course of a resolution it was stated that the National Register Act and the sections of the Supply and Development Act, imperil ling wages and working conditions of employees are condemned;, and that “ We register our determination, on the election of a Labour Government that the National Register Act. because of its. provocative- and dangerous nature and the subversive clauses of the Supply and Development Act. should be repealed and legislation introduced to give effect to Labour’s defence oolicv above referred to." It was urged that this was the onlv effective method of saving the workers from the effects of the undemocratic and dangerous legislation, and “ that the Federal advisory committee or representatives thereof wait on the Prime Minister and endeavour to obtain from him, on behalf of his Government, assurances that they will not. when giving effect to the provisions of the National Registration Act. do anything that can be construed as being detrimental to the interests of the trade unions and members thereof such as the suspension of the operation of awards, etc.,, both in Government and private employment, and also industrial and/or military conscription.” NEW SOUTH WALES LABOUR DAILY » A largely-attended meeting of representatives of unions and Labour branches, held at the Sydney Trades Hall, gave their unanimous approval of a proposal to form a £200.000 company to take over the control of the Daily News (formerly the Labour Daily), at present in the hands of a receiver from the Bank of New South Wales There are to be three classes of preference shares in the new company carrying varying rates of interest The whole of the liabilities and assets of the old company will be taken over by the new company. It is proposed that “A” preference shares, to the value of £IIO,OOO will be raised by public subscription- “ B " preference shares; to the value of £25,000. will cbve'r loans already made to the company by various unions: “ C ” preference shares, to the value of £16,000. will be used to satisfy claims of unsecured creditors. There will also be £49,000 ordinary shares to cover the ordinary shareholders in the old company. At the conclusion of the meeting the chairman of directors (Mr C. Nelson) said that the success of the new company was assured. He added that the new Daily News would be used as an instrument for the return of Federal and State Labour Governments, thereby preserving the immediate needs of the working class throughout Australia. AUSTRALIAN COAL MINERS’ AWARD In 1 the Federal Arbitration Court at Sydney Judge Drake-Brockman gave his reserved judgment on the claims by the Miners' Federation for an award covering the coal mining industry He awarded an eight-hour day and a five-day week in place of the existing 43-hour working week in the industry. Saturday work and overtime are to be reimbursed at special rates of pay. The federation’s claims for a minimum wage and for a weekly pay in place of the present fortnightly system were refused. His Honor granted a minimum of 10 days’ holidays a year on full pay, which may be forfeited if required standards of conduct are not observed. To preserve industrial peace, a board of reference is to be set up, with Mr H. C. Finnis, the judge's associate, as the permanent chairman. The new award is to come into operation in New South Wales on August 16. His Honor said he would refer to the Full Bench of the Arbitration Court the claim by the Mining Unions for a 30-hour week The small reductions in hours made by him had not been made with any intention of correcting unemployment, but because of the nature of the industry and of the conditions under which the majority of employees in it were compelled to work. All work underground was hard and hazardous, and superimposed on this was the constant fear of the men of contracting lung diseases.

His Honor said it was well to keep in mind that only 2 per cent, of the world’s known coal resources were in Australia—a fact which was pertinent in view of lamentation about the lost export trade, and when one heard so much blame apportioned to the Australian coal-workers for that regrettable fact. It was absurd to blame miners and other workmen for the loss of the bulk of Australia’s export trade.

His Honor went on to say that the uneconomic working of the mines had produced a deplorable number of unemployed persons which he feared must now be regarded as permanent. It had been to the interest of individual collieries to exploit the .existing surplus capacity He said he considered the unsatisfactory financial condition of the industry was due to the action of the owners themselves and was capable of being corrected by them. The employees should not be deprived of proper conditions of work merely because of unwise methods adopted by the wine workers If the existing owners could not provide the finance to carry on then the time had come for them to make way for others with wiser ideas as to finance and trading operations.