NEW ZEALAND INDUSTRIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2671, 24 May 1905, Page 13

NEW ZEALAND INDUSTRIES.

EFFECT OF LABOUR LEGISLATION. At the quarterly meeting of the Canterbury Employers' Association the President (Mr G. Anderson), in moving the adoption of the report, said : — A short time ago xhey, were proud of those who had the j courage and enterprise to start a new industry, but there was not now the eager spirit to exploit and. to launch out into what was new. One did not wieh to be critical, but one might notice, even in their Industrial Association, a want of that fervour that indicated life and energy, and which sooner or later developed in the establishment of some new indus;bry. Few would characterise him as a pessimist — but when one looked around one could not but feel that there was a something sapping their energies and clogging their enterprise sod activities. It would be an act of folly bordering on the criminal if they, as employers and citizens, jiid n^ seek to find the cause. If they sought to find what were not ~the factors, they could then consider the causes. One would imagine that there was no time in the colony's history when; there was a better opportunity For farther development. First, there were no •unemployed in the sense known formerly. Tfie exports had been increasing for several years back. All the natural products, such -as wool,' meat, butter, and grain, were sell.istg afi fiigh prices,: and the spending power -«f the, people" was at no time greater. The •Iterations- 'in, the import duties had been -In tbe - direction of excluding- goods made witk cheap and foreign labour. A steady -mystea^-ofr Government expenditure had been going; on for years, whether wisely or- not -liad cnot' to do with the argument. The money^liad been spent, and the workman _ had-irad the spending; The population had not Tjeen.' diminishing, and if not increasing as fast as wisdom would expect yet it had been increasing at a rate which should mean increased expenditure. ' Money had teen; cheaper during the lasfciew years than ever in. the history of the colony, so that, in" addition .td^.the large amount of money •pent annually by ,the Government and the municipal bodies, Harbour Boards, County , Councils, and Road Boards were all- borrowing arid spending money. They were j not concerned with the wisdom or other- j wise of those, but he- mentioned them as j factors alb combining to lead to the prosperity fox 'the time being, and the fact that such circumstances in other countries were ■nsually_Jollbwed by expansion and extension of indnstries^rof all classes. That no new or important/industry had been, estab-lished-curbing the la^fc few years was well known. True; the department of Labour, juggling w3th--figures y would say. -that the number of -factories had increased, but jtwas. not honest enough to show- what "would be- tbe position if the -definition of a .factory wer^-limited to 1 what it was 10 years *ego- That no new- industries of importance Had been established" was' well known, but that many that had ±he eleinentayjf success ago had- gone , Ijaek.vaijgld' •also he- proved. 'He had - given .seveTansteasons proving' that the 'circumstances were.ta-wrar-..•ble'fbr the establishing .of industries*. A .further factor was the comparative cheapness of jnoney, and>the comparatively large .'junount of money waiting investment, or invested "in- other-securities. One could- tell, -of "inauy"- proposals to start- some new in- • dustry^Oß extend- one. in operation. But the - aharebrokers would: say that -there was no ""use offering such, as investors would not put -their money into anything where labour formed a mam factor. % If anybody inquired at the bankers, they would on© and all tell the same tale. Bankeirs dhd not care to have large overdrafts with industrial concerns. The pursestrings we're, after all, the surest -indication of the mind of the ptople. Applying those principles,, it would "be* found JbKit thase were in New Zealand •11 the elenis>iite for industrial enterprise. TLere was~ never a time when those enterprises could have been started with the hope of bettef 'success owing- to the large spending- power of the peonle from the various e»uees mentioned. The industries were not started; why? First, it might -be said, & laok of ' enterprise, but mainly, he "thought, because the capital or credit could jfot be obtained. The fact remained, we tad no industries, and otheors were languishing.^'" Not only on. account of the uncertainty of what labour would ultimately cost, but also, under the present laws, no one knew whether he would not be told that some other way, not his way, was the Eianner in which certain goods were to be made and the factory controlled. Then they had the great cost and" uncertainty thrown on "employeirs under the Compensated for Aecidfents" and Employers Liability -Acts. It might be. from.' an economic point of ■view- »' wise, measure that a man meeting -with j an accident should be saved from poverty and- beggary. It was open to very gray©- question whether the -whole burden should be °thrown "en the unfortunate employer. It . was \ reckoned an accident, but at present .the accident was only counted from the side of the man. Why should it not, from, an industrial point of view, be counted partly from the employer's side? True, the employers might partially insure, but at such increasing prohibitive rates as to be a tax on industries. From a nation il point of view, he maintained that if we were to progress atfd develop this country as we should It would bfe necessary to materially alter our standpoint, and adjust both our labour laws and the employers' liability. The underlying principles of those might be right, but their ill-conceived application was proving, and would prove more in the future? disastrous to the spirit of enterprise and industrial suqeess. No legislation was right ihat provided for only one class at the- expense of another and ignored broad economic principles. Theire had recently •been sitting in Wellington the self-con-stituted Parliament of Labour, which had under- its consideration no less than 44 separate subjects. This assembly, which airogated to. itself to voice the opinion of the workers of the colony, really only repi'e"semted 27,640 out of 340,230 bread-winners. And so ill-conceived were its measures that all through the proposals class distinctions and class legislation of a most pronounced character were sought to be enforoed. One would think that the virtues and advantages of trades unions were suf£o£ent of themselves to bring all within the fold; yet although, in existence for years, and with legislative enactment at their back, they had failed with the arguments of reason and persuasion, andl piteously implored Parliament to pass laws for preference to their class. It had been remarked that "one^of the saddest features of modern industrial life is the growinff

difficixlty of th-5 old, the sickly, and the feeble to obtain a, living." but one looked in vain in the whole of the 44 articles for one hint of any proposed measure to help t'tose. There were various pleasures for what one regretted io have- to term the tyranny of unionism — such as no importation of labour under contracts, a.5 the Sydney hatters, emplcymeiit of tailors only for orders, unions to bring a claim for accident and claim capital amount. Various proposals to avoid publicity and gain an advantage were in clause 16; unions to virtually &ay whether unskilled workmen were to be allowed to live. There were various proposals dealing with complex industrial, social, and economic questions, but the Trades and Labour Council seemed blissfully indifferent to the fact that " all economic questions- are governed by principles that set and react on each other " ; that if on© trades union or section adopted a mode of action to ga>in at the expensa of others those gains could only b& got at the cost of a- greater aggregate loss to other sharers in the national dividend ; that any reduction in output either in quantity or efficiency was a reduction of the national earning or dividend, and could only lead to a eon- | fcirrnously descending scale of employment. If proof of that were required, they had only to' turn to th« acknowledged fact that the workman had to pay 20 per cent, to 25 per cent, greater cost for his cottage than formerly. They could fairly recognise that the Trades and Labour Council was actuated with a desirei to help its fellows, but one wouJd like to put it to the- council that its efforts would result in more practical and permanent good if it were to co-operate with employees to consider how industries .could be. established for the good of the whole community. — (Applause.^