NO STRIKES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11123, 24 July 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

NO STRIKES.

A MINISTERIAL FIAT.

POWERFUL SPEECH BY THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL.

The Attorney-General, Hon. D. Findlay, in the Legislative Council, last week declared "no quarter" against strikes. He said it must be recognised that the whole relationship between capitalist and laborer had fundamentally changed during the last five years, w hen labor was left to find its level in the market of commodities, sweating was inevitable, but that condition was now disappearing. . A true state of commonwealth could only be attained by looking beyond the mere commodity of labor to the social interests of the laborer himself. It was desirable that the exercise of the franchise should be made more compulsory. It was a bad feature that in Australia less than half the electors went to the poll, and of that portion more than Half werP women. The idea of the. duty to the State was at the bottom of the truest conception of progressive labor legislation. People were not independent entities, or "Robinson Crusoes"; they were each a f part of a community in which one section must not be allowed to oppress another. This state of co-operation and inter-depend-ence, was not becoming less, but greater. In- each trade dispute there were three parties— the '. master, ; the man, and the State— each of whom was affected by the action taken. If the butchers went on strike one day, and were followed rapidly by the milk-suppliers and the bakers, that would, instantly injure everyone, especially our women and children. Mr Rigg had asked if there was any civilised country that made it a crime to Strike. His reply was "Yes." The English Act of 1876, in force to(day, forbade any worker or workers in -gas and water- works to stop work without "notice, knowing, that- such action would be likely to deprive the commun-ity-of gas ana. water, under a penalty of £50 for imprisonment for three months. The same penalty attended similar action calculated to cause loss oi injury to property.; He did not, however, advocate imprisonment. With Mr Rigg, he abhorred the idea. Yet the law must be enforced even — if, unhappily,' necessary— to the extent of imprisonment. In England ninety million pounds of money had been lost in strikes in twenty years, apart from considerations of, the misery and suffering endured by the women and children.' In America a still more terrible tale could be told; Strikes in this country must be prevented. :,.-.. Mr Rigg: Can you do it, even by imprisonment? Dr Findlay : I tim convinced we can. But if not— if a revolt against the civil order of things takes place to-morrow— ■ you have the harsh method of the Riot Act: and "what follows' that? (Hear,;; hear.) England has enforced order when thousands; have risen against her, and if necessary we are strong enough, notwithstanding the statements of / supercilious individuals— we are strong enough still to enforce order,- and as , British people we will do it. (Applause.) But we will do it in the most -merciful way possible. The greatest friends of ; the workers were those who told them, the truth straight out, arid declared to them, as Mr Barr had done from that Council, that there must be no strikes. Yet the workers must be given justice. How j was the living wage to be fixed? Some| said by a system of profit-sharing. But how could they discriminate between the losses of the bungler and the gains of the successful business man? Again, What was' a . living wage for one .-r man was- insufficient for another. .Take the boot trade, for instance. In Wellington the average wage was about 44s a week, and that might be less than a living wage for a married man with a family, but— more than a living wage: fdr one whq.was-a bachelor. There was a heed for some scheme of lightening the load that rested on the fathers of families. It has been urged that" the little girls who sold newspapers at the street corners ought not to be allowed to be bo turned on the streets. But if they prevented that, how could they be sure that these little girls did not belong to, struggling journeymen who found it hard to make ends meet? We must be careful in our legislation not to spread tyranny instead of vrelief . The example •he had quoted would show the difficult ties they had to meet.