A LABOUR MIGRATION.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 24, 5 March 1914, Page 6

A LABOUR MIGRATION.

BACK TO THE I.C.A. ACT. EFFECT OF LAST SESSION'S > LAW. From Our Special Correspondent WELLINGTON, March 4. When the Labour Disputes Investigation Bill wds passed last session, placing a time-limit (approximately three weeks) on the right of an unregistered union to strike, probably, no one foresaw the number 'of re-registrations (under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act) that would result. Those militant unions that placed themselves outside the I.C. and A. Act, in order to possess the legal right to strike, take a different view of the position when that right is restricted in the manner of the L.D.I. Act of 1913. A Check on Sudden Strikes.

Half the value of the strike weapon is to use it suddenly. In fact, in the early stages of the Wellington waterside strike an official of the union argued that if victory did not come in the first ten days, every 24 hours thereafter reduced the winning chance. This opinion is absolutely borne out by the history of the v.ery Struggle which was then in its infancy. . But now, thanks to the L.D.I. Act, the legal right of an unregistered union to strike is so restricted by the preliminary requirements (including notice to-the Minister, an investigation, a secret ballot-, and the time-limits connected therewith) that a, sudden blow is impossible ~ without breaking the law. Under last, session's Act, the right to instantly wage , industrial war is no longer legal. And as the sort of strike that strikers want has: thus ceased to be lawful,, whether the union militant, unionists have come to the conclusion that they might' a& veil qualify for what benefits registration may give them." Should, they decide to engage in an immediate strike, -,it is no .more un-, lawful to do so while registered than while unregistered; and, even if it was, they might as well be Hilled for a sheep as for a lamb. .With the passing of the L.D.I. Act the. centre of gravity,/ for them, has shifted,-and they consider that the balance of a-dvitntage is under the I.C.A. law that they formerly "repudiated.- • The Lesser Evil. This conviction on the part of the militants prepared the ground for their acceptance of the registered unions that had supplanted' the unregistered bodies that struck. It was thought that the West Coast miners would -be the'last to accept the re-imposition of the I.C.A. yoke. But the L.D.I. Act so impressed their that the transition was rendered eaSy. And easier, no'doubt, by the fact that ex-strikers are numerically dominant, and "can control the new; unions. , Comment has already been made on the number of re-registrations effected 5 under the I.C.A. Act, since the strike,- in callings that were.. recently renegade. So great, has. been the rush that it is now considered doubtful, whether the Act, ivhen it comes into force, will find -any- big -fish in- its -net. If mqst of the militant unions consider the, anti : strike sections of the I.C.A. law. a lesser evil than those of the L.p.L Act, the a , latter will operate only ?in a limited field. •

Farther-reaching than Canada's La-ifw From the experimental point of view, this is to be regretted! Probably few people „have realised what an innovation the Act is. The nearest; approach to it —and no doubt the inspiring source—is the Canadian lay?, which places a time-limit ■ on in order, to secure their- investigation with a view to reaching a settlement, or in any case to educating public Opinion. But the Canadian- law affects only big utility industries"; New Zealand's Act appears to cover all unions, or "societies" of employees or employers, unless they -are registered under the I.C.A. Aet. is the only way out." Hence the rush thither. The L.D.1., Act comes into force on April. 1 next. Almost simultaneously a new Judge, Mr. Justice Stringer, takes over the presidency of the Arbitration Court. The advent of the Bed converts and the new president may mark a new stage in the history of compulsory arbitration.

Australian Economic Methods. To-day, in his address at the opening of the Wellington "session of the Arbitration Court, jir Justice Striifger made at least one interesting remark. . On making awards, he the Court would. have to pay due regard to the laws of economics, for to make awards which defied those laws woiiid only bring disaster. But what does "due regard to the laws of economics'' mean? in Australia they interpret it by drawing upon all available statistics relative to the cost of. living, and compiling therefrom a weekly. bill per family maintenance,: on which is based a living, wage. / In 1907 Mr Justice Higgins, the .Arbitration; Court which governs all Australia in tjie matter of inter-State labour disputes, fixed the living wage at £2 2/- a wefek. On February 16 last, Mr Justice Heydon, president of "the Industrial Court of? Nfcw Wales, after an extensive; enquiry into the cost of living, fixed the living wage at £2 8/-, an advance of 6/-. According to the report of the Sydney morning press, „ he, also held that the living wage should rise or fall according to the general table of the Commonwealth Statistician, as to the variation, in the purchasing power of the sovereign. Unknown Factor,: Statistical I Accuracy.

Now, how does this answer the. economic test? To base the living wage on the cost of living seems to be an unimpeachable course, if one can do it.' The question is how to accurately find the cost of living. It is possible only, by the aid of statistics, and the unknown factor is the completeness and accuracy of the statistical method and its results. The people, as."the great third party," could put full reliance on it if they felt that statistics could not lie.

In using this means to fix a living wage, Australia is, from the statistical point of view, favoured beyond most countries, because of the work of men like Coghlan and Knibbs. But in this recent investigation Mr Justice Heydon himself found a> conflict, on the vital subject of rents, between the tables of Mr Knibbs and* independent enquiries made by canvassers in Sydney. If error is possible in the highly-organised system Of the" Commonwealth statistical •office, New. Zealand ;will need to give much more attention to the and elaboration of lier own system if she is ever to . make similar use bf the

statistician as the mathematical interpreter of living conditions.

Evolutionary Labour's Demand. It will be said: The New Zealand Arbitration Court has never bothered about fixing the cost of living and a living wage, and why bother about it now?" Of course, the Court may not bother, but it is always valuable to look at what one's neighbours are doing, and it must be remembered that. Labour has asked, persistently for some of the features of the Australian system. Giving evidence bofore a Parliamentary Committee, Mr.E. J. Carey, as representative of the Wellington Trades and Labour Council (which belongs not to the revolutionary but to the evolutionary branch of Labour), said: "The failure of the (Arbitration) Court to make the living wage principle a basic factor of all awards has done more than anything else to .sap the workers' confidence in the Court and the system." Thus there'is a-Labour demand for the economic system of the y Australian Courts; and, whether it be right "or wrong, it has to be considered in the light, of the great unionist migration of 1913-14 from outside the I.C.A. Act to a position within. Beside the main principle of a living wage based on a statistically-ascertained cost of living, the Australian Courts have endorsed several important related principles. For instance, an industry that cannot pay the living wage ought not to continue to exist. Thus the statistician indirectly becomes a sort of'- national physician, with his finger pn the economic pulse, and with power of life and death oyer siek industries as well as over-taxed workmen. ,

It all opens up a long economic yista to the end of which no one in Australia, or anywhere else, can possibly see; but none the less interesting, in view :oi the postponed amendments of New Zealand's I.C.A. law. E. V. HALL.