The Daily News. MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 1901. A UNIONIST DEFENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 182, 12 August 1901, Page 2

The Daily News. MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 1901. A UNIONIST DEFENCE.

Fob some time, past a section of the Press of the colony has bean systematically ' attacking trade unionist* and labour legislation. Even the Bight Hon. the Premier seems to have gotten a scare and appeared for the time being to side; with those opposed to labour reforms. Like all other questions there are two sides to it. and the public are hearing-, so much in condemnation of the unionists that there is a fear that the pendulum may swing to the o* her extreme and bring about a return of the period of strikes, etc. With thu view of putting the unionist view before the public Mr. H. M. Stewart has been writing to one of our southern contempories. Mr, Stewart ia vicepresident of the Workers Political League in Dunedin and argues his case with singular ability. As we feel sure all fair minded people will be glad to study beth sides of the question we give what he has to say in defence of the labour laws of the past few years, Writing to the Dnnedin Evening Star be says:—At a recent meeting of the Workers' Political Committee a resolution was passed affirnrng tbe desirability of and appointing a Correspondence Committee for the purpose of watching in future and replying to the strictures lately published in the columns of the Evening Star on trade unionists in particular and the trend of labour legislation in general in this joleny. As a m< mber of that committee, I now ask the opportunity of defending our petition from your attacks. I may liers state that this could easily be done by any individual member of the abeve organisation, but we have deemed it more satisfactory to j the public if the correspondence should i take a representative form. R-pre-senting, as we do, nearly every union in the city, we are in a good position to ascertain the feelings of the individual members on the matter under discussion, and I can assure you that the expressions as to tbe outcome of those feelings bear ne uncertain tone. For some considerable time past yeu have gone out of your way to educate the public in the belief that nearly the whole of the labour legislation passed in this colony has been detrimental to j the best interests of the people gener-1 ally. Now, as the industrial workers form 65 per cent, of the adult population of this colony, will you be good enough to reconcile this paradox with your statement, which you have repeated ad nauaeum, that the nature of the legislation referred to and the undue advantage taken of it by trade unionists have rendered things so unbearable that many large manufacturers and capitalists have entsrfcained serious thoughts of ridding themselves of tbeir wealthy encumbrances here and planting tbem in some more congenial soil. It would have been interesting, and probably instructive, to your readers had you given thim nn account of t he modus operandi adopted under this alleged baneful legislation, and compared it with past methods But, as you have refrained from doing so, I trust you will not refuse me the opportunity of supplying the omission. Under presiat cosditionp, when a union ia fornu'd, not.ficition thereof is sent to employe's acquainting them with the fact, and requesting them to meet the members of tbe union for the purpose of discussing matters relating to conditions which it is intended sball regulate employment, so far as they are concerned, in future. Failing a settlement there, an appeal is *

made to the Board of Conciliation, by whom a recommendation is made, the acceptance of which is not compulsory on either party. The aggrieved Bide, or' both, can carry their dispute to the Court of Arbitration, where evidence is heard and adjudicated on impartially by a Judge of the Supreme Court: and a representative of the employers, together with one from the employees. A decision which is binding on both parties alike is given by the Tour:. Truly, sir, it must > e very harassing bo have a dispute heard and cond.ti;.n« fised by a qualified tribunal. And now for the past methods. A union was formed, conditions were agieed upon by the members, and notifica'ion wag sent to employers to the effect that on and after such a da'e submitted; conditions would be enforced Failing compliance therewith, a strike would be proclaimed. On the other hand, th* j employers notified the employees tbat on and after such a date wages wi.uldj he reduced, and, perhaps, hours length- j ened. Failing the acceptance of thes i proposals, a lc ck-out notice was posted I up. Now, sir, we are all too we'l acquaints 1 with the effects of strikes and lock-outs not to appreciate any system which will do away with such a barbarous method of settling disputes. Compared with the pas' 1 , our present system —the offspring of labour legislation—is as a pneumitic tyre, to tho old rattle-bone iron girdle. It will, I presume, besfreshin your memory thatat tha lime of tha great maritime strike, and lati<r on in the case of the shearers' war in Queensland, that you were ever ready to tender advice, and were eve i generous in pointing out to tho workers the futility of rtsortrng to strikes and j intimidation as a relief of the wrongs and. unfavourable.. conditions under j which they suffered. You even went so far as to point out tßat the methods adopted were not only a relic of barbarism, but ineffectual;. and you advised them in no ambiguous language to use the political po*er within their reach and secure the return of direct labour representatives, and so get their wrongs redressad by legislative enactments. And—unkiudest cut of all—you now reward us for taking your advice by calling our representatives "mere delegates," acd our measures " class legislation." Of course, it would be ignorance on the part of any of your readers to suppose, let alone ass- rt, that anything approaching class legislation ever existed in this colony bnfeu-a the advent of the Labour piriy. Ymiv latest attempt at putting fli«s in the workers' soup is the publication of yoii/ interviews with manufacturing representatives, whn have signified their intentions of 6e-k : ng fresh fi»!ds and] pastures new. Abler pens than mine havealieidy pointed out to yourr.»\deV the stupidity on the part of th( sm benefactors in rie'aying such a common sense movement, for such £ lengthy period, seeing that 90 per cent, of their business i* done in the quarters they I contemplate shifting to. And, prs suming that you viewed their removal as a nation loss, would it not have been in keeping with your proverbial good intentions toward this colony if you had pointed outto taem the inconsistency,of some of their alleged reasons f r folding up their mantles, shaking the dust from off their feet, and quitting the shores of this benighted labour-ridden colony. In the fullness of your innocesci you might have remembered tin words ok Hamlet, and have suggested to theft: that it were probably better to suflVr the ills we have than fly to others W know not of, seeing that the Federal States of Australia contemplate enacting legislation en similar lines to that of our Conciliation and Arbitration' Act. And, fir, you might have gone si little further than this, and bav© gmn them the benefit of the deduction, to bedrawn from that u-;eful piece of information yeu culled from the remarks of tbe Hon. Colboel ■ Pitt (chairman of the Federation Commission) on his return from Australia, to the effect that he was very much surprised to find that wiges.were equally as high in Australia as in New Zealand, and, taking into consideration the. price of living in each place, they must be considered bettor. By reminding tho:e wayward and thoughtless people of these little inconsistencies, you might have been able to stem the tide of wholesale emigration likely to ensue and thus save the country from u'te; and irretrievable ruin. And you might have' found time to say a word or two in denunciation of the exorbitant increa°e in the price of of the necessary commodities of life and house rent, extortions that the late demand for increased wages have had no part in bringing about. But no, you have been so engrossed in picking holes in the - workers' coats that you have allowed the real reasons for their late demands to escape notice.