The Timaru Herald MONDAY IN AUSTRALIA.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 14057, 15 November 1909, Page 4

The Timaru Herald MONDAY IN AUSTRALIA.

The enormous ; disturbance which misguided and hot-headed ,nien have caused in the industrial and domestic life of the .cities of Australia, is a, shocking proof of the inadequacy of the government' of .the several. States, and of the .Commonwealth, and wo are not much, if at .all. better, off in this Dominion. Such a strike' as now exists in the New South . "Wales .collieries, with the threat that it will extend to shipping work of all kinds all round the Continent, is an indication of the insufficiency of the means of government, or of the inefficiency, of. the governors. . For what is government ? Perhaps no one has stated more simply and clearly what government is than Thomas Painc, in his " Eights of Man," a book which the strikers would probably accept as worthy of quotation. Paine says: ; "Government is. nothing more than a national association; and the object of this ( association is the good of all, as well individually as collectively. Every man wishes to pursue his occupation, and to enjoy the fruits of his labotir and the produce of his property, in peace and safety, and with the least possible expense. When these things, are accomplished, all the objects for, which government ought to be established are answered." Air these things are not' being accomplished at the present, moment; for millions of people none of them rv-ry the objects of tho government, arc being answered. Either the powers ol tho government of Australia arc insufficient, or the administrators of the government are inept. Mr '\Yado, Premier of the State of New South Wales, says the Government do not desire to do anything which would prevent an amicable settlement between the two parties; but he admitted that the Government was not in possession of any means to assist the parties to adjust their differences. " The question whether such means could be devised had to he considered." If, he added, it was made clear that there was "a desire to spread trouble throughout tho community and wage war upon the public," it could ho depended upon that "tho Government would do their duty without shrinking." It is quite evident that there is such a desire; and still more evident that the Government can do nothing whatever. War is being waged upon the public, and Mr W 7 ade would be non-plussed if asked to. say what the duty of tho Governments, that is to he done without shrinking. Nor is the Commonwealth Government in a better position'. The suggestion was made to the Prime Minister that the Federal Government should take over the mines and work then;, under the law of "eminent domain "; and Mr Deakin answered that tlio law of eminent domain does not exist in Australia to a sufficient degree to permit that to be done. The "national association" of Australia, and the smaller one of New South Wales, are helpless, because they have not had foresight enough to take to them- j selves the full measure of power necessary to deal with wars upon the public such as the one which has just broken out. So far anarchical; is; Jacking in theco-(ordinating power of a government that, to quote another American writer, "stretches its lines of support, protection, and harmonising restraint," over important departments of life upon which the welfare of the community so largely depends. Especially is it lacking in powers of harmonising restraint,, simply because it has not adopted them. The powers required are not repressive but preventative. In the interests of order, for every reason that justifies the existence of a government at all, tjie Government ought to have power, and the means of applying it, to interfers and prevent industrial grievancesT-whe-ther real or imaginary, whether substantial or trivial—assuming such importance as to lead to a war upon the public. It is not all all necessary that the State should supersede private en-

terprise in the winning of conl; but it is necessary that the State should exorcise some control over all the conditions under which" an industry of such enormous importance to the community is carried on. There nre inspectors of the physical conditions—ventilation, timbering, sanitation, use of explosives, and other physical, matters relating' to the safety of life and limb'.' Manifestly there is needed, quite as urgently, in'-. spectors of the moral conditions", of working. One might oven—if not rather—say the religious roriditions; for Unionism has practically become a kind of religion, and it has its fanatics too, as other religions have. And as capitalist employers have an altogether -.different creed, disputes when they do arise aro apt"-to increase in bitterness tho longer they a.re allowed to remain unsettled. From another point of view Unionism is a subsidiary "national association" or government which has been organised for limited purposes, to fill a space in the field of national management Which has not been occupied by the recognised State Government. It has now attained such strength that it is able to makewar upon the rest of the community, concerning matters within ' its sphere of influence; and the loyalty which it has been able to inspire amongst its members is an indication of their estimate of the need for the association they have organised—an estimate which, approximately,., measures ' also the, failure of the larger national association to apply measures of "harmonising restraint" w.hero such measures were required. Conciliation, prompt and determined, and supported I by power, is the preventative required. Prompt in , application, at tl"' first hint of trouble; as the mine inspector attends at once to a notice of a physical danger, so thai; it be not neglected until a disaster occurs.. Determined, that a-.proved wrong shall be rectified without delay; hot merely inquired into, reported on, neglected and allowed to grow > into a grievanco that may lead hot-headed men,'reckI less of tho suffering, they may cause, to ." make war upon .the public."