EMPLOYERS AND WORKERS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20893, 24 November 1937, Page 8

EMPLOYERS AND WORKERS

APPEAL ISSUED BY MINISTER “PLAY THE GAME” By Telegraph—Press Association AUCKLAND, November 23. A plea to both the employers and workers of New Zealand to “play the game" one with the other and thus maintain industrial peace with resultant national prosperity, was made by the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, Minister of Labour, to-day. He was referring to the Arbitration Court system and the opportunity it gave for the peaceful settlement of industrial disputes. His visit overseas and the opportunity it had given him of studying Hie systems used in other countries had more than ever convinced him that the New Zealand system was the best in the world.

“The more one sees of the strike method of settling disputes,” Mr Armstrong said, “the more one is in love with the present system of arbitration we have in this country. We want a high standard of wages for the people of this country who are doing useful work, and we want reasonable conditions of employment, but if we are to maintain real prosperity we cannot do it without work. Real wealth is produced by work. We want to inculcate it into the minds of workers that it is economically impossible to divide more wealth than is produced. Now that the new Court of Arbitration has been appointed and it is likely that within a reasonable time the Courts will be able to catch up on the arrears of work, I want to make a final appeal to employers to play the game with their employees. On the other hand I want to appeal to workers to play the game with their employers. The man who thinks he can maintain good conditions by sitting back and not doing his share to make those conditions possible is making a big mistake.” Mr Armstrong said he was hoping for very good results from the new Court. The Judge was a man of long experience in industrial law, particularly in compensation cases. Mr W. E. Anderson, who had been nominated by the employers, was a man of wide experience in Court procedure and industrial matters generally, and Mr A. W. Croskery, who would apparently represent the workers was a man of long service in the Labour movement

and one of the best informer men in New Zealand on industrial law. Both Mr Anderson and Mr Croskery had figured prominently as advocates in the Arbitration Court, and he was convinced that the new Court would be a most efficient one. It is probable that the second Arbitration Court will begin to function in Auckland on Friday morning, when the hatters' dispute will be heard. The present Court will go into recess at the end of the week and between then and Christmas it will endeavour to complete 31 judgments, including 22 disputes and miscellaneous matters awaiting its attention. It seems likely that the present Court will sit in Wellington in the new year, and Mr Justice Hunter’s Court will begin the 1938 session in Auckland about the third week in January.