THE Thames Star. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1925. LABOUR AND JOB CONTROL.

Thames Star, Volume LIX, Issue 16625, 22 October 1925, Page 4

THE Thames Star.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1925. LABOUR AND JOB CONTROL.

♦ “With malice towards none; with charity tor all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right.”—Lincoln.

It has been said wittily that there is a bus in the politics of men which, if taken at top speed by Labour, leads 'to disaster. 'The truth of that jest has universal proof. There is no place an the world in which the control of politics has been given to Labour where failure has not been the result of the experiment. But the most striking proof to-day is to be found in Labour-ridden Australia. Job control has broken out in Australia again like a rash. Tho Seamen’s Union, with a callous disregard of its word of honour, has repudiated its recent agreement with the shipowners not to interfere any more with the running of ships in the coastal and inter-State services. The Ulimaroa has been driven out of commission by the union’s practice of irritation tactics. And there is no protest from the iLabour Governments in Australia. As a matter of fact, they dare not protest for the simple reason that they are controlled body and soul iby the trades unions and the sinister forces behind those organisations. In New iSouth Wales, as in Queensland, constitutional government has been reduced to a political menace at the 'tyrannical dictation of political Labour’s bosses. Consider the plasticene policy of Mr J. T. Lang. His actions are shaped at will by the union bosses. To begin with, he is the puppet of the railwaymen. When this ambitious houseaggn't was after votes he promised, or was reported to have promised, job control of the railways. , He wa s taken at his foolish word without a moment’s delay. A conference of unions drafted a new policy of job control. This scheme aims at the abolition of, constitutional control of the New South Wales railways. It included these demands: Control by three commissioners, of whom the Labour Government shall appoint one and the employees two, selected bv ballot; bonuses for good service and any land all inducements to give capable service to be rigidly banned; union officials to consult with departmental heads once every fortnight about grievances ; a working week of fivei days of eight hours each; and eleven free first-class passes to every employee each year, six of them to be good all over tbe Commonwealth railways. In addition to these preposterous demands, the railway men’s union insists upon the reinstatement of disloyal strikers who lost their seniority in 1917, and the abolition of tbe Arbitration Court, the Board of Trade, and all the loyalist unions under State jurisdiction. All that and more will have to be done or fifty thousand railwaymen will want to know the reason why any Labour Government should dare to disobey its bosses. It so happens that political Labour is mild and suave in New Zealand at the moment. This is but a temporary pose. Beneath the placid surface is the old swirl of grab-all 'Socialism. Tbe electors should take heed of the dangerous drift in Australia and vote only for the supporters of dependable government. A Labofir bus means a rocky ride to eeonotrp' 1 <p ter.