STATE SOCIALISM IN NEW ZEALAND.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12145, 16 April 1908, Page 2

STATE SOCIALISM IN NEW ZEALAND.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

LONDON, March 5. Mr Percy Alden, M.P., contributed an article in a recent number of the "New Age," under the above head giving some idea of the Socialistic legislation in the Dominion. . The whole question of State interference, he says, has recently been discussed at great length by many statesmen and publicists, and we are constantly being warned of the dangers that lurk in th; 3 road wh'oh leads to Socialism. During the last few months there has been a newspaper campaign against Socialistic legislation which has only succeeded in concentrating public attention on the experiments which have been made in other countries, and which, might be made in our own. The Government of New Zealand, he goes: on, botli in administration and legislation, has not fcare.i to be definitely socialistic, and such action has taken shape not only in its treatment of the unemployed, but also in its Old Age Pensions and its Arbitration Act. From the very outset it recognised that for the solution of the unemployed problem one-Minis-ter must ba made responsible, and that he must be empowered to demand the assistance of the various Government Departments. He goes on bo point out how easy the problem is in a'sin-all country like yours compared Avith an old and populous one like ours. But at the same time, all your Ministers having practically began at the bottom, are determined1 that the Government shall do their best to improve in every way the condition, of the people; from whom- they sprang. He goes on them to describe the work of the labour bureaux, of the treat-' ment of loafers and drunkards, of the labour laws, old age jpensons,~which the trades Unionists consider a , step towards the equalisation of properfty, and one part_ of a big scheme for the reconstruction of society on democratic lines. ...■(.■■■ .■■-.-■■,

Last and most impoa-tant he describes the Arbitration law. which the Dominion owes largely to the. present High Commissioner in England. The Arbitration Court, he concludes, has used its power with moderation, and tho result is that both parties have groAvn reconciled to a form of State interference which would perhaps not be wholly. successful here, but which might at least in part be imitated. It seems clear that before long we shall be forced to have in England a Court of Compulsory. Conciliation, which gives publicity to all the facts, -- and which issues a report bearing upon a,ny dispute that may have arisen. Mr Lloyd George, as President' of the Board of Trade, has taken at least a step in this direction, and it is only n, matter of time beffore the State will feel bound to interfere when the wages and conditions of labour .in any industry are such as loaver the standard of lifft and tend to deteriorate the physical and moral health of the worker.