The Wanganui Chronicle. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1942. WHITHER, NEW ZEALAND?

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 226, 25 September 1942, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1942. WHITHER, NEW ZEALAND?

piE greatest need in wartime is that there should be the maximum measure of unanimity in the community. Every time friction is generated it slows down the war effort, impairing the effectiveness of the Dominion’s defence and offering human lives as a sacrifice on the altar of inefficiency. Upon every citizen, then, there rests the prime duty of eliminating friction. During the present war there have been, it must be admitted, several outstanding instances of endeavours on the part of powerful trades unions to insist on what they deem their rights, and this at the expense of the safety of the general community. In the Auckland district workers in the meat-freezing industry successfully defied the law. They were gently handled. The watersiders seem to be a law unto themselves. Conditions on the waterfronts are still so unsatisfactory, the Waterfront Commission notwithstanding, that the United States of America sent a special emissary to enquire into the situation in an endeavour to speed the turn-round of vessels which are sent to this Dominion. Misleading and inadequate statements concerning the “improvement” in conditions on the wharves have been given currency, but there are doubts as to whether the position has been revealed in its true colours. When the Prime Minister threatened to resign from his office if he didn’t get more support on the labour unions in the prosecution of the war effort, the position seemed to have reached a condition of crisis. More dramatic, more flagrant, than any previous case of industrial sabotage, however, has been the action of the miners of the Waikato. The alleged origin of the dispute was that a few men. presumably eight in number, were not being paid the minimum rate of pay when they were working in a difficult part of the mine. The reply of the management was that the men were “going slow.” The Minister for Mines, Mr. P. C. Webb, intervened. and no suggestion was made by him that the management was engaged in victimisation. Mi'. Semple. Minister of Railways, made a frank statement that the strike which developed out of this incident was the work of a few malcontents. The Federation of Labour deplored the action of the men in acting unconstitutionally insofar as their union constitution was concerned and in violating an agreement, into which they had so recently entered that the ink was scarcely dry. The Government subsequently ordered the prosecution of the men who had broken their agreement, and this legal process resulted in the men concerned being sentenced to one month’s imprisonment. In the meantime the Government was watching the situation closely, and after the cases against the men had been concluded Mr. McLagan, national secretary of the Mine Workers’ Union, who retained that position even after he entered the War Administration, went to Huntly and was received with contempt. He failed |„ lbs mission and tins despite Ins going to the limit in an endeavour to get the men to discuss their problems with him. The good of the country, the defence effort, the Government the trade union movement, the Federation of Labour the specific agreements as to disputes entered into by the Miners’ Unions concerned in the strike, the miners’ own general secretary all these have been ignored in a dispute which involves the sum of till' Hie disproportion between the amount involved and the action taken by the men. with its consequent far-reaching harm, was Jantastic. Add to that the reluctance of the men to place their grievance before the tribunal to which they have previously agreed f. lspu J e ’ s > , aild d becomes all the more difficult to believe tnat the alleged grievance concerning payment was the real cause iffieml I" The allnouncemellt t] 'at the Government does not -at ~ , take ° ve ; ° wll er# of the mines comes just in time (o' colour of 7| l "’ S t,at ! le wllolc dls PUte was engineered to give the m h i CXCUSP f ° r tb ' pl ' adete ™™ d action which the Government 1 as taken in assuming the management of the mines. l ie Government has previously failed to assert itself.'but never before has it so signally failed to meet the issue. To'make matters worse the Government has coupled with it an action which is highly controversial in character and winch flouts the sentiment of a large number of people who are busily engaged in work to preserve New Zealand while the miners of’the Waikato emn.± ‘Y”?. eff ° rt ' - touia ed by the Government’s action; the Courts are, being is red. P, l“° conte “ p . t; t,le industrial machinery of the Dominion n th™ ? ° f farce ’ a,,d tl,e failh of a « d women m the pi esent set-up of society is being fast destroyed. At the time of the French Revolution, Burke said of the French that they were “the greatest architects of destruction that the world had ever seen. ” Can that be said of the French to-day? And if so, where stand New Zealanders? The time has arrived to contemplate to what extent the Government of the country is being used to promote the well-being of the Dominion, and to what extent it is being used to encompass the Dominion’s downfall. The issue is not likely to be made plainer than it is now, when the promotion of a policy favouring industrial sabotage is being encouraged by inaction or weak action. Every man who is involved in any way in this business must make a decision whether or not he will be a party to it. If he decides that it is impossible to condone such conduct as the Government has decided on, he must take immediate steps to divest himself of even the semblance of responsibility therefor. Where stands the War Administration?