111.—TO-DAY—(a) INDUSTRIAL. WHAT IS THE POSITION OF LABOUR

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11729, 2 December 1905, Page 2

111.— TO-DAY— (a) INDUSTRIAL. WHAT IS THE POSITION OF LABOUR

10-DAY? Thanks to the Aviso and far-seeing legislation of the past ten years, a change has come over the lot of the worker which even the most sanguine social reformer did not dream of as possible, previous to the advent of tlie^ Liberals to power, and it is doubtful if evon they realised at the beginning the marvellous improvement which in so short a time their legislation was destiii-ed to oft'2ct. Alike in the spheres of industry, sanitation p.ndniorals. tho labouring' <-lassas find tlvemselv<?s protected from tyranny and neglect in a manner which, it is safe to say, they themselves do not yet ially realise, and it is THE OBJECT OF THIS SERIES OF ARTICLES to place before the working men and women of the colony a ft-w details of their indebtedness to the Liberal .Ministry, led by the veteran statesman, the Eight Hon. R. J. Seddon. WHAT IS A STRIKE? Many of the workers of New Zealand know what a strike is only as they know what the Tower of London is — from what they have heard or read about it, for it is toiirteen years since such a thing occurred iv this colony. No one who has rieen a strike, much less anyone who has taken part hi one. has any desire to see or take part in ono again. How many families of the industrial class live merely from hand to mouth, is, alas, only too well known. How many, when the rainy. day conies, find themselves totaliy unprepared to meet its necessities by having something laid by? When labour declares war .igainst capital — for that is

WHAT A STRIKE MEANS

— this is the class that first feels the pinch. Saturday comes and brings with it no wages; how soon the cupboard gets empty and the little ones, whose "only language is a cry," begin to know what it is to be hungry. Sdme who read this will remember the last strike, to which refeience has been made above, THE GREAT MARITIME STRIKE OF

and some will have the practical remembrance of having come through it. It is safe to say that not one of those who know anything about the sufferings of that time, to men, women, and litiJo children, have any wish to see a repetition of its miseries, and it is a pleasing reflection that SO LONG AS THE PRESENT GOVERN-

MENT EXISTS and the present legislation stands unropealed, a repetition is all but an impossibility. Under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act a Court is established for the whole colony before which disputes between the employers and the employees may be brought, while Boards of Conciliation are appointed to deal with matters in dispue affecting industrial districts. Special Boards may also be &et up to deal with special cases. IT HAS BEEN NO MAGICIAN'S WAND waved over these islands that has made them during the last decade the industrial paradise that they are to-day; neither has it beon by accident that no great industrial disputes have taken place during the time. No. it is to the Government, of which the Rijjht Hon. the Premier is the distingiiished head, that Labour is now indebted for the privileges which it enjoys.