The Waikato Times TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1939 WATERFRONT INVESTIGATION

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20694, 3 January 1939, Page 6

The Waikato Times TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1939 WATERFRONT INVESTIGATION

Long overdue, the inquiry into waterside work at the ports of New Zealand promised by the Hon. P. C. Webb will be welcomed by e 1090 6 °° untry and can regarded as one of the important events ° only should it disclose ways and means of increasing e efficiency of the industry where greater efficiency is clearly necessary, but it should provide an occasion for the reorientation of relations between employer and w'orker and of the industry as a whole in its duty to the country, and particularly to the primary industries. e inquiry should have been made long ago, but although vague promises have been made, it was left to the new Minister of Labour to commit the Government to an early investigation. Xu the meantime there has been intense dissatisfaction with the costs and the delays in the industry. Shipping freights have been higher than they should have been because the “turn round” of the ships has been longer in New Zealand .than in many other countries, and because irritating and damaging delays have been caused by labour dispute. Blame has been apportioned, perhaps unjustly, according to political or monetary interests, and much illwill and class feeling have been roused. There was no need for these things if honesty, efficiency and fair effort were the rule. Since the whole export wealth of the Dominion passes through the hands of the employers and w T orkers who control the waterfront, efficiency is just as essential there as in any industry in the Dominion.

Announcing the decision to hotel an inquiry the Minister devoted a considerable portion of his, statement to a homily on “loafing,” as though he held the opinion that a section of the workers was not putting its best efforts into the work. That opinion is heard fairly generally in the country, and it is not fair that it should hang over the heads of honest watersiders, who are as averse to loafing as any other workers. That is only one of the injustices that might be removed. It is only fair to them and to the country that the deliberate loafers should be routed out, because, as the Minister states, they “live parasitically upon the rest of their fellow beings.” Inquiry may show that not all the blame rests with the workers. Are all the ports as efficiently organised and equipped as they should be 1 Are the systems of engaging labour equitable ? The very nature of the work makes the watersider’s occupation inconstant. A harbour may be full of ships to-day and empty to-morrow. Therefore the organisation of the work presents difficulties not encountered in other industries. The closest co-operation among shipping companies, stevedores and watei'side workers is required to spread the work as equitably as possible, provide dispatch for costly ships and give the watersiders a fair return for their labour. One of the greatest difficulties is to find occupations for watersiders during slack periods in shipping, and it is there that the inquiry, with the assistance of the Government, may be able to point to another way in which work on the waterfront can be rationalised. It is industrial waste to pay men a full wage to work only occasionally, or even to pay a lchv wage and allow the men to remain idle for a considerable part of their time.