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any industries that I have alluded to or that are alluded to in clause 9 of the main Act —that they must not strike within a given period and without having referred the whole dispute to whatever tribunal it may be decided in the wisdom of the authorities to set up. That it also should bo left open to those unions which desire and which have decided to be outside the Arbitration Act—that it should be Left for them to come in. Also, that that provision be increased by the addition of the subject-matter to clause 154 of this Bill, which provides for voluntary agreements. That is, where any industry which is outside the Act, and decides to remain outside the Act, ionics to an agreement with the parties—that in the first place such agreement in every case ought to be entered into between the employers and the employees, always with a nutral individual appointed by the parties or the Government as chairman. The object of that is that that responsible party would be responsible in a way for the third party in connection with our industrial affairs —that is, the consuming public; and that there should be a check —which would be good for the industry in many cases—-there should be a check on both parties entering into the agreement where the terms of that agreement inflict certain hardships on the public as a whole, if 1 may be permitted I will illustrate that. The agreement entered into between the wharf labourers and the shipping companies in 1912 without question inflicted hardship on the general public. The employees at that time considered that it was to their advantage that they should accept this agreement, but they subsequently broke it. It did not work out as was expected, because we all know that the increased wages uciv above the reasonable ratio, because there ought always to be consideration taken of the rate of wages outside in the case of these industries where the employees are unskilled. What lias happened in this case is this : that the action of the shipping companies in thus agreeing to too high a ratio of increase in what may lie termed unskilled labour has resulted in I lie work being rushed; and the ultimate result to those engaged in the industry has been that instead of an annual increase they have had a very serious decrease. 2. Mr. Anderson.] Individually'—Yes, their wages for the year have been very much below what they got before. That statement has been made by many oi the men to myself, and the truth of it can be seen on referring to the wages-sheets—that their annual income has been greatly lowered as a result of the increased wages that were given. Ido not say that they should not have goi the increase. They should get an increase, but it should be an increase proportionate to the average rate of wages ruling outside. We think thai the Chairman of tin; Court should lie a neutral party, and that when an agreement is come to there should be some provi sion such as that in clause 154 whereby the agreement can be given the force of law. In the case 1 have illustrated we know that at that conference they practically agreed to the prinoiple of referring disputes to a tribunal. In the first place the dispute was to go to a local committee, but if all methods failed —there were three suggested—it was ultimately to go to what was considered a high tribunal, consisting of a committee of the Federation of Labour and the employers concerned. As we know, that tribunal was not a wise one, and has tinned out ineffective. .'). I think you are now rather going outside the scope of I , art VI of the Bill/—V ery well. In connection with conferences there is one thing 1 would like to point out, and that is, if you are going to bring in unions outside the Act and deal, for instance, with a position like the present strike, you must have certain provisions to enable the agreements that are come to to have the force of law, or otherwise they will be utterly ineffective. That is a point I wish to make, so that I think you will have to bring in the provisions of clause 154. We consider that absolutely essential. There must be certain checks put on certain industries forcing them to submit their grievances to a tribunal before they strike—fixing a date during which the whole subject-matter must be submitted to a tribunal and thereby be made public. After that has been done, and if an agreement is come to, that agreement" must have the force of law. That is our opinion in connection with that matter. To go through the various clauses is not a matter of much consequence, having stated the points which the bodies I represent are seised of; and it is for the Legislature to devise machinery to meet the position. I need not. therefore, take up any further time other than to reply to any questions that may be asked me. 4. Mr. Wilkinson.] You have referred to the consuming public. There are some people whom you could hardl/ call the " consuming public " who are interested in these matters. There is the exporting public—the farmers: should not they be taken into consideration in Bxing the tribunal? Should they not have a voice in matters affecting them so much?— The thing tLat is in my mind is this : that there should be a man appointed by the Government to take the chair in all these disputes, and it should be recognized that he should represent all outside parties; at any rate, I presume the Government would have that faotor in view in making the appointment —everything affecting industries outside the parties— because 1 can hardly see how you can bring into industrial disputes members of the farming community and others, who know their own business but who know very little of the technicalities that 'might be discussed there, pertaining to an industry that really only indirectly affects them. When you suggest that representation should be given to the farming community and to others I am "afraid that those most directly interested would not listen to any such consideration. Furthermore, if you suggest that, then when farming bodies meet and fix prices, &c., affecting the consumers, nthen, outside those bodies ought to be represented at those conferences. 5. Mr. Okey.] Farmers do not fix the prices: they have to go by the market ? Tee, but that is opening up a big question. 6. Mr. Will-iinon.] You agree that the general public should be considered in all these disputes?—l think if the proper man—a man with a lawful and legal standing—is appointed chairman he will, amongst other things, see that the rights of the third party are preserved. 7. Hon. Mr. Millar.] Do you think that our present Concilition Commissioners would be the best men to appoint to deal with disputes in the first place—to deal with unions which are

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