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National Association of Manufacturers

Report

OF THE

American Trade Commission

Industrial Conditions
in Australasia

1914

Issued from the

SECRETARY'S OFFICE

30 Church Street
New York

National Association of Manufacturers

Report

OF THE

American Trade Commission

Industrial Conditions
in Australasia

1914

Issued from tke

SECRETARY'S OFFICE

30 ChurcK Street
New York

The report of the Commission on trie promotion
of trade in Australasia, the Philippines, and the
Orient, is contained in a separate volume, on file
in the office of the Association. Members desiring
a copy of such part thereof as relates to their
particular industry can obtain the same on request.
Copies of this report, in its entirety, will be sent
to any address, free of charge, on application to The
National Association of Manufacturers, 30 Church
St., New York

Report of trie American Trade Commission of tKe

National Association of Manufacturers on

Industrial Conditions in Australasia*

To the President and Board of Directors of the National Asso-
ciation of Manufacturers.

Gentlemen : — In pursuance of your action in* appointing us
a Commission to visit New Zealand and Australia for the pur-
pose of investigating at first hand the so-called "ideal" industrial
conditions which have so commonly been alleged to prevail in
those countries through the instrumentality of legislation, with
a view to the National Association of Manufacturers advocat-
ing in this country the adoption of such of their measures as
would tend to improve our own industrial conditions, and with
the further view to a full presentation of the actual facts as they
obtain with respect to industrial matters and things germane
thereto in New Zealand and Australia, we beg herewith to sub-
mit our report.

Accompanied by Mr. Albert A. Snowden, of the Educa-
tional Staff of our Association, we sailed February loth, of the
current year, from San Francisco, for Sydney, New South
Wales, arriving at Sydney March 2d, from whence, after a ten
days' stay, we sailed for Auckland, New Zealand, and leaving
there March 2oth, we visited the following cities in the order
named: Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargel,
in New Zealand; Hobart, Tasmania; Melbourne, Victoria;
Adelaide, South Australia; returning from Adelaide to
Sydney, thence to Brisbane and Townsville in Queensland,
Australia, whence we sailed, June I2th, on our return voyage,
stopping at Thursday Island, Manila, Hongkong, Shanghai,
Hankow, Mukden, Manchuria; Fusan, Korea; Shimonoseki,
Tokio and Yokohama, Japan, and at Honolulu.

It may be stated here, that at a conference with our Gen-
eral Manager, Mr. Bird, relative to what additional subjects we
might investigate with profit to the National Association of
Manufacturers, it was decided that the subject of foreign trade
promotion should be included in the activities of your Commis-
sion, which, upon our arrival at Sydney, was announced by the
press as "The American Trade Commission/' and by which title

*Wherever the term "Australasia" is used in this report, the reference
includes Australia and New Zealand.

M34I828

we were thereafter recognized throughout our trip. As both
of these subjects were exhaustively prosecuted, they furnish
material for a somewhat lengthy report. Being separate and
distinct subjects, they will be treated as such, and the results of
our investigations with respect to trade relations will be sub-
mitted to you in another and separate report from this one.

Commonwealth of Australia.

"A White Man's Government" in Australia dates back to
1786, about 18 years after the discovery 6f Botany Bay by Capt.
Cook, and in which year Port Jackson was founded as a place
to which criminals from England were exiled and which after-
ward was called Sydney, the capital of New South Wales.
Then came Tasmania in 1825; Western Australia in 1829;
South Australia in 1834; Victoria in 1851; Queensland in 1859,
and Northern Territory in 1863.

January I, 1901, these several independent States and their
included territories were federated under the name "Common-
wealth of Australia," and adopted a Constitution modeled after
that of the United States of America, but modified in some par-
ticulars. The following statements and figures are based on
statistics published by the Commonwealth Statistician.

The area of Australia is 2,974,581 square miles — approxi-
mately the same as that of the United States, exclusive of
Alaska. Its total population, exclusive of full-blooded aborigines
who formerly exclusively peopled the country, in 1901 was
3,825,000, and in 1912, 4,733,000, being an increase of 908,000 in
12 years, a yearly average of 75,666. Over one-half the popu-
lation live in cities. Its most northerly border is at Thursday
Island, in Torres Straight, a town of a few hundred people,
mostly Japanese, a five days' ride from Brisbane, by water.

The principal cities of Australia are Brisbane, Sydney,
Melbourne, Perth and Hobart.

Principal Cities of Australia.

Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, is a city of 147,000
people. It is situated on both sides of the Brisbane River, about
seven miles from its mouth, where at present the larger ocean
steamers dock at Pinkenba, the river being navigable only for
ocean steamers of medium draught. Additional shipping facilities
will soon be provided, as extensive dredging operations are going
on with a view to deepening the channel so as to pass the largest
ocean vessels up to the city docks, and thus make ready for the
increase in shipping which, it is believed, the opening of the

Panama Canal will bring to the city, and which, from a geo-
graphical viewpoint, will naturally become the first Australian
port at which vessels from the United States, through the canal,
to Australia will stop. The city has no sewerage system and a
big problem faces its people in this regard, as they fully appre-
ciate the necessity for the same.

Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, lies 700 miles to
the south of Brisbane, and together with its immediately ad-
joining suburbs has a population of 675,000. Sydney harbor
is claimed to be the finest harbor in the world, with the possible
exception of Buenos Aires. It is said to have from 600 to 900
miles of shore frontage, skirting its many small islands, coves
and bays. On entering the harbor the stranger is amazed at the
vast number of vessels, from all parts of the world, which he
sees being loaded and unloaded. It is then that he realizes the
fact that Sydney is the fifth city in the world in shipping im-
portance, and that it is the principal distributing port for a
vast portion of trade in the far South East. The city itself
has the appearance of age and substantiality. Many of its busi-
ness and public buildings are massive and of fairly good archi-
tectural construction. Its streets, though rather narrow, are
well paved, as is true of all the principal Australian cities, and
are kept clean and in excellent sanitary condition.

Melbourne, the capital of Victoria and also of the Com-
monwealth, lying, as it does, 550 miles to the south of Sydney,
at the head of Hobson Bay (Port Phillip), is justly entitled
to be called the gem city of Australia. It has a population of
approximately 600,000. Its streets are broad and laid out prin-
cipally at right angles, with the roadways and the sidewalks
level with each other at the street intersections, catch basins
being arranged at each crossing to receive and carry the surface
water into the sewers. This system of street construction at-
tracted our attention as being a marked improvement over the
custom of extending the curb around the street corners, which
forms a step from the sidewalk to the street, as we do in our
American cities.

The business and public buildings of Melborune will com-
pare favorably with those of any American city of its size. Its
Botanical Gardens are beautiful and attractive, and its museum
is a place of interest of which Melbourne citizens may well
feel proud. Its hospital would do credit to any city in the
world.

There are many fine residences in Melbourne, but they are
nearly all surrounded by hideous corrugated iron or other type
of close fences, six to eight feet in height, which hide from

view the beautiful grounds which surround most of them and
which, if removed, would add greatly to the beauty of the city,
whose general appearance resembles the city of Washington,
D. C.

Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, is a city of ap-
proximately 170,000 population, situated 500 miles from Mel-
bourne in the southeast corner of the State. The city has a
good harbor and is splendidly laid out, with well-paved, broad
streets, and its sanitary conditions appear to be excellent. It
has many fine business and public buildings, and wears the air
of a well-to-do community.

Perhaps the most noticeable feature about Adelaide, at least
the one that attracted our admiration most, is its large number
of artistically appearing small dwellings built of red pressed
brick with sandstone trimmings and red tile roofs. Although
these houses are all similar in style and design, they present a
very pleasing effect and give to the city the appearance of pros-
perity and a comfortably cared-for community. A city ordi-
nance, we were informed, prohibits the erection of frame build-
ings within the city limits. Of all the cities we visited, none
presented to us a more attractive appearance than Adelaide,
and nowhere did we meet more congenial people.

Perth, the capital of Western Australia, is a city of 36,000
population, situated on the west coast of Australia, 1350 miles
from Melbourne, by water route. As we did not visit Perth we
are unable to speak of it from the viewpoint of personal obser-
vation, but we were informed that it is a city of large commer-
cial and shipping interests and possesses most of the advantages
incident to the average modern city of its size.

Hobart is the capital of Tasmania (once known as Van
Dieman's Land), and has a population of about 40,000. It is
situated on the southeast coast of Tasmania, 284 miles south-
east of Melbourne, close to the southern extremity of the Island
of Tasmania, which is separated from the mainland by Bass
Straight, about 175 miles across. Hobart has all the appear-
ances of a prosperous community, and being the principal ship-
ping point for the products of the State, it has one of the largest
and best equipped shipping wharfs that we saw anywhere in our
travels. Hobart also boasts of having the largest single jam-
making establishment in the world.

Pensions-Public Debt.

It has been said that "people are best governed that are
least governed," but Australia has not acted on that theory, for

with a population less than that of the State of Ohio, its State
and Federal Governments are sufficiently extensive and compli-
cated for a population of 50,000,000 people, and their cost of
maintenance, when borne by less than 5,000,000, makes it a heavy
tax burden upon those who are called upon to pay the bills.
We were informed that the employees of the State and Federal
Governments number one in every eight of the total population.

The sum paid annually to 85,346 old age and 14,410 invalid
pensioners is approximately £2,526,765 (f 12,280,000), and from
October 10, 1912 (commencement), to October 25, 1913, there
was paid on account of 127,011 maternity claims, £635,055
($3,086,367).

The total debt of the Commonwealth itself June 30, 1913,
was £7,430,949 ($36,114,412), and the Commonwealth and
States combined £301,913,113 ($1,467,297,729), or, to be more
specific, $310.70 per head.

Railways of Australia.

In 1913 there were 17,777 miles of Government owned and
operated railroads open for traffic, as follows: Commonwealth
145; Queensland 4,524; New South Wales 3,930; Victoria
3,647; South Australia 2,168; West Australia 2,854; Tasmania
509; the combined gross earnings of which were, for the fiscal
year — 1912-13 — £19,955,000 ($96,981,300) ; the operating ex-
penses, £13,597,000 ($66,081,420) ; the percentage of operating
expenses on gross earnings, 68.14; the net earnings, £6,358,000
($30,899,880), and the percentage of net earnings on the capital
cost 3.66. These figures, however, which are those given out
by the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics, are not
generally accepted as showing the actual result of the railway
operations, as all depends on the system of bookkeeping and how
the figures are arrived at. We discussed this subject with a
number of business men, all of whom declared that the railways
were a heavy drain on the public purse.

A serious drawback to the country is experienced in the
lack of railway facilities in the interior, and also by reason of
the variation in gauges necessitating the transfer of freight and
passengers at the State border lines. For example, the Queens-
land lines are 3 feet 6 inches gauge; New South Wales 4 feet
Sy2 inches ; Victoria 5 feet 3 inches ; South Australia 4 feet 8j4
inches, etc.

The Commonwealth Government now has under construc-
tion a line 4 feet 8^ inches gauge, 1000 miles in length, from Kal-
goolie, in West Australia, to Port Augusta, in South Australia,

which when completed will connect with a line from Perth to
Kalgoolie, and another from Port Augusta to Adelaide, thence
via South Australia and Victoria lines to Melbourne, thus form-
ing through rail communication from the west to the east coasts
and from Melbourne northwardly to Sydney and Brisbane.

There are no privately owned railways in Australasia, and
no franchises are obtainable except conditioned on their being
turned over to the Government at a given time.

We cannot subscribe to much of the adverse criticisms of
the railways of Australasia, which have been based on compari-
son with the railways of older and much more extensively popu-
lated countries. Whether they are self-supporting or not, when
considered in the light of the large area of country and its small
population, together with the fact that they are a part of the
political system of the country, we think that they are in the
hands of honest and capable men and that they are well managed
and render fair service to the public. And, while their tariff
rates are much higher than those in the United States, it is
quite apparent that they are deficient in many ways, lacking in
conveniences and improvements which result from individual
experiments, and which, through personal interests and diver-
sity of inventive genius, private corporations are always keen
to recognize and adopt.

Other Government Owned Industries.

We could obtain no official statistics with respect to Gov-
ernment owned industries other than railways, and are therefore
unable to give a complete report as to all of its functions, but
we gathered some information relative thereto from the news-
papers and business men with whom we discussed the subject,
to the effect that in addition to the railways and the telegraph
and telephone systems the Government owns and operates all
the lighting and water plants, some of the mines and banks, all
the sleeping cars and railway eating houses, engages in the life
insurance business, and regulates the amount of wages that shall
be received and paid for labor. The proposition to put a pre-
mium on idleness by paying wages to unemployed is being con-
sidered. The law requires that, in addition to Sunday, you
must close your place of business one half day each week, either
on Wednesday or Saturday afternoon, and that you must
register with the Government which day you elect to observe as
the half holiday — most merchants close both afternoons, as busi-
ness is so dead that it does not pay them to keep open. You are
liable to arrest and fine if you keep open after the time fixed by

law to close up your business establishment. One merchant
said that he was "So annoyed by Governmental restrictions of
personal liberty in doing business that he felt very much inclined
to pack up and get out of the country. The law keeps making
it harder and harder to carry on business." Another dealer said,
"This used to be a good country to make money in, but the
lawmakers and the labor unions have killed it."

There are a number of State and municipal owned meat
killing -and freezing plants doing business in competition with
private concerns. New South Wales operates a brick-making
plant, a bakery and several other industries in addition to the
tramway lines in Sydney, which are a part of the steam rail-
ways system. In Victoria the State owns and operates a coal
mine, a killing and freezing plant and a sugar beet plant. The
coal mine is said to be "sick," and the beet plant closed as a
failure after an expenditure of approximately $2,000,000 of the
public funds. These Government owned industries are subject
to the same labor conditions as are private concerns, as will be
shown later on. But when strikes occur in any of the industries
a demand is set up by the labor unions for the "nationalization"
of the industry, which sometimes is done.

Although we could get no definite or reliable statement or
figures with respect to the financial operations of these Govern-
ment owned industries, yet we were convinced from the infor-
mation we did obtain that none of them were returning to the
people "value received" and that from a financial standpoint the
results obtained from their operation would soon cause the
"finish" of privately-owned institutions.

Barring New Zealand, Australia leads the world in State
paternalism and in effort of the State to work out the destinies
of its individual citizens by placing on a par with the energetic,
thoughtful and frugal individual, the profligate, idle and shiftless
class who are always ready and willing to accept the benefits of
those whose superior efforts produce results which make for
advancement, and which when achieved belong to those who earn
them and not to the "common herd." The result of such a
policy is to make business ventures more hazardous and un-
certain, to penalize industry and thrift and give the reward to
the lazy and improvident. It is visible everywhere in Australia.

As to the Sydney tramways system, it appears to be well man-
aged and to give excellent service to the public. Its fares are
divided into sections, a penny (2 cents in United States money)
for each section. A ride of four miles costs 4d. (8 cents),
which, while being a more equitable system of fares, is in the
higher than is charged in the United States, where, in

some cities, one can ride a distance of 12 miles or more for a
nickel. The operation of the system for its last fiscal year
showed a deficit of £61,038, which is hereinafter referred to
in a newspaper account.

In Brisbane and Melbourne the tramways are owned and
operated by private corporations under options of the munici-
palities to take them over at certain specified times. In Ade-
laide the city owns and operates the system.

As before stated, the telegraph and telephone systems are
Government owned and operated. If you want a local tele-
phone communication you drop a penny in the slot. In some
places the service was fairly good, in others not. Our experi-
ence in Sydney was not flattering to the telephone system. We
soon abandoned its use and resorted to the methods employed
before the telephone was introduced.

Taxes.

We were asked to investigate the system of taxation in
Australia, but we found it a difficult matter to obtain definite
or statistical information covering the subject in detail. We
learned, however, through various sources that pretty much
every available means is employed to raise revenue sufficient
to meet the liberal expenditures of the Government. There is
the ever increasing land tax ; an income tax on incomes above
£200; an import tax; a license tax on every form of business
from a boarding house to a hotel ; a stamp tax which requires
that in business transactions practically every piece of paper
that bears a signature must also bear a tax stamp, and for the
privilege of passing through the gates of a railway station to see
your friends off on the train you are taxed two-pence.

Workmen's Compensation.

Laws providing for compensation of workers injured in the
course of their employment have been in force throughout Aus-
tralasia for some years. And, as our Association has devoted a
great deal of time and money in promoting sane and equitable
legislation of this character, in the various States, it is especially
fitting that space in this report be given to this branch of indus-
trial legislation. Owing to the absence of statistical data we
are unable to give figures showing the sums paid annually
to injured workers and their dependents, in accordance with the
provisions of these laws. But the following extracts from the
Schedule and Code of Regulations under which the Queensland
Workers' Compensation Act of 1905 is administered, are

quoted as covering the general character of such legislation
throughout Australia and New Zealand, and which, suffice to
say, have been freely copied, from in the United States, viz. :

(1) If, in any employment to which this Act applies, personal injury by
accident arising out of and in the course of the employment is caused
to a worker, his employer shall, subject as hereinafter mentioned, be
liable to pay compensation in accordance with the Schedule to this Act.

(2) The employer shall not be liable under this Act in respect of any
injury which —

(i) Does not disable the worker for a period of at least three days
from earning full wages at the work at which he was em-
ployed ; or

(n) Is directly attributable to the serious and wilful misconduct of
the worker injured; or

(in) Occurs to a worker whilst proceeding to or frpm his place of
work.

* * *

(1) If the Governor in Council, after taking steps to ascertain the views
of the employer and workmen, certifies that any scheme of compen-
sation, benefit, or insurance for the workmen of an employer in any
employment, whether or not such scheme includes other employers
and their workmen, is on the whole not less favorable to the general
body of workmen and their dependants than the provisions of this
Act, the employer may, until the certificate is revoked, contract with
any of those workmen that the provisions of the scheme shall be
substituted for the provisions of this Act, and thereupon the employer
shall be liable only in accordance with the scheme.

But, save as aforesaid, this Act shall apply, notwithstanding any
contract to the contrary made after the commencement of this Act.

(2) The Governor in Council may give a certificate to expire at the end
of a limited period not less than five years.

(3) No scheme shall be so certified which contains an obligation upon
the workmen to join the scheme as a condition of their hiring.

(4) If complaint is made to the Governor in Council by or on behalf of
the workmen of any employer that —

(i) The provisions of any scheme are no longer on the whole so
favorable to the general body of workmen of such employer and
their dependants as the provisions of this Act; or
(n) The provisions of such scheme are being violated; or
(in) The scheme is not being fairly administered; or
(iv) Satisfactory reasons exist for revoking the certificate;
the Governor in Council, if satisfied that good cause exists for such
complaint, shall, unless the cause of complaint is removed, revoke the
certificate.

(5) When a certificate is revoked or expires, any moneys or securities
held for the purpose of the scheme shall be distributed as may be
arranged between the employer and workmen, or as may be deter-
mined by the Governor in Council in the event of a difference of
opinion.

(6) Whenever a scheme has been certified as aforesaid, it shall be the
duty of the employer to answer all such inquiries and to furnish all
such accounts in regard to the scheme as may be made or required by
the Governor in Council.

* * *

From and after the commencement of this Act, it shall not be lawful for
any employer or any person on his behalf, or for any insurance com-

pany or any person on its behalf, to directly or indirectly take or
receive any money from any worker, whether by way of deduction
from wages or otherwise howsoever, in respect of any liability of an
employer to pay compensation under this Act or damages indepen-
dently of this Act.

* * *

Where death results from the injury. — If the worker leaves any depen-
dants wholly dependent upon his earnings at the time of his death,
a sum equal to his earnings in the employment of the same employer
during the three years next preceding the injury, or the sum of 200
pounds, whichever of those sums is the larger, but not exceeding in
any case 400 pounds.

* * *

Where total or partial incapacity for work results from the injury, a
weekly payment during the incapacity not exceeding 50 per centum
of his average weekly earnings during the previous twelve months,
if he has been so long employed, but if not, then for any less period
during which he has been in the employment of the same employer,
but such weekly payment shall not exceed one pound, and the total
liability of the employer in respect thereof shall not exceed 400 pounds:

Provided that—

(a) In the case of a worker whom his employer has reasonable cause
to believe to be over sixty years of age, and who has entered
into an agreetnent in writing with his employer as to the maxi-
mum amount of compensation to be payable to him under this
Act in respect of accidents happening after the date of the agree-
ment, the compensation shall not exceed that maximum, but the
maximum shall not be less —
(i) Where death results from the injury, and the worker leaves

. any dependants, than 50 pounds ;

(n) Where total or partial incapacity for work results from the
injury, than a weekly payment during the incapacity of five
shillings, and a total liability of 50 pounds;

(fc) In the case of a workman who has, in accordance with the regu-
lations, obtained from a medical referee a certificate to the effect
that his age or any physical infirmity or incapacity from which he
is suffering is such as to render him specially liable to accident,
or to render the result of an accident to him specially serious,
and who has entered into an agreement in writing with his em-
ployer as to the maximum amount of compensation to be pay-
able to him under this Act in respect of accidents happening
after the date of the agreement, the compensation shall not exceed
that maximum, but the maximum shall not be less —
(i) Where death results from the injury, and the worker leaves
any dependants, than 25 pounds or a sum equivalent to 39
times his average weekly earnings, whichever is the larger;
(n) Where total or partial incapacity for work results from the
injury, than a weekly payment during the incapacity of five
shillings or one-quarter of his average weekly earnings,
whichever is the larger, and a total liability of 50 pounds ;
(c) As respects the weekly payment during total incapacity to a
worker who is under 21 years of age at the date of the injury,
and whose average weekly earnings are less than 20 shillings,
100 per centum shall be substituted for 50 per centum of his
average weekly earnings, but the weekly payment shall in no
case exceed ten shillings.

* * *

Where a worker has given notice of an accident he shall, if so required
by the employer, submit himself for examination by a duly qualified

medical practitioner provided and paid by the employer ; and if he
refuses to submit himself to such examination, or in any way ob-
structs the same, his right to compensation, and any proceeding
under this Act in relation to compensation, shall be suspended until
such examination takes place.

The payment shall, in case of death, be made to the legal personal repre-
sentative of the worker, or, if he has no legal personal representative,
to or for the benefit of his dependants, or, if he leaves no dependants,
to the person to whom the expenses are due; and, if made to the
legal personal representative, shall be paid by him to or for the
benefit of the dependants or other persons entitled thereto under
this Act.

Any question as to who is a dependant or as to the amount payable to
each dependant shall, in default of agreement, be settled by a police
magistrate under this Act.

The sum allotted as compensation to a dependant may be invested or
otherwise applied for the benefit of the person entitled thereto as
agreed, or, in default of agreement, as ordered by the police magis-
trate.

Where it appears to a police magistrate, on any information which the
police magistrate considers sufficient, that a widow to whom any sum
is payable under this Act, whether by way of an annuity or as instal-
ments or otherwise, ought on account of her remarriage, or on
account of drunkenness, neglect of children, or other sufficient mis-
conduct on her part, to be deprived of the whole or any part of any
such sums, or that the terms on which, or the manner in which, any
such sums are payable to the widow ought to be varied, the police
magistrate may order such deprivation or variation, and may, on
application being made in accordance with the regulations, make such
further order, for the payment of the sums of which the widow has
been deprived to or for the benefit of other dependants or of the
employer, as in the circumstances of the case the police magistrate
may think just.

Any worker receiving weekly payments under this Act shall, if so re-
quired by the employer, from time to time submit himself for
examination by a duly qualified medical practitioner provided and
paid by the employer. If the worker refuses to submit himself to
such examination or in any way obstructs the same, his right to such
weekly payments shall be suspended until such examination has taken
place.

A worker shall not be required to submit himself for examination by a
medical practitioner under paragraph four or paragraph nine of this
Schedule, otherwise than in accordance with the regulations; and
where he has so submitted himself for examination, he shall not,,
without the leave of the police magistrate, be again required to so
submit himself until after the expiration of one month after the
previous examination.

Where a worker has so submitted himself for examination by a medical
practitioner, and the employer has, within six days after such exami-
nation, furnished the worker with a copy of the report of that prac-
titioner as to his condition, then, in the event of no agreement being
come to between the employer and the worker as to the worker's
condition or fitness for employment, the police magistrate—
(0) In the case of a submission for examination under paragraph
four of this Schedule, on application being made to the police-
magistrate by the employer, and on payment by him of such fee
as may be fixed, not exceeding the limit prescribed by the regu-
lations, may; and

(b) In the case of a submission for examination under paragraph
nine of this Schedule, on application being made to the police
magistrate by either party, and on payment by such party of
such fee as may be fixed, not exceeding the limit prescribed by
the regulations, shall
refer the matter to a medical referee.

The medical referee to whom the matter is so referred shall, in accord-
ance with the regulations, give a certificate as to the condition of the
worker and his fitness for employment, specifying, where necessary,
the kind of employment for which he is fit; and that certificate shall
be conclusive evidence as to the matter so certified.

If a worker, on being required to do so, refuses to submit himself for
examination by a medical referee to whom the matter has been so
referred as aforesaid, or in any way obstructs the same, his right
to compensation and any proceeding under this Act in relation to
compensation, or in the case of a worker in receipt of a weekly pay-
ment his right to that weekly payment, shall be suspended until such
examination has taken place.

The regulations may prescribe the manner in which documents are to be
furnished or served and applications made under this paragraph,
and the forms to be used for those purposes, and as to the fee to be
paid under this paragraph.

Any weekly payment may be reviewed by a police magistrate at the
request either of the employer or of the worker, and on such review
may be ended, diminished, or increased, subject to the maximum
above provided :

Provided that where the worker was at the date of the accident under
21 years of age, and the review takes place more than twelve months
after the accident, the amount of the weekly payment may be in-
creased to any amount not exceeding 50 per centum of the weekly
sum which the worker would probably have been earning at the
date of the review if he had remained uninjured, but not in any
case exceeding one pound.

Where any weekly payment has been continued for not less than three
months, the liability therefor may, on the application by or on behalf
of the employer, be redeemed by the payment of a lump sum to be
agreed on by the parties, or, in default of agreement, to be deter-
mined by a police magistrate under this Act; and such lump sum
may be ordered by the police magistrate to be invested or otherwise
applied for the benefit of the person entitled thereto.

If a worker receiving weekly payment ceases to reside in the Common-
wealth he shall thereupon cease to be entitled to receive any weekly
payment, but if he proves that the incapacity resulting from the
injury is of a permanent nature he shall be entitled to a lump sum
not exceeding 156 times the amount of weekly payment less all pay-
ments theretofore paid. Any questions arising under this paragraph
shall, in default of agreement, be determined by a police magistrate.

No money paid or payable in respect of compensation under this Act
shall be capable of being assigned, charged, taken in execution, or
attached, nor shall the same pass to any other person by operation
of law, nor shall any claim be set off against the same.

When payment of any moneys under this Act is made to any person
under 21 years of age, whether such person claims as a worker,
dependant, or legal personal representative, the receipt of such person
therefor shall be a good and valid discharge in law ; and such person
(notwithstanding minority) may, with the approval of a police
magistrate, elect to claim compensation under this Act, and may
agree upon the amount of compensation payable.

Homes for Workingmen.

The Australian and New Zealand Governments both have
in operation a scheme for building homes for the working classes,
which is not unlike the plan upon which hundreds of Building
and Loan Associations operate in the United States, as well as
in Australasia. Upon a deposit of £10 ($48.60) they will sell
a man a lot and build him a house upon it, charging rental at
7j£ per cent of the cost of the lot and improvements, 2^2 per
cent being credited on the principal toward liquidating the loan.
At Wellington, N. Z., the Secretary of the Department of Labor
very kindly invited us to join him and the Government Architect
on a tour of examination of some of these homes, which invita-
tion we gladly and appreciatively accepted. We were driven
three or four miles into the suburbs and there given the privilege
of examining several newly built and occupied, four- and five-
room cottage's, costing from ^350 ($1,701) to £500 (12,430).
The cost of the same houses in Dayton, Ohio, for example, would
not exceed from $1,350 to $2,000, and the terms offered by the
Building and Loan Associations of Dayton, the difference in cost
of the houses being considered, are fully as favorable to the
workman as are those above mentioned; the workman's equity
in the property being as secure in one case as in the other. We
could see no reason why the Government should embark in
such business when there are Building and Loan Associations
organized expressly for the same purpose and which are under
Governmental supervision and regulation, except a desire to en-
gage in business pursuits with which, in our judgment, it should
not meddle.

Anti-Trust Legislation.

The Trust problem is a live issue in Australia. We were
informed by a prominent business man that it has placed upon
its statute books an Anti-Trust Act in which at least some con-
sideration has been shown for the possible and probable effect
of such legislation on the business development and interests of
the country. The law is designed not to destroy big business, nor
to cut it up into a million small units, such, for example, as
prevail among the coolie classes in China and which furnish em-
ployment to nobody, but prohibit business combinations whose
purpose is to restrain trade at the expense of the public, or, in
other words, create monopolies which work hardship on the
community.

The law as explained to us is clear and explicit, so that any
one who can read can understand that combinations which tend

lo expand rather than restrain trade, and which do not monopo-
lize or attempt to monopolize, are not infractions of the law.

We heard several severe criticisms of the chaotic condition
into which the Sherman Act has thrown the business interests
of the United States and there is a strong feeling extant through-
out Australia against anti-trust legislation so drastic in character.

Crownlands.

It is the avowed purpose of the Commonwealth and several
State Governments eventually to own all the land. All that they
do not now own is subject to the exercise of the right of eminent
domain at any time the Government wants it for dividing into
smaller tracts. The price to be paid for it will be fixed by the
Government's own appraisers. Land so acquired by the State
will not be resold, but will be parcelled out under perpetual
leaseholds, "with a string tied to the lease." The terms and con-
ditions upon which settlers can obtain these leaseholds vary more
or less in the different States. In New South Wales, for ex-
ample, we were informed by a high State official, the land is
classified into three grades ; first, second and third class, and is
leased to settlers in blocks of 40 to 60 acres first class, 460 acres
second class, and 1350 acres third class. The terms of the lease
provide how the land shall be utilized, and otherwise restrict the
privileges of the lessee so that in reality he is but little else than
a servant of the State, and he quite naturally has no heart to
improve land which he never can own and from which, if he
fails to live up to the strict requirements of the lease to the satis-
faction of the State land inspector, he may be ousted at any
time. Two per cent of the appraised value of the land is
charged for rent, subject to a new valuation at the end of the
first five years and every 20 or 25 years thereafter, a deposit of
£ 100 ($486) being required when the lease is executed.

During the first year the Government will loan the lessee
£200 in installments as improvements are made, such as build-
ing a house and fences. Then at the end of the first year, and
thereafter for a period of five years, further loans will be made
to the extent of three-fourths the cost of all the improvements
put upon the land. The Government reserves the right to, at the
end of the fifth year and at any time thereafter, resume owner-
ship of the land at its then appraised value, including improve-
ments. Title to the land never passes from the State. In
Queensland, we were told, large tracts of land are available to
leasehold on similar conditions at a rental of three cents per acre,
per annum, and are allotted by ballot.

Large fortunes have been made in Australia and New Zea-
land at stock raising, and as there are millions of acres of land
in the interior not accessible by railroads, there are still
numerous occupiers of large tracts on which the business is car-
ried on extensively and on which there are 100,000 to 200,000
sheep on a single tract. But these will, in time, as railroads
penetrate them and they can be utilized for closer se^tlem^nt
purposes, be resumed by the State and divided into smaller
sections. This, however, will be a slow process at the present
ratio of increase in population, which is principally settling in
the cities.

Refrigeration System— Its Effect.

Australia is one of the richest countries in the world. Its
soil and its mountains contain treasures which should attract
people from all parts of the globe. Its climate, varying from
110° to 30° admits of outdoor work all the year round, and
the wonder is, how is it that, during a century and a quarter of
existence, it has acquired a population of less than five million
souls. True it is, that prior to the introduction of. the refrigera-
tion system of transporting meats and other perishable products
the growth of this fertile country was necessarily slow, because,
being many thousands of miles from its nearest Anglo-Saxon
neighbor and a thousand miles or more from any neighbor, it
had only its home market for its perishable products, consist-
ing chiefly of mutton, beef and farm produce, consequently,
carcasses of beef and mutton were boiled down for their tallow.
Meat supply being greatly in excess of demand, profits from
sheep and cattle raising were confined principally to wool, pelts
and hides.

The same conditions prevailed in New Zealand. A stock
raiser who settled* there in 1873 informed us that, prior to the
introduction of the process for shipping frozen meats when local
consumption was satisfied, everything had to be boiled down for
tallow ; that before the freezing companies could take sheep or
cattle he got $1.02 a head for a very nice lot of ewes, while
cattle were as low as $10.60 for cow and calf : that now ordinary
ewes are worth $3.70 to $5. and special as high as $7.50 a head,
while "forward" bullocks are worth as much as $40 to $60 a
head, and lambs $4.50 to $5 each. Another large stock raiser
in Australia informed us that, before the opening up of foreign
markets for Australian meats through the frozen meat system
of transportation, he had himself peddled from door to door
hind quarters of mutton which he sold at 12 to 18 cents each.

The first shipment of frozen meat was dispatched from

Dunedin, N. Z., February 15, 1883, and that incident marked
the beginning of a phenomenal period of prosperity throughout
all Australasia and the making of large fortunes by many men
who were alert in taking advantage of the opportunities which
lay in their way. What, then, is wrong with Australasia ?

Banking Institutions.

In traveling through Australasia, one thing that impressed
us greatly was the large number of banking institutions and the
magnitude of many of them. In the principal business sections
of the city there are banks, banks, everywhere banks, each with
its branches in different sections of the city. Then when you go
into the country districts you will find in every little hamlet
branch banks and you are filled with wonder as to how they all
exist and what supports them, but upon inquiry you will be in-
formed that they are backed principally by London and local
capital. That so many banking institutions not only exist but
thrive is evidence of the great wealth producing countries these
are and, when measured by population, of the vast amount of
business which is transacted through these banks.

Statistics for 1913 show the total liabilities of check paying
banks to be £138,583,000, and assets £164,555,000. They also
show that in the savings banks — including the Commonwealth
bank — there were 1,961,000 depositors, with total deposits
amounting to £75,463,000, per depositor £38 95. 7d., and per
head of population £15 143. 4d. Of these the Commonwealth
bank had 84,000 depositors with £2,694,000 deposits, the average
per depositor being £32 45. iod., and us. 3d. per head of popu-
lation.

One handicap to American business in Australasia is the
lack of American banking facilities. As an' example of the
appreciation of American money, we handed a banker, in one of
the large Australian banks, a United States twenty-dollar gold
certificate and asked him what he would give us for it in current
money. His reply was that the only use he could make of it
would be to consign it to the waste basket or keep it as a
souvenir. Show a piece of United States money to a business
man in Australasia and he will look at it curiously and, in nine
cases out of ten, ask what it is. And this in face of the fact that
trade with the United States runs up into many millions of
dollars annually. With respect to this phase of business inter-
course between these countries, we were led to the conclusion
that if United States banking institutions were established in
the principal cities of Australasia, United States money could

be made a medium of exchange at practically its home value.
There appeared to us to be good room for such banks in both
Australia and New Zealand notwithstanding all that may be
said about their Socialistic tendencies and unfavorable industrial
conditions.

A Loose Screw.

The mineral wealth of Australia alone is enormous. In
1912 the value of its mineral products was £25,629,000 sterling,
or, approximately, $124,556,940, covering the items of gold,
silver, lead, zinc, tin, copper, pig iron, coal and precious stones.
Its coal fields are practically inexhaustible and we were told by
good authority that veins from 20 to 30 feet thick are not un-
common. No finer fruits and vegetables can be raised any-
where than are grown in Australasia, although they are both
very high in price.

In a country where nature has been so generous one would
naturally expect to find everybody happy and contented and
aglow with enthusiasm for the land in which such opportunities
abound, but not so. Instead of a land full of life and energy
resting in the very bosom of hope and advancement, and ex-
panding by leaps and bounds in individual wealth and freedom,
on every side one hears the wail of discontent. The "closer
settlement" victim is disgruntled because he is disappointed and
feels that he has been deceived. From rich and poor alike,
except office holders, a tale of woe and faultfinding flows freely.
Men having vested interests at stake are alarmed over their
apparent and threatened insecurity. The attitude of the office
holder is apologetic, and the mind of the investigator soon
becomes impressed with the air of decadence which he observes
all about him; that there is a screw or perhaps a number of
screws loose somewhere, and he is forced to agree with an Eng-
lish lady, the wife of the manager of a commercial corporation,
who had lived eleven years in Sydney, and who, when asked
what she thought of Australia, replied, "I think it an ideal coun-
try going wrong."

The nation, like many individuals, can't stand prosperity.
Its policy is very largely dictated by an influence that is bent on
the horizontal levelling of wealth and caste. Its progress is in
the direction of stagnation, and each year sees it nearer a purely
Socialistic country.

The People of Australasia.

Some writers in commenting on the people of Australasia
and their customs and manners have, we think, been very unfair

in their criticisms. The unkind manner in which they have
spoken of them would lead their readers, who have not come
in personal contact with these people, to think that they are a
coarse, ill-bred and uneducated class of humanity in need of
missionaries to carry to them the lamp of civilization, and the
cup of Christianity. They have ridiculed their dialect, their
food and the manner in which they cook and eat it. It has
been said that in hot weather, meat hanging in front of butcher
shops has been so covered with flies that one could not tell
whether it was beef or mutton, and other equally misleading
and apparently prejudicial statements have been put into print.
Our experience having been along opposite lines we feel that
we should speak of these things as we found them and by so
doing counteract, in part at least, the unfavorable impressions,
which such unfair statements have created.

The population of these countries is made up principally
of English, Scotch and native-borns, with a small percentage
of Americans, Germans and others. During our stay of one
month in New Zealand and two and a half months in Australia
we mingled freely with these people at the hotels, the clubs,
their places of business, in the churches, in Government offices
and in their homes, and not in a single instance would we be
warranted in subscribing to the criticisms above referred to.
On the other hand, we have only praise and commendation to
offer in exchange for the hospitable and courteous manner in
which we were everywhere received and treated. We found
that, after all, there is not very much difference between these
people and those of the United States, and for whom they enter-
tain the most friendly feeling and high esteem. True, many of
them, while writing their words correctly, speak a dialect which
to one not accustomed to it is a little difficult to under-
stand. For example, in addition to dropping the letter "h"
from words in which it belongs and adding it where it does not
belong, if they want to know if you are going to the railway
station they will ask you if you are going to the rile-wie stition ;:
a thing sold has been sowl'd. If they want to scold they scowld.
If a newsboy wants to sell you a paper, he cries out "piper,
Mister." A maid is a mide, ale is ile, and sale, sile. A girl
clerk — clark — in a bookstore, when asked "Where is the mana-
ger?" replied, " 'E's hoff on 'is 'alf 'olidie." The Standard Oil
Company is called the Standard Ile Company, etc., etc. But
all this does not indicate that these people are what they have-
been, painted as being, nor that they are below the standard of
other English-speaking nations in culture and refinement.

As a matter of fact, in Sydney, Auckland, and Melbourne

there are more and larger bookstores than in any cities of equal
size that we know of, and on every hand one is impressed with
the vast amount of substantial reading these people indulge in.
They are also a great people for outdoor exercise and manly
sports. On each of their many holidays and half holidays they
can be seen by the thousands making for the different resorts
and places of sport. We found them to be polite, courteous to
a fault, and whatever others may say about them or whatever
may be our opinions of their Governmental policies and the
trend toward State Socialism, we shall always remember them
as a kind-hearted, praiseworthy and Sabbath respecting people, we
shall ever carry pleasant recollections of the kind and generous
treatment we received at the hands of all those with whom we
came in contact, as well as the numerous pleasant acquaintances
we made and left in Australasia.

We did not observe them to be indifferent to flies or any
other pests, nor did we see any meat hanging in front of butcher
shops, so covered with flies that we couldn't tell what kind of
meat it was. But, on the other hand, we did see in
Wellington, Melbourne and Sydney a number of the finest and
neatest kept meat markets that we have ever seen. Let the
things which belong to Csesar be rendered unto Caesar. The
people in the cities of Australasia are provided with more and
better public parks and conveniences than will be found in our
American cities. The matter of "convenience stations" for both
men and women has been looked after in a creditable manner,
and the officials of our municipalities would do well to pattern
after the example set by these people, in whom some critics are
so prone to see no good. These convenience stations are located
a few squares apart, constructed under ground with tile floors
and walls, have an attendant in charge and are kept as clean
and sanitary as are the lavatories in many of our leading hotels.
There is no charge for the use of urinals, but the use of closets
is subject to a charge of one penny.

Of course, there is in Australasia, as in all other countries,
a large element of natural born discontents and ne'er-do-wells
who, in the present instance, constitute the largest portion of the
organized group and in whose particular interest the Govern-
ment appears to be administered, but, in measuring up the people,
it would not be fair to single out this class as a basis of standardi-
zation of the whole. If this should be done in our country a
sorry picture could be painted of our standard of civilization.

The tea drinking habit has a firm grip on the people of
Australasia. With them it is tea before breakfast, tea at break-
fast, tea before and after luncheon and tea before bedtime.

Everybody drinks tea. and drops business and pleasure at regular
intervals for tea — strong tea. The wonder of it is that they hold
up, physically, under the influence of so much strong tea.

Industrial Conditions.

Australia and New Zealand are sister countries, some 1,200
or 1,300 miles distant from each other, and, together, are known
as Australasia. They are noted the world over for their experi-
mental tendencies in legislation. New Zealand, having blazed
the way and set the pace for Australia to follow, apparently has
tired of some, at least, of its legislative experiments, a reaction
already having set in, but Australia appears to be plodding along
the lines of socialistic labor legislation in face of the fact that its
strenuous fight with the economic principle of the law of supply
and demand has proved a dismal failure and the industrial con-
ditions of the country are in a state of chaos.

Many flowery pictures have been painted in magazines and
newspapers throughout the United States, by writers having
theoretical but no practical knowledge of the industrial question,
either in their own or other countries, in which Australasia has
been credited with having solved the labor problem through con-
ciliation, arbitration and Wages Boards legislation, whereby
it has been transformed into "The Land of No Strikes,"
"Labor's Utopia," and "The Workingman's Paradise," where
industrial peace was complete, everybody contented and happy,
and the millennium at hand. But in striking contrast to
these beautiful and misleading pictures the fact remains that
Australasia is a hotbed of strikes, socialistic agitation, syndicalism
and discontent, all of which is, at the present time, more acute
than ever before.

A complete detailed account of our investigations into
labor legislation and conditions in Australasia, and upon which
our conclusions are based, would make a volume unnecessarily
large for the practical purposes of our report. We shall not,
therefore, attempt to detail all that came to our notice with
reference to strikes and their accompanying annoyances, open
antagonism to and ignoring of laws placed upon the statute
books by labor's own representatives, and the deplorable indus-
trial conditions which prevail throughout the Dominion of New
Zealand and the Commonwealth of Australia.

Moreover, that we may not be charged with bias or that
we have judged the situation from a prejudiced viewpoint, we
shall use* the people themselves as our authority and quote some-
what liberally from newspapers and periodicals, and the utter-

ances of public men as well as men in various walks of life with
whom we conversed. From a newspaper standpoint, some idea
can be formed of industrial conditions prevailing in Australasia.
In three months' time we cut from 19 different daily papers refer-
ences to labor disputes, Wages Boards awards, strikes, etc.,
represented by editorials and news items, covering 147 pages of
letter size paper, three columns in width, and this, it should be re-
membered, refers solely to communities aggregating a total
population of 5,785,000 souls. The record could hardly be
matched in the whole United States with its 100,000,000 people,
and where no pretense is made of having solved the labor prob-
lem by legislation.

The following full quotations and excerpts from the daily
press of the several cities visited will serve as an example of
many others. Our reason for quoting as extensively as we have
done, being for the purpose of conveying to your minds, through
this means, the gravity of industrial conditions in Australasia.

FROM THE SIDNEY MORNING HERALD— 1914.
UNION PICKETS.

AN EARLY MORNING MARCH. INCIDENT OF A FARM.

Coolamon, Saturday.

March 2. — The rural workers on strike at Coolamon varied the
monotony of camp life on Thursday morning by a march of ten miles
before dawn to Kittegora, where on the farm of Mr. Archibald Robert-
son, a chaffcutter, owned by Mr. P. Maloney, was at work on some stacks
of hay. The enginedriver was getting up steam; the other men had not
got out of their beds. Mr. Maloney had not arrived. The enginedriver,
who had no spanner handy, was jostled off the engine. The others were
rushed out of bed, and ordered to cease work and join the camp, where
they were told they would be provided for.

"But what about our wives?" one asked.

"Send them out to work," was the reply.

As soon as Mr. Robertson was informed of the raid he galloped
down, and the strikers, 40 in number, made off, but took the indispensable
workers of the team with them.

The men were all back on Friday, but insisted, as a condition of
their return, that they should have police protection.

A constable is now in constant attendance. Most of the townspeople
think it will be a lucky day when the strike camp is dispersed

In the following editorial the writer has touched a sentiment
which finds expression with the entire business interests, not
only of New South Wales but of all of Australasia :

RECURRING STRIKES.

DISGUSTED MINEOWNER. THREATENS TO CLOSE DOWN.

Kurri Kurri, Sunday.

March 2. — Mr. D. Watson's visit to Pelaw Main miners' meeting
resulted in the men returning to work, and the colliery has been working
since.

Mr. Watson told the men they were very foolish in stopping the pit

so frequently for trivial matters; he had almost effected a settlement of
the dispute with Messrs. Brown when the men stopped work.

Mr. John Brown spoke forcibly, and said if the men did not alter
their tactics he would close Pelaw Main Colliery down.

The men carried a motion to the effect that they would not stop the
pit again before allowing the Federation's executive an opportunity of
remedying the grievances. The matter in dispute and the paying of the
costs of the recent prosecution of the machine men will be discussed by
Afr. Watson and Mr. John Brown on Tuesday.

IRON TRADES.
NINE THOUSAND MEN OUT. AWAITING THE COURT.

March 2. — There are now over 9,000 men involved in the iron trades'
dispute. There were no developments of any kind on Saturday. Both
employers and employees are anxiously waiting. Mr. Justice Heydon's
decision with regard to the reopening of the wages board award judg-
ment is expected to be delivered today.

Certain shops have been granted exemptions by the defence com-
mittee, and work at them is proceeding smoothly. Other employers are
ready to pay the rates asked by the men, but so far the committee ap-
pointed to deal with them have not submitted their reports to the defence
committee. A meeting of this committee is to be held this afternoon at
3.30, when it is expected the decision of the court will be known. The
future policy of the committee will then be discussed.

"LAZY STRIKE" OFF.

WHARFMEN TO RESUME. RESULT OF THE BALLOT.

March 2. — The result of the ballot taken amongst Sydney wharf-
labourers on the question of whether overtime should be worked, pending
the settlement of all the conditions of the industry by the Federal Arbi-
tration Court was announced last night by Mr. J. Woods, the local
secretary. Very great interest was manifested in the matter by the
wharf-labourers themselves, and this is demonstrated by the fact that
2>33! votes were recorded, out of which the decision to work overtime
as usual, pending the constitutional settlement of the grievances, secured
a majority of 1,023.

MEAT WAR.

A GLOOMY OUTLOOK. NO SETTLEMENT. MEN WANT TO COMPROMISE.
EMPLOYERS' REPLY. AWARD MUST BE OBEYED.

March 2. — Proposals by the Government for a settlement of the
meat strike have been placed before employers and employees.

The employees are prepared to come to terms, but the employers
are unyielding.

Representatives of the employers are to meet the Attorney-General,
Mr. D. R. Hall, at 11 A. M. today.

The suggested terms of settlement are an advance of 5s- Per week
and 49H hours.

These terms were to be embodied in a wages board award, "by
consent." Friday night's meeting of the employers was against accept-
ance of the compromise.

The Premier, however, was hopeful last night that the parties might
come to an understanding.

He had not any direct intimation that the proposed basis of settle-
ment had been turned down.

It was reported last night that the employers would today ask the
Government for assistance in having cold-storage meat removed. Killing
was continued at Glebe Island on Saturday.

The meat was rushed for at the depots and the union shops, which
were unable to meet the demand.

Attention is especially directed to the following editorial:

LABOUR AND CAPITAL.

March 2. — The partnership of capital and labour is indissoluble.
Hence if the warring elements, which are now engaged not only in
Australia but all over the world, do not arrive at a peaceful means of
settling the way in which the profits of the partnership are to be divided
then the road to industrial bankruptcy will be entered. To within the
last quarter of a century the power of capital was so great, or, rather,
it would be more correct to say that the forces of labour were so weak,
that capital assumed the fiction that there was no partnership in the
industrial life, and that capital was the overlord, giving labour just the
reward it pleased. Since then the strength of organized labour has in-
creased so greatly, while capital has gained little from its own organiza-
tion, that labour has forced a more equitable division of the profits.
In Australia, following New Zealand's lead, in order to do away with
strikes, which can never be but a rough-and-ready method of settling
quarrels, we have established legal tribunals to assess the division of the
profits. Going all through the different judgments, the main idea seems
to run that the division shall be such as will in comparison with capital's
profits, give the utmost return to labour possible, the skill of the worker
and the arduousness of the labour having due weight given to them.
And there is the provision that in any case, whether capital gets a fair
proportion or not, the profit of labour must be such as will keep a man
and his wife and family in ordinary comfort. When capital cannot give
such a profit to labour, then it withdraws from the particular class of
business. An example was the closing down of the local china works
some months ago. Labour is not yet disciplined to the law. The clangour
and confusion of war still appeal to it because the excitement impresses,
while the calmness of legal proceedings leaves unruffled the mind of the
worker, and a victory so won leaves no abiding impression. The law
will never appeal with sufficient force to labour until labour learns that
its losses by strike, now that the law is empowered to settle disputes with
capital, although not felt, perhaps, for months afterwards, far outweigh
any gains made. A strike means a loss to the whole community. Labour loses
its wages, capital loses its interest. By just so much as the wages and the
interest amount to will the capital available for starting new enterprises
or extending established works be diminished. Labour believes that the
production is merely postponed, and that leeway will be caught up.
That is not so. The production of the days of strike is lost forever ;
it can never be regained. Not alone is the amount of new capital lower
than it would otherwise be for the extension of industry, but capital takes
less risks, it makes more provision for contingencies, which means that
the amount of idle capital is increased beyond what would normally be
the case. Hence the supply of capital for new enterprises is further
diminished. It is by the establishment of new enterprises and the exten-
sion of present productive works that labour can hope to keep up em-
ployment. If production stands still the man who works for wages or
salary is the first to suffer, because the supply of labour is ever increas-
ing. The amount of work offering may be the same, but there are more
hands to do it. Consequently the number of days worked by each
individual is fewer. Hence, every worker has a direct interest in the
amount of capital produced. When he understands that fact he will not
be so ready to engage in a strike as he is now. To strike was necessary
in past days. It was the only way in many cases that justice could be
obtained. In Australia today the law can give more justice than ever
war wrought.

CRISIS IN THE IRON TRADE.
EMPLOYERS REJECT PROPOSALS. MEN MUST RESUME.

March 4. — A meeting of the Iron Trade Employers' Association was
held yesterday afternoon in the Challis House.

Subsequently Mr. J. P. Franki, general manager of Mort's Dock
and Engineering Company, Limited, made the following statement on
behalf of the employers:

"We had nothing before us from the men, but we had a verbal
communication from the Minister. The Under-Secretary, on behalf of
the Minister, desired to know whether the Iron Trade Employers' Asso-
ciation would meet the men in conference.

"Our reply to the request from the department," continued Mr.
Franki, "was to the effect that, after the men return to work, this asso-
ciation will consider the suggestion. It is an olive branch we are holding
out."

RURAL STRIKERS.

ATTACK A FARM. DRIVE NON-UNIONISTS BEFORE THEM.

Wagora, Tuesday.

March 4. — At the end of last week about 40 members of the Rural
Workers' Union organised a raid on Corney's chaffcutter at Marrar.

According to reports to hand they arrived in a body at the camp,
about three miles out of Marrar, just before daylight on Friday, when
the men working on the plant were still asleep. It is alleged that with
hostile demonstrations, coarse and abusive language, they ordered the
non-union workers to get out of bed and leave. The latter were some-
what slow to respond, being only partly awake.

They were told that if they did not get out they would be burnt
out. As the men were outnumbered by three to one by the strikers they
yielded to intimidation, and were marched into town by the strikers.

On the Monday, however, the farmers took a hand in the matter,
and it was agreed that the whistle should be blown at the camp for the
men to resume work. On Monday morning this was done. But although
the men were quite satisfied with their positions and even eager to return
to work they were afraid to do so owing to threats of the strikers.
At this stage of the proceedings a party of about a score of stalwart
farmers was organised, and they arrived on the scene, determined, if
necessary, to give the strikers a lesson. Although there were about 40 of
the strikers present the sight of" 20 resolute farmers determined to pro-
tect the non-unionists overawed the strikers, their courage having evi-
dently evaporated.

The strikers having been driven off the non-unionists were escorted
back to work, and cutting was again resumed. Yesterday all sorts of
threats were hurled at them.

A leading farmer, referring to the situation, expressed the opinion,
that there will be bloodshed if the strikers do not change their tactics.

THE CRISIS.

March 4.— The master butchers have decided that every butcher's
shop in Sydney shall be open on Thursday afternoon next. There is
no gainsaying the serious nature of this decision. If it involves a fight,
it means a fight to the finish, but we do not believe that the public in
general will regret that decision. When a handful of Sydney workers
decide to flout the legal means of redress which the present Government
has given them, and seek their own ends by holding the whole pastoral
industry of the State— its chief and greatest industry— by the throat, it is
time to settle once and for all whether the country will tolerate this
procedure. And if there is to be a fight the next point of interest is,
What attitude will the Government take? The statement made by

Mr. Hplman in Parliament last night was too vague to give any certain
indication of the Government's intentions. But if one consideration
more than any other drove the employers to their decision it was the
hint which, in spite of all denials, they say was obviously contained in the
Premier's language to them, that if they did not give way their industry
would be nationalised. When employers, who are carrying on their
business in accordance with the conditions specially laid down by the
authority of the State, are confronted by their employees with demands
for different conditions; when an offer first of improved conditions, and
afterwards of a settlement by the body specially established by a law of
the present Government to settle these differences has been uncondition-
ally refused; and when the Government, whose own law is being defied
by the employees, turns round, not up the employees, but upon the em-
ployers, and tries to compel them by hints of nationalisation to give way,
there is only one meaning that can be placed upon this action: That it is
a declaration of war by the present Government upon the principle of
private employment altogether.

It cannot be a method enforced upon the Government in order to
see justice done, because the Government has itself established a tribunal
which will see justice done. If the industrial tribunal cannot see justice
done, then the Government should never have established it, and should
abolish it now. But the Government has never proclaimed any such inten-
tion. Its statements have always been precisely in the opposite direction.
It has again and again asserted its belief in its arbitration system.
Neither can the Government action mean that, although it believes in
arbitration, it is unfortunately driven to realise that arbitration cannot
be applied in this case because the men will not have it; and that it must
settle the present deadlock by compelling the masters because it cannot
compel the men. That would mean that although the masters may be
right, and the men may be wrong, the Government would have to sup-
port the men, wherever the right lay, because that was the easiest means
of settling the deadlock and providing the public with its meat supplies.
The Government cannot openly admit to a motive like that. If it intends
to take the side of the men in the struggle which today appears imminent,
it can only justify its action on one ground, that it is opposed to the
principle of private enterprise altogether; that if the worst comes to the
worst, and the employees in any industry care to flout the law with
sufficient persistence, there is no room for the private employer in New
South Wales. It is difficult to give any other meaning than this to the
Premiers' references in Parliament to the steps which the Government
was intending to take in the direction of safeguarding the food supply
by national action. If that is not the Government's intention, then it
remains for it to maintain the law which itself has made, and, if the
unionists flout that law or oppose it, to give the butchers full protection
in carrying on their business. We should be surprised if that action is
what Mr. Hoiman foreshadowed in his vague statement in Parliament
last night. But if it is, then his administration will gain a most unex-
pected approval from the people of this State.

MEAT WAR.
SUPPLIES TODAY. SOME MEN RESUME. COUNTRY LABOUR OFFERED.

March 5. — Though still unsettled, the meat strike shows signs of
becoming less serious to the public.

There will be 600 shops open at 2 p. M. today in the metropolitan
area.

The slaughtering will be done by the master butchers for the present.
But should the unionists remain out, there are indications that other
labour will be available.

It was stated at the employers' meeting last night, that 5,ooo volun-
teers would come, if required, from the country.

No GwjrnMr

: rtfM,

Utbsow, Wed»*fd»y,

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wtf p to fct tfct fii«ff 0f tfct Gwemf»?irt'i pouqr wrtli re* * r 4 to iff

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ff -~'<rr t: ' •-- I-- - .- ': ' • .'! f- ' 'I- -'"!'. ..... l.:-i-. :• .--f.

wa§ iaAr protf«rat»U If f h* Gorfrimiiol efcoit 19 do fu duty,

The member for Goulbor -.:! of the Minister for Labour

\Mr. EstellV w ho in :hat the : , oui" the men.

nes said : .ont by the Minister was nonseusval and

d the spirit in which he w as administering his office. If ever there

wras a case in which the :ed it was this;

and, if ever tlu in which the Minister for Labour and the

.1! had failed in their duty it was on the present oc,
in not instituting :-.e Minister for La:

and tried to obtain c US from the masters in order to induce the

If there was
an Arbitration Act it must be made fa I • « «

It showed the present industr 'are and

it eith,

both sides."

NEWSPAPER STRIK

\ TED.

March 5. — The trouble between members of the Tyvv.

id the emp!o\ers reached a when men at both

.iper ofruv- ..: Martin an-! .. primer.-
work at i o'clock. The men | ks' holiday each year on

full pay. :rier Tru: LK F. last

night, bat the "Harrier Miner" held out till m.. '.ock. when the

management of that paper also gave way. Mart1. , ntley, however,
refused to agree to the demands, and the men kc

howe\er. are now running as usual The only inconvenience was the
delay in issuing one edition of the "Miner."

NON-UNIONIST CAN \

,en Hill, Thursday.

March 0. — The A. M. A. at last nu :he follow

lution :

"That thi> -:eps with other unions on the 1*..

in approaching ihe Government to ha\e incliuled in the proposed new
industrial legislation the power for any recognised uv. .ils to

examine- pence cards OM the mip.es. or am \\here men arc

empl.

A rew luti ' carried that rule S^. which reads. "Any mem-

Aviation knowingly working \\iih a non-member, and
failing to report same, together \\ith such non-member's name, within
i-t da\s to Ihe Steward, check inspector, or .1 be liaK

tine o - per rule .). cl/.use H." be strictly enforced during the

present non-unionist campaign.

1 MMNSIVK TRIBUN

iiursday.

March 0. — During the hearing of the evidence for the eiuplo\ ees in
connection with the plaint of the Australian Pelegraph phone

nance Union, before Mi I. -:ins in the

.d Arbitration Court, Mr. Ske\\ -

connectjon with \arious departments, and if boards had been held m
regard to all charges where the fines were over it there would have
been iSS Kurd* held throughout the l\Mumon\\ . to the

people of the Commonwealth since the establishment of the Act was
nearK

Sruikis ,\M> inr CO! N

Marcli o. It is a -erious thing for N that three-

Mirths of the losses laM year through strikes in the Commonwealth lu\e

to be borne by her, and that for weeks she has been advertised as torn
with industrial dissension. The unionist who has obtained substantial
concessions by trade dislocation does not, perhaps, see the point. His
trouble is that he did not demand more than he now enjoys, and he is
thinking of bringing further pressure to bear upon his employers by way
of solace. But it will be well if even the successful striker of the past
begins to study the situation as it is developing out of the meat and iron
trade strikes. We do not propose to open afresh the argument as to the
folly of bringing the law into contempt, though to our mind this is the
crucial thing in the State's experience today. No community can hold
together long unless the will of the people, as expressed through Parlia-
ment, is honored by all classes alike; and when any considerable number
of men show themselves incapable of understanding the duties and re-
sponsibilities of citizenship, it is time that the rest stood together. This is,
however, the stage at which our present argument may develop. We do
not appeal to the unionists of New South Wales now from the side of
law, but from the side of self-interest. They are steadily stirring up the
best elements in the population against them. With, in many respects,
a good case for consideration — with genuine grievances to be heard and
reasonable claims to be adjusted — they are by wrong tactics welding every
other class together in opposition, simply because industrial unrest in
this State is seen to be leading to disaster.

After gaining so much, are the massed unions of New South
Wales willing to risk the sacrifice of magnificent achievement?

It is not difficult to understand the force of the temptation to strike
when there is a setback, or to hammer down ruthlessly those who stand
up for rights assured under the law. The sense of political power in
possessi/on, of the whole machinery of administration securely in hand,
and the wealth in view waiting to be seized, is hard to control; and the
Liberals under the same conditions would be subject to like aberrations.
But party government in the past has been kept sound by the knowledge
that Parliament cannot be dissociated from the people, and that respon-
sibility to the community must be the explanation and assurance of the
right use of power.

Unfortunately, class consciousness in the Labour party has made
the unions think of themselves as the people; and strike has followed
strike because it has been assumed by so many men, restless to secure
what they consider is due to them, that political and administrative power
is to be exercised on their behalf without reference to anybody else.

What have we got at the present moment? Allowing for those
butchers' employees who have hurried back, there must still be 12,000
or 13,000 men out of work, and if we allow an average of four depen-
dants to one worker there are 50,000 souls now in trouble in Sydney
alone. This is like the position created by a serious depression or finan-
cial crisis. The State might just as well be in the condition of privation
caused by continued drought, except that the classes now being stirred
up against labour are conscious of reserves of strength never felt in
times like those which culminated in 1893 and 1903.

It is because so much is at stake that united action is being taken
by the employers in two great industries, and that everywhere there is
apprehension and restriction. This condition is reacting upon employ-
ment throughout the State. The man on the land has already been hard
hit by strikes during last year, and is feeling the pressure of a double
deadlock in the metropolis. He is only waiting for the word to swarm
down upon Sydney to help the master butchers, and he is discussing every
move with his fellows in the new light of intolerable demands and tyran-
nical unionism.

Surely the wage-earner must see that the end of it all is bound to
be loss upon loss. He will carry the burden of ultimate disaster, how-
ever he may scheme to dodge it, and the result for the State as a whole
will be stagnation and widespread unemployment.

THE PAINTERS.

DISSATISFACTION IN TRADE. DIRECT ACTION PROPOSED.

March 7. — Painters, who at present have more work than they can
cope with, have a grievance which is to be discussed at a special meeting
on Monday night.

Under the award, which was made in December, 1911, the wages
were fixed at is. 4d. an hour for painters and is. 6d. an hour for sign-
writers. The men subsequently claimed to be entitled, owing to the
increased cost of living, to is. 6d. and is. 8d. respectively.

Requests were made for a conference, but owing to the new Paint-
ers' Union demanding recognition nothing was done. The Wages Board
was then asked to make a variation in the award, but the inquiry was
adjourned pending the decision of Mr. Justice Heydon in the iron trades
case. That judgment, being in effect that an award cannot be reopened,
the painters now want to know what they can do except take direct
action of some kind. This will be the subject for Monday night.

STRIKE RESULTS.
MEN NEARLY STARVING.

Auckland, Friday.

March 7. — The man who assaulted the Secretary of the new Water-
side Workers' Union in his office has been sentenced to 14 days' im-
prisonment.

During the hearing of the case it was^ stated that much ifl- feeling
prevailed on the wharfs between the members of the old and the new
unions.

A deputation waited upon the Mayor stating that there were many
unemployed in the city as the result of the recent strike. It was stated
that some were on the verge of starvation.

The Mayor promised to endeavor to overcome the difficulty.

IRON TRADES.

MEN TO TAKE BALLOT. BRIGHTER OUTLOOK.

March 7. — The ironworkers' strike was advanced a stage nearer
settlement yesterday.

A mass meeting of strikers was held in the Protestant Hall during
the afternoon, only those who produced pence-cards or badges being
admitted

ACT OF STRIKING.
NOT A MISDEMEANOR. MR. HALL EXPLAINS. PROSECUTIONS DIFFICULT.

March n. — An interesting speech was made by the State Attorney-
General last night in the Legislative Assembly, when he explained why
the Government had not prosecuted the recent meat strikers.

Dealing with industrial administration, the Attorney-General said,
it had been suggested that the Government favored the employees during
the recent industrial disputes, and that, because of its wholesome fear of
the Trades Hall, it had not dared to administer the law as regarded the
employees.

Liberals said that the men wanted the right to aftjitrate with the
employers, and that if the results of the arbitration did not suit them
they also wanted the right to strike. But when Liberals put forward
such an allegation they did not speak of the rural worker. Him, they
would not allow even the right to arbitrate! The country will be
ruined, they said, if the rural worker were given the right of access to
the Arbitration Court. According to Liberal views the rural worker
should be glad to put in a day's arduous toil, and his night in great

thankfulness, and at the same time be glad to have the privilege of
working on a farm. (Ministerial laughter.)

"We shall probably give the Liberals another opportunity of saying
whether the rural worker shall have right to strike or arbitrate," the
Attorney-General went on.

ADMINISTERING THE LAW.

The Government had fairly, and to the best of its ability, adminis-
tered the industrial law of the country during the past three years.
(Loud Opposition laughter.)

Mr. Wade : Did you not threaten to cancel the licenses of the ferry
companies last year unless the strike, then in progress, was settled?

The Attorney-General (after a long pause) : I don't think we did.
I was in the cabinet at the time, and should have known of it had it
occurred.

Mr. Thrower: We threatened to refuse the renewal of their leases,
and they should never have been renewed.

The Attorney-General, continuing, said that unless the employers
were either willing to enter upon prosecutions of men who struck or were
willing to support the Government, the present Act could not be properly
administered. (Ministerial cheers.)

"Striking as it is today is not, according to the existing law, what
it was in 1901," added Mr. Hall. "It was declared then to be a misde-
jneanou* to strike, and in 1908, according to the Act, a strike was punish-
able on information, and conviction was followed by fine, or imprison-
ment in default. It is not so today. The act of striking today is not a
misdemeanour — it is a civil offence."

Colonel Onslow: It is an amusement. (Laughter.)

The Attorney-General: A strike gives the right to an employer to
bring a civil action against the strikers.

Colonel Onslow: That's right; it's recreation to the men. (Laughter.)

The Attorney-General: According to a recent judgment of Judge
Scholes, the action of striking today is not a criminal offence, but a civil
offence.

Mr. Wade: Strikers are liable to be fined and imprisoned, in de-
fault of paying the fine imposed.

The Attorney-General: No; that is not so. Fines may be secured
by garnishee, but imprisonment does not follow non-payment of fines
imposed for striking. Employers have it in their power to prosecute the
men who strike, or to willingly assist the Government to do so, but if
they do not aid the Government we cannot get information sufficient to
support a summons under existing conditions. If during a strike or
lock-out we applied to the case of the employers the provisions of the
Coercion Act, as Mr. Wade did in the case of the employees, we could
seize the employers' papers and perhaps secure convictions.

ANOTHER STRIKE ENDS.

THE IRON TRADES. DECLARED OFF. WAGES LOST, ;£6o,OOO.
March II— The strike of ironworkers' assistants, which began on
February 20th, and later on extended to nearly the whole of the iron
trades, affecting about 8,000 employees of all trades, has been declared off.
This decision was arrived at last night at a mass meeting of
"assistants," held in the basement of the Town Hall, under the presi-
dency of Mr. D. Black, the chairman of the Federated Ironworkers'
Assistants' Association, about 1,300 members being present. Representa-
tives of the employees' defence committee were present, including the
president and secretary of the Labour Council, Messrs. W. O'Brien and

E. J. Kavanaugh, M. L. C

FROM THE SYDNEY SUN.
EXTENSION FEARED.

OTHER UNIONISTS RESTIVE. GAS EMPLOYEES' POSITION.

March 2. — A big extension of the iron trades strike may be ex-
pected within the next few days if a settlement of the dispute is not
speedily effected. Already many men who have been rendered idle be-
cause of the action of other unionists are asking why they should be
debarred from earning their living when they are not actually concerned
in the matter. The scope of the dispute has even extended to the Store-
men and Packers' Union (some of whose members are engaged at Mort's
Dock), Trolly and Draymen's Union, and the Saw Mill and Timber
Yards Employees' Union. In each of these cases the number of men
concerned is small.

Where a serious extension is anticipated is in the ranks of the
Gas Employees' Union, and if the strike is not soon declared off upwards
of 700 of these men will be drawn into the strike whirlpool. Hoskins,
Ltd., have, of course, closed down the big pipe works, and it will not
take long for the supply of large gas mains on hand to run out. When it
does over 350 men will be thrown into idleness at this work alone.
Then there are the men whose duty it is to set special castings. Almost
every corner in Sydney streets requires a special pipe, and if the foun-
dries remained closed much longer these men will be unable to work for
•the want of castings. There are other members of the Gas Employees'
Union likely to be involved as well.

FROM THE SYDNEY SUNDAY TIMES.

TRADES AND LABOR.

BAKERS AND DAY WORK. LOG FORWARDED TO EMPLOYERS.
WILL THE MEN WAIT FOR PARLIAMENTARY ACTION?

March 8. — In accordance with the decision come to at a mass meet-
ing a week ago, the Secretary of the Operative Bakers' Association has
forwarded copies of the new union log to all employers.

The outstanding feature of the log is the demand for day work.
Various improvements in wages and conditions are also sought.

Although many members of the union are inclined to trust to Gov-
ernment action in the way of making day work compulsory by Act of
Parliament, others think that it may be many months, or more than
months, before such legislation is put through.

The question is whether the majority of the men will wait for
Parliamentary action or follow up their three weeks' notice to the em-
ployers in demand of day work.

FROM THE SYDNEY EVENING NEWS.

THE EMPLOYEES' TERMS.
LETTER TO ATTORNEY-GENERAL.

March 3. — When the Stock, Meat, and Allied Industries Committee
waited on the Government on Monday night it handed to the Attorney-
General the following letter:

Stock, Meat, and Allied Industries Committee,
Royal Exchange, Sydney,

2nd March, 1914.

Sir: — I wish to report that the suggestions made by you on Friday
last to this committee were placed before a general meeting of the Master
Retail Butchers' Association on Friday evening last, and they decided by

a practically unanimous vote (there being only one dissentient) that they
could not accept same. Notwithstanding this, my committee gave the
matter most urgent consideration on Saturday, with the result that they
decided to inform you that they still adhere to the attitude they have
always taken, namely, that if the men return to work on the conditions
existing on February 1st, and subsequently apply for a variation of the
present existing award, the Master Retail Butchers' Association will not
oppose the reopening of the matter, and will expedite the hearing, so as
to get a decision as soon as possible. But it must be distinctly under-
stood that if all such labor cannot immediately be absorbed this must not
be considered as a breach of faith on the part of the employers. Further,
that the union must pledge itself to the Ministry to refer all future dis-
putes without cessation of work to the board for the industry.

So that you may not be under any misapprehension, and to show
how fairly the employers are dealing with the situation, my committee are
informed by the Master Retail Butchers' Association that the rates pre-
vailing on February ist last were in most instances very considerably
higher than those provided by the award, and a lot of the men had also
in many cases the concession of as much meat as they required.

SLAUGHTERMEN AND MASTERS KILLING.
UNION DELEGATE ORDERED OFF.

March 3. — The employers engaged in killing operations had another
busy day at the Glebe Island Abattoirs yesterday. They worked the full
day, and accounted for 1,351 sheep, 130 cattle, 45 pigs and 12 calves.

The stock yarded at the abattoirs since yesterday comprise about
i, 600 sheep and 200 head of cattle; of these 500 sheep and between 30
and 40 head of cattle were available for the unionists, who resumed work
about 7.30 this morning in the No. 12 beef house, and in the two calf
houses, which were made available for them to kill sheep in. Close on a
dozen men were engaged in preparing the meat for the three union
depots, which include the one opened in Bridge street, Drummoyne.
The usual number of carcass butchers were at work in the other sections.

Since the commencement of the trouble a good force of uniformed
and plain clothes policemen have been stationed at the abattoirs but so
far they have not been called upon to take any action. This morning,
however, one carcass butcher threatened to call the police to remove a
union delegate from a certain part of the abattoirs. The delegate was
on the mutton side of the island when his presence in a house was
objected to. He at first refused to obey the butcher's request to leave
the premises, believing that he was entitled to remain until told to go
by the person to whom the place belonged. A few minutes later, how-
ever, he left the place, and walked across to the southern side of the
abattoirs, and conferred with Mr. T. W. Furse, the union secretary.

MR. JUSTICE HEYDON'S JUDGMENT.

March 3. — The judgment delivered yesterday by Mr. Justice Heydon
in the iron trade case, defines most lucidly and forcibly the position of
industrial law as against industrial force. It ran along the ancient right
of all men to have contracts respected and vindicated, which is the
basis of all law, of all freedom. In only one point does the theory of
industrial law vary from that of contract ; an award may be reopened
to permit of the application of the minimum wage principle. "But," says
Mr. Justice Heydon, "the employees who are getting a living wage or
more, have not the same claim to break their award." It may be ob-
served, moreover, that any risk of an award being legally broken, as
indicated, may, and indeed must, be insured against by employers, it
must, that is to say, appear in the cost of the goods.

His Honor laid down the principle that it is not the function of the
law to endorse or act as mediator between parties still in arms. "Alto-

gether apart, however," said his Honor, "from the fact that lock-outs
and strikes are breaches of the law, the Court cannot apply its remedies
while the parties are applying their own remedies. It must be one thing
or the other. The Court and Boards were not intended as additional
weapons to assist in a war, but as tribunals to which both parties must
submit. Neither the Boards nor the Courts, therefore, should deal with
applications from employers who are locking-out, or employees who are
on strike."

It should be obvious to all reasonable men that the Government
should take up a similar stand, but that, we recognize, under our present
system of Government, is a counsel of perfection. In this respect we
blame both Liberal and Labor Governments; they both interfere, and
they both interfere too early, and too often. Naturally, the politician
wants to see peace restored; everybody does that; his personal interests,
also, demand peace, for industrial war raises too many awkward economic
questions; it is only the highly exceptional politician who hungers for
exceptionally difficult problems, the average one wants to solve the easy
questions ; his constant prayer, therefore, is "Give peace — in our time —
O Lord."

When trouble arises, therefore, the politician is anxious to inter-
vene, and his whole idea of making peace is to effect some sort of a
compromise. Of course a compromise may be anything between a close
approximation to justice and a base betrayal of essential principles. But
nobody is apt to be too critical when peace is restored; industry and
commerce swing along again, nearly everybody is contented, for the
moment, and the sage politician acquires kudos, which means a continu-
ance of his job, and more votes at the next election. Nor is the politi-
cian solely to blame, for there are usually not lacking plenty of people
to spur him on to intervene. He is assured that the community is in
deadly peril (which usually it is not), he is told that the people are
starving, as in the case of this meat strike (which they are not), and he
is informed that "something must be done," or that "the Government
must act." When he gets advice, like that from both sides, advice which
chimes in so neatly with his personal inclination and interests, inter-
vention results, a compromise is effected, peace is restored — and, almost
before -the parties concerned have .ceased congratulating themselves, war
breaks out again.

And quite logically. If a strike either wins, or results in a half
win, the men would be foolish (looking at the matter from their point
of view solely) if they did not seek to repeat the exploit. All men seek
their own interest, and when they find by experience, that their interest
can be best served by breaking awards, of course they break them. It is
useless to expect that masses of men will be influenced by broad-minded
views regarding the common good; all men are not philosophers.

That view prompted Mr. Justice Heydon to sympathise with the
iron workers. Owing to the fact that they had made their agreement
just before the year 1912, when wages began to go up in all directions,
"they have seen workers like themselves getting higher wages than
themselves ; and, worst of all, they have seen them getting them by means
of strikes. Every successful strike is the parent of other strikes and
every successful breach of the law brings the law into contempt. We
must take human nature as we find it. It is not the slightest use for-
bidding people to travel by a road which they find is the road to success."

The way to stop strikes, therefore, is simple, though the application
of the method may be difficult. It is that the community should make
it an absolute, hard and fast, double rivetted rule that where an award
exists, or where an award can be easily obtained, no strike shall be
allowed to succeed; no dispute shall be compromised; and that every
such trouble shall be fought out till absolute defeat is admitted by one
side to the other. The ability and willingness to fight is the one guar-
antee of permanent peace.

THE MILLENNIUM.

March 9. — One of the branches of Victoria Labor organization knows
of a short-cut to the millennium. It is quite easy. You simply national-
ise all "the means of production, distribution, and exchange," and pay
for them with "State bank deposit receipts," which are to be "payable in
gold on demand." That is the trouble with all those millenniums; there
is some little trifle about it which will not work. Why go to the trouble
to issue "State bank deposit receipts" when an ordinary cheque would
do as well? The reason, of course, is the illusion in the mind of the
theorists that the State is something immeasurably rich, and that by
calling a cheque a "State bank deposit receipt," it thereby becomes, in
some magical way, sure of payment. Whereas, of course, the opposite
is the case. The State is not rich, but poor. It is so poor that it has to
be continually borrowing money, and the only reason it can borrow
money is the theory that it is "reputable and responsible"; that is to say,
that it will pay its debts and will not engage in burglarly, piracy or
bushranging. If the State went suddenly mad and set out on a wholesale
"commandeering" campaign, it would doubtless feel enormously rich for
the first ten minutes, but after that it would begin to feel horribly poor,
and when it tried to effect the "payment in gold on demand," it would
find itself weeping into a bankrupted till.

THE MORAL OF THE MEAT STRIKE.

• March 9. — The loss in wages sustained by the meat trade employees,
and their allies, is said to be about £35,000, and this has been sustained
without any advantage on the other side of the ledger. It is understand-
able that the gain of a half-hour weekly is claimed as a gain, but the
employers pointed out that that concession would have been arrived at
without the strike. In any case it is not of great importance, and is not
likely to throw any loss upon the masters or to be the cause of higher
prices to the consumer. A man can do as much work in 49^ hours as
he does in 50, for in matters of industry there is an analogy to the
ancient Greek maxim as to art that "the half is greater than the whole."
Interpreted fairly and honestly, a reduction in hours need not in many
cases mean a reduction in efficiency; and this alteration in the meat trade
schedule seems to be an instance in point.

The broad feature of the strike is that the men have been beaten.
No amount of glossing can get over that fact. They did not lose because
their demands were reasonable or unreasonable; they lost because, pri-
marily the employers fought them to a finish and because, on the whole,
the vast majority of public opinion was against them. They lost in the
fight against the employers because they had no monopoly of the thing
they had to sell — their labor. After all, the slaughtering of animals for
food is the most primitive of the trades. Man, at need, takes to it natu-
rally, and in a pastoral country such as this is a great percentage of men
have had some experience in it. Not having a monopoly, therefore, it is
obvious that in a desperate struggle the unionists were liable to be
swamped by a rush of free labor; the more so as it was known that the
slaughtermen were getting very high wages. To force matters to the
free labor point, therefore, would have been like breaking a dam and
letting in an overwhelming flood. The union dared not take the risk, and
wisely decided to haul down the "Jolly Roger," and get back to work.

They have been blamed for delaying four weeks, but it must be
remembered that it is the looker-on that is apt to see most of the fight.
To the dispassionate observer it was evident that the men were beaten
at the start, but the man in the thick of the fight is not dispassionate;
he would not be there if that were the case. He sets out with hopes;
he thinks he can win altogether; or at the worst, he believes that he can
force some sort of a compromise. He is thus buoyed up even in a
losing fight, and the battle goes on long after any chance of victory has

departed. Moreover, it must be remembered that many apparently hope-
less strikes win either wholly or in part.

The meat trade employees have seen many instances of that kind,
and, naturally, they hoped that their effort would have a similar result.
The fact that many of the employers were willing to compromise, and
that fact must have been known to some extent even before the fight,
must have had no small effect in precipitating the strike.

The strikers, however, came in collision with something new, in
the shape of a new spirit among the employers. Most men are anxious
that their businesses should go on peaceably, for any interruption is apt
to mean loss. Rent and other charges have to be paid, and, besides, a
disturbance of conditions may mean a loss of trade. Some courage,
therefore, is required on 'the part of an employer who may not be very
"strong" financially, to resolve to see a fight through. But at a certain
point a man must fight, and the meat trade employers realised that that
point had been reached. They might have compromised on the wages,
but to have compromised on the principle of the sanctity of contract
would have been to make any compromise worthless. Therefore, they
fought, and they won. The moral is clear. When a strike is initiated by
a breach of contract no compromise should be made. If employers adopt
that as an invariable rule they will have the support of the whole com-
munity, and there will be fewer strikes.

SHOPMEN RESUME WORK.
TROUBLE AT A REDFERN FACTORY.

March 9. — The meat trouble lasted exactly a month. It was four
weeks ago today that the three days' notice the butchers' shopmen gave
of the new conditions they demanded — a 48 hours' week and los. a
week extra pay — expired. This morning there was to have been a general
resumption of work; but, there are so many little details to be settled
after a strike, and the meat trouble has left a number of matters behind
that are somewhat disturbing.

Trouble was reported to have occurred at Silvester's smallgoods
factory, Redfern, over the starting and finishing hours. According to
the basis of settlement, the men are to begin at 6.30 A. M. and finish at
5.30 p. M. It is stated that a misunderstanding arose over this question,
and the men at the factory refused to go to work. The union officials
hope, however, that it will soon be adjusted.

There are still a number of shopmen unemployed. As was ex-
pected, it was found impossible for all the shopmen to resume this
morning, but there are indications that very soon most of the men will
be absorbed. There were continuous inquiries at the Trades Hall by
master butchers for men.

The special strike inquiry committee is still meeting to settle dis-
putes that may arise, and it is expected that several days must pass
before it can be disbanded.

FROM THE SYDNEY TELEGRAPH.
PARLIAMENT AND THE STRIKE.

March 4. — The references to the present industrial trouble in Parlia-
ment last night were in striking and gratifying contrast to those heard
from the Labor Opposition during the coal strike and similar troubles
with which the Liberals when in office had to deal. Mr. Wade, while
criticising the action of the Government as it deserved, was careful to
refrain from any attempt to make political capital out of it, and instead
of embarrassing the administration of the law he offered the cordial

co-operation of the Opposition in impartially carrying it out. In the
coal strike the caucus seized the occasion to move a vote of censure on
the Government for upholding the law, and demanded the seizure of the
mines, which was well known to be as impracticable as it was unjust.
Similarly, when the Common Law for the protection of life and property
was enforced in the Broken-hill strike, the Government was denounced
for brutally bludgeoning the workers, and its action challenged by a
direct motion. There is, fortunately, nothing of that kind now, and if
the laws which Parliament has passed to protect the public against the
effect of conspiracies to deprive them of the necessaries of life are
inoperative, it will certainly not be the fault of the Opposition.

Mr. Holman declared last night that if free labor is employed to
take the place of the strikers the Government will unflinchingly do what
it always condemned its predecessor for doing, and extend protection to
every citizen, unionist or non-unionist, who is obeying the law. In view
of this pronouncement, if the butchers cannot obtain union labor to con-
tinue the supply of meat to the public, it is their duty to engage such
other men as may be available. Of course, it is in the power of no law
or no Government to order men who are on strike to go back to work.
That is not its duty, even if it had the power. It is there to see that men
willing to work are not subjected to any unlawful intimidation, and if
it does that the law of supply and demand will do the rest.

SEVERE CASTIGATION.

WHAT DID MR. HOLMAN MEAN? THREATENING THE EMPLOYERS.

March 5.— During the debate on the Address-in-Reply in the Legis-
lative assembly last night, Mr. Badgery, the member for Wollondilly,
stated that the attitude of the Premier and of the Minister of Labor
throughput the meat strike, had been to threaten the employers by
implication and every other way; saying that if the employers did not
give way, they would be prosecuted. "I believe there are some differ-
ences of opinion as to what took place at these interviews," said Mr.
Badgery, "but one of the committee told me it was a lesson to them that
they should not go there without a shorthand writer." The sympathy
and power of the Government, asserted Mr. Badgery, have been placed on
the side of the men, who had broken the law. The Premier would not
tell the House what he told the men. If he told them, "Stick to it, boys;
I have threatened these beggars, and we'll beat them !" he would not tell
that to the House. What did the Premier mean when he said that
unless the matter were settled, he would take steps to provide the people
with meat? Would he do it?

A Member: He can't do it without bloodshed.

Mr. Badgery: Then he had better not try it. (Laughter.) Mr. Hol-
man, he went on, might have promised these men increased wages as a
reward for their going back, but the Government was trying to compel
the employers to agree to the demands of the men.

The employers had for the first time made a strong stand, and had
had to fight the unions and the Government.

"We are going to have a very high market," said Mr. Badgery,
"and the prices of meat will go up. The strike is dead now, but nothing
has proved so conclusively that the Government is not fit for its trust."

The sentiments expressed in the following editorial repre-
sent the general feeling of the people of Australia, to the effect
that its "Industrial Peace" legislation with all of its complicated,
cumbersome and expensive machinery, has proved to be a most
dismal failure and a handicap rather than a boon to the progress
and development of the country:

A BROKEN-DOWN LAW.

March 6. — Whatever the ultimate upshot of the meat trouble, the
fact will remain that the strike was audaciously promoted and carried on
in the hope of compelling submission to the men's demands by the semi-
starvation of the people of the city and suburbs, who, in common with
the rest of the community, have paid out hundreds of thousands of
pounds in financing concessions to unionists under the Arbitration Act
as the supposed price of industrial peace. The tactics of the employees
are by no means new, unfortunately, but in this case they have involved
deprivation of an essential article of diet. Stopping the meat supplies
doubtless appeared to the strikers a sure way of bringing the public to
its knees, and it must be admitted that the suspension of the trade has
been very sorely felt, especially by that great number of people who have
been unable to obtain meat during the crisis. If the union could have
its Way there would be still more suffering. That is indicated by the
course taken at Lithgow, where the local branch of the union has com-
pelled the master butchers, under threat of a strike, to desist from send-
ing bulk consignments of meat to Sydney. An utterly callous and
impudent attempt is therefore being made to prevent Sydney having any
meat from the shops — made locally by the strikers, and sympathetically
by union branches in other parts of the State. This is in line with what
happened during the Brisbane strike, when the leaders of the blockade de-
clared that not a loaf of bread should be sold without their consent.
In addition to paying good wages, the master butchers had up to yester-
day been keeping only a few depots open for the sale of meat. They
had not employed non-amionist labor or been aggressive towards the
strikers in any way. Their whole offence was that they were trying to
let the public have the benefit of whatever meat could be got into these
few shops in spite of the fact that workmen throughout the business
and industry were striking right and left. That was what the strikers
desired above all to prevent. Their success depended on their ability
to stand between the public and its food. It is a remarkable and gratify-
ing testimony to the public's keen appreciation of all this that there has
been no sign of yielding to unionism's resort to -what, if anything, is
worse than brute force. It has been recognized that once such tyrannical
tactics were permitted to succeed they would be repeated in other indus-
tries until the community would never be certain from day to day of
being supplied with the things it must have. Hence the quiet process of
the strike and the patience with which the public has withstood its
bullying pressure.

But it is one thing to resist a despotic and callous strike, and
another to go on giving legislative benefits to unionists who are always
ready to turn savagely upon those who bear the cost of practically every
concession they get. That wages would have gone up during the past
ten or twelve years if there had been no arbitration^ laws is true enough,
so far as may be judged. But the increments that have been made were
obtained more expeditiously and systematically because of arbitration,
which has also given unionism new and unexpected force by facilitating
organization. Actually, therefore, the very Act which was to be the
means of establishing peace has been used and is being used as a weapon
of war against the community which put it into labor's hands. As has
been said, it has cost the public an enormous amount of money, for
seldom, if ever, are wages raised, hours shortened, or any other considbra-
tions given to workers in an industry but the price of the commodity
produced or handled goes up in sympathy. This burden has been borne
cheerfully enough. What has made itself drearily evident, however, is
that the compact is utterly false. Too many employees will take all they
can get from the public and strike again whenever they think fit. They
have no compunction, no sense of industrial honesty, no consideration
for anyone but themselves. The law is nothing to them. They will

ignore it or defy it as the whim takes them. And the Labor Govern-
ment, not daring to do its palpable duty where it might injure the good
unionists who put the party in power, declares that effect cannot be
given to the law or action be taken for its infringement because the
employers are withholding evidence. The employers are naturally dis-
inclined to take proceedings which would still further embitter their
relations with the men — which after all is a better motive than that which
keeps the Government quiet when it is not frantically making "proposals"
and new "proposals" in the hope of enabling the strikers to claim some
meretricious victory as the result of lawbreaking. But that the Minis-
terial position is at once feeble and audacious is the more reason why
the public should protect itself firmly and promptly. This Arbitration
Act is a huge, expensive sham. However good the intention behind it,
in operation it has proved a bogus piece of political quackery. Workers
will not conform to it, and the Government dares not put it into opera-
tion— as could so easily be done in the present instance by instituting
prosecutions and subpoenaing employers, which would be done quickly
enough if the offenders were not unionists. And even if strikers were
prosecuted and fined we do not know that anybody would be better off
or industrial continuity any nearer. Certainly there would still be strikes
if there was no Act, but the community could not be worse off than it is
now, and it would l)e properly relieved of substantial financial responsi-
bility if the Act were wiped out for the brazen delusion that it has
proved to be.

ORGANIZE TO FIGHT LABOR.

Quirindi, Tuesday.

March n. — Speaking at a meeting of the Farmers and Settlers'
Association at Wallabadah, Mr. P. P. Abbott, M. H. R., said that there
was never greater occasion for those engaged in rural industries to or-
ganise and combat the one-sided legislation of the Labor Party. The
fight of the future would be the country versus the city.

Mr. Frank Chaffey, member for Tamworth, also spoke. He was
proud to consider himself one of the band of country representatives
who had decided to fight for the rights of the country people, and was
pleased to think that he already had been able to raise a squeal. If
trades-unionism, which was characterized as the greatest of all monopo-
lies, got control of affairs, the cost of production would be greater than
the value of the product.

If there were no other references than those contained in
the foregoing quotations from Sydney dailies, during a period
of ten days, it would doubtless be admitted that the industrial
millennium, if existing anywhere, did not prevail in that Com-
monwealth, notwithstanding the fact that it has been accredited
with being a "Land of No Strikes." But the above quotations
represent a very insignificant portion of strike and other labor
discord items. However, as we arrived in Sydney March 2d
and sailed for New Zealand March I2th it is fitting that we leave
further reference to Sydney newspapers until our return there
two months later, and that further reference to the daily press
be taken up in the order of our visits to the various cities in
Australasia. Therefore, our next stay being in Auckland, a
few quotations from the press of that city will be in order.

FROM THE AUCKLAND HERALD.

NEW ZEALAND STRIKE.

MORAL TO BE DRAWN.

(From our own correspondent.)

London, February 6.

March 16. — Commenting on the recent strike in New Zealand, the
Shipping Gazette says :

"The moral of the strike is sufficiently obvious. It is that coolness
and -courage, and above all thoroughness, in dealing with this form of
mania — for it is hardly less — are invaluable assets. The triumph of the
New Zealand Ministry was in no sense the result of the indiscriminate
use of force. It was the outcome of a quiet determination to give all
possible support to a community which was determined that its existence
should not be imperilled by the cutting off of its oversea communica-
tions. The defeat of syndicalism has been so complete that it will be
long before it tries conclusions again in the Dominion."

NEW ZEALAND DISPUTE.

Sydney, March 14.

March 16. — The New Zealand strike-leader, Mr. Robert Semple,
was a passenger by the Maunganui. He said yesterday that the indus-
trial organizations in the Dominion received a severe blow during the
recent strike, but were not defeated

STRIKES UNDER LABOUR RULE.

March 17. — The assertion that the success of Labour as a political
organisation brings industrial peace to a country is stigmatised by Mr.
Joseph Cook (Prime Minister of Australia) as a hollow mockery.
Mr. Cook says that labour rule in New South Wales has been signalised
by" the fratricidal policy of striking and the creation of class hatred.
Statistics bear out Mr. Cook's indictment in a manner in which they
seldom justify a party criticism. Detailed returns have been prepared
by the Commonwealth Statistician (an independent and reliable authority)
of the industrial disputes which took place in Australia during the past
year. These are certainly remarkable in that they represent New South
Wales, where a Labour Government has been continuously in office as a
sort of industrial cockpit for the disputes of the Commonwealth. The
estimated loss of wages over the whole of Australia was £288,101, and
of this sum no less than £208,468, or 72 per cent, was lost in disputes
in New South Wales. The two States most fairly comparable in point
of population and commercial importance are New South Wales and
Victoria, but in point of industrial disputes during 1913 there is no com-
parison. The number of disputes in New South Wales was 134, against
2Q in Victoria, the workers involved numbered 40,011 in New South
Wales, against 6,177 in Victoria, the days lost 447,979 against 77,587, and
the estimated loss of wages was £20^,468 in New South Wales against
£32,596 in Victoria. These figures show that a concomitant of Labour
rule in New South Wales has been labour upheavals. The industrial
laws, including some passed by the Labour Government, have frequently
been flagrantly broken, and within the past few weeks a large body of
men have laid themselves open to prosecution for industrial lawlessness.
It might be supposed, and it is often suggested by theorists, that when a
Labour Government is in power workers will seek to improve their con-
dition and remedy their grievances by Parliamentary action, knowing
that the machinery of Government is in sympathetic hands. Experience
proves the opposite to be the case. The extreme section of the workers
usually tastes disillusionment when their party gains Parliamentary
ascendency. They find that the economic laws continue to operate and

the millennium they expected has not come. Relying on a sympathetic
Government not to punish them they presume to violate the industrial
laws, if it suits their purpose, careless that the prestige of the Govern-
ment suffers by their action. The first thing that will bring more settled
conditions in New South Wales will be the enforcement of the industrial
law impartially as between employer and employee. So long as the
Labour Government winks at breaches by workers so long will unrest
continue.

PUNISHMENT SOUGHT.

FOR OFFENDING UNIONS. ECHO OF THE STRIKE.
(By Telegraph — Press Association.)

Wellington, Tuesday.

March 18. — A deputation representing the Citizens Committee which
acted during the strike awaited on the Minister for Justice yesterday
and drew attention to the fact that a number of unions which went on
strike recently in defiance of the Arbitration Act, in sympathy with
watersiders and others, had not been prosecuted. It was pointed out
that there were 18 such unions in New Zealand, and the deputation urged
that the law ought to be put in action against them.

The Minister said that the duty of instituting proceedings under
the Arbitration Act did not rest with his Department, but with the
Labour Department. He undertook to inform the Minister for Labour
of what the deputation had represented.

The following editorial which relates to Australian politics
will not appear as out of place here as it relates to matters of
Parliament, in which the labor question is the prime factor. It
is both interesting and instructive, and forecasts a result that
has since happened, namely, the double dissolution of Parlia-
ment; the bills upon which the dissolution was ordered being
a bill to repeal preference to unionism in Government work,
and a bill to establish the right to vote at elections by letter, or
mail, in cases of inability to attend the polls in person.

POLITICS IN AUSTRALIA.

March 20. — The suggestion made by a Labour member of the Aus-
tralian House of Representatives that the Governor-General's resignation
was precipitated by the political situation is too absurd to be seriously
considered. The Australian Federal Parliament, unlike other British
Parliaments, is subject to a written constitution, and the even balance of
parties in the House of Representatives presents no difficult problems for
the Governor-General such as migjit arise in other countries. The posi-
tion has been further simplified in recent months by the Labour leaders
accepting as inevitable the dissolution of both branches of the Legisla-
ture, which the Government has been fighting for ever since it came into
office. The Federal elections held in June last year gave the Liberals a
bare majority in the House of Representatives, and Mr. Cook succeeded
Mr. Fisher as Prime Minister of Australia. The Labor Party, however,
continued to command a majority in the Senate, and the result was that
the first session of the new Parliament yielded no harvest of Liberal
legislation. The measures passed by the House of Representatives, after
a struggle, were rejected or mutilated by the Senate, and Mr. Cook has
been a Prime Minister with administrative power, but no legislative
authority. Such a position is clearly intolerable. The Constitution pro-
vides that if the Senate twice rejects, or amends in a manner to which

the House of Representatives will not agree, any bill twice passed by
the House, the Governor-General may dissolve the two Chambers simul-
taneously. This is probably what will happen within the next few
months. The second session of Parliament opens shortly, and the meas-
ures, or some of the measures, rejected by the Senate last session will be
sent back to it. The Senate will almost certainly reject them, and
Mr, Cook's appeal for a double dissolution cannot then be denied. It
would suit the Labour Party very much better to have a dissolution of
the House of Representatives only, leaving them still in command of the
Senate. This would be the course of events if Labour could snatch a
majority in the House, but it is unlikely Mr. Fisher will be able to outwit
the vigilance of the slightly stronger Liberal Party. A double dissolution
will probably increase the Liberal majority in the House; but it is doubt-
ful whether the Senate will be captured from the Labour Party. The
deadlock would not in these circumstances be ended. The Constitution
contains an ingenious clause to permit of some progress being made with
legislation during the continuance of such a deadlock. If the Senate
again disagrees with the House on a particular measure, the Governor-
General may summon a joint sitting of the two Chambers, and the
decision of an absolute majority of the members present has the force
of law. It might happen that the Labour Party would command this
majority, despite its minority in the House of Representatives, and it
would then be able to give legislation a character approved by it, but
distasteful to the Prime Minister. Such a situation would be unprece-
dented.

FROM THE AUCKLAND STAR.

POLITICAL EFFRONTERY.

LABOUR'S CLAIM TO PEACE.

(Received 10.10 A. M.)

Sydney, this day.

March 16. — Mr. Joseph Cook (Federal Premier) speaking at Sand-
ringham, considered Mr. Holman's figures concerning New South Wales'
light taxation a piece of sheer political effrontery. There never was a
more hollow mockery than to assert that the three years of Labour rule
had given industrial peace. Labour rule had been signalised by the
fratricidal policy of striking and the creation of class hatred, which
was increasing in New South Wales. This feeling had reduced the
effectiveness of the working man's wages."

The following will serve as a reminder of some of the in-
tricacies and annoyances created by the system of industrial
legislation in Australasia. It is next to impossible for the aver-
age citizen, employing a servant or two, to keep informed as to
the awards of the various Wages Boards and the changes that
are, from time to time, made in the same, or whether setting a
servant at washing plates, for example, will violate some rule by
which the servant should only be required to wash pans, but
the channel through which they frequently become informed in
the premises, is illustrated in the following example:

HOTEL WORKERS' DUTIES.
MISTRESS AND MAID FINED.

March 16. — Mr. C. C. Kettle, S. M., gave judgment this afternoon in
the case in which the Inspector of Awards (Mr. E. W. F. Gohns) pro-

ceeded against Miss Helen Cooper, a restaurant keeper (Mr. M. G.
McGregor), for employing a young woman as a second cook and paying
her 22s. a week instead of 305. The employee, Miss W. Senkup, was
also sued for failing to claim the award wage. The point in dispute was
whether the employees' duties in the kitchen were those of a kitchen
maid or a cook.

His Worship considered that the employee had undoubtedly done
work which the award stated that a cook should do. In her evidence
she had said that she did not know that the award provided a wage of
305. for such work, but she remarked that "she had a father to keep,"
and this was perhaps an indication of the state of her mind. Each de-
fendant would be fined 305. In giving judgment his Worship again drew
attention to the necessity for preparing clearly printed schedules of
duties and placing them where they could be seen by all the employees in
an hotel or restaurant.

While the above example relates to hotels and restaurants
it clearly points out the necessity for all employers, large or
small, as well as* employees, to keep themselves informed as to
Wages Boards awards, and to be continually on the watch that
in every detail the same are strictly adhered to, otherwise, as
shown by the above reference, they are liable to be summoned
before a Court and fined. The system is particularly annoying
to employers who conduct a business made up of miscellaneous
parts and requiring the service of employees representing various
divisions of Wages Boards awards, as many do, and especially
in cases where employees are by the very nature of their em-
ployment required to shift from job to job or stand idly by while
certain work is performed by entirely unnecessary additional
help, or where the business is not of sufficient magnitude to
justify a specific distribution of service among its employees.
This constant fear of prosecution for violation of Wages Boards
awards, even though unwittingly, is not conducive to the peace
of mind of an employer of labor, who in most cases of prose-
cution is the victim, and, besides, the system encourages idleness
and augments economic waste.

FROM THE WELLINGTON TIMES.

THE SIX-DAY WEEK.

FOR AUCKLAND HOTEL WORKERS.

(Press Association.)

Auckland, March 31.

April I. — An agreement on all but one of points at issue between
the Hotel and Restaurants Workers' Union (old union) and Licensed
Houses Workers' Union (new union) on the one hand and the Licensed
Victuallers' Association on the other has been arrived at. The new
union has been swamped by members of the old union, who recently
threw out the strike-breaking executive and installed officers who repudi-
ated on legal grounds the agreement made with the employers in Decem-
ber and co-operated with the old union in applying to the Arbitration
Court for an award. The employers accepted the position with a good
grace, and conferences were held with the result stated.

The Arbitration Court was informed today that the only point now
in dispute related to the six-day week.

Mr. Justice Stringer said the Court intended taking the amendment
to the Shops and Offices Act as mandatory, and introducing the six-day
week into all future awards relating to hotel and restaurant workers.

This clears the way for the final settlement of the whole dispute.

SYDNEY STREETS.

COST OF CLEANING "A STAGGERER."
(By Telegraph — Press Association — Copyright.)

Sydney, March 20.

March 21. — The town clerk has reported to the City Council that

the cost of cleaning Sydney has risen from £38,658 in 1905 to £100,634

in 1913. The mileage of the streets has increased only from 113 to 134

miles. Increases in wages are largely responsible for the increased cost.

Aldermen describe the statement as a staggerer.

SYDNEY TRAMWAYS.

DEFICIT FOR YEAR, £61,038.

(By Telegraph — Press Association — Copyright.)
(Received March 20, 9.50 p. M.)

Sydney, March 20.

March 21. — The Premier supplied in the Legislative Assembly a
statement from the Railway Commissioners showing the tramway re-
turns for the year 1912-1913 as follows: Earnings, £1,754,566; expendi-
tures, £1,572,190; interest on capital invested, £214,832; deficit, £32,456;
estimated deficit for the year ending June 3Oth, £61,038.

FROM THE WELLINGTON POST.

THE LABOUR MARKET.
To the Editor:

March 27. — Sir, — May I ask through your columns what is going to
be done to provide employment for the new arrivals in New Zealand?
At present there is not sufficient work for men already settled here. I have
to keep a small boarding house as my husband is out of work, and two of
my boarders are out of work, and it is quite heart-breaking. They start
off in search of a job every morning, and all line in again about 12
o'clock— No luck; can't find a job. One of them tried up country. He
got a job from a local registry office — bush felling; he started off for
Featherston, the nearest railway station ; the camp was 7s. 6d. coach ride
from the station. When he arrived on the scene he found there was
another fourteen miles to walk from the coach, through bush, and over
hills, and across creeks, etc. He said he would not have minded all that
if the camp had been decent, but they had to shoot wild pig for meat,
or whatever was about. There was no milk, only boards to lie on, and
no conveniences to get a wash. He was so disgusted that after he had
taken a rest, he set off to walk back to the coach again. I ask, Is there
any encouragement for me» to go up country? My brother came to New
Zealand last August, with the object of going on a farm to work. He
went up to Taihape and Inglewood in answer to an advertisement, and
found the jobs did not exist. When he got up there, he tried several
different places, and at last packed up and went back to England, while
he had the money to pay his fare. New Zealand is cracked up so good
at home in England that people think it is easy to get work here, but
my husband has been here two years, and is still no better off as far as
work is concerned. I have no doubt there are plenty more men the same.

We are told to keep the cradles full, but I ask what encouragement have
we to bring children into the world when we are practically living from
hand to mouth. Why does New Zealand cry out for more emigrants and
more population when it cannot give work to the people already here?
I don't know what we shall do in the winter time. I have to work hard
all day to keep things going. Hoping you will find room for this letter,—
I am, etc.

A WORKING MAN'S WIFE.

A UNION'S TYRANNY.

April i. — Mr. D. Mpriarty, the modest secretary of the Wellington
Furniture Union, in this issue severely scolds The Post for an unpardon-
able piece of forgetfulness; the difference between a Wellington with
Mr. Moriarty and a Wellington without Mr. Moriarty was not noticed, and
the dreadful sequel is a charge by the irate magnate that The Post lacks
"common decency." However, before The Post applies itself to the task of
framing a suitable apology to the incensed secretary, it must discuss a
matter which is of more importance to the public, though, perhaps, of less
concern to the irate Mr. Moriarty. This is the reported persecution of a
member of the Furniture Union by other members, who have been encour-
aged by the secretary in their attitude, according to the official's statement.
Whatever Mr. Moriarty may have done or said in the past, there is no
possibility of mistaking the tone of his letter in today's Post. It is
practically approval of the tactics already pursued and an incitement
to the men to continue the victimisation of a cabinet-maker who dared
to accept work on the wharf during the strike, when he was unable to
find an engagement at his trade. First of all, the impetuous secretary
brushes aside as a negligible trifle the statement made by the union's
president, Mr. Kennedy, last week. This officer was questioned before
the man's complaint was published, and the two versions appeared to-
gether. If the union had decided to buy strike "solidarity" at the
price of 3s. a week ("to prevent any member from going to work on the
wharves"), why did not Mr. Kennedy mention this bonus scheme? The
member concerned says that he knew nothing about the offer. All that
he knew definitely was that he was out of work, and he tried to find a
suitable billet in city factories before he went to the waterside.

"We do believe," says Mr. Moriarty, "that it is an unpardonable
offence for any man to take on the work of another who has been forced
out of work." Who "forced" the Wellington water-siders out of work?
Who "forced" them to have their "stop-work" meeting? Who "forced"
them to flout a good agreement? It is very well known now that the
strikers deliberately chose the "stop-work" method, and thus treated
their agreement with contempt. Is that the sort of strike for which the
Furniture Union is prepared to persecute one of its members?
Mr. Moriarty, with a perversity which suggests that he is more or
less consciously flattering Mr. P. Hickey by imitating his inventiveness,
has made another glaring misuse of the word "force," thus: — "If you
are successful in getting the employers to force us out on strike." This
is grim humour, surely not altogether unconscious. The unionists in this
case are aspiring to be the "master class." They have, in effect, dared
the employers to take on the black-listed member whom the autocratic
secretary addressed as an "ex-cabinetmaker.". The persecutors, not the
employers, have made the challenge, and Mr. Moriarty has thrown out
sundry sinister hints of boycott. But, of course, that is not "force."
It is only the punishment of the "unpardonable offence" of a unionist
against an intolerable conspiracy of Syndicalism. This word does not
lose "nastiness," but acquires more, by the methods of the Furniture
Union's members. The Red Federals are straight-out Syndicalists; the
Furniture Union has, on the facts published, laid itself open to the
allegation of being an aider and abettor of Syndicalism by devious ways.

Is the Furniture Workers' Trust or Combine strong enough already to
dictate to the employers? Who are the actual employers and who are
the employed? That question arises from Mr. Moriarty's letter.

FROM THE CHRISTCHURCH PRESS.

STRIKING UNIONS.

April 3. — Is the Labour Department going to prosecute the unions
or unionists working under Arbitration Court awards who went on
strike in November last, and thus committed a breach of the Industrial
Conciliation and Arbitration Act?" asks the "Post." "The question is one
which raises some very important issues, and the decision of the Depart-
ment is awaited with the keenest interest, not only by the offending
unions, but also by the employers and the new unions which were formed
to replace several of the Arbitration bodies which, though unaffiliated,
responded to the call of the Red Federation. If the Department decides
to proceed, the prosecutions will comprise the biggest batch that have
yet been launched at any one time within the history of New Zealand,
no fewer than 18 Arbitration unions, with some 8,000 to 9,000 members,
being involved. If, on the other hand, the Department decides not to
take action, the following issues, it is contended, will demand an imme-
diate solution: (i) What is the use of imposing penalties under the
Arbitration Act when they are not enforced? (2) What is to be the
fate of the new unions which were formed to replace the Arbitration
unions which went out on strike?"

From inquiries made by a "Post" reporter today, it would appear
that the latter question is at present greatly troubling both the employers
and the 'members of the old and new unions alike. At least three bodies
of workers are affected, viz., the Wellington drivers, the Auckland hotel
workers, and the Christchurch drivers. In all three cases dual Arbitra-
tion unions — those which went out on strike and those which were
formed subsequently — exist, and the puzzling situation is created as to
which unions hold the field. No one seems to know, and, as a result,
hopeless confusion prevails, the employers not knowing which union to
deal with, and the men being equally in the dark as to which union they
are to pay their subscriptions to. Some of the Wellington drivers, it is
stated, have solved the riddle for themselves by declining to pay into
either union until they know where they are. If the Labour Department
decides to take proceedings against the old unions for striking, and
secures convictions, the position will be much simplified.

If the Department is to take action, however, and thereby ,solve the
situation, it will require to act promptly, as under the Act it is provided
that a prosecution in case of a strike cannot take place after the expira-
tion of six months from the date of the cause of action, and in the
present instance five months have elapsed since the first union went on
strike.

FROM THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES.
(Dunedin, N. Z.)

The following is an excerpt from an address by the Hon.
F. M. B. Fisher, Minister for Customs, at Wellington, April 3rd:

When the Minister got the audience again he said the meeting sug-
gested to him an interesting electoral reform, and that was to disfran-
chise every man who attempted to break up a public meeting. The sug-
gestion received a mixed reception. Continuing, Mr. Fisher said that
they would thus prevent the people, who did not respect the laws from
making them. These men must not get the idea into their heads that
they could frighten or terrorise the Government. * * *

He said the secret ballot had taken away much of the power which
the agitator possessed at the present time. They were going to give
every working man the right to live, and the right to exercise his judg-
ment free and unfettered, and without the intimidation that had been
carried out in this town during the last 12 months. The Government had
some concern, not only for the people who voluntarily went on strike, but
also for the people who were forced out on strike against their will,
and it was necessary for the Government also to take into consideration
the wives and children who had suffered on account of the strike.

A Voice: "All the rats."

Mr. Fisher: "Are you referring to your friends?"

Continuing, Mr. Fisher said that the action of the Government had
utterly destroyed the Federation of Labour. — (Applause and boohooing.)
When order was somewhat restored Mr. Fisher said they had heard it
stated that the Opposition Party was going to ally itself with the Social
Democrats. He first wanted to point out what it was these men stood
for. They stood for the red flag against the Union Jack, they stood
for anarchy and revolution against order, and their Socialism led them
in the direction cf entirely destroying family life. They respected not
law nor order. This was a signal for cheers and groans. "You will find,"
he continued, "that the time has come when the voice of this country is
against these people. They may band themselves together, they may take
control of our public meetings, they may even ally themselves with the
Opposition, but even then they cannot win. Public opinion in this coun-
try is too British to allow them to win, — (Applause and hooting.) They
come here led by foreigners, allied by —

A portion of the audience then started to count out the speaker.

How THE MONEY GOES.

April 4. — New South Wales is dominated by Labour Socialists.
Neither Premier Holman nor any member of his Cabinet is a free
agent. In common with the other members of the Labour Party who
have obtained seats in Parliament, they must follow the behests of the
irresponsible caucus, which, sitting outside of Parliament, is the real
overlord dominating members and Ministers of the Crown alike. And
this caucus is responsible neither to the electors, nor is it amenable in
any way to the public.

The Political Labour Congress issues its orders; they are perforce
obeyed, or the men refusing to accept its decisions pay the penalty in
the shape of political extinction. The Congress, consisting of delegates
from the respective unions, which are affiliated to the Political Labour
Federation, and which probably does not represent more than a third
of the employees who have attained the age of 20 years and over, nomi-
nated the Ministry, choosing Mr. Holman's . colleagues for him. Tt cen-
sured Mr. Griffiths, the Minister for Public Works; it mapped out the
policy Ministers must follow; it even went to the length of ordering
the abolition of the pensions that are paid to judges and the higher
salaried officials on their retirement from the same. And it committed
the country to a Socialistic programme that will still further deplete its
finances, which are, to say the least, in a very bad way.

EXPENDITURE ADVANCES BY NINE MILLIONS IN THREE YEARS.
The Labour Government in New South Wales succeeded to office in
1910, and to a surplus, bequeathed it by Mr. Wade, the Liberal Premier,
of £989,709.

By 1913 it had turned that surplus into a deficit of £1.500,000. In
other words, it had gone to the bad to the extent of £2,500,000, although
the revenue rose from £13,839,139 in 1910-11 to £16,057,000 in 1912-13.
that is by £2,217,861,

The total expenditure of the Wade Government during its last year
of office was £17,853,827.

FROM THE GREYMOUTH EVENING STAR.
(March 21, 1914.)

Excerpts from an address by Prime Minister, the Right Hon.
W. F. Massey, at Greymouth, March 2ist:

THE BIG STRIKE.

The Premier then went on to refer to the recent strike. The Gov-
ernment had many difficulties to contend with when they came into
power. There were fires in the north, floods in the south, and then the
strike which was the worst of all. They could not please everyone, but
he believed that what the Government had done had pleased the ma-
jority of the people of this country. — (Loud applause.) Personally he
considered that if the Government had not acted as they had done they
would not have been worthy of the position they occupied. (Applause.)
He knew from the start that they were up against the most serious
crisis in the Dominion's history. Trade was suspended, the ports were
closed, and the revenue was seriously affected. It was over now, and
things had returned to normal. There had been great excitement, and
many foolish things had been said. He did not blame the men for the
strike, but he blamed their leaders. (Applause.) He blamed their
vanity, their stupidity, and their obstinacy. He had tried his best to
settle the strike, and there were several conferences, but "they hadn't
a hope." There were not sufficient police to cope with the situation that
arose. Therefore, they did the only thing under the circumstances they
could do. They appealed for "specials," and they had a magnificent
response. (Applause.) They came to help from all parts in their
hundreds, and the number could have been multiplied by five. He took
the whole responsibility for what had been done. He wished to express
his high appreciation, as head of the Government, of the men who came
to help them, leaving their harvests and crops. If he could say that of the
men he could say more of the women who were left on lonely farms.
(Applause.) The stand taken by the settlers was a revelation. What
help did they get from the Opposition? Compare the attitude of their
own Opposition with that of the South African Opposition recently.
He would say no more, but leave it at that. Now that the strike was
over no one could really say what the strike was about. Every worker
had a right to sell his labour in the highest market, but he had no right
to interfere with or prevent another man getting work. Although no
one could tell the cause of the strike, the result was that it ended in a
revolt of the people against the tyranny of a foreign organisation known
in America as the I. W. W. organisation, and known here as the Federa-
tion of Labour. The great enemies of New Zealand were the agitators
who went about stirring up strife between employer and employee. If we
wanted to see the country prosper we would be better without this very
noisy and small section of which he had been speaking.

A Voice : Deport them.

Mr. Massey said that he hoped they would not need to do that,
but he would not shrink from even that if it was necessary. (Cheers.)
The strike had had a great effect on the politics of this country, and
parties were being readjusted. On the one side there was now the
party of progress — the Reform Liberals, and on the other the party that
would put back the wheels of progress 50 years if their leaders' speeches
were any criterion. These were the Red Fed. Liberals.

FROM THE MERCURY.
(Hobart, Tasmania, April 9, 1914.)

THE PLASTERERS' STRIKE.
PROSECUTION OF THE MEN. TECHNICAL POINT RAISED.

Adelaide, April 8.

For the past two weeks 200 plasterers, who are under a wages
board award, have been on strike for higher wages and shorter hours.
Today the secretary of the union (Sidney Riches) and 30 men were
summoned before the Industrial Court by Mr. Justice Buchanan (Presi-
dent), for their action.

On the men being asked to plead, Sir Josiah Symon, who appeared
for the employees, protested that the matter before the court was merely
an inquiry, and not a prosecution.

The President reserved the point for submission to the Supreme
Court.

It is understood that, the matter will be carried on by the issue of
individual informations against some of the men.

FROM THE LIBERAL.
(Melbourne, May, 1914.)

UNION OR LAW — WHICH ?

The Political Union doctrine that the rules of the Union are su-
perior to the laws of the land was flagrantly and openly advocated by
Mr. Hampson, the Victorian Secretary of the Amalgamated Society of
Engineers, at a meeting on the I5th April, of the Port Phillip Ship-
wrights' Association. He said, in responding to a toast, that "Unionists
paid more respect to their own rules than to the laws of the land."
Coming as it does from the official representative of a union that used
to stand for sane trades unionism, industrial efficiency, and indifference
to political unionism, is symptomatic as demonstrating the vicious trend
of thought in modern militant political trades unionism. With such
folk in a contest between the law of a democratic country and the rules
of an aggressive union, the law. is beaten every time. Hence their desire
to get control of the police and military. When this is done democracy
has passed and the tyranny of the Trades Hall is supreme.

FROM THE MELBOURNE AGE.

EDITORIAL.

April 15. — The gnawing anxiety of the Labour Party to clear the
way of all possible obstructions to its more violent industrial methods
was perhaps never so clearly demonstrated as in the proposals for
amending the Defence Act adopted by the recent Labour conference.
The party professes an unqualified belief in the principle of settling in-
dustrial disputes by the peaceful process of law; its leaders are never
tired of proclaiming their allegiance to the arbitration tribunals. As long
as these happen to give them all they want they are, no doubt, its ardent
champions; but the determination to have recourse to "direct action" —
should such a course at any moment appear expedient — is never absent
from their minds. It was for the purpose of making direct action on a
large scale as simple and as riskless as possible to the persons engaging
in it that the conference appointed a committee to suggest amendments
to the Defence Act. That this committee (of which Senator Barker and
Dr. Maloney, M. H. R., were members) thoroughly understood the nature
and intent of its commission every clause of its report shows.

What alterations to the military system of the Commonwealth
would best suit the purpose of political unionism, give it the freest hand
and widest scope, and render it least liable to being brought to book for
any of its actions? The members of the committee must have asked each
other some such questions as that as they sat down to deliberate; and
the answer they supplied certainly does credit to their ingenuity. In the
first place, they said, make impossible the "Continental practice" of men
on strike being "called to the colours" under penalty of military punish-
ment. This can as yet scarcely be called a "Continental practice," for it
has been tried only once; but the success with which by its means
M. Briand checkmated the syndicalists in their deep-laid plot to stop
traffic on the French railways and "hold up" the Government and nation
naturally horrified our law and arbitration champions in Australia, and
inspired them with the ambition to make such a device for protecting the
community against violence and outrage impossible here. Dr. Maloney
and his friends next proceeded to declare that in no circumstances should
any members of the defence force be required to "interfere with workers
engaged in an industrial dispute." Under the law as it stands a State
Government has the right to ask the Commonwealth Government for
military assistance should the resources of the State be unequal to the
task of preserving order.

It is the duty of the Federal power to render assistance to a State
Government when help is demanded, but, as everyone knows, the Fisher
Ministry refused the request of the Queensland Government, even when
Brisbane seemed on the point of falling under the lawless sway of a mob
of unionists during a general strike. The committee of the Victorian
Labour conference, fearing that some Federal Ministry might prove more
faithful to its duty than the Fisher Cabinet proved, wishes to provide in
advance against any such contingency. Nor is this the full extent of the
lesson conveyed to it by the Brisbane experience. It remembers thai the
Denham Ministry, left in the lurch by the authority controlling the mili-
tary forces, enlisted the services of some of the volunteers who thronged
in such inspiring numbers to help the cause of law and order against the
hosts of anarchy; and it has accordingly suggested a means of preventing
the repetition of such a spectacle. One of its recommendations is, "That
no State Government be allowed to raise, arm, or use any force against
the workers in the time of an industrial dispute." No amendment of
the Defence Act would, of course, suffice to deprive the States of this
right; but the fact that the committee suggested, and the conference
adopted a proposal of the kind stated shows what an overmastering
desire these people have to place the community absolutely at the mercy
of organised labour. The "unionising" of the police would just about
complete the process.

Having thus suggested means for rendering the community power-
less, it might have been supposed that the committee and the conference
would rest content with their labours. But in the true spirit of their
kind they set themselves to devise a plan for making positive use of the
defence system to help them and their cause against the public. For
what is really the most sinister of all their recommendations is the one
declaring that "every member of the citizen forces should be made cus-
todian of his small arms and equipment." The position they want to
bring about is one in which the use of the forces for the preservation of
law and order shall be absolutely prohibited, while each individual
member of the forces shall have it in his power to render armed assist-
ance, should he think fit, to the people assailing that cause. In other
words, the Government is not to be permitted to call out the military, but
the Trades Hall is! Men less unsophisticated than Senator Barker,
Dr. Maloney, and their friends would, however anarchical their tempera-
ment, hesitate to express their purpose quite so candidly, but the fact
that these individuals are too naive to give their meaning a semblance
of decency by cloaking it in diplomatic language does not make these

recommendations any less significant. Men like them are the pace-
makers of the Labour movement. They catch the ear of the most ex-
treme of the groundlings, and these, in the long run, dominate the party.
The conference, it should be remembered, adopted en bloc everything the
committee thought proper to suggest.

The Brisbane wharf labourers have shown the boycott to be capable
of a development which it had not previously reached even in Broken
Hill, where the Barrier Labour Federation was generally credited with
having exhausted its possibilities as an instrument of terrorism. They
refused to handle cargo under the supervision of an officer of one of the
shipping companies who had given evidence distasteful to them in the
Arbitration Court, and the steamer Ready had in consequence to be laid
up. Trade unionism regards victimisation — by the other side — as the
most heinous of industrial offences, and its definition of the word in such
circumstances is comprehensive in the extreme. No matter how offensive
or destructive a unionist has been in a discussion or a strike, his asso-
ciates make it a condition of settlement admitting of no qualification that
his position and status in the employer's service must remain absolutely
unimpaired. "No victimisation" is, in short, the loudest and most fre-
quently heard of those insenate cries which unionists use without know-
ing precisely what the language they employ really means. It means to
them a purely one-sided thing. Their notion of liberty is liberty to
oppress all outside their ranks; their idea of equal opportunity is as
Mr. W. H. Irvine has pithily remarked, "equal opportunity to all and
preference to unionists"; the word victimisation they regard as being
without -meaning except when they are (however deservedly) the suffer-
ers by the process. They do not, for example, consider it victimisation
at all when they exert their immense strength to deprive non-unionists
of the means of supporting themselves and their families. The term they
use to describe this is — "justice."

Never before in all the vagaries of its wayward spirit has trade
unionism ventured to boycott an individual for having given evidence —
evidence on oath and presumably truthful — against a claim made by a
union in an Arbitration Court. The person objected to in this case is
an officer in the service of one of the shipping companies, and in express-
ing his views in the witness-box apparently he did not hesitate to say
exactly what he thought. His evidence must have either damaged the
cause or wounded the vanity of the claimants, and the- lesson they wish
to convey by the present boycott is that men who do that sort of thing,
where organised labour is concerned, do so at their peril. It is an
instance, if there ever was one, of the fountain of justice being sullied at
its source, and unless the Court concerned promptly vindicates its author-
ity by punishing the outrage on its dignity in some unmistakable manner
will simply be conniving at a monstrous injustice. If an employer ven-
tured so much as to betray a wish to deal with a unionist in this way
the country would ring with denunciations of the infamy, and the of-
fender would be read a lecture from the Bench which he would not
soon forget.

RAILWAY MEN STRIKE.
ISO MEN DOWN TOOLS.

Wagga, Wednesday.

April 16. — The trouble regarding the handling of "black" chaff
assumed a grave aspect this morning, when the locomotive staff employed
on the new railway from Wagga to Tumbarumba refused to handle chaff
from A. Brunskill's Allonby Farm. They were in consequence sus-
pended by the resident engineer, Mr. G. C. Bernard. Immediately fol-
lowing upon Mr. Bernard's action the whole of the men employed over
the entire length of the new railway "downed" tools and went on strike.

FARMERS AND THE A. W. U.

"BLACK CHAFF/' CARRIERS ORDER MEN TO HANDLE.

THREAT TO EMPLOY NON-UNIONISTS.

Sydney, Wednesday.

April 16. — It was stated at a meeting this morning of the Master
Carriers' Association that it had been decided to inform employees that
they must handle goods whether these have been declared "black" or not.
Association officials declined to make any statement in regard to the
affairs of that body. It is said that for some weeks employers have been
warning their men that if they did not handle "black" chaff non-union
labor would be engaged.

WORKS REMAIN CLOSED.

EMPLOYERS MEET TO-DAY.

April 16. — There was no fresh development yesterday in regard to
the trouble in the stone cutting industry, and all the works connected
with the Master Masons' Association, with the exception of the Foot-
scray and Malmsbury Company, remain closed.

STRIKERS AND THE LAW.
MINISTER AS MEDIATOR.

Perth, Thursday.

April .18. — A deputation of employers waited upon the Hon. Minis-
ter (Mr. Dodd) today, and brought under his notice matters arising out
of the recent refusal by the carpenters at Millars' timber-yards to work
with non-unionists, thereby in the deputation's opinion breaking the law
prohibiting strikes.

A DESERTED TOWN.

DISASTROUS STRIKE. GRAVE POSITION AT JUMBUNNA.

Jumbunna, Monday.

April 21. — The strike at Jumbunna coal mine has extended over
nine weeks. Practically no work has been done since ist January, only
26 shifts having been worked. Deputations representing the men have
repeatedly waited on the manager and made certain proposals to him in
regard to the trouble over the hewing rate. The miners have asked for
a price which will enable them to secure a living wage, but so far no
settlement has been arrived at, and matters are now at a deadlock.
The manager refused to give the price asked, and the miners refuse to
accept any reduction. The result is that empty houses are to be found
in every part of the town, as the miners are leaving as soon as they secure
work elsewhere. Miners who have been here for fifteen years have been
compelled to leave. The town is in a deplorable condition. Business is
paralysed, and unless the strike is soon settled business people will have
to close their shops.

MINERS SUGGEST A STRIKE.

Kalgoorlie, Sunday.

April 27. — A meeting of the Miners' Union was held in Boulder
town hall this afternoon for the purpose of further discussing the ques-
tion of not working with non-unionists after ist May.

UNIONISM IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
THE TIMBER WORKERS' STRIKE.

Perth, Sunday.

April 27. — The Employers' Federation has rejected the proposal of
the Hon. Minister, Mr. Dodd, for the holding of a conference with the
Carpenters' Union over the compulsory unionism strike at Millars' timber
works, because the union declared a boycott of Millars' material while

the conference negotiations were proceeding. At a special meeting oi
metropolitan timber yard employees last night it was resolved to continue
work till further advised by the Labor Federation.

In addition to 56 men who struck at Millars' against working with
non-unionists, about 30 carpenters and a number of painters have losl
their jobs owing to the shortage caused by the strike.

WORK AND WAGES.
COMPULSORY UNIONISM. POSITION IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

Perth, Monday.

April 28. — The Labor Federation has issued a statement in con-
nection with the compulsory unionism strike, claiming that the Employ-
ers' Federation, by refusing a conference, is forcing on a lockout, and
is victimising unionists by reducing hands in the carpentering trade.

It transpires that the fines imposed last month on Geraldton lumpers
for striking have not been paid.

The Kalgoorlie miners, who resolved not to work with non-unionists
after ist May, are apparently weakening as the time draws near for
enforcing or retracting the resolution. A conference of all mining unions
has been called to reconsider the position.

ONE MAN ONE JOB.

"HANDY" MAN IN TROUBLE. ACTION BY MINERS' ASSOCIATION.
FIGHT AT A MEETING.

Ballarat, Sunday.

May 4. — Complaint has been made publicly by members of the
Ballarat branch of the Federated Miners' Association of Australia at
the action of Mr. J. D. Dale, a member of the committee of the branch,
in working as a carpenter, and also in other capacities on wages in his
spare time.

THE PAINTERS' CONFERENCE.

A DEFENCE FUND.

May 9. — The Inter-State conference of master painters and decora-
tors concluded yesterday.

Mr. J. F. Maxwell (Brisbane) moved —

"That it be a recommendation to the various associations throughout
the States to consider the advisability of establishing a sinking fund for
the purpose of protecting employers' interests before industrial courts
and wages boards."

As he understood, the employers in the trade were on the edge of a
precipice, and unless something of the sort he proposed was done, their
interests were apt to be annihilated.

FROM THE MELBOURNE ARGUS.

April 14. — In spite of the protest of the Boilermakers' Union
against the announcement that it is the intention of the Minister for
Immigration (Mr. Hagelthorn) to allow Messrs. Thompson and Co, of
Castlemaine, to secure artisans from England for their works, Mr. Hagel-
thorn is adhering to his original decision. He states that it really amounts
to an attempt on the part of the union to prevent British boilermakers
from working for a firm which, apparently, offended it some months ago.
Messrs. Thompson and Co. have installed plant costing £50,000, and
Mr. Hagelthorn is not prepared to allow an important industry in the
country to be crippled as a result of the efforts of the union to obtain
complete control of the labour. He in no way questions the competency
of the Victorian workmen who are members of the union, but he points
out that it is absolutely necessary that sufficient labour should be made
available to enable the industry to be carried on.

Melbourne, Saturday.

April 18. — The Prime Minister's reply to Mr. Fisher's attack upon
the Government has set rolling a ball of contention that will probably
travel far before it stops. The Senate, by adjourning for three weeks,
has indicated the extent of public time the Labor caucus thinks the
debate will consume; yet Mr. Hughes yesterday informed the House
there never was a period in Australian history when there was a greater
and more urgent call for serious legislative effort. Mr. Cook's speech,
judged from his party's standpoint, was both impressive and effective.
Mr. Fisher had charged him and his Ministerial colleagues with having
wilfully and deliberately slandered the people of Australia by making
allegations of illicit voting after last general election. Mr. 'Cook re-
torted that Ministerialists could, at most, be accused only of slandering
a few people, but that Mr. Fisher for his part had slandered a big
majority of the workers by stigmatising non-unionists as "mostly the
sneaks of society." There are 433,000 unionists in the Commonwealth
and 724,000 non-unionists, said Mr. Cook. "Who, then, is the worst
slanderer of the people?"

"BLACK" CHAFF TROUBLE.
SCARCITY OF FODDER. A BAFFLED DEPUTATION.

Sydney, Monday.

April 21. — In connection with the "black chaff" trouble, the position
at the railway goods yards at Redfern today was very similar to that of
Friday and Saturday. The master carriers made no attempt to effect
deliveries, and unionist carters did not put in an appearance. The whole
place wore a deserted aspect. Members of the Trolly, Draymen, and
Carters' Union discussed the position in an informal way with their
secretary at the Trades Hall. It was admitted that the outlook was
gloomy, and that employers, by their silent and concerted action, were
determined to enforce discipline. Meanwhile, the owners of live stock
are greatly worried over their inability to get supplies of fodder for
their animals.

All day today a deputation of farmers from the Wagga district
waited about, hoping for an interview with the Premier (Mr. Holman).
They did not succeed, however, and had to be satisfied with the answer,
"The Premier hopes to be able to see you tomorrow." The deputation is
headed by Mr. J. Halloran, president of the Wagga District Council of
the Farmers' and Settlers' Association. It wants to see Mr. Holman
about the attitude of the Public Works officials in preventing the car-
riage of produce on the completed section of the Wagga to Tumberumba
railway line. Mr. Halloran stated this evening: "It is an absurd mis-
take for Sydney people to think that we have had any strike in the
Wagga district. Although the Australian Workers' Union sent six or-
ganisers to the Wagga district, and maintained a free food camp of about
70 men for about n weeks, the fact is that our farm labourers kept at
work, and never expressed any dissatisfaction. I am in a position to
say that of 70 men who lived in the camp not a single one was a local
man. We know that they were specially brought across the Victorian
border in order to make a show of trouble. Our men have remained at
work, and all our crops came off in good time."

Free labourers are expected to be available tomorrow. A good
many farm hands are reported to have come down from the Wagga
district. The farmers are said to be very determined not to have their
stuff blocked. The future would appear to be full of complications and
difficulties of all kinds. There were over a hundred trucks of chaff on
the sidings today, including 10 declared to be "black." Since Saturday
27 trucks have been shunted in. Demurrage fees have to be paid on the
loaded trucks. Today's charges came to over £100.

EDITORIAL.

April 2i.— It is no exaggeration to say that the "black chaff" dispute
in New South Wales is raising issues which threaten the very founda-
tions of political and industrial organisation. The dispute originated
from the fact that the farmers of the Coolamon district of Riverina
refused to conform to the conditions laid down by the rural workers'
log, formulated by that powerful body the Australian Workers' Union.
All the farmers of Australia are now alive to the nature of the demands
in that log, and many of them consider that if it be enforced they will
be constrained to desert their farms and join the union, as the surer
and more expeditious means of acquiring a competency. At any rate,
the farmers resisted, and resisted successfully, the attempt to force the
log upon them. Chaffcutting was continued, despite the strike of em-
ployees, and it has been demonstrated to the A. W. U. that the work
can be carried on without its co-operation or consent.

Though the farmers may fight the unions, they are helpless when
their own weapons — the agencies of the Government which they have
paid for in taxes — are turned against them. When, at the instigation of
the unionists, railway men refuse to carry their chaff, because it has been
declared to be "black," they are ,in the position of combatants who, in
the hour of success, are betrayed by treachery. The facts are, that a
considerable portion of a railway from Wagga to Humula has been com-
pleted. Following the usual practice, goods traffic has been permitted on
the completed portion of the line, and the farmers' chaff was forwarded
to market by that means. But the men employed by the Government in
the construction of the line, finding that the farmers were successfully
resisting the extortions proposed in the rural workers' log, struck work
because "black" chaff was being conveyed along the completed portion.
Mr. Hutchinson, engineer in chief of railway construction, speedily ar-
rived from Sydney, ordered the resumption of work by the construction
staff, and withdrew the concession made to farmers to convey chaff over
the completed portion, declaring that construction must have preference
over the shifting of produce, and that the Farmers' Association must be
allowed to settle its own quarrels with the Australian Workers' Union
without involving the railways. When a deputation from the Farmers'
Association waited on Mr. Hutchinson, it was found that he was not
acting on his own motion, but was carrying out the orders of the
Minister for Railways. Therefore, it appears that it was the Minister
for Railways who was responsible for the statement that "the 'railways
must not be involved" in the quarrel.

With that statement everyone should agree. The railways, which
are the property of all, should not be converted into a weapon of com-
pulsion, and placed in the hands of a few. Up to the hour when the
men on the line struck, railway work was being done in the ordinary
way. It was no more "involved in the quarrel" than was the portion of
the line from Wagga to Sydney. It was brought into the quarrel by
the railway men, and their action has been sanctioned by the Minister
on the extraordinary ground that "the railways must not be involved in
the quarrel." In a land where so many commercial services are carried
on for the people by the State and municipal Governments, such a de-
cision by a Minister is a clear violation of public duty. Citizens cannot
live and carry on their various avocations as free men if the instrumen-
talities of Government, which are the property of all, are to be placed as
a weapon of offence in the hands of any section.

If the workers may stop the running of a railway in order to help
'certain other workers to coerce farmers into conceding a rate of wages
which the farmers regard as exorbitant, where is the new tyranny to
stop? For a similar trifling cause the post-office may suspend its func-
tions lest "black" letters be carried; cities may be thrown into darkness
at night, deprived of food or water, and, in fact, all the commercial

operations of Government may be paralysed. The great and obvious
principle involved is that all persons employed in the services which, in a
complex society, supply the necessities of the citizens to whom they
belong are trustees for the public safety in the same sense that members
of the defence force are trustees, and they cannot use their positions
against the public except by becoming disloyalists and traitors. That a
few ignorant men should occasionally be led into mutinous revolt is not
to be wondered at; but _ when a craven Minister of the Crown, for politi-
cal ends, and in the guise of palpable sophistries, sanctions the treachery
which he ought to be the first to condemn and suppress, what basis of
security is left to the people? Obviously there is no security save that
which the electors are prepared to sturdily and persistently maintain
for themselves.

STATE BRICKWORKS.
MEN ON STRIKE.

Sydney, Sunday.

April 30. — The trouble with the employees at the State brickworks,
in Botany, has not yet been settled. About 50 men went on strike after
the dismissal of two of their mates. They sent a deputation to Mr. Flow-
ers, M. L. C. (representing the Minister for Works), on Friday and were
told that there would be an inquiry into the alleged grievances if the
men returned to work. The men decided to present themselves on
Saturday morning, and did so ; but, to their surprise, were told that their
services would no longer be required. Carters from the brickworks say
that they will refuse to do further carting.

The manager of the brickworks (Mr. Hutton) says that two men
who were unsatisfactory were discharged, and without the least warning
the whole lot kept away on the following day. They were therefore
discharged on Saturday. Mr. Hutton added that the men had shown
a total lack of consideration to a State industry.

EDITORIAL.

May i. — That large class of workers whom Mr. Fisher terms
"sneaks of society" have naturally come in for a good deal of attention
during the very dreary speeches which have echoed in the emptiness of
the House of Representatives this. week. The Prime Minister, in the
speech with which he followed Mr. Fisher a fortnight since, pointed out
that there are in Australia more than 1,500,000 employees of 20 years
of age and over, and, as there are only 433,000 unionists, there must be
over 1,100,000 "sneaks of society" earning their living in the Common-
wealth. When Mr. Cook was reminded that he had in his day con-
demned non-unionists in strong terms, he replied that he spoke of a
unionism very different from the political unionism of today. Mr. Spence,
the powerful head of the Australian Workers' Union, reverted to the
subject on Wednesday, and, with his usual mildness of tone, displayed
the venomous dislike which he also entertains to the non-unionist — or
anti-unionist, as he prefers to call him. He said he would not allow such
a man within a mile of any job he controlled. "He was not only a sneak-
thief ; he would swindle his employer or anybody else."

Mr. Spence sees the force of the objection that when men who do
not believe in the policy of the Labour Party are compelled to join
unions they are obliged to pay levies for the support of principles to
which they are opposed. He said that it was the greatest mistake in
the world to suppose that every man in a union voted for Labour.
The admission proves the case against those who would force men into
unions, either by misapplying public funds to give preference to union-
ists, and exclude non-unionists from employment, or by the more forcible
process of making Australia a "hell upon earth" for them, or by throw-

ing them into a river — a process which Mr. Spence once described to t
House with every manifestation of humorous enjoyment. It is by
curiously sophistical process that Mr. Spence endeavours to prove th
unionists who will not vote Labour are not compelled to subscribe to
political faith to which they are opposed. They are, of course, requir
to contribute to the union funds, a large proportion of which is devot
to political purposes ; but Mr. Spence affirms that, since they gain mu
more in wages through the efforts of the union than they contribute
dues and levies, they actually do not contribute at all. On the sar
ground Mr. Spence might contend that every adult person should
compelled to contribute to the fighting fund of the Labour Party. I
would have no hesitation in affirming that the advantage to the coi
munity of Labour rule would be so great that each would gain mo
than he contributed, and so, in fact, would not contribute at all.

Such reasoning is, of course, patently false and insincere. ^
Spence is too acute to be himself deceived by it. The opprobrious epitf
"sneaks of society," which Mr. Fisher has coined; the policy of houndi
dissentient non-unionists from place to place, of subjecting them to t
wrong and indignity of deprivation of their due share of such pub
employment as is available — all betray the inherent intolerance of th«
men, who so loudly demand unfettered liberty for themselves. Th<
own revolt against laws and conditions, industrial and social, is, of cour
noble and laudable. But at that stage liberty and toleration must er
To dissent from their political doctrines, to question their authority,
refuse to join their unions, and decline to contribute money for t
propagation of their policy, is ignoble, mean, intolerable. None but t
"sneaks of society" would do such a thing — actual "sneak-thieves."
the sacred name of freedom let such malcontents be decried, insult<
and persecuted. Labour members boast that they have come through t
fire of persecution. If so, it has not been a purifying fire. All the drc
of bitterness, intolerance, and bigotry is still in them."

SYDNEY STOREMEN STRIKE.
VICTIMISATION ALLEGED.

Sydney, Sunday.

April 20. — Some 60 storemen in the employ of the Vacuum Oil Co:
pany and members of the Storemen and Packers' Union have gone
strike. They complain that one of their number has been victimised
the company's works superintendent. The strike affects the compan;
stores at Pyrmont and Pulpit Rock.

With respect to the strike reported in the last above quot
news item, the facts, as given to us by an official of the Vacut
Oil Company, are, that a man who was in the employ of t
Company was frequently insolent to his foreman, worked wh
he felt like it, usually absent two days a week and did about
he pleased, after being notified several times that he would ha
to do differently or his dismissal would be necessary, was final
discharged for insubordination. Immediately his reinstateme
was demanded by the union which, being refused, caused
general strike. Waterside workers refused to handle the Coi
pany's product and the industry was brought to a standst:
How extended the strike became or how it resulted we did n
learn.

At this juncture, and before quoting the next editorial from
The Argus, some reference to State and Federal laws, which
at the present time govern industrial conditions in the Common-
wealth of Australia, will be in order. Each State has its own
laws which, though differing in some respects, embody the same
general principles.

In Queensland the Industrial Peace Act, of 1912 repealed
the Wages Boards Acts 1908 to 1912, created an Industrial
Court having jurisdiction over all industrial matters and indus-
trial disputes in any calling, which may be submitted to it by
not less than 20 employers, or not less than 20 employees in any
such calling. The Act provides that the judge of such Court
may at his discretion order the creation of Industrial Boards of
from four to twelve members, each consisting of an equal number
of representatives of employers and employees, and prescribes
the manner in which such members shall be elected or chosen;
the awards of such Boards being subject to appeal to the Court,
whose decision is final. The Act also provides that "No person
shall be refused employment or in any way discriminated against
on account of membership or non-membership in any industrial
association" and that "No person who is an employer or em-
ployee shall be discriminated against or injured or interfered
with in any way whatsoever on account of membership or non-
membership of any industrial association." The Act also pro-
vides a penalty for any act tending to encourage or incite a lock-
out or strike in connection with certain specific public utilities
unless or until a compulsory conference has been held, by call
of the court, and such conference fails to adjust the differences
at issue, and thereafter unless and until after 14 days' notice
in writing of the intention to lock-out or strike has been given
to the Registrar of the Court, and after the Registrar has taken
a secret ballot amongst the employers or employees, as the case
requires, in the calling concerned, and such ballot has resulted
in favor of such lock-out or strike. The same provision ap-
plies to all the industries, except as to the compulsory confer-
ence which only applies to the public utilities.

What would appear to a man of ordinary power of mental
justice as a most extraordinary provision of twentieth century
law, is Section 43 of this Act, which provides that:

When an award has fixed the lowest price or rate which may be
paid to any person for wholly or partly preparing or manufacturing any
particular article of furniture, and also the period of time within which
the ordinary working hours shall be worked, it shall not be lawful for
more than o«e member of a partnership to personally work inside a fac-
tory of the class to which the award related at any time beyond such
periods of time, unless such partnership has first obtained the written
permission of the Registrar.

Another somewhat remarkable feature of the Act is:

Where an employer through depression in any calling has reduc
the number of his employees so as to affect the prescribed proportions
number of apprentices employed by him, the Court, after full inqui
may, if it thinks fit, permit him to continue employing such apprentic
for the full term of their indenture.

These, however, are but fair examples of industrial freedo
deal out to the people of the "Land of No Strikes." An ei
ployer is awarded by a legalized Board a given number of a
prentices with whom he enters into indenture contracts, ft
fillment of which the law should enforce, yet in case of the fa
ing off in business requiring a reduction in the working for
the employer must repudiate his contracts with his apprentic
and dismiss them from his employ in proportion to the redt
tion in working force, unless, after taking each case before
Court, the judge elects that the apprentice may be retained ai
the employer be thus allowed to make good his part of the co
tract. It would seem bad enough for a Government to yk
to an organized part of its constituency to limit the opportuniti
for its youth to acquire the knowledge and skill of an industr
trade rather than grow up wharf laborers or tramps, and whi
it would not yield to its unorganized constituency. But wh
a Government makes it incumbent upon a master to plead befc
a Court at Law for the privilege to make good his legitimc
obligations to his servant, that, to a sane and just mind, is abhc
rent and repulsive and certainly cannot inure to the credit a
advancement of the State or Nation.

An apprentice is designated as an "improver" and is i
quired to obtain a license before he can engage as such, t
application for such license being of the following form :

THE INDUSTRIAL PEACE ACT OF IQI2.
APPLICATION FOR LICENSE TO WORK AS IMPROVER.

To the Industrial Registrar, Industrial Court, Brisbane:

I hereby make application for a license to work as an improver
not less than the wage fixed for improvers of years' experiei

under the Award of the Industrial Board :

Applicant's full name:

Applicant's address :

Applicant's age last birthday:

Applicant's occupation :

How long employed in such occupation, and by whom:

Name and address of last employer:

Wages received in last employment :

Wages for which license is required :

(Signature of Applicant) :

(Date) :

Provided the application is granted the following form of
license is issued :

THE INDUSTRIAL PEACE ACT OF IQI2.

LICENSE TO WORK AS IMPROVER.

Office of the Industrial Registrar,

Edward Street, Brisbane.

This is to certify that I am satisfied that of has not

had the full experience prescribed for improvers by the Award of the
Industrial Board for the calling of , and I hereby grant this

license to the said person to work as an improver at the calling of
for a period of , from the date hereof at a wage of not less than

per (hour, day or week), such rate having been fixed by the
Award of the said Industrial Board.

(Signature)

Industrial Registrar.
Secretary to Industrial Board.

TAKE NOTICE. — This license must be returned to Registrar on the
expiration of the period for which it is issued; also, it must be pro-
duced on the demand of an Inspector of Factories and Shops or of any
person authorized in writing by the Court or Chairman of the Industrial
Board.

Should this license be lost or destroyed, a duplicate may be obtained
from the Registrar on payment of the prescribed fee (25. 6d.).

(NOTE. — See further reference to the subject of Apprentice-
ship.)

In cases where employment cannot be obtained at the mini-
mum wage rate application can be made for a license to work
for less than said wage. The following is the form of such
application :

THE INDUSTRIAL PEACE ACT OF IQI2.

APPLICATION FOR LICENSE TO WORK FOR LESS THAN THE MINIMUM WAGE.

To the Industrial Registrar, Industrial Court, Brisbane:

I hereby make application for a license to work for a period not
exceeding twelve months at a less wage than the minimum wage fixed
for under the Award of the Industrial Board.

Applicant's full name:
Applicant's address :
Applicant's age last birthday:
Applicant's occupation :
How long employed in such occupation :
Name of last or present employer :
Address of employer:
Wages received:

Wages for which license is required :

Reasons why license is required (such as old age, slowness, or
infirmity) :

(Signature) :

(Date) :

If in the judgment, or otherwise, of the Registrar, who
apparently is the sole dictator as to whether or not the petitioner's

prayer for the privilege of earning the best living he can for
himself and family, if he has one, is worthy of earning a living
at all, either for himself or those dependent upon him, or whether
he should be treated as an undesirable, classed with the colored
races for whom there is no place in Australia, and allowed to
exist or die as the charitably disposed may elect, the petitioner's
application is granted, then a license of the following form is
issued to him:

THE INDUSTRIAL PEACE ACT OF IQI2.
LICENSE TO WORK FOR LESS THAN THE MINIMUM WAGE.

Date, ,19 .

This is to certify that after investigation I am satisfied that
of , is unable through being (aged, slow, or infirm) to obtain

employment at the minimum wage fixed by the Award of the Industrial
Board for the calling of , and therefore I hereby grant this

license to (him or her) to work as a for a wage of per

(hour, day or week) for a period of months from the date hereof,

such wage being less than the minimum wage fixed by the Award of the
said Industrial Board.
Entd. by:

(Signature)
Secretary to Industrial Board.

NOTE. — Under Schedule III, 15 (2), the number of persons so
licensed shall not, without the consent of the Board concerned, or the
Court, exceed the proportion of one-fifth of the whole number of per-
sons employed by the same employer at the minimum wage fixed for
adults or at piece work rates : Provided, that one person so licensed may
be employed by any one employer. Any employer who, without consent,
employs any greater number than the fixed proportion, shall be liable to a
penalty not exceeding twenty pounds.

At the expiration of the license it is returnable to the Regis-
trar.

(NOTE. — See further reference to the Minimum Wage.)

These are samples of legislation endorsed by Australian
statesmen, whose boast is the democracy of the country and the
individual liberty enjoyed by its people who have not yet been
inflicted with the "chain-step," but know not how soon they will
be. What shall be said of such democracy and such liberty?
What shall the real statesmen say of it? Is it any wonder that
the people of Australia, which ranks among the most fertile and
richest countries of the world and whose climate is ideal, long-
ing and struggling for more population as they do, fail to realize
their desire? No country ever put forth more strenuous effort
or labored with more zeal to increase its population and build
up its industries; even going so far as to pay a bonus of £5
to the parents of every white child that is born in the Common-
wealth. In this country of "peasantry government," the man
who "can't make good" is the last man to find employment and

the first to lose it. His bargains being made for him by the
State he surely is "between the devil and the deep sea." But,
like the cow that gave the full bucket of milk and then put her
foot in it, the beneficent advantages which the country itself
offers are more than offset by the kindergarten policy of its
Government. In no other country do vested interests feel less
secure or capital more timid. Its peasantry "rules the roost"
and is breeding a nation of idlers. The functions of Government
have been brushed aside and usurped until, in the language of
one of its most prominent business men, it has become "a fool's
paradise." But, as to this, let the views expressed by its own
citizens in the quoted portions of this report be the basis of any
opinions which may be formed thereon, while we pass on to a
brief explanation of the industrial laws of the other States and of
the Commonwealth itself.

In New South Wales, the industries are regulated, or
sought to be regulated, by an Industrial Arbitration Act, en-
acted in 1912, which, as in the Queensland Act, creates an Arbi-
tration Court, and Industrial Board and embodies substantially
the same principles and features, except that the New South
Wales Act contains a provision that preference to labor unionists
may be given.

Victoria operates under an Act known as the Factories and
Shops Act, enacted in 1912, and which provides for Wages
Boards and a Court to which the decisions of such Boards may
be appealed. Under this Act preference to unionists cannot be
given. Its general provisions are similar to the Queensland
Act.

Tasmania operates under Wages Board Acts adopted in
1910 and 1911, embodying substantially all the features of the
Queensland Act, and prohibits the giving of preference to
unionists.

In South Australia there are four Acts under which the in-
dustries are controlled, the Factories Acts of 1907, 1908 and
1910, and the Industrial Arbitration Act, passed in 1912.
These various Acts provide for the creation of Wages Boards
and an Industrial Court, and embody substantially the features
of the Queensland Act, and do not permit of the giving of
preference to unionists. The Act of 1912 goes a step farther,
in the right direction, than do those of the other States and
seeks to protect the citizens in their right to the peaceful con-
duct of their business callings and occupations. Section 43 of
the Act provides as follows :

Notwithstanding anything contained in the Conspiracy and Protec-
tion of Property Act, 1878, any person who:

(a) Attends af or near any workshop, factory, place of business,
or other place where an industrial dispute is taking place, or is threatened
or impending, or has taken place, or at or near the residence or place
of business of any person and

(b) Induces or attempts to induce any other person to take part in
such industrial dispute or in a lock-out or strike, or to do or abstain from
doing any act, matter or thing whereby any party to such industrial dis-
pute, or any other person either directly or indirectly interested therein
or concerned therewith, may or might be injured in his trade, business
or calling, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding £20 or to imprison-
ment, with or without hard labor, for a term not exceeding three months.

The Secretary of a South Australia association, in a letter
dated May 7, 1910, said: "Australia has during the last few
years been going through a particularly trying period of indus-
trial unrest, the chief cause of which no doubt has been the re-
markable prosperity of the activities." Again the same gentle-
man, in a letter dated August 31, 1910, said: "Industrial condi-
tions have not yet reached the impossible stage in Australia but
they are going rapidly that way. The labor party is a big politi-
cal force here, and at present controls the Federal Parliament
and that of West Australia. They also controlled our own
State until the elections in April last when they went out with
a thud."

In Western Australia the provisions of the Industrial Arbi-
tration Act, passed in 1912, are similar to those of the laws in
the other States. The Act does not permit of the giving of
preference to unionists. New South Wales stands alone among
the States as willing that its Wages Boards and Arbitration
Court should, if they desire, say to a citizen artisan or laborer,
"You must be a member of a labor union if you wish to earn a
living in this State." And this cruel privilege is granted by the
(•ommonwealth itself.

In addition to the various State Act, there are the Common-
wealth Conciliation and Arbitration Acts of 1904 and 1911,
designed to operate to adjust and regulate industrial conditions
of an interstate character and over which the State laws had
no jurisdiction. It was soon found, however, that there was
clashing between the State and Federal awards in that many
instances arose wherein the awards of both the Commonwealth
and the States were effective and the awards varied. This con-
dition has caused much confusion and annoyance and has been
the subject of considerable agitation which the labor unions,
through their representatives in Parliament, have sought to turn
to their advantage, claiming that, under the Federal Act, where
a controversy existed in similar trades or callings in any two
States at the same time, whether the parties to such disputes
were in any manner directly interested in both disputes or not,

it came within the jurisdiction of the Federal Court. The ap-
parent reason for so maintaining being that the Federal Court is
headed by a judge who, it is claimed, is distinctly biased in favor
of the laboring element and that more favorable decisions could
be gotten where cases were taken before that tribunal. With
lespect to this, the gentleman just referred to, in his letter of
August 31, 1910, said:

The great trouble to manufacturers here at present is the dual
control of industrial legislation. The States so far have jurisdiction on
all matters which affect their own particular State. The Commonwealth
has jurisdiction where an industrial dispute extends beyond the borders
of one State. In addition to this the Commonwealth has an Arbitration
Court- with a Judge who was appointed by the Labor Party from
amongst their own number : he consequently has a distinct bias in favor
of the men and a Federal Arbitration Court making awards which also
fix wages and, possibly conditions on a different basis, and which, under
the Act, apply only to the members of unions and to the employers
who are cited, who to get the advantage of a judgment under the Federal
Arbitration Court create a technical dispute in more than one State and
another award is obtained in that Court. You can imagine the confusion
which arises under these conditions. You have a State Wages Board fix-
ing wages and conditions. I can assure you that Australia has not" been
made the "Land of No Strikes," or a "Labor Utopia" by Act of Parlia-
ment yet.

This means that practically all local labor disputes could by a
simple "presto-change" performance, be taken from the jurisdic-
tion of the State Boards and placed in the hands of the Judge of
the Federal Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, and thus the
industrial destiny of the nation would be practically in the hands
of one man. As an example of how this could be done, let us take
the case of the great strike at Brisbane, in January 1912, re-
lating to which we gathered the following information from an
authoritative source. The local tramway men struck because the
company would not rescind its rule that its employees, during
service hours should wear no badge or emblem exposed upon their
clothing, other than that of the tramway company. In open defi-
ance of this rule a number of the men proceeded one morning to
take out their cars, wearing their union buttons. They were
promptly advised that their service with the company was suspend-
ed until such time as they would comply with its rules and at once
a strike of the tramway men was declared. Whereupon a general
strike of all unions in the city was called, some forty or more
unions responding to the call. A siege of war at once began and
anarchy, in all the name implies, reigned supreme for about a
week. The union leaders set out to teach the citizens of Bris-
bane, and incidentally of Australasia and the world, the lesson
that unionism must not be thwarted in anything it wished to do,
and that no rules could be enforcible over its own. Following
military tactics, they declared "martial law" of their own,

ordered the suspension of all business, smashed the windows
and otherwise destroyed property of those who refused to obey
the order. They forbade the delivery of ice, milk and all other
food supplies by any and all persons not having a permit from
the supreme union official. In fact, they took possession of
the city in the same spirit and as completely as could have been
done by an overpowerful foreign enemy. It was the first grand
demonstration of the havoc ''Syndicalism," or "one big Union,"
as they prefer to call it, (,we call it "I. W. W.,") can play when
it wants to. However, its reign of terror was of comparatively
short duration. While it frightened some cowardly public officials
away from the scene of action, there were others who stood by
their guns, spurred up to their duty and with courage to perform
it; among whom may be mentioned, Mr. Barnes, the Chief Sec-
retary, and Major Cahill, Chief of Police who, realizing the
exigencies of the situation and the limitations of his authority
to act in the premises, gave the authorities the ultimatum of
accepting his resignation or placing him in absolute control with
no higher power to interfere. After considerable hesitancy, and
a good deal of reluctance, is was decided to place Major Cahill
in supreme control and orders were issued to that effect, with
the result that 1500 or 2000 citizens were sworn in as special
police and hundreds of pastoralists, from the surrounding dis-
tricts, who volunteered their services, were also sworn in. Bat-
talions were formed and assigned to different sections of the city ;
the country contingent being mounted, rode through the streets
beating the mob right and left with batons, while the city forces
scattered the insurgents and arrested many of them. With this
line of action normal conditions were restored after five days'
reign of anarchy and terror, with the breaking of many heads
and other bodily injuries. Before the assistance of city and
country volunteers was sought, however, the city authorities,
finding themselves hopelessly unable to cope with the situation,
applied to the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth (Mr.
Fisher) for Government aid, but the response came, "I see no
reason why assistance should be given," and instead of ordering
the aid asked for, he is said to have sent a donation of £10 to
the strike fund of the riotous strikers. When the mob had been
thus subdued and the machinery of municipal government was
again working smoothly, the tram lines resumed after a week's
tie-up, with a full complement of men, comprising those who
were forced into the strike against their wills, and new men in
place of those who were instrumental in causing the strike or
voluntarily joined it, or refused to resume work unless allowed
to wear their union badges. A new, and independent, union

was formed among the tramway employees and registered under
the Queensland Industrial Peace Act and the old union, which
was affiliated with the "Red Feds," as the syndicalists are called,
was ignored. But, nothing daunted, they proceeded to appeal
from the local Board to the Federal Court of Conciliation and
Arbitration on the ground that pending the difficulty at Brisbane
there was also a dispute in the tramway system at Adelaide,
South Australia, which also resulted in a very serious and costly
strike. The Federal Court, of which Mr. Justice Higgins is
president, considered the case and made a most remarkable award
therein. It not only ruled that the members of the plaintiff
union should wear their union badges if they so desired, but
that, notwithstanding the provision in the Queensland Act that
there shall be no discrimination in employment, the company in
the employment of men must give preference to members of
such union. Thus creating a complex situation and raising an
issue between the State and Federal Governments that promises
serious consequences and which may lead to the final disintegra-
tion of the Commonwealth, which, unless the people of Australia
awake to their danger, socialistic labor unionism will accomplish
sooner or later.

The Brisbane Tramway Company, in order to test the right
of Federal jurisdiction in the premises, brought an action in the
High Court, at Melbourne, which, by a majority of four to two,
held that the provision of the Constitution, under which the action
was brought, was sufficiently elastic to support the position taken
by Justice Higgins. A similar case, known as the "Builders La-
borer's Case," involving the same constitutional question was
tried out in the High Court, at Sydney, the following reference
to which is quoted from the Adelaide Advertiser of May 16:

Sydney, May 15. — Important constitutional questions respecting the
jurisdiction of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration
were involved in two cases argued as one before the High Court of
Australia on April i6th and succeeding days. The court gave judgment
today. The essence of its majority finding was that the Arbitration
Court had properly made an award between the Builders' Laborers'
Federation and the employers. The Court was divided in judgment, but
by a majority of four to two, the Chief Justice (Sir Samuel Griffith)
and Mr. Justice Barton being the dissentients, refused the application by
the Master Builders' Association of New South Wales for prohibition
of the award. The Court was unanimous, however, in making absolute
a rule nisi in restraint of that portion of the award in which the presi-
dent of the Arbitration Court directed that compensation should be paid
on the same basis as that provided for in the Commonwealth Workmen's
Compensation Act, a measure applying only to employees of the Common-
wealth Government.

THE CHIEF JUSTICE'S JUDGMENT.

The Chief Justice during an exhaustive review said: The case
raises for decision in a concrete form the proper construction of the

much-debated provisions of Sections 51 (35) of the Constitution, which
empowers the Commonwealth Parliament to make laws with respect to
conciliation and arbitration for the prevention and settlement of indus-
trial disputes extending beyond the limits of any one State. This being
a new power conferred upon a Legislature of limited jurisdiction, which
as a general rule has no authority to interfere with the domestic trade
or industry of a State, it lies on the party making its exercise to show
affirmatively that the case in which the exercise is involved falls within
the power. * * * The matter is one with which a State is fully competent
to deal.

The Brisbane and Adelaide Companies appealed to the High
Court for a prohibition of the award of Justice Higgins and
these cases were proceeding by argument at the time of our de-
parture from Australia. It is fitting to mention here, that the
tramway company, the City of Brisbane, as well as the whole
of Australia, are to be congratulated upon the fact that such a
man as J. S. Badger was at the head of the tramway company.
A cool headed, fair minded, determined man, whom no body of
law breakers could frighten nor intimidate; nor men swerve
from the path of duty. One has only to mention his name almost
anywhere throughout Australasia to be convinced of the esteem
in which he is held. It would be well for Australia if it could
boast of a few more such men as Mr. Badger, even though he is
an American. It may seem, and indeed is, strange that after
such an experience as the Brisbane strike, the Queensland Par-
liament should pass an Act embodying the provisions hereinbe-
fore quoted, especially in view of the political aftermath of the
Brisbane and the Adelaide strikes, when at the next State elec-
tions in both Queensland and South Australia the public gave
expression to its dissatisfaction with the Socialistic Labor Party's
evident contempt for laws, largely of their own making, and their
flagrant disregard of the public's interest and convenience by
voting them out of office. But there is no accounting for the
extremes to which some Australian legislators will go in their
mad attempts to establish "Industrial Peace."

In a speech by the Hon. Wm. Watt, "Liberal" Premier of
Victoria, delivered in November, 1913, referring to the matter
of Labor legislation, he said :

The Liberal Party believes that salvation by legislation is not pos-
sible. It thinks there are many things that legislation can do, but there
are many things it cannot do, and while we believe in bringing legislative
progress to you, we are not offering the millennium which must arrive
on some different road.

Referring again to the question of Federal jurisdiction over
local or State authority in matters industrial, aside from the
question of Federal interference with State Rights, as limited by
the Federal Constitution, it should not, because it cannot equi-

tably deal with local industrial matters in fixing uniform wages
and conditions throughout the whole Commonwealth. For it is
a plain proposition that widely varying conditions must of neces-
sity prevail in the various States and municipalites and that,
therefore, a Federal Court in fixing a uniform wage, and uniform
conditions for each industry throughout the entire country, must
be as unfair as it is impracticable and unwise to attempt to do
so. Moreover, in effect, it is a long step in the direction of
nationalizing State Socialism.

During our stay in Melbourne an award to waterside
workers — wharf laborers — pending before Judge Higgins, ex-
cited a great deal of interest. The following excerpts from an
editorial in the Argus expresses the general sentiment of the
thinking public as we heard them freely expressed by those with
whom we discussed the subject. The Argus says :

April 17. — The main point about Mr. Justice Higgins's award in
the waterside workers' case is that it gives the men practically all they
asked for. Their formal claim was for 2s., but it is well known to be
the practice in these matters to pitch the demand a good deal above the
amount acceptable. One shilling and nine pence an hour is to be the
rate of pay for wharf-lumping in future. Mr. Justice Higgins con-
fesses that when he looked at it he was "startled to find so high a rate
necessary for unskilled labor" ; but so it is, and the employers and the
community will have to bear it with what grace they can. For there can
be no getting away from the fact that an increase in freights and fares
must follow the increase in wages.

Again, under date of April 20 the Argus says :

As the full significance of Mr. Justice Higgins's award in the
waterside workers' arbitration case comes home to the general public it is
bound to produce a feeling little short of dismay. To begin with, there
is the immediate cost of it — the heavy additional burden which it lays
upon the shipping industry. The sudden jump in wage rates will, it is
estimated, increase the working expenses of the industry throughout the
Commonwealth by at least £400,000 a year, which is considerably in
excess of the net profits of the steamship companies. In the first instance
the increase will fall upon the shipping industry, but it will, as a matter
of course, be passed on at once to the community in the form of higher
freight and passenger charges. That is always the result when the
working expenses of a trade are artificially increased by taxation or
other exercise of State authority, legislative or judicial. It is absurd,
in the circumstances, for Mr. Justice Higgins to seek escape from the
consequences of his action by pretending that if such a rise in the scale
of shipping charges occurs now it may have no connection with his
award. The additional £400,000 has to be found, and the people of
Australia will have to pay it.

Laws and Wages.

Some twenty-two years ago, during 'the great maritime
strike, the idea of solving the then vexatious labor problem by
legislation, it is said, was first conceived in New Zealand and it

was there that the suggestion first took root, which was imme-
diately transplanted in Australia. The country was prosperous
and the people were bent on taking advantage of their oppor-
tunities to make hay while the sun shone. This seemed to be
the way out of the drawback to continued prosperity and the
avenue through which industrial peace could be enjoyed. Em-
ployers and workers alike caught the fever, which became epi-
demic, and the struggle against the economic law of supply and
demand began in earnest. Employers tell us that they welcomed
the advent of any system or policy which promised relief from
the troublesome industrial conditions with which they were con-
stantly confronted. They also tell us they would still prefer the
many arbitrary and unjust annoyances of labor legislation, as
it has developed, to the perplexities of the old regime if the
scheme worked out as it should, but that it does not. It worked
fairly well as long as the awards made under the system of
Wages Boards and Arbitration were favorable to the workers.
But when a halt necessarily had to be called to the constant ad-
vancement of wages, reduction of hours and other handicaps to
economic progress such as restrictions of output, the transfer,
practically, of control of the employers' business from its owners
to their employees, and the wanton attacks on discipline neces-
sary to the management of employees in any line of business,
back came the strike with all its evil accompaniments, until now
the industrial conditions are worse than ever and the whole coun-
try is agog with industrial turmoil and strife.

In discussing the subject of Wages Boards and their effect
on the industries with a Sydney manufacturer of household
goods who employs from 600 to 800 workers, he told us that,
"barring the fact that Wages Boards are not a success," most
manufacturers and some other employers would prefer to be
relieved of the wage agitation and have a uniform wage for
each industry fixed by a legalized board and to run for a definite
period, and that they did not care at what rate wages were fixed
because they always took care that advances were passed on to
the public "with something added for good luck," but that it was
hard on the unorganized portion of the public who could not
retaliate and must carry the burden; also, that the system
worked hardship to superior men in the industries whose
opportunities for reward for increased productivity and skill
were abridged by the system which practical operation had demon-
trated to be a medium through which a horizontal standard is
developed. The following from the Sydney Telegraph, of May
20th, entitled "Our Industrial 'Heavy Fee,' " will be of interest
at this point, as it refers to the Bacon-Bartlet Bill:

One of the speakers at Monday night's gathering of builders and
other employers commented on the "very heavy fee" the people of New
South Wales are paying "for the maintenance of industrial peace."
The price, however, would not be considered too high if it bought what
is paid for. What makes it unbearable is that in return for it the people do
not get industrial peace, but experience about the same amount and inten-
sity of war as in times when they did not have to keep up the costly
pretence of ensuring peace. That is the position in New Zealand as it is
in New South Wales. As the president of the Employers' Federation
said, the Commonwealth Statistician has recorded the Australian indus-
trial disputes of a year as numbering 208, and involving over 50,000
workers, and it is safe to say that the majority of these occurred in New
South Wales, where the law and the form of tribunal have been changed
more frequently than in any other State in deference to unionist dis-
satisfaction and the hope of finding an acceptable method. Indeed, pro-
portionately to our population we seem to have got atread of other coun-
tries in industrial strife. When the last mail left the United States there
was before Congress a bill promoted by the American Federation of
Labor and legalising "any" combination or agreement with a view to lessen-
ing the hours of labor or increasing wages or bettering working conditions.
This measure protected workers from injunction on account of the con-
sequences of the acts of any such combination unless they occasioned
irreparable injury to property or a property right. Then it went on to
define the relations of employer and employee, and the carrying on of
business in such relation to be matters of "personal right." So that
preventing workers from taking strikers' places and thus compelling an
employer to close his business down would not be an offence, neither
would any kind of boycotting, because in all such things only "personal
rights," not "property rights/' would be involved. The proposed legisla-
tion has been alarmedly protested against, and was indignantly de-
nounced by President Roosevelt five or six years ago as meaning "the
enthronement of class privilege in its crudest and most brutal form."
But would it legalise anything appreciably worse than we have endured
and are always more or less liable to in this State?

The law purporting to lay a safe foundation for industrial peace
here has in large degree had the opposite effect through the great induce-
ment and facilities for organization it has provided. By this method the
numbers of unionists have been increased and the mass stiffened by that
incentive to combativeness which is naturally given by the litigious proce-
dure of the Arbitration Act. The potency of combination has also been
thus drilled into workers. In the American bill which has been men-
tioned it is not only employees that are proposed to be allowed to com-
bine. As well the law's protection is to be given to farmers who make
"any" agreement or combination for the purpose of enhancing the prices
of agricultural or horticultural products. The reach of the protecting
law that covers "any" arrangement will be obvious ; and not in that
respect only, but evidently with a view to showing farmers a way to
harness combination to their own purposes the proposal reveals a class
astuteness which ignores the public interest. Employer and employed
can combine in any way they please, that is what it amounts to, and
of course that is what the law encouraging combination suggests, along
with its concomitant disregard of the public which must find the money
combined effort extracts from it. What ought to gratify us in this
country is that so far employers and employed have not co-operated in
methods which grind the public between the upper and nether mill-stones,
as it has been put in America. No doubt employers sometimes find it
difficult to pass on the whole cost of concessions that are demanded by
workers, but at the same time it is a conclusion backed by evidence that in
resisting extravagant claims they are moved by public-spiritedness as
well as by appreciation of the economic impossibility of much that is

demanded of them. And it is some solace to know that in this respect
there are limits of practicability which cannot be passed though ap-
parently they will be reached.

However, labor legislation is on the statute books, the ma-
chinery for its administration has been firmly installed and the
system so thoroughly established that it has become a fixed
political asset that cannot easily be changed or removed. The
situation is indeed a serious one and many thinking men pre-
dict even more serious consequences before there will be any
improvement, some going so far as to declare there will be a
revolution before many years. But we do not share that opinion,
as we believe the Australian people, as a whole, are possessed
of sufficient intelligence and common sense to eventually restore
normal conditions through rational and peaceful methods. We
cannot but observe, however, that the country is in the hands of
its enemies and that political demagogues are falling into line
with the advocates of the "New Unionism," a deceptive term for
"Syndicalism," better known in the United States as "I. W. W.-
ism," the plain purpose of which is to throw the whole country
into the condition experienced in Brisbane, when and as often
as may please its violent socialistic leaders, whose creed is
"No God, No Master, No Church, No Religion, No Morality,
No Society. Just Anarchy."

When these men have completely dammed the rivers of in-
dustry and choked the streams of prosperity perhaps Australia
will awake from her slumbers and break down the barriers to
her progress and development which they have erected.

According to the report of the Chief Statistician for the
Commonwealth, in February, 1914, in the six capital cities, the
average purchasing power of 175. 7d. in 1901 was equivalent to
2os. in 1911, and 225. id. in 1913. And the rent buying power
of 155. id. in 1901 was equal to 2os. in 1911, and 225. 4d. in

The same report gives the number of industrial disputes for
the year 1913 as 208, in which the number of workers involved
was 50,283 ; the number of working days lost 622,535 ; the esti-
mated loss in wages £288,101 ($1,400,170), and the average loss
per head £5 145. 7d. In addition to which, the report estimates
the loss in output at £1,400,000 ($6,804,000); the loss to em-
ployers directly concerned, at £140,000 ($680,400), and the re-
sultant indirect losses and damage to business and the trade as
very large in comparison with the direct losses.

A close examination into the history of organized labor in
Australasia reveals the same conditions that prevail in the United
States and other countries, with something added for good

measure. The more radical Socialists find the places of trust in
the organization and occupy them. Drunk with the power of
organization, they side-track reason and appeal to treason, rather
than to common sense, and proceed to enforce their own radical
views upon the community no matter how great the tendency
toward the downfall of society and their own ultimate ruin
may be. Irrespective of statute law or economic conditions they
seek to establish a system of equality for themselves at the ex-
pense of everybody else and contrary to the economic law of
nature which, in spite of all that they have ever done, or ever can
do, will assert itself and regulate the commerce and industries of
the world. In this particular, we found it quite interesting to follow
the proceedings of Wages Boards in their investigations into the
cost of living as compared with the time of the last previous
award, in order to establish a basis upon which to fix a new
award. So while the Wages Board is a creature of written law
it instinctively proceeds to perform its function in accordance
with the established principle of the unwritten law of supply
and demand. A good illustration of this phase of the subject
was presented to us by a merchant in Sydney, who likened the
wage question to a huge circle of industry in which the slaughter-
ers, for example, demand and receive an additional shilling.
Then the "butchers, the bakers, and the broom-stick makers"
and all the other occupants of the circle, each in their turn,
demand and receive an additional shilling and by and by the
slaughterers say, we are no better off with the additional shilling
than we were before we got it. All prices are higher and we
must have another shilling, and so the circle keeps moving.
Apropos to this illustration, is a leading article in the Sydney
Bulletin of April 9, 1914, a weekly publication, which is here
reproduced in full. The article is of especial significance because
of the fact that it appeared in a publication that is said to lean
strongly to the side of the labor unions. It follows :

THE WAGE QUESTION, AND ABOUT 100 SIDE ISSUES.
The outstanding feature of industrial life in Australia today is the
strike or the arbitration — too often it is the strike — for better wages and
better conditions and shorter hours. The next most prominent feature
is the clamor about high prices and high rents, about the increased cost
of living and the increased cost of dying, and the prohibitive price of
burial. The unrest is especially marked in New South Wales, because
that State has been indulging in a loan boom of heroic dimensions, and,
for some reason that it is not easy to define, it is in the sere and yellow
tail-end of a boom that industrial troubles are most numerous. In Sydney,
which is the center of the excitement, the cost of the place which we
occupy when above the ground has been increased because there has
been a great upwardness in the wages of the carpenter, mason, brick-
layer, brickmaker, paperhanger, quarryman, etc. Also the cost of shifting
materials is far greater than it used to be, and land to build upon has

been run up to an insane figure by the congestion policy which tries to
crowd all the trade and finance and most of the new population of the
State into one bottle-necked city. Then the loan boom has created a
feverish condition, and the landlord has been hustling for all he could
get, and repairs cost more than they did, and rates have gone up, and
the price of garbage-removal is greater, because the community is be-
coming more civilised, and is taking more trouble — which means expense —
about sanitation, and is more desirous that its tenements should be
habitable. As for the place which we occupy below ground, the miser-
ably ill-paid mute had to get a trifle, and the tombstone-maker required
a little extra per week to counterbalance the increased price of existence,
and it is even alleged that the old black horse which drags the late
lamented to his home of clods has received an additional feed, but this
is uncertain.

* * *

As a general rule, a country of high wages and high cost of living
is a good one to inhabit, and low-wage and cheap-living country isn't.
There are exceptions of course, for a high wage may be the temporary
result of an influx of foreign loans, or of mad speculation in wild cats,
or may be partly brought about by selling the public estate to all and
sundry, and treating the proceeds as revenue. But on the whole the rule
is sound. In the country where wages and prices are lofty there is the
largest margin between earnings and expenditure ; the standard of living
is best, and the savings are greatest. If the community — assuming it is
a well-governed and well-ordered community — isn't satisfied with the
savings and the standard of living, then the only thing that remains is to
do more work, or to invent better machinery, so that it may be possible
to produce better results with the same amount of work. This is an
obvious proposition, based on the fact that no more can come out of a
pot than has been put in it. Unfortunately the Political Drunk is always
with us. There is the one who thinks that the way to be a high-wage
man in a cheap-living community is to import low-price colored labor —
slave or otherwise. He is a Fat person and wholly ignorant and objec-
tionable, and his belltopper is a horror. Then there is the Free Trade
person, sometimes Fat and sometimes Lean, who hopes to achieve the
same millennium by importing, not the cheap, enslaved worker, but the
cheap slave goods of his manufacture. There are other devices for
living in cheap houses put up by expensive labor, and for having cheap
food grown by highly remunerated growers ; and for travelling at low
rates on railways built and worked by costly people, and for doing less
toil and getting more for it. But they all come up against the ultimate
fact that the pot, in the long run, can't supply more than its contents.

* * *

Taking New South Wales as a case in point, that State produced
in 1912 — later figures are not yet available — wealth to the estimated value
of ^74,100,000. That included the cow and the wheat, the coal that was
dug up and the tree that was cut down, the gold, silver and lead, the
factory products — even the output of the hen and the bee and the rabbit.
The total represented something like £41 per inhabitant, and as the wages
paid must have some dim relation to the value of the goods produced,
it is plain that wages have their limitations. A coin may do marvels in
the way of paying many men's wages in a year, but the limitations
remain. The farmer gets one crop of wheat per annum, and it is eaten
once, and then it is gone, and his possible wage fund for the year is the
value of his output — no more and no less. Certainly last year New
South Wales borrowed something abroad— about £4 IDS. per inhabitant
to be accurate, which represented some £22 los. for an average family of
five, a figure which works out at nearly QS. per. week. Therefore foreign
borrowing represented the State's fifth biggest industry. It brought in
more than fisheries, or forests, or dairying, or the group of minor jobs

which arc lumped together as "Poultry, bees, rabbits, etc." It was only
beaten by the pastoral business, by agriculture, by mining and by manu-
factures, and borrowing ran both agriculture and mining very close
indeed. But this is only a temporary relief, and as a set-off the export
of interest is eating a dreadful hole in the State's production. In the
long run, the wage possibilities of a country can be guessed at by the
value of what it produces, less the net amount it has to pay to the foreign
creditor from whom it got the loan of the dead horse in the days when
it took no thought for the morrow.

* * *

A community that is loaded with foreign debt has its special
limitations. It has to sell a large proportion of its produce abroad to
meet the interest bill. It has to sell whether it can spare the goods or not,
and whether prices are good or bad. In fact, it has to sell at the foreign
buyer's market figure and be glad to get it. This foreign price, to some
extent, fixes local prices in the industries affected, and all the kick in the
world hasn't yet succeeded in raising wages beyond the limit that these
prices will stand. The worst-paid industries are those in which men grow
the goods that are mainly sold to Bull at the other end of the world —
sold at Bull's valuation to cover the interest on the debts which Bull lent
us at his own valuation, and which he renews at his own valuation when
the account falls due. There really seems to be altogether too much of
Bull's valuation and Bull's option in this borrowing business.

* * *

It might possibly be well if trades unionism devoted itself a little
less to the frontal attack and a little more to a subtle circumventing of
the enemy. It is good to push up wages, but wages won't go up beyond
a certain point, no matter how much they are pushed, unless conditions
are altered. There are schemes for forcibly shoving down rents by
putting a dead weight on top of them. And there was recently a scheme
for shoving down the price of local meat by stopping the export of meat to
foreign parts. If the proposition had succeeded it would probably have
spoiled the next foreign loan, for the exported meat helps to pay the
interest, and when the loan failed the partially built railways wouJd have
stopped, and thousands of unemployed navvies would have swarmed to
Sydney and started wharf-lumping for a living. And their competition
would have reduced the wages of the men who refused to load the meat
for export, and they would be forced to do with less meat, and there
would have been astonishment all round. Three propositions might be
worth considering. One is that trades unionism should devote itself
more to digging up improved methods of production so that the output
of the country may be a great deal more than £41 per head, and there
may be a bigger possible wage fund to divide. Another is that it should
toil a great deal harder at eliminating the middleman — especially the
foreign one, who is a great deal worse than the local article, inasmuch
as he doesn't spend his profits in the country. The foreign importer, who
is persistently cockered up by the Labor policy of "sinking the fiscal
issue" is a very expensive burden. And among needless local burdens is the
one absurdly big city, and the needless distances that goods have to travel
to reach that city. And by way of a third proposition, trade unionism,
and the Labor Party of which it is the foundation, might think a great
deal harder about leaving off the debt habit and eliminating the foreign
money-lender. For he lends us money at his own figure, and when the
loan falls due he renews it at his own figure, and the country has to sell
him wheat and frozen beef and sundries in his own market at his own
figure in order to find the wherewithal to meet the liability. All these
things complicate the wage problem exceedingly.

* * *

At the basis of the whole trouble lies the fact that the output of

all New South Wales industries only represents £41 per inhabitant, and
there are a multitude of absurd importers, frauds, loafers, sharks, middle-
men, speculators, loan-mongers, and the like gnawing at that amount —
there may be even too many trades union secretaries and a superfluity of
archbishops. And it isn't such a very large amount of production per
head whatever way you look at it. The wage question, at the last resort,
comes up against the fact that all that can possibly come out of a pot
is the quantity that is in it.

In the course of an address by the Hon. A. H. Whittingham,
President of the United Pastoralists Association of Queensland,
he said:

Naturally, the first matter which engages one's attention is the
record of the industrial troubles which have occurred in the district.
Prominent among these was the attempt made by the Carriers' Union
to force all our loading through the Carriers' Union Office under Car-
riers' Union conditions, and practically denying to the employer any right
to make his own carriage arrangements. By this action on their part the
Carriers' Union was infringing upon the basic principle on which our
association was founded — namely, the maintenance of freedom of con-
tract. It was, therefore, imperative upon us, if we wished to maintain
our individual freedom, in the management of our business, that such
an attack should be fought to the uttermost.

A very significant contribution to the history of industrial
conditions in New South Wales is contained in a letter from the
Melbourne correspondent of the London Economist, published
in the Economist under date May 17, 1913, as follows:

LABOR DISPUTES IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

Labor disputes in New South Wales have of late been of an unusu-
ally serious character. Notwithstanding the Arbitration Act, under which
strikes and lock-outs were to be penalized, and notwithstanding that in
two or three instances the arbitration machinery had been set going in
the Court, large bodies of men have insisted upon their claims being
granted without examination.

Virtually, therefore, the principle of arbitration has been aban-
doned in New South Wales, and the Labor Ministry has only to register
the formulated demands of the men. The strikes have occurred with
extreme suddenness. With little premonition of what was coming
Sydney was plunged into darkness at new moon time by the strike of
the gasworkers, who refused to submit their claims to the Court. The
Ministry was placed in a dilemma. The law really necessitated a support
of the gas companies pending arbitration, but it could not afford to
break with the men who, as unionists, are members of the Labor Party.
Ultimately the Government induced the companies to yield to the men,
the compensation being that the Act passed a few months ago regulating
the price of gas is to be amended, so that the maximum price will be
3d per 1,000 higher.

Another strike, still dragging itself along, was that of the miners
employed in the Southern Collieries. It was ostensibly occasioned by the
dismissal of an employee, but other grievances were alleged, although
a judicial award has recently been made. The mine proprietors were
asked by the Industrial Registrar to consider the proposals of the men,
but they replied in the following terms :

In the circumstances of the present stoppage of work at the Southern
Collieries the proprietors will not discuss any alleged grievances. The

employees have wantonly broken the award, which, inter alia, provides
that in no circumstances shall work cease except after giving fourteen
days' notice. The proprietors feel that they represent in this matter the
principle of obedience to the law of the contract, without which no
civilized community could hold together. Their decision therefore is
that the men must return to work and recognize the award, which is
equally binding on employer and employee. They now look to the Gov-
ernment to uphold the law, and feel that if awards or agreements are
to be continually violated the status of compulsory arbitration will be-
come a dead letter.

From another quarter a startling sensation was sprung upon the
Sydney public. Owing to the expansion of Sydney along the harbor,
with its numerous inlets, a large traffic is carried on by ferry steamers,
and principally by the Sydney Ferries, Limited. Without a preliminary
statement of grievances and claims, the men struck as from the morn-
ing of Good Friday to the great inconvenience of the public. The blow
was struck with the intention of impressing the public with the great
power possessed by the firemen and deck hands.

Again, a great deal of palavering followed between the men, the
company and the Government. The strike leaders demanded that the
Government should seize the company's boats and work the service itself
at the company's expense, acceding to all the demands of the men.
The coerced company capitulated, and is striving to make good the loss
it incurs by raising fares to a moderate extent. But workmen belonging
to the Labor Party object to pay the increased fares, and the Government
may again be invoked to coerce the company.

The next great conflict arose from the determination of the Barrier
Labor Federation that no non-unionist in any trade or occupation should
be allowed to live in Broken Hill, a town containing 40,000 people, miners,
their wives and children, business people and their employees and others.
Some of the miners have occasionally proved themselves recalcitrant,
but they have been called to heel. The leaders of the Labor Federation
were not satisfied, and they resolved to compel everybody to join a union.

On the 2nd instant the employees of the Silverton Tramway Com-
pany (which conveys the Broken Hill products for a distance of 36 miles),
acting under orders from the Labor Federation, struck work because the
clerks and other officers of the company were not unionists. The officials
then formed a union, but the directors of the company declined to allow
seven of them who occupy confidential positions to remain in the union.
The traffic between Broken Hill and the rest of the world has therefore
been hung up for a week, and supplies of all kinds are running short.
The mines are gradually closing, their storage arrangements for ore being
inadequate.

At about the same time as the strike at Broken Hill occurred the
sudden cessation from work of several hundred laborers employed by
the New South Wales Railway Department. They had presented claims
which on their face were preposterous, and declined to wait for a de-
cision of a wages board. Other branches of the service are actively
displaying sympathy, in deciding not to handle "black" goods ; that is,
merchandise handled by free labor. Again the Government is at its
wits' end. There are now three contests in active progress in New South
Wales, in defiance of arbitration legislation, viz., the Southern Collieries
strike, the Broken Hill embroglio, and the railway strike. The existence
of the Labor Government depends upon its ability to placate the men,
and it cannot do so excepting by implicitly carrying out their instructions.
Even should the disputes be settled, there will be no guarantee that
further troubles will not arise.

Of equal significance with the above letter is an interview
with Mr. Howard W. Berry, President of the Associated

Chambers of Australia, as published in the Manufacturers News,
Chicago, May 15, 1913, and from which the following is quoted:
Wages have been advanced steadily, as the labor unions say, to
meet the cost of living, but they won't, admit that the advancing wages
have been an important element in the higher cost of living, which of
course is apparent to economists. The industrial interests have advanced
wages steadily out of proportion to their earnings rather than to submit
to trade demoralizing strikes, but there must be a limit to such advances.
If Australia should have a dry season it would cause widespread depres-
sion and employers, I suppose, would simply let their men go on a strike.

LABOR IMMUNE AGAINST LAW.

Employers must obey the laws governing the arbitration of labor
questions or suffer heavy fines or imprisonment. They must pay the
wages fixed by arbitration boards. Labor, however, has been able to
ignore the awards with impunity. If Labor is not satisfied with an
award made by an arbitration board, Labor goes on strike the same as
in this country. It is impossible to punish the strikers. There wouldn't
be enough room in all the jails to accommodate them. It has been found
impossible to make the men work unless they want to, but employers can
be severely punished for locking their men out. * * *

The Labor Party has been successful in Australia, not because it
has more votes, but because it is so much better organized than the
Liberal that it is able to get out the vote. The vote of the women has
largely contributed to the success of the Labor movement. Women iden-
tified with the Labor Party never fail to vote, but the other class pays
much less attention to the ballot, being occupied too often with social
duties. * * *

Restriction of Output.

Notwithstanding the fact that Australasian unions, as every-
where else, indignantly deny that restriction of output is a re-
sultant feature of unionism, the evidence on every hand is so
manifest that any attempt of the unions at denial of the charge
sinks into ridiculous insignificance. As a case in point, the
Melbourne Argus, in its issue of March 3, 1912, published an
item entitled "Bricklaying Records," in which it was shown that
in four and one-half hours four bricklayers laid 5608 bricks,
an average of 374 bricks per hour, per man. Commenting on
the circumstance, another authority said this was an eye-opener
to the contractors of Melbourne, but it was a greater eye-opener to
the Bricklayers' Union that any union men should be such fools
as to let the cat out of the bag by proving that the ordinary layer
of bricks, who lays some 400 to 500 a day, had been nearly
equalled in capacity by one of these men in an hour. The result
was that the union fiat went out, and the public, who had
gathered around the building in Bourke Street the next morning
to witness a further test for a record, were disappointed, the men
having fallen back to the usual pace. We made a number of in-

quiries in New Zealand and Australia as to the number of bricks
laid for a day's work and the answers varied from 450 to 550,
whereas 2000 is a fair average for a day's work of eight hours.
Whether or not the "stint" is fixed by the union, the fact is, the
laziest or slowest man in the trade .controls the brake to energy
and efficiency and sets the pace for all.

In this connection the following from the Adelaide Adver-
tiser, of Nov. 20, 1912, is significant:

Because he broke his pledge to the executive of the Iron and Brass
Moulders' Union that he would not do more than a certain amount of
work, a moulder, still employed by Messrs. A. Simpson & Son, has been
expelled from that organisation, and it has been hinted that members of
the union will consider the question whether or not their employment in
the establishment shall continue alongside a non-unionist.

During the hearing of the recent Ironmoulders' Wages Board
appeal case, the Hon. J. H. Vaughan drew from one of the employers'
witnesses (Mr. A. A. Simpson) the surprising statement that the secretary
of the Ironmoulders' Union (Mr. F. B. Spafford) had written to one
of Messrs. A. Simpson & Son's employees requesting him to reduce his
earnings. The incident has resulted in the expulsion of the stove moulder
from the union for earning more than £3 35. gd. per week. It seems that
some months ago Messrs. A. Simpson & Son, rinding that moulders in
Sydney were making 105 washing copper castings a week, offered this
moulder a bonus of pd. in addition to his wage of £3, for all the castings
he could make weekly in excess of 50. This was not an illiberal offer,
as if the moulder has reached the Sydney output his wages would have
been £5 is. 3d. The moulder, so encouraged, at once made over 60 castings
per week, but the executive of the union, at a meeting held in August,
decided that the work was in excess of that prescribed by the under-
standing, which is said to prevail in all local foundries, and in the
letter referred to ordered the moulder to reduce his castings to 50 per
week — though he was quite able to make 65 and earn 75. 6d. a week more.
The moulder at first paid attention to this request, but at last, failing
to see why he should reduce his wages he defied the authorities, -with
the result mentioned. His employers complain that the enforced restric-
tion of output is hampering their operations. They are now importing cast-
ings from Scotland, which they formerly made here, and during the past
year have so imported many thousands from Great Britain. Meanwhile,
it is stated that another local foundry has also been partly abandoning
manufacturing for importing, solely owing to this restriction of output.

The foregoing extract was furnished us by Mr. Simpson
himself, who is Mayor of Adelaide. He informed us that the
expelled union member was still working for his firm and was
averaging 90 castings a week and earning from $6 to $7 a week
more than the union allowance. It will be of interest to note
here, that not many years ago the city of Adelaide secured a
new charter, differing somewhat from other chartered munici-
palities in that it contains special voting qualifications in matters
relating to municipal affairs, whereby, in voting on general ques-
tions every property' owner or occupier has one vote and limited
corporations three votes in the ward or precinct in which the
plant or business is located. On financial questions the same

qualifications prevail, but the voting is on a sliding scale based on
rental value, assessed by city valuation as follows : One vote on
£25 and under, two votes on £25 to £35, three votes on £35 to £45,
four votes on £45 to £55, five votes on £55 to £65 and six votes on
over £65. As a result of these special voting qualifications, the
Labor Party is unable to secure more than a scant representa-
tion in municipal affairs; there being but one Representative in
the city council at the time of our visit to Adelaide.

Another example along the line of decreased efficiency was
given us by the Mayor of an Australian city, a contractor and
merchant, who, in discussing labor conditions in Australia, said :
"This country appears to be going bad very fast. The indif-
ference and independent attitude of the working people and the
high wages which must be paid for poor service, is getting to be
intolerable and it's a question how long we can stand it."
"Why," said he, "the commoner the labor the more it costs,
and there is an oversupply at that; just think of a situation like
this. We have to pay common laborers is. lod. (44 cents) an
hour for regular time and up to 55. 7d. ($1.25) an hour for
overtime work, Sunday night work being paid for at four times
the regular rates. Labor unions and Labor legislation are put-
ting everybody to the bad and making a sorry mess of the coun-
try." He told of a case, just the day before, where a wharf
laborer was wheeling three bags of grain on a truck. One fell
off, the man stopped, lit his pipe and deliberately waited 25
minutes until another laborer, whose business it was to load
the trucks, came along and put the bag on the truck again, when
laborer No. i proceeded to wheel the grain to the ship. He
cited this as one of many incidents of the abuses which the people
are compelled to endure by reason of the intolerable condition
into which the industrial situation has drifted, and said there
must be a day of reckoning soon, and the president of the
Chamber of Commerce added : "The great drawbacks to Australia
are lack of people and labor legislation." Another business man
volunteered the suggestion that "all that ails Australia is dearth
of population and the unbearable condition of its labor market."

A member of a large rice importing firm in Melbourne said
_ they were paying 25 per cent more for labor now than when they
averaged 700 tons unloading against 400 tons under present con-
ditions.

The question, "Is olive growing a profitable industry in
Australia?" was asked an official in the office of the Minister of
Agriculture for South Australia. The response was : "Not now,
but it used to be before the labor problem killed it." While

passing through the works of one of the Government railways,
the manager told us that on account of the labor situation it
was his determination to install a machine whenever he could
displace a man by doing so ; that he had no difficulty in managing
machines, but with men it was often <a question of whether, he
or they were running the shops.

The head of a rubber firm, with whom we conversed, stated
that his firm had until recently employed 100 people in the manu-
facture of rubber goods, but that the labor situation had become
so rotten that they decided to close their factory; that they ar-
ranged for the agency of several American manufacturers, whom
they now represent, and have rid themselves of the torments they
were forced to endure as manufacturers and are making more
money. An official of another and much larger rubber manu-
facturing plant said that they were trying to get along as best
they could under present conditions, but that their experience
was no exception to the rule, and that manufacturing in Australia
was a tough proposition. Again, an- official of a large engineering
plant which was then in the midst of a long drawn out strike, ex-
pressed himself as thoroughly disgusted with industrial conditions.

Wage Earners' Views.

The suggestion thrown out to a waiter at the Hotel Aus-
tralia, that "this country is a paradise for the working man,"
brought an unexpected and somewhat surprising rejoinder. He
said he was born in England and married in Australia; that he
worked five years in the United States, one year in the Conti-
nental Hotel, Philadelphia, and two years at Atlantic City; that
he was going back to the United States as soon as he could raise
enough money to cover the expense; that Australia is no place
for a working man who has any ambition ever to be anything
else ; that he found it much harder to get along in Australia than
in the United States notwithstanding all the blow about its being
the "workingman's paradise" ; that there are more tramps and low
down poverty in Australia than in the United States in proportion
to population ; that production and efficiency are getting so low in
Australia that the wealth of the country is being eaten up and
that, bye and bye, there will be nothing but poverty unless things
change materially. We failed to observe very much of the low
down poverty to which this man alluded, but we did, while on
a motor trip of no miles out of Sydney, pass no less than eight
tramps, with their belongings swung over their backs, who were
ostensibly looking for work but afraid they would find it. What-
ever may be the necessity to tramp very far to find work in either

Australia or New Zealand, the "soap-box" orator is very much
in evidence in both of these countries. In Wellington we
stopped and listened to one of these "World Reformers" who
was haranguing a crowd of about 25 men, urging the workers
of the Dominion to drop ^raft organizations and join the "one
big union which, when perfected, will drive capitalism into the
sea, and then the workers' millennium will come." In Sydney,
where there are a number of large areas set apart for the use
of the public, these agitators "wax fat" and can be seen by the
dozens every Sunday afternoon shouting the same sort of doc-
trine to hundreds and thousands of listeners, very much to the
discomfort of industrious, home-loving citizens, and to no good
results to the country as ,a whole.

One mechanic with whom we discussed labor conditions
said: "The unions would be all right if they didn't 'try to get the
earth without earning it, and would act with decency and in
reason, but they don't. A working man must either give up his
self-respect and abandon his independence or stand to be
hounded by an organized minority of his fellows who are always
shouting about the 'brotherhood of man' and, at the same time,
trying to force their brother workmen, who don't submit to being
driven like sheep, into a condition of union servitude that has
already made Australia, with all its shorter hours and many
holidays, a mighty poor country for a workingman, with any
ambition to get up in the world or raise a family to become
anything more than laborers, to live in. Their idea is to keep
on getting more money for less work, instead of getting more
money for more work, as they should do. And what does it all
amount to? Nothing. We can't buy as much for the money we
get now as we could when we got less and things didn't cost so
much, and besides, the unions have knocked merit sky-high.
I believe, just as much as any of these socialistic agitators do, that
labor creates wealth, but I don't believe that the way for the work-
ing people to get more wealth is for them to produce less of
it. That's one too many for me."

According to the statement of the Prime Minister, Mr.
Cook, in his speech in Parliament, April 17, 1914, the total
number of unionists in the Commonwealth of Australia is 433,000,
(9 per cent of the total population, 37 per cent of all the workers,
male and female, over 20 years of age,) and of non-unionists 734,-
ooo. Therefore, the story of this man presents a striking illustra-
tion of the power of organization and, from his viewpoint, is a
clear demonstration that industrial legislation has proven a flat
failure. Business men find it irksome, annoying and inefficient,
and are at all times on the "anxious seat" lest they be summoned

before this or that court for violation of some law or ruling which
they know nothing about. Furthermore, the fact that there are
737 separate and distinct Wages Boards in Australia, with more
strikes than ever before, amplifies the old adage, "All that glitters
is not gold," and proves conclusively that "mere movement is
not progress."

Unionism's Effect on Discipline.

A most noticeable result of the domination of unionism is
its effect on discipline of employees about the hotels, which is
at a low ebb, and it is everywhere apparent that unionism is
boss. One illustration of this will suffice to show the spirit
which prevails throughout the hotels and, from our observations,
in all other lines of employment. One of the members of our
party asked the clerk of a hotel at which we were stopping for
some stationery. The clerk called a page and told him to bring it.
The boy looked up at the clock, which registered one minute to
one, and indignantly replied, "Get it yourself, I'm off at one."
The clerk went for the stationery without commenting on the
boy's action. This attitude on the part of the employed was
so pronounced that we soon began to express sympathy for the
management, rather than complain of the lack of courtesy, or
consideration for and attention to the wants and comfort of the
hotel guests.

Hours and Wages.

Some scattering mention has hereinbefore been made of the
question of hours and wages, but in order that this phase of the
subject may be more fully given, the following table from the
Commonwealth official statistics for 1913 is presented. In the
table, "s" indicates shillings and "d" pence, the value of which
in United States money is shown in the columns headed "U. S.,"
which we have added to the table for the purpose of ready com-
parison. The rates given in the table are for regular specified
work-hours, outside of which overtime is paid for at rates stipu-
lated in the various Wages Boards awards.

O M

S S

1
1j

1 1

id J3

•9 a
I I

|J
ll

•n

J-9

« S

• TfOO OOOiNOTfOO OOOOOOTt* OOO -fO O-* OOO OOOOTjt
OOOO -<}-^!|^O!NT)« TtrfTttN Or« QOO OC4 -*O W O •* «

icco -Jic t^Tji doi rjJdco'

OOO O«DOOOO OOOO OO <OO OO

OO «OOO»O

5 §3

) 1C OO
.^^H<N

OOO OOOOOO OOOO OOOOO OO
COOOIN •<!< IN (N 00 O5 <N CO lO <N 5O CD «O O «5 <-< OOOO

OOOOCDO«D

00 O "5 O N- »C -1
t^ t» CC

8^.8 ^8888^ 88^8 88 8S 8^ 88S9 8^5

id "3 06 ccididoo^co io'»ot^^ ujid ict>I odd '

000 OOOOOO OOOO 00 00 00 OOOO 0»0

C<>-l
»C

•M'tOOOO 00 •<*< OO 00 N 00 O O X O O •* C^ IN •* O O C<

9 §« n ^ ^ TjIc^TtITt'~!Tf! <*PTtcJP(:v*t>;t>:c^. °. *s ^
• coodd

OOOO 000000 ^°00000000 CSIO OOOOCCL-

»OOOO Tji^OOOO i-tOOOO»O»O»C'OOO ^O OiCCOO-JT --
X IQOOO U30JOOOO IOU3O»OOO>0«OOO OO O »O <N (N Tf tfi

ioi eeoC4K><OtcO<O

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dot^» o

oooo ooooooooooo po oo oooo-^oooooo

OlONO
«' §0?-0

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00 Ot^

js:i i 1

--^ ssou o

Taking the six capital cities as a basis of average, as shown
elsewhere in this report, the purchasing power of money dur-
ing a period of 12 years, 1901-12, has depreciated a trifle over 25
per cent, while, during the same period, the average increase in
wages has been a fraction under 25 per cent showing again that,
notwithstanding all the industrial friction and cost of political
machinery, the race has been neck and neck with the economic
law of supply and demand. The same statistical report says:
"Taking the average for the six capital towns, the cost of living
in the third quarter of 1913 was 25.5 per cent higher than in 1901.
Of that amount 8.3 per cent was due to increase in price of food
and groceries, while the remaining 17.2 per cent was due to
increase in house rents."

A comparison of the wages enumerated in the foregoing table
with those obtainable in the United States, in the same occupations,
except common labor, will be interesting and instructive as show-
ing the effect of Governmental interference with economic ques-
tions. It will clearly be seen that wages average higher in the
United States than in Australia, while from the most careful
investigation into the cost of living we found it to be fully as
high or higher in Australia than in the United States and that,
after all, the Australian worker pays his full portion of the cost
of the economic waste of time and production.

April 27th, while we were at Melbourne, the annual Eight-
hour Day parade was held, in which there were estimated to be
11,760 marchers, representing 65 unions. There are 408 unions
in Australia, of all kinds, 64 per cent of the total membership
being organized on an interstate basis. The total membership
in trades unions in 1912, was 433,224, of which 415,554 were
males and 17,670 females; the total estimated num'ber of em-
ployees 20 years of age and over, male and female, being 1,154,-
812, and the percentage of unionists to all employees 37.52.
The total number of factories in 1912 is given as 14,878; the
number of hands employed 328,000; wages paid £31,296,000
($152,098,560) and the total value of output £148,745,000
($722,900,700.) The Eight-hour Day is recognized as a
legal holiday and takes the place of Labor Day in the United
States. Union members who fail to turn out are fined. How-
ever, there is a persistent and vigorous struggle constantly going
on for still shorter hours, which, in some cases, has been recog-
nized, as indicated in the table. Only recently, an application
of the Builders' Laborers' Federation to the Federal Arbitration
Court for an award of 44 hours a week, with a raise in wages to
equal the 48 hours' pay, was allowed by that court, and still more

recently Justice Higgins, the president of the same court as
previously mentioned, awarded the waterside workers a raise
in wages to is. pd. an hour, based on 30 hours being a week's
work. We were informed by a mine operator at New Castle
that miners only work five hours a day.

This gentleman told a sad story of labor conditions in the
mining industry. He said, "The situation is so bad that nothing
short of a revolution will ever better it," adding to this pessi-
mistic expression of opinion, "One of the finest countries in the
world is rapidly going to the devil." In this connection the
following from the Australian Mining Standard of June 14,
1914, is worthy of note:

Australia, truth to tell, has done very little with its gigantic re-
sources. Its great mineral wealth in very many places has been scarcely
more than tapped, and everywhere the development of them has been
hampered by the restrictions imposed by the labor clauses of the Mining
Acts of the various States, * * * but one thing we may be sure of is that
before Americans invest any money here, they will be very careful to
consider how the position is affected in every branch of industry by
Federal and State legislation.

But the steamship companies appear to experience the
greatest hardships in the management of their business, for aside
from the excessive cost of labor in loading and unloading cargo,
they never can tell when in port what minute they will be held
up by a strike, or for how long. Strikes come on like lightning
out of a clear sky, and whether their duration be long or short
depends upon the humor of the freight handlers who never give
a thought to the inconvenience they cause the traveling public
or the losses which they Impose upon commercial interests. The
captain of one of the ships on which we traveled told us that
on his previous trip he left a cargo, the carrying value of which
would amount to fully $5,000, on the wharf at one port, rather
than wait the pleasure of striking wharf laborers to load it. He
said he always felt relieved in mind, at each port, when his ship
cast off her staylines, and wondered whether he would pass the
next port without a holdup.

Holidays.

There are twice as many legal holidays in Australasia as
there are in the United States. When we arrived at Melbourne,
Saturday, April nth, it was the midst of Easter Holiday season,
which runs from Thursday night to the following Tuesday
morning, except with the banking institutions, which stretch it
over to Wednesday. The ship on which we came to Melbourne
had either to lay over until the following Tuesday to have its

cargo loaded and unloaded or pay double time for labor, if it
could find any. Suffice it to say, the ship waited the pleasure
of the holiday season. The following editorial from the Mel-
bourne Argus of April 30, 1914, will be of interest as showing
the extent of the holiday "plague."

MELBOURNE ARGUS.
(April 30, 1914.)

Mr. Justice Heydon, president of the New South Wales Industrial
Court, made some very sensible comments on Tuesday on the holiday
nuisance. General holidays and trade picnic days are becoming alto-
gether too numerous, and it is time that some regard was shown for the
public interest. Strangers visiting Australia are amazed to observe the
spirit of resignation in which the people submit to these encroachments
on their convenience. An occasional day's rest from physical or mental
toil is an excellent tonic for the individual, arid the community, of course,
shares in the benefit. But in a country where the hours of work are short
and strenuous application is far from being conspicuous these constant
breaks in the continuity of the ordinary services to the public are
mischievous. There should be an element of reasonableness preserved in
all things. Trade picnics are, no doubt, very pleasant festivities for those
participating in them, and if they were held at suitable times there would
be no special objection to them. This is far, however, from being the
case. Mr. Justice Heydon remarked that the Melbourne fruiterers had
their holiday during the very season when fruit is most in demand.
His Honour happened to be here at the time, and was evidently deeply
impressed by the absurdity of the spectacle. It was about the severest
day of the summer, yet by Act of Parliament the shopkeepers and hawkers
were forbidden to sell an ounce of fruit, excepting to purchasers con-
suming it on the premises. The folly and wastefulness of the proceeding
were obvious to everyone; yet it will probably be repeated each summer
for years to come.

Bakery employees, again, are persons for whom every reasonable
consideration should be shown; but it is surely not reasonable that the
public should 'be forced to eat stale bread on 26 Wednesdays in the
year, as well as on every Sunday. All that was thought of when the
fortnightly holiday was decreed was the pleasure and convenience of the
bakers and bread-carters ; the interest of the consumers was never for a
moment considered. So well do the employees concerned understand the
principle on which these things are usually done that they have recently been
agitating for a compulsory system of day-baking. True, the people might
dislike eating stale bread; but what were trivial objections like these when
weighed against the desire of the hands employed in the industry?
What does the public exist for but to serve the ends of unionism?
Mr. Justice Rich fortunately took a different view of the position when
the claim of the bakers came before him the other day, and for his pains
will no doubt be considered a judge unsympathetic with labour. Mr.
Justice Heydon has rightly declared the rapidly increasing number of
holidays to constitute "rather a serious question." Though the president
of an arbitration tribunal, he regards his function as being essentially
judicial.

He refuses to shut his eyes to the economic consequences involved
in the claims submitted to him, and never fails to let the claimants know
when he thinks them in the wrong. From remarks like those he offered
on the holiday question, they learn that there are two sides to every
question, and that the mere fact of a demand being made does not neces-
sarily mean that it will be conceded.

Sunday Observance.

In this connection it is pertinent to speak of the respect
observed for the Sabbath, which is both especially noticeable and
commendable.- The tramways do not operate their cars on Sun-
day mornings and not until one or two o'clock in the afternoon.
While this may seem a great inconvenience to the public, the
people appear to have adjusted themselves to the custom and
do not suffer very much inconvenience from it. In comment-
ing on this feature of Australasian life, some writers have
claimed that their Sunday observance comes from the prevalent
desire to loaf, but this we believe to be an extreme view of the
matter, and hardly just to the large class of intelligent Christian
people of these countries.

The Minimum or Living Wage.

(See former reference)

Referring again to the subject of "The Minimum," or
"Living" Wage, as it is sometimes called. The rate of wages
fixed by the Wages Boards, in the various industries, is the
minimum wage at which labor may legally be employed, and
while higher wages may be paid, as a matter of fact, the rates
established by the Boards become the standard, and practically
abolish all other bartering with respect thereto. Moreover, the
principle upon which these boards were created, and the chief
reason for their existence, was to settle the question of wages
and working conditions by law, and do away with all other forms
of bargaining and thereby abolish labor controversies and
strikes. Employers generally accept the awards of the Boards,
and being thoroughly organized, a general understanding pre-
vails in the industries that the same shall be rigidly adhered to,
otherwise the Wages Boards would perform no function other
than to establish a general starting point at which wage agitation
and strikes should begin. They also appreciate the fact that the
payment of rates higher than the minimum in some cases would
tend to bring the minimum up to much higher rates at the next
award. Hence, as a general rule, the minimum is also the maxi-
mum. Then again, as the minimum wage is necessarily based
upon the average capacity or efficiency of all workers in a given
industry, those who are incapable of "making good" in produc-
tivity to the value of the "standard" wage are not wanted in
times of depression and are only grudgingly employed at any
time, while the more energetic and efficient worker is compelled
by law to accept less for his services than they are worth, or
stultify his ambition and honor by producing less than he is able

and willing to produce if his natural inclination were not muzzled
by the law of the land. The effect of the system upon the higher
class of workers was vividly expressed during a conversation we
had at Melbourne with two such men, who are entirely out of
harmony with industrial conditions as they prevail in Australia.
One of them said that no self-respecting artisan could be a happy
and contented individual when the laws of his country fixed the
compensation he must accept for his services and erected legisla-
tive barriers to his opportunities to become anything more than
a slave to the ideals of Socialism. "Such conditions," said he,
"are not conducive to a higher standard of efficiency, but, on the
contrary, they encourage inefficiency and the devoting of one's
mind and energy to the promulgation of a lower standard of
civilization."

Now, the avowed object of the "living wage," so-called, is
to insure to the workers and their dependants — if they have any,
as most workers do — a decent living. But the proposition is
fraught with many difficult problems. Among them, what con-
stitutes a decent living? How many "livings" should the wage
provide for? The cost of living? The amount of efficiency to
be expended by the wage recipient ; changes in business and gen-
eral economic conditions ; tariff ; imports and exports ; the natural
resources of a country and the proportionate wealth of its
people, and various and sundry other things, bearing upon and
subservient to the economic law of supply and demand, and
which, in combination, present an insurmountable barrier to a
just and equitable economic solution of the problem.

Australia and New Zealand are both agricultural countries
having a combined population of less than 6,000,000 souls. The
unusual prosperity which they have enjoyed since the introduc-
tion of the refrigeration system of shipping pensnable products
has enabled their people to endure an amount of unsuccessful,
uneconomic and experimental legislation which would have caused
the downfall of some other countries if attempted.

They can hardly aspire to becoming manufacturing coun-
tries, at least for a long time to come, and until they become suf-
ficiently populated to create a competitive home market for manu-
factured products. Yet, notwithstanding the vast natural rich-
ness of these countries and the homogeneousness of their people,
few business men, or men in public life who are not making
their living or getting rich out of socialistic politics, can be found
who will not admit that the whole economic scheme of labor
legislation is a dismal failure and a drawback to the welfare and
development of both of these otherwise glorious countries.
They will tell you that the minimum wage is a harmful and un-

just abridgment of the rights of skillful and efficient artisans
who, in the absence of such legislation, would be better paid for
their services, that it simply amounts to a scheme whereby
"Peter is robbed to pay Paul" by fixing a higher minimum wage
than the inefficient, lazy and indifferent are capable of earning,
and that the wages of the more highly efficient and skillful
workers are reduced to the same average level. Mr. Robert
S. Walpole, an eminent student in economics, who is recognized
to be the best informed man in Australia on its industrial situa-
tion, in the treatise, "The True Basis of the Living Wage,"
says:

No sensible man desires to lower the standard of living and comfort
in this country, but it must be admitted that the Australian is not as
frugal as his brother the German, Frenchman, etc. His general Half-
holiday and other holidays, and the shopping done in the shortest hours
on Friday nights, largely enhance the cost of the retail article and in
many other ways he has made a rod for his own back, though it may be
admitted that the producer passes on these extra costs to the consumer,
who is largely the wage-earner.

In summing up the whole matter, if our experimental legislation
is to be effective, the living wage must be so fixed (if it can be) that
in the worst times, the slow, old and inefficient worker will be properly
protected, for it is this class, and this only, which is sweated. The
shrewd, smart worker who realizes these facts is the man who would
sooner see a piece-work living wage fixed, on a more businesslike basis,
than the absurd minimum wage now current in many trades — a price
which will 'last under all conditions, and not break down at the first sign
of bad weather, knowing that he himself is protected by his skill and
smartness in earning a good, profitable wage.

Governments are only human, and, like individuals, inclined to be
generous, rather than just, especially in good times, because of the popu-
larity attached to the fixing of a high minimum wage; but, remember,
they can neither produce work nor maintain artificial wages, which, under
bad conditions, must break down of their own weight.

The sooner the workers grasp this fundamental principle the better
for themselves and those dependent on them.

"You cannot make bricks without straw" is an old saying, and you
cannot make wages without capital, nor capital without labor. The
product and its value is the essence of the wage fund, and the thorough,
efficient worker, starting on an equitable piece work rate in a country
like Australia, must before long have saved enough to be a boss on his
own account. This should be the laudable ambition of every independent
Australian worker. * * * I have endeavored to show that the living wage
(now called the minimum) is not one that can be fixed by "rule of
thumb," as has hitherto been the case in New Zealand and Australia, be-
cause it defeats the very object of the "wage"— i. e., the ensuring of a
decent living to the poorest class of workers for all time, due to their
being incapable of producing sufficient to justify the high minimum fixed
by Act of Parliament.

The right to work. Adam Smith in his "Wealth of Nations,"
says, "Is the property which every man has in his own labor, the original
foundation of all property. * * * The patrimony of a poor man lies in the
strength and dexterity of his hands, and to hinder him from employing
his strength and dexterity in what manner he thinks proper, without in-
jury to his neighbor, is a plain violation of this most sacred property."
When the Wages Boards were first enacted in 1894, it was due to

a wave of altruistic feeling in the public mind that many women and
men were being paid a "sweating wage, one which did not provide for
a decent existence." The period was one of great distress, due to previous
years of over-gambling by the people of Australia, which resulted in the
break of the land boom, banks, and many other businesses. This set up
conditions which have occurred before and will occur again. * * * From
report of Royal Commission 1898: "Undoubtedly when master butchers
were compelled to pay 455. and 55s. per week for assistants they saw
to it that they employed, as far as possible, such men as were worth
the money. Hence, the inferior men found it very hard to get regular
employment in the trade, and while they were formerly subjected to
sweating, they now, in many cases, were deprived of work altogether."
We thus see the principle of providing a living or minimum wage had
been departed from, and eventuated in the Boards becoming a meeting
place for men to fight for the highest wage possible, irrespective of those
workers at the bottom of the ladder, the very class which the altruism
of the public at the Wages Boards' inception desired to protect. *
The working of the Act is best summed up by certain questions put by a
late chairman of some of the Boards, and answered by himself. * * *
He concludes with: "I do not believe that any form of legislation can
rigidly fix the rates of wages to be paid to all classes of workmen with-
out doing more harm than good. The true test will be when bad times
come, then they must go down : No determination here can affect the
workshops of Germany, England or America and no tribunal can fix
wages as between employer and employee."

Dr. Victor Clark, in his summing up, says, referring specially to
clothing and furniture (especially in the large employment of Chinese) :
"Therefore, the law has not eradicated the evils it was devised to meet,
but, nevertheless, it appears to have mitigated them." Again, comparing
this 20th century legislation with similar legislation in the Middle Ages,
he says: "The latter were in favor of property, and the first are class
legislation in favor of labor. * * * The economic effects of such laws
may prove to be the same in both instances. * * * They may be suffi-
ciently important to predestine the experimental legislation of Australasia
to failure; but broader knowledge and profounder study than have yet
been devoted to this subject, are required to give us conclusions of value."

The above statements in respect to Wages Boards by the Royal
Commission, by the chairman of a Board, and by the expert Labor Com-
missioner from the United States Government, show that we are on
dangerous ground, seeing that we are building on an unsound economic
basis. The fact, as pointed out by the Royal Commission, that, very early
in its inception, the Act led to the man who was formerly sweated, in many
instances being "deprived of work altogether," shows that such legisla-
tion, as Adam Smith says, "committed a plain violation of the worker's
most sacred property — the employment of his strength and dexterity."

This is the weakness of the Wages Board. Instead of standing on
firm foundation, the fixing of an actual or standardised minimum or
living wage for all time, subject only to variations caused by enhanced
costs of living when the same could be brought up for further adjust-
ment by Parliament, it has allowed the Boards to be called together
every three years, when a further struggle has taken place, not to stop
sweating, but how to obtain as high a wage as possible, beyond that fixed
three years before. Thus, losing sight of "their original intent, the merely
enforcing of a living wage/' as Dr. Clark so wisely says, the high mini-
mum has had a tendency to level down the best worker to the standard
of the lowest worker earning the minimum, thus stultifying the best that
is in a pushing, clever artisan, and making him purely a wage-earner;
further, at the same time, carrying out the Darwinian maxim, "the sur-
vival of the fittest," by crushing out the less efficient worker in an over-
' crowded market and leaving, when times are bad, "the sweater" to work

his unholy trade. The great nations of the earth, for over a thousand
years, have studied this subject and experimented. They have done great
work in regard to the employment of children and women, but have
fought rightly shy "at the fixing of wages," knowing the difficulties that
always will arise in trying to equalise all men's labor. In conclusion,
I think we may all agree that during the past prolific years in Australia,
the Wages Boards, in comparison with some other legislative experiments
we know of, have been fairly successful ; but the true test has yet to
come, when (as now looks possible) lean years come, money and work
become scarce, as to whether the minimum now existing can be main-
tained, or whether it will fall like a "house of cards" because it is
founded on unsound economic conditions. If so, will this cause serious
labor trouble? For man is only human, not minding how much you
raise his wages or shorten his hours, but strongly objecting to the oppo-
site course being pursued. Will the Government be then prepared to
acknowledge, as Dr. Clark cleverly puts it, "The responsibility of the
State for a living wage logically leads to the responsibility of the State
for employment at that wage," to ensure the high minimum and the
certainty of employment?

Thus, from the foregoing discussion of the subject of a
legalized minimum wage, there seems to be an abundance of
argument that the Government should keep its hands off this
complex and purely economic question, and that any attempt at
Governmental regulation of wages is a usurpation of Govern-
mental function which can only result in disaster.

Compulsory Arbitration.

Reference has been made to compulsory arbitration laws,
but as this subject forms an important factor in the labor legis-
lation of Australia and New Zealand a more explanatory and
detailed reference to the same should be given, and to that end,
and by permission of the author, Mr. Walpole, hereinbefore
referred to and quoted, we reproduce an article covering the sub-
ject completely. This article so thoroughly bears out and em-
phasizes the information which we gathered from our various
investigations, that we feel it to be unnecessary to burden this
report with further comment in the premises, except to say, the
article itself is evidence of its writer's ability to handle the sub-
ject. It follows:

Compulsory arbitration may be said to be the immediate effect of
the great maritime strike of 1891, which, for the time being, held up
Australia and New Zealand. The men were ultimately defeated, but all
parties — employers, employees, and the public — demanded some change
in the methods of fighting out industrial disputes in the future.

New Zealand was the first to give voice to this view, and the Hon.
T. McGregor, M. L. C. together with the Hon. W. P. Reeves, drew up a
Bill in 1894 for conciliation and compulsory arbitration. Both of these
gentlemen honestly believed they had found the way out of all industrial
difficulties, and peace would in future reign supreme; but, unfortunately,
when the Bill became an Act, and its administration was put into force,
one of its fathers — Hon. J. McGregor (a leading New Zealand barrister)

— was driven by candor to admit that the system, when worked out, was
not a success, and with a view to remedying the wrong he had done,
he wrote a most trenchant pamphlet, dealing fully with the Act, in which
he says: "The system is not in any sense what it was intended to be —
a means of settling industrial disputes and strikes by conciliation and
arbitration, but it is rather a system for the regulation of the industries
of the Colony by means of ordinances, misnamed awards, issued by a
court of law." In spite of this criticism, the Act, though subject to
numerous amendments, continues in operation. One of the most im-
portant amendments was the abandonment of conciliation and going
straight to the Compulsory Arbitration Court.

Its administration encouraged a large number of walking delegates
in the Colony to go from workshop to workshop instigating disputes to
be brought before the Court, and later appearing before the Court as
special advocates in such disputes.

In 1905 the late Premier (Mr. R. Seddon), recognising that there
was no finality in the demands of the workers for more wages every
time agreements expired, said: "It was the duty of the Government to
hold the balance fairly between employers and workers. He realised
that, in the face of the present keen competition, no further burden
should be placed on the industries. He was almost in dread of what was
going to happen to New Zealand when the Panama Canal was com-
pleted, and New Zealand brought face to face with the old world compe
tition" In this statement the Premier wisely saw the economic fallacy
of believing that wages can be adjusted by legislation in face of the
world's competition by countries who have no such restrictions. This is
clearly shown by the increase in imports in two of New Zealand's pro-
tected industries — apparel and slops and boots — before and after the
Arbitration Act came into force:

IMPORTS.
1894 1908 Increase

Apparel and Slops £301,774 £775,559 Over 100 per cent.

Boots 139,455 244,443 Over 50 per cent.

These two industries, if any, should be expected to hold their own
in a protected country, but, as shown in a previous article, due to the
product of the outside worker being greater, his hours longer, and no
artificial legislation, the wall of protection was overcome, and the con-
sumer provided with the imported article at a satisfactory price.

New Zealand, to whom it has been credited, as a land without
strikes, is not a manufacturing country in the true sense of the word. * * *
This would, to some extent, account for there being fewer strikes if
viewed in comparison with the great European and American industrial
centres; though, if space would allow, the writer could furnish details
of many strikes that have taken place since the Act came into force,
in such industries as coal, slaughtermen, iron founders, miners, etc., etc.

New Zealand has been well called the paradise of the workman,
though its wonderful success cannot be credited to the soothing effect
of compulsory arbitration, but due to the Creator having given the New
Zealander one of the most splendid climates and prolific soils in the
world. This is revealed in the exports for 1909 (practically all primary),
amounting to £21,290,436 — not bad for a population of some 900,000.
This wonderful result is sufficient reason as to why the consumer is
enabled to pay the extra cost of all he wears and eats as passed on by
the employer, and, though the late Prime Minister (Hon. R. Seddon)
said that, "Despite increased wages, the workers found themselves no
better off than formerly, on account of the increased cost of living,"
the Act still remains in force, like the Wages Boards and other experi-
mental systems for framing wages. Specially good times allow the merry

game to go on. "You get more wages ; you pay more for what you get."
Of course, the day of reckoning must come, and then the New Zealand
Government will have to prove whether the high minimum fixed by the
Court can be maintained, and if not, it must face the result of falling
wages and consequent industrial strife.

The history of compulsory arbitration in Australia commences in
1896, when Commissioner Russell, appointed by Mr. Kingston, the
Premier of South Australia, became first President of the Arbitration
Court of South Australia, but this gentleman had special powers to
settle matters voluntarily if he liked, and in 1902 the shearers' strike
settlement was effected voluntarily by him, and gave such satisfaction to
both parties as to encourage the Commissioner to act in a voluntary
capacity in other cases, the consequence being that in seven years there
were only seven disputes ; whereas in New Zealand, with its paraphernalia
of a Judiciary Court, and due to the encouragement the Act afforded to
busybodies to bring disputes before the Court, there were 400 disputes in
five years.

New South Wales was the next State to take up compulsory arbi-
tration, and at its inception determined to leave out conciliation. During
its existence it managed to create more turmoil perhaps than any- Act
placed on any Statute Book in the world. Shortly after it had come into
force a big shearers' strike took place, and the country, believing that it
had now the means of settling disputes by compulsion, called upon the
Court to do its duty. Parliament was also asked why the Court delayed
in settling this dispute, and the reply given by Mr. Wise, the father of
the Act, was casuistical in the extreme. He said: "The Act defines a
strike as a cessation of work by a body of employees acting in com-
bination. Now the shearers have not ceased to work, but have declined
to begin work, and that is a very different thing"; but what Mr. Wise
failed to state was that, though it was true these men had refused to com-
mence work, which was entirely their business, they had refused to
allow anyone else to work in their place, which was quite another thing.

This want of action on the part of the Government and the Court
in the first great strike since the inception of the Act was the commence-
ment of its failure, and, as we shall see, gradually broke down the Act.
Its real weakness was the impossibility of the Court to enforce its de-
cisions on the thousands of shearers on strike. The Court could not
fine them, because the Government knew it would not be paid, and,
failing this, the only recourse was to put them in gaol, which, as one
of the men said, "there were not enough gaols to hold them," and sec-
ondly, if they could have done so, no Ministry would have lived 24 hours.

The New South Wales Act was perhaps the most drastic of all the
State Acts. It not only gave power to the Court to deal with wages and
hours in every employment, but the modes, terms and conditions of em-
ployment, the dismissal of or refusal to employ any particular person or
class of persons, or any established custom or usage of any industry,
either generally or in any particular locality. In the words of Mr. Ash-
ton (then Minister of Lands), the Act purposed giving a Supreme
Court judge "a power beneficent or ill, so great that no Parliament that
ever existed would dare to exercise it. It meant," he continued, "that
a Supreme Court judge will hold in the hollow of his hand the industrial
development of this country."

The judge of the Court was allowed two assessors or lay members
of the Court, because, as Mr. Ashton said, "he did not think any Su-
preme Court judge had the requisite amount of wisdom to enable him
to perform that duty without committing very serious errors." In this
he showed his fore-knowledge, because subsequently many judges, even
with lay representatives, tried their hands at the game, and, in en-
deavouring to carry out the extreme powers vested in them, caused
action after action to be brought before the Full Court of the State, and

in some cases before the High Court of the Commonwealth, in which
their judgments, fortunately for the people of New South Wales, were
nullified.

Some of the infringements on the rights of the individual were
shown in the preference to unionists, who at that time did not represent
a decent minority of the workers in the State. We find in the Arbitra-
tion Court Report, 1903, the following : "In the undertakers' award, an
employer, in case of an emergency, is not justified in engaging a non-
unionist without applying to the secretary of the employees' union to
ascertain whether any competent unionist is available." In the saddle
and harness makers' award, the following clause is inserted : "Should
any dispute arise out of this award, it shall, if practicable, be settled by
the employer and the union secretary, failing which it shall be referred
to the Registrar for decision." Yet another glaring instance of might
over right being exercised by the Court when it laid down the principle
that, in discharging hands, the employer must do so on the following
conditions, "the last to come, the first to go."

These instances show some of the results of the desire for legis-
lative industrial peace in New South Wales.

It is well summed up in Dr. Victor Clark's (Labor Commissioner
for the Government of the United States) remarks re the New Zealand
Court. He says : "The practical effect of the law has been to establish
a tribunal for making collective .bargains. The name Court is mislead-
ing. * * * In the first place the Arbitration Court is a representative,
not an impartial and non-partisan body. * * * It does not grant trial by
jury, nor are its decisions reviewed by any other tribunal. All these
facts are faults from the statesman's point of view, and they do violence
to the general experience of mankind, as crystallised in political opinions.
To unite legislation and judicial functions in a single body, irresponsible
to any higher power than the popular legislature, must appear to Ameri-
cans, with their constitutional principles and precedents in view, a dan-
gerous retrogression to more primitive conditions of law." Anyone who
has studied the working of compulsory arbitration in Australia and
New Zealand, whether State or Commonwealth, must agree with the
above thoughtful statement furnished by an impartial and expert judge.

As the powers of the Act became better known, and the unions
found the true value of the privileges granted to them by law, the
Wharf Labourers' Union, by closing their books, refused admission to
any more applicants in their union, thus limiting both quantity and
quality.

The Act also enabled the unions to become a powerful factor in
political life. This was shown in some of the rules of the Australian
Workers' Union in their dispute with the Machine Shearers' Union re
registration under the Court, one of the rules (No. 57) being: "Any
member of the union voting or working against the selected candidate
shall be fined the sum of £3."

These tyrannical powers given to the unions by the Act, and the
adverse decisions in both the High and Full Courts in respect to the
overriding of common law rights, brought matters to a crisis, and
Mr. Justice Darley, the highest authority in the State of New South
Wales, made the following declaration re the Act: "It is beyond ques-
tion that the Arbitration Act as in force in this State is an Act which
is derogation of the common law. It does encroach upon the liberty of
the subject as regards persons and property. It creates new crimes
unknown to common law or contained in any previous statute. It inter-
feres with the liberty of action of both employer and employee. * * *
Further, I think the Act is productive of the most alarming and deplor-
able amount of litigation with its concomitant ill-feeling and ill-will
between employers and employees, who are by this Act forced into
hostile camps. I believe the object of the legislature in passing this

Act was to promote peace and goodwill between employers and em-
ployees, but I fear it has not done so." Subsequently Mr. Justice Hey-
don, President of the Court, referring to the numerous adverse de-
cisions given against the Court, said: "It had been riddled, shelled,
broken fore and aft, and reduced to a sinking hulk." In other words,
the regular courts had saved the people from a course of tyrannical
rule by this ''intruder" equaled only by that of the Neros of old.

Public opinion swung round, and called for Wages Boards, with
the result that the Act was so amended as to make the once-powerful
Court a Court of Appeal. Fortunately, out of evil came good. The
other States with such examples as New Zealand and New South Wales,
decided they would have" none of it, and Wages Boards, except in
Westralia (where an Arbitration Court had already been created),
became the vogue in all the States. Compulsory arbitration for the
settlement of strikes and industrial peace had been found wanting.

COMMONWEALTH ARBITRATION ACT.

One would have thought with such glaring examples before them
(for these Acts were in full vogue at the time), the Federal Govern-
ment, and that a so-called Liberal one, would have avoided creating such
a Court to look after Commonwealth industrial affairs, especially when
the power to deal with industrial conditions had only been agreed to
in the last Federal Convention by a small majority, with the under-
standing that such power would be provided only to meet a similar case
to that of the great maritime strike.

Section 51, when inserted in the Constitution for the prevention of
disputes extending beyond one State, was at the time looked upon as a
harmless preventive, but when the Bill was brought before the House
in 1904, it was found to be similar in many respects to the Acts of
New South Wales and New Zealand in all its autocratic powers, and
worse in one particular, that it had no lay representatives, but left every-
thing ^to the power of one man, in spite of the statement made by
Mr. Ashton already quoted, that "He did not believe any Supreme Court
judge had the requisite wisdom to perform that duty without committing
very serious errors."

The Act has had a similar effect upon the body politic to the New
South Wales Act, and the words of Mr. justice Darling apply equally
as apt to the Commonwealth Court, especially in the last paragraph:
"The Act is productive of the most alarming and deplorable amount of
litigation * * * and its object was to promote peace and goodwill be-
tween employers and employees, but I fear it has not done so."

Thousands of pounds have been spent by both employers and em-
ployees in the courts of law in "riddling" and "shelling" this iniquitous
Act. Eight years have been spent in hearing disputes by the Court,
whose decisions have in many cases been thrown out by the High Court.
Amendment after amendment have been made in the Act, with a view
of giving the Court greater and greater powers than even those men-
tioned by Mr. Ashton at the inception of the New South Wales Act,
and still no one is satisfied. Industrial peace is no nearer, and industrial
war is quite as frequent as before its passage as an Act. Strikes take
place all over the Commonwealth, and the leaders of the unions regis-
tered under the Court point-blank say: "We reserve the right to strike.
* * * A strike was the best weapon the workers had at the present time."
Agreements made are broken and the leaders recommend the men "that
unions should not bind themselves to their employers," and if an agree-
ment arrived at by both parties was not signed at the moment of a
contemplated strike, like in the case of the waterside workers and the
shipping companies, in which a penalty of £1,000 was inserted for strik-
ing, the men were encouraged "in waiving it on one side." Even in the
case of the great Brisbane strike, when 42 unions, who had nothing

whatever to do with the original dispute, went out in sympathy, one of
which was the "Boot Employees' Union," registered under the Arbitra-
tion Court, and working under an agreement of that Court.

It is true this Court is very popular at the present moment with
employees, and registrations of unions are taking place every day; but at
the rate it is moving many of those anxiously awaiting at the door to
have their cases heard are likely to be grey-headed before admittance.

COMPULSORY ARBITRATION.

Compulsory arbitration, as an experiment in both Australia and
New Zealand, if put on the stage, as "Pinafore," would prove a most
successful, laughable farce, if it was not so serious to the Australian
people. It has set up war between the classes; it has set up trouble
between the States and the Commonwealth, having virtually offered a
premium to the union to stir up troubles in those trades under Wages
Boards, due to a late decision of the High Court — that the Arbitration
Court cannot make an award inconsistent with the determination of a
Wages Board — that is to say, it cannot fix wages lower than those fixed
by the Board, but can, if the employees appeal to the Court, increase the
same, the men well knowing if they fail they still must get the wage
fixed by the Board. Could anything be more one-sided? The Act has
truly become the Storm Centre in William street, as so-called by the
Hon. W. H. Irvine, M. H. R.

Much more could be written re the last amended Acts still giving
more powers to the Court but the glaring examples given in this
lengthy paper must suffice. * * *

The experience given above by the chief actors in connection with
the administration of this Act in New Zealand and Australia would in
any other country have been sufficient to have stopped the same being
put on the Commonwealth Statute Book, especially when the States
have provided legislation like Wages Boards, practically giving the
workers plentiful protection in wages, hours and conditions. Compulsory
arbitration is a drastic failure. Why not admit it?

Apprenticeship.

(See former reference)

In addition to what has already been said with respect to
the matter of apprentices, we call attention to this vital phase of
the industrial problem and emphasize the fact that limitation
of the number of apprentices which may be employed to a given
number of artisans is fixed by the Wages Boards. Therefore,
the opportunities for the youth of the country to acquire trades
and thereby increase the industrial efficiency of the nation are
limited by law; which, in reality and practical operation is, in
the last analysis, regulation by the labor unions. Moreover, the
prevailing high rate of wages fixed for common labor has a de-
terrent effect on the desire of young men to become skilled me-
chanics, but is an incentive to seek employment where remunera-
tion is high and industrial education altogether nil.

Australia and New Zealand both have built high protection
walls to protect their manufacturing industries against outside
competition; so, too, they have built equally high walls to keep
out internal development of their own industries by restricting

the number of those who otherwise would become artisans and
upon whom the future industrial development of the country
must, necessarily, largely depend. The policy, to a thoughtful
man, aside from its repugnance, is much "like a man trying to
lift himself over a fence by pulling upon his boot straps."

The matter of constantly infusing new blood into the indus-
trial bodies of these countries is of such vital importance to their
growth and development that, if their present Governmental
policy of restriction of and discouragement to apprentices is
continued, they are sure to experience a gradual scarcity of
skilled mechanics, and it will not be long before they reach a
condition of industrial dry rot.

But little attention has heretofore been given to technical
training in the schools, although some interest in that direction
is just now being displayed. But of what little avail can be
any effort to teach the apprentice the theoretical side of the trade
he is seeking to learn when the very root of the proposition is
stunted by the restrictive policy which the Government itself
places upon its freedom and growth.

What's Wrong with Unionism ?

During our stay at Melbourne, it was our privilege to have
a number of interviews with Mr. J. T. Packer, Secretary of
the Liberal Workers' League, a political organization composed
of independent workers who are not in sympathy with the mili-
tant socialistic policy of the unions which dominate labor con-
ditions in Australia, and whom an effort is being made to band
together in a political organization to counteract the evil influ-
ence of that radical element of the Labor Party known as "Red
Feds."

We found Mr. Packer to be a man of wide experience in
industrial matters, a conscientious and intelligent representative
of the independent class of Australian workers, with whom it
was a pleasure to converse and to whom we are indebted for
much valuable information concerning the handicaps to the
"right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" which the
independent worker has to endure in Australia. Mr. Packer
is a union man and a firm believer in unionism when confined to
its proper and legitimate purposes and when founded on efficiency
and not deficiency. He is a fair representative of the average
Australian worker, who, our investigations lead us to believe,
is intelligent, frugal and conscientious, measuring up with the
average of those of any other country, and who sees and regrets
the evils of "the system" as much as anybody.

But, although in the majority, he is powerless to change
them, because he is not organized and "the system" is. Mr. Packer
was "read out" of his union because of his expressions of pro-
test against some of the many arbitrary and unjust practices of
unionism as it is conducted. He is the author of a book of 200
pages, entitled "What's Wrong WTith Unionism?" This report
would hardly be complete were we to fail to quote from it some
sentiments expressive of a working man's views on the kind of
unionism that is holding Australia in shackles. We shall, there-
fore, take the liberty to quote somewhat at length from the book,
because its author is a man who knows his subject and speaks
of things as they are and as we found them. And also, because
our mission was to make a thorough investigation of and report
in detail the true and actual industrial conditions in Australasia,
which having found to be as herein reported, we feel, as before
intimated, that a liberal share of the evidence upon which our con-
clusions are based should be presented in our report.

FROM "WHAT'S WRONG WITH UNIONISM?"

(PAGE 12)

As an Australian worker — a strong believer in unionism, as a
former executive committeeman of a Victorian union, and a delegate
on the Trades Hall Council, my objective in penning these pages is
solely to place in cold print, concisely as possible, just the danger zones
and hidden snares that are today undermining the great superstructure
of Australian unionism, and which, if unheeded, will, as sure as night
follows day, bring ruin to the most wonderful industrial organization
the world has yet seen. * * *

(PAGE 16)

The idea is uppermost in the minds of present day leaders, that
unionism cannot progress unless there is discord and industrial warfare.
The Labor Daily at Ballarat, of January 30, 1913: "The union that
can't or won't keep on fighting should disband." This policy is still
further emphasized by Senator Rae, a representative of the Australian
Workers' Union in the Federal Parliament, who is reported in "Handard"
to have stated: "I hold that whether it is any big political issue, or any
industrial issue, force still holds sway, and that striking produces better
results than any other method yet found out."

This class of legislator, sent to sit in our Parliamentary Halls to
introduce legislation for the peaceful settlement of industrial disputes,
states clearly that, as far as the school of thought he belongs to is con-
cerned, it has no time for peace between man and man. "The right to
strike is the only weapon the workingman has,- and he will not give it up,"
states the Hon. James Page, another prominent member of the A. W. U.f
sitting as a Parliamentary representative in our Federal Parliament.
Then again, the official organ of Australian unionism, the Sydney
Worker, in its issue of January 9, 1913, stated : "Don't be surprised if
1913 presents us with some of the greatest strikes on record. Labor
must not only be prepared to strike, but to back up the strike with armed
force — go in for civil war, in fact."

Again, the New South Wales Trades Union Congress of 1912 had
a serious resolution to consider, which was only negatived by seven votes,

which read that, "We demand the repeal of all Industrial Legislation that
takes away the right of contention and the right to strike."

The Sower, the monthly organ published through the union
office of the Melbourne Trades Hall, in January's issue, 1913, had an
article which read: "What an army of workers if well organised on
right lines and trained on the objects of more effective methods can
accomplish is illustrated in the Irritation Strike. At a given hour on a
fixed date all workers would suspend work suddenly; stay out a week,
and then return to their posts after a week or ten days' suspension,
acting as if nothing had happened. The manufacturers, thinking the
trouble had blown over, would start to run the factories full blast, when,
at a moment's notice, every man would walk out again, only to repeat
these methods over and over again, until the manufacturers were de-
moralized and the factories crippled. * * *

(PAGE 21)

Each State, as well as the Commonwealth itself, has laws for the
peaceful adjustment of wages and conditions of labor. The need for the
expensive strike levies has been completely done away with by the
avenues thus opened up for the legal adjustment of industrial differences.
Yet, is it any wonder, when we consider the statements as expressed
earlier in this chapter by modern trade union leaders, that we find that
during the three years running from May I, 1910, to April 30, 1913,
no fewer than 349 strikes occurred in the Commonwealth, making an
average of over 115 for the 12 months? * * *

This is a startling position, mysterious as it may seem to those
who are in close touch with modern trade unionism. * * *

Those trade unionists who some years back saw in political action
a panacea whereby all their industrial ills could be righted, have experi-
enced a rude shock to their theories. * * *

(PAGE 22)

The hatred between the worker unorganized and the worker or-
ganized is the great fight now waging in democratic Australia. The
members of organized trade unions may still hate the capitalists, but
organized labor's hatred toward unorganized labor burns like a flame,
eats like nitric acid and is malignant beyond all description. * *

To refuse a man the right to work, and hound him from job to
job on account of his non-membership in a socialistic union is now
called a principle. * * *

(PAGE 23)

This policy of compelling a man to loaf on the job is now, in the
words of the unionistic leaders, the principle at stake. * * * It can safely
be stated that about 50 per cent, of these men inside organized labor's
ranks today are men who have been forced in the interest of peace and
their homes to pay into the union coffers. * * *

(PAGE 24)

The writer recently spoke to a man, an engineer working in a
large engineering establishment, whose views had always been expressed
in a moderate and reasonable manner, and when asked how it was that
he was willing to condone the revolutionary and immoral acts of modern
trade unionism in its boycotting and coercive methods, stated, what was
he to do, he was building up a home, had a wife and five children, to
keep. His house he was buying on time payment, and if he refused to
pay his money into the union, or attempted to utter his sentiments in
opposition to that of the union executive, his life would at once be made
so unpleasant in the workshop that he would be compelled to give up
his position. "So," he stated, "I am compelled to sink conscience, and
find it cheap peace at 6d. a week." * * *

100

(PAGE 26)

The long suffering public, bending under such taxation, have, in the
light of recent and current events, been wondering in amazement at
the failure of the mass of political industrial machinery upon our State
and Commonwealth Statute Books, enacted at the cost of thousands of
pounds, at direct public expense, to bring about the long-hoped-for and
much-desired industrial peace and contentment.

Wages Boards have been introduced, and constituted by law to
adjust the differences between capital and labor; master and man sit
at one table, having equal rights, and equal votes, and with an inde-
pendent chairman. The Boards meet with perfect freedom, and under
Government protection.

Arbitration Courts have also been instituted, with the same objec-
tive. Yet, in the face of the Constitution providing such peaceful and
humanitarian methods to settle trade disputes and differences, Aus-
tralian workers are on every hand seething with discontent, and indus-
trial turmoil is rife in many quarters. In the face of all this, the bur-
dened and tired public asks, "Are strikes and trade and labor troubles
justified?" * * *

(PAGE 28)

The name of trades unionism is today inseparably linked with the
condonation of violence and other illegal acts, and frequently the courts
of our State are called upon to administer a well-deserved check. * * *
Although unionism has a fairly large number of workmen among its
members, * * * they have either been forced into its ranks by coercion,
or under pressure from a section of their fellow workers and the paid
agitator, or, in fear of being classed as "scabs" or "blacklegs," they,
for peace sake, become members. * * *

(PAGE 29)

Australian trades unionism today is an organized concreted cam-
paign, to pit class against class— a warfare of hate and malice. * * *

(PAGE 30)

The moment a union gets strong enough, it begins a policy of
restricting membership, restringing apprentices and improvers, restricting
output, and in many other ways limiting and controlling the particular
industry for the advantage of its own members and to the disadvantage
of those outside its ranks, whether they be employers or working men,
or boys desiring to learn a trade. * * *

(PAGE 31)

As we are all aware. Compulsory Conciliation and Arbitration is
the law of the land. Coincident with it we have disputes in almost
every industry to an extent never known before. This lamentable state
of affairs is most injurious to the workers of the community, who,
forming, as they do, the? majority of the population, feel most keenly
any stoppage of industry. From the outset, the Compulsory Conciliation
and Arbitration principle had many opponents. The term is in itself a
misnomer, since conciliation presupposes compromise, and a desire on
the part of those concerned to meet each other's views hardly compatible
with the compulsory condition of the law. In the same way, since
Arbitration means settling disputes without an appeal to law, the com-
pulsory element necessarily destroys the principle of arbitration. * * *

(PAGE 32)

That the result of the experiment has not been wholly satisfactory,
the most ardent of the advocates must admit. Their remedy is simple.
"More arbitration," they declare, is wanted, but when this is inquired
into, it will be found that this simply means "more compulsion." * * *

101

(PAGE 35)

"No differentiation" is the watchword, and that in time means the
production of one vast level. The Wages Board principle recognizes the
rights of both sides to consideration, but the Arbitration Court system
in its latest development considers the interests of only one side, and
would have the Court, its judges and officers simply existing to register
the decision of the labor bodies. * * *

(PAGE 36)

Australia industrially is groaning under the weight of legislative
regulation and prohibition. Less law-making is now wanted and more
confidence. * * *

(PAGE 46)

The much debated question of preference to unionists has reached
a position in Australia of well-nigh breaking point. When first intro-
duced in the Federal Act it was thought it would act in a manner that
would result in the unions adopting clean methods and a peaceful atti-
tude in connection with the settlement of industrial disputes, but such
a position has not been realized. * * *

(PAGE 49)

Perhaps the greatest setback as far as the repulsion of public sym-
pathy is concerned, that has yet been received by organized labor, was
when on September 18, 1911, the Labor Prime Minister, Mr. Andrew
Fisher, received a deputation from union officials of the Melbourne
Trades Hall, and afterward announced that it was intended that as far
as the administrative policy of that Labor Government was concerned,
preference was to be given to unionists in Government employ. With a
large majority in the House, the Government knew that it had a three
years' run to go, and under the cracking of the socialistic whip the
Cabinet was compelled to state its policy in black and white, and the
mandate was issued that in the engagement of all temporary employees
in the Home Affairs Department of the Commonwealth, preference to
unionists was to be given. At once there was a public outcry against
this altogether unprecedented policy of spoils for the victors as far as
Australian public life was concerned. It was found that out of 34,000
persons employed by the Commonwealth, 19,000 were outside the control
of the Public Service Commissioner, and who could be engaged outside
the ordinary policy of examination, etc., which is usual in the appoint-
ments made in Government offices. The Leader of the Opposition,
Mr. Alfred Deakin, moved a motion of want of confidence in the
Government. He moved: "That in the opinion of this House, the
preference in obtaining and retaining employment recently introduced
into his Department by the Minister of Home Affairs, is unjust and
oppressive; prejudicial alike to the public interest, and to the public
servants, and to the relations between Parliament and the public servants."
The issue was made a party one, and of course, having a majority, the
union representatives in the House carried it. * * *

(PAGE 52)

The Secretary of the Amalgamated Miners' Association stated:
"Our unionists will not work with non-unionists. If Mr. Cook wishes
to break up unionism he will find that he is more likely to cause a civil
war. If Mr. Cook wants to clog the wheels of industrial life, he is going
the right way to do it." * * *

(PAGE 56)

Within two years, no less than 16 independent unions have been
created that acknowledge the identity of interest between capital and
labor, and who eagerly have concentrated their activities on the im-
provement of the workers' conditions; the upholding of the law of the

102

land, and the utilising of the legislative facilities for the adjustment of
industrial disputes. Whether the forces of socialistic unionism, with
its attendant weapons of the boycott, threat, and intimidation, will be
so strong as to stultify the further extension of this movement, has yet
to be proved. But, in its policy of compulsory unionism, it has been
settled in the eyes of the union boss that a man can only be a unionist,
according to his vision, by being affiliated with a political or socialistic
union; and attempts are being made in a manner which holds up the
workers' cause to the strong criticism of public opinion, to force these
independent unionists into the ranks of socialistic bossdom. Yet the
fallacy of this position is worth reviewing, and if the rank and file of
present day unionists can be made to think for themselves, there is still
time to check the dangerous policy which is now being carried on by
its leaders. * * *

(PAGE 64)

Another fine example of unionists' tyranny was evidenced recently
in Western Australia in connection with the Carters' strike.

Here the men, contrary to the law made by their own Parliamentary
representatives, decided to use force rather than avail themselves of the
peaceful means of adjusting their demands.

Apparently, no doubt realizing their demands were unjust and that
a Court of Equity would rule against them, they took the matter into
their own hands, and made an endeavor to hold up industry in the
capital of that State. Other workers in that city then took up the
cause of the men, and on behalf of the general public made an endeavor
to keep the wheels going round.

At once the Secretary of the local socialistic union council issued
a letter to all affiliated unions, calling on all fellow unionists to treat the
independent workers as rats, and to make their life the life a rat ought
to live, for no other guilt than their decision to abide by the law of
the land.

The daily labor paper of Broken Hill recently openly stated in a
leading article, that as far as unionism was concerned, it recognized no
liberty of the individual. That socialistic unionism was the only channel
through which Australian workers could be represented, and all workers
outside its domination, whether organized or not, were traitors to them-
selves and to the State, and the employment of every justifiable means to
procure either their conversion or extinction was more than vindicated
by its urgent necessity. Yet still the fight goes on between worker and
worker. * * '*

(PAGE 65)

Apparently the reason why some unions are still in a measure
availing themselves of the legislative methods of dealing with their
industrial disputes, is the fact that they are not strong enough numeri-
cally to do without it. This strange position was emphasized by one
of the leaders in Victorian trade unionism recently, who in the press
was reported to have stated : "He recommended that if a union was
strong enough to do without a Wages Board it should not have one. * * *

(PAGE 66)

On Sunday, August, 1913, the Amalgamated Miners' Union at
Broken Hill, where the shop assistants were on strike, passed the fol-
lowing resolution:

"That this association pledges itself to strike a levy of 6d. per
member per week to assist the shop assistants and warehouse employees
in their industrial trouble, provided that they do not go to a Wages
Board for a settlement of their dispute, and that the levy be dispensed
by the Executive of the A. M. A., who are to arrange with the Executive
of the Shop Assistants' Federation for the disposal of the levy col-
lected."

103

There we have a union offering a monetary bribe to another union
if it will evade and ignore the lawful Wages Board. Surely this posi-
tion will open the other eyes of the extreme unionistic partisan. * * *

(PAGE 71)

With all the much boasted legislation put on the Australian Statute
Books at the cost of many thousands of pounds, and as the outcome of
the enlightened intellect of educated workers, yet in the face of all this
discord still exists. Penalties for the disobeying of the law have little,
if any effect. Unions willingly pay the cost of huge fines oftentimes
inflicted upon them as the direct result of the rash leadership of those
in authority. It seems as if the way to prevent strikes is not in the
direction of punishments by the legislative penalties. The Chief In-
spector of Factories in Melbourne recently stated that all legislation
passed hitherto to that end had been abortive. Neither direct punish-
ment, nor courts, nor Boards of Conciliation have had any real effect.
Apart from the doubtful quality of such legislation it is wrong in prin-
ciple from the fact that it attacks the effect and not the cause. We must
remove the cause of strikes, he said. * * * In Australia the cause of indus-
trial discontent at the present time is not that the conditions under
which men labor are injurious or harmful, it is not that wages generally
are low or hours of labor long, but it can be attributed more or less to
the harmful influence of the class hatred policy of the syndicalist and
man of revolutionary methods. Rid organized labor of this policy, substi-
tute one which gives equal opportunities to all and favors to none, and
which will endeavor to educate democracy along the line of rational
enlightenment; together with the preaching of the highest ideals of
Christian Brotherhood, and then there will be a reasonable hope of
industrial peace.

Perhaps there is not more irritating factor causing bitter antagon-
ism of employers toward labor unions than that of the blatant manner
in which modern unions break agreements. It is a common occurrence
for unions to break legitimate agreements made between employers and
men, at the shortest notice. As an example of this can be quoted the
case of the colliery proprietors in New South Wales.

During 1912 a joint Conciliation Committee was appointed, and for
some time was occupied in the position of mediator between the em-
ployers and employees in connection with industrial matters in that
district.

As the outcome of friction, the employers' representatives withdrew
from the Committee, and the following letter, dictated by the Secretary
of the Colliery Proprietors' Defence Association, was sent to the Secre-
tary of the Colliery Employees' Federation:

Dear Sir:— I beg to advise you that the colliery proprietors at
their meeting today decided to withdraw from the joint conciliation
committee. When the committee was constituted it was clearly under-
stood that there could be no excuse for interruptions in trade caused
by stoppages of collieries by individual lodges, but the committee had
not long been in existence before the colliery owners had to put up-
with the same state of affairs as existed prior thereto.

There is no need for me to dilate upon the serious effect which
those sudden stoppages have upon the trade of the port, because this
has been pointed out to your federation upon numerous occasions in
the past, so much so that the miners must realize what their actions
mean to the colliery proprietors and the conduct of their business.
However, the colliery proprietors have manifested a considerable amount
of forbearance in overlooking the transgressions of the miners, but
despite repeated warnings which have gone forth from the owners'
representatives on the joint committee the position is not improved, but
rather the contrary.

104

As you are aware, the joint committee held its first meeting on the
28th February of last year, and up to the I4th November, a period of
eight months and a half, no fewer than 44 stoppages are recorded.
At this particular stage the joint committee arrived at the conclusion
that unless something could be done to put a stop to these cessations of
work, which were seriously interfering with the operations of the joint
committee, that tribunal would be rendered useless.

The committee was then adjourned for a week, and in the mean-
time the miners, through the medium of the combined lodge meetings,
were appealed to to observe that portion of the constitution of the joint
committee which provided for disputes being referred to it, instead of
laying the mines idle. Every lodge in the district was appealed to in this
way, and the result in every case was a unanimous decision not to inter-
fere with the work of the committee by the cessation of work at the
mines. The committee then got to work again, and in a brief period of a
month between that time and the adjournment of the Christmas vacation,
on 23rd December last, there were fewer than six stoppages, and since
the latter date the Rhonda, Burwood and Elermore Vale collieries have
been stopped, to say nothing of the aggregate meeting which was held
on Monday last when nearly the whole of the Maitland collieries were
laid idle. This is a position which the proprietors refuse to tolerate
any longer and has led to the decision arrived at by them referred to in
the opening sentence of this letter. * * *

(PAGE 75)

A leading employers' journal recently stated: "While it is manifest
that unless labor tyranny is to be allowed to run rampant, a counter-
acting combination must be formed." This is the lesson of experience.
There has never been any combination between employers which has
not been preceded by a combination of workers. Self-defence compels
employers to combine. Before that, it was the union boss who attacked
them singly and defeated them easily. * * * This clash of arms between
Capital and Labor can have no good result. The damage that will be
done before common sense rule is established will be immense. In Bris-
bane during the general strike, when the employers combined and locked
put many of their workers, while the unions called out others, is a case
in point. Because the Courts ruled against the workers and the forces
of law and order were brought into focus to maintain peace and order
in the city, the official organ of organized labor in Australia, The
Worker, in its issue of January 9, 1913, stated: "As the case has been
decided against them so, labor must not only be prepared to strike,

but to back up the strike by armed force — go in for civil war in fact."

* * *

(PAGE 78)

The Australian public is living dangerously near the edge of a
volcano. So far the outbursts have been brought more or less under
control before whole communities have become engulfed in disaster, but
the escape has been perilously narrow more than once. Unionism ap-
pears to have lost its sense of responsibility.

Theoretically, under industrial arbitration, labor surrenders the
right to strike, and relies upon the law to see that it gets fair treatment
at the hands of the employers. But legal "Awards" have given only
partial satisfaction to labor. * * *

(PAGE 79)

At Broken Hill, the home of "modern and advanced unionism,"
a controversy recently waged hot and strong in the local labor press on
a proposal that "experienced men should be excluded from union mem-
bership," on the theory that being "experienced" he may some day be-
come a boss, and would then know all the "secrets" of unionism. It was

105

"allowing the enemy to enter the camp," was the text of this strange
argument. * * *

(PAGE 83)

It is increased productivity that gives wages a natural rise. Pro-
ductivity or efficiency is the legitimate reason for higher wages. No one
knows the justice of this principle better than the crafty militant union
leader; but it pays him better to keep in with the "new school," and
thus we have the strange anomaly that while the wages in Australia are
among the highest in the world for all classes of skilled and unskilled
labor, and hours are shorter than many other of the foremost countries
of the world, yet still Australia is teeming with industrial unrest. * * *

(PAGE 87)

It is not often that unionism is prepared to listen to the advice of
an employers' organization, but it will act as "balance" to hear the
opinions of the President of a Victorian Employers' Association, a well-
known and respected public man, and one who has, unlike the union
leaders of the Barrier, been able to make a success of his own business.
In a recent speech he is reported as stating the following solemn truths :
"Men were not refusing to join unions," he said, "because they
wished to sneak out of paying for any advantages that might be derived
from its work, but because such a state of tyranny was being built up
that those who otherwise would be willing to pay their share would have
nothing to do with an organization which meant their surrender of every
vestige of personal freedom and respect." This is the truth, and
Australian workers know it, although it is an employer who so plainly
states the position.

Yes, it can be truthfully stated, "that self-respect" is at stake today.
What self-respecting worker would be willing to financially support a
union that employs as its official organizer one who stands before his
admirers and states:

"If a non-unionist is wheeling a truck, put sand on his wheels; if
he asks you for a light, strike a match, blow it out and put the box
back in your pocket. Never speak to him. If you are a 'shouting' in
a pub., leave him out; if he is shouting, leave yourself out. Don't insult
him or hurt him, for it will only arouse sympathy for him, but if anyone
else is punching his head, don't try to stop him. I know a lot of you
would like to throw all non-unionists into the Murray, but don't do
that. Still, if you see one drowning, don't go to help him."

Apparently, there is hardly a limit to which the "extreme" union
official will not go to incite his dupes.

And a further serious aspect is presented when we consider that
the United Laborers' Union, the employees or the organizer who holds
and states these anarchical views is affiliated with the Trades Hall Coun-
cils of the various States, and it was from this Council that the recent
Federal Labor Government received a deputation of union bosses, who
urged the following condition: ,

"That in connection with Commonwealth work, preference be given
to unionists, i. e., that in cases where workmen were required by Com-
monwealth Departments, such men should be engaged through the
Trades Hall."

And the reply of the Labor Prime Minister, the custodian of the
public purse, was:

"In regard to your representations in favor of preference to union-
ists, that is the policy of the Government. As to hiring the men through
the Trades Hall, so far from being antagonistic to the proposal, I am
decidedly in favor of it." * * *

(PAGE 90)

War breeds after its kind, so do strikes and their progeny is hatred,
uncharitableness and all ill-will. They leave behind them legacies of

106

bitterness. They may sweep away some abuses but they generally
create more. * * *

(PAGE 92)

Nowadays, organized labor itself, through its governments, has
declared the strike illegal in Australia, and has finally adopted a new
method of getting justice. Yet within three years we have had no less
a number than 349 distinct breakings of the law. Yet no official of
organized labor has so far told the strikers that they are a new kind
of "scab." "It is about time," stated the Sydney Bulletin recently,
"that somebody did so; assuming that organized labor is in earnest in
finally adopting arbitration as its weapon, and if it is not in earnest, it
had better drop the pretence overboard at once." * * *

(PAGE 96)

There is no time in unionistic ranks for independence of thought.
As an indication of this, in the Melbourne Argus of ipth July, 1912, was
reported what appears to be another example of union tyranny, which
has led to the resignation of a member of one of the principal Wages
Boards in Victoria. This man was a representative of the employees
on this Board, and on one or two occasions happening to find himself
in agreement with the employers sitting on the board, he voted with them.
For this act he was summoned to appear before the Committee of the
union, and asked for an explanation. His defence apparently did not
satisfy the Committee, and he was informed that "no matter that my
own opinions were rightly or wrongly, I must on all occasions vote
with the union members of the board." The employee declined to submit
to these orders, and at once intimated his resignation, and in a letter to
the Department he explained the circumstances and stated "rather than
sacrifice my own will and become a mere automaton, I will retire and
allow one who is not so particular to do their will." This is the action
of a brave man, and it is needless to state how he will fare in the future
at the hands of the union boss. * * *

(PAGE no)

The unionistic politicians in their socialistic gospel tell the workers,
that Nationalisation is the only panacea for their industrial troubles ; but
this is not justified by convincing evidence. In New South Wales, the
Government's own railways were disorganized by the rash actions of
trades union employees, as reported more fully elsewhere.

The great Victorian railway strike is another instance where Na-
tionalisation failed in its "peace" qualities.

The Hon. Alfred Deakin, one of the most liberal and democratic
of the Australian statesmen, and a prominent leader in the Anti-Sweat-
ing League, summed^ up the position in a recent speech dealing with
the industrial unrest :

"The solution which appears to find most favor with the labor
politicians — or from the people who support them most loudly — is that
of universal employment by and under a legislature elected by that
community. One can hardly conceive of a worse or more unworkable
method. The confusion of the business of politics of the financial
interests of individuals and classes with the comprehensive interests of
the nation would occasion the worst encounters, and threatens the most
disastrous results." * * *

(PAGE 112)

The statement published in an interview with the Labor Minister
of Works in N. S. W., at the conclusion of the Railway strike, surely
is sufficient evidence to prove that the opinions of the other statement
as quoted here are worthy of serious consideration and study by all
wage-earners.

"We can no longer logically propose the Nationalisation of indus-

TO;

tries as a cure for industrial trouble," is the judgment of this Labor
Minister of State; then, following up this contention, unionists will re-
call the statement of the Minister of Labor in that same N. S. W.
Labor Cabinet. If the unions are everlastingly kicking at the people,
the people will kick back at the unions. * * *

(PAGE 118)

Universal discontent and general disgust with the present state of
industry is probably an accurate summary of the views of any intelligent
observer today. Everything is unsettled; no one seems anxious to find
points of agreement.

The theory of a normal attitude of criticism and cynicism holds
the field. "When there should be a willingness," recently wrote a well-
known student of industrialism, "to meet men for discussion sullenness
prevails, and altogether, the first decade of this 2Oth century closes a
chapter of pessimism." * * *

(PAGE 128)

For, after all, there is much wisdom in the statement of the writer
who said, "The disease of strike is really the disease of loaf in a bad
form — a disease that can kill the healthiest nation quicker than the guns
of a possible invader." * * *

(PAGE 130)

Tt has been shrewdly suggested in the columns of the press that the
best remedy for strikes would be disfranchisement. There is very much
to be said for that view. Every striker who defies the law, having a legal
remedy in a Wages Board or Arbitration Court, and who flouts both
and flies to strike violence, is a criminal, and as a criminal should be
deprived of his franchise. * * *

(PAGE 132)

Is it to be finally concluded then that this "slow-down" policy, which
is so often quoted about by employers, is as bad as reported? What an
advertisement for a young, developing country, which is rising to take
its place among the manufacturing countries of the world. * * *

(PAGE 134)

Another case where the doctrine of the "slow-down" policy stands
condemned was recently cited by a South Australian politician in dealing
with higher wages and less work. He said:

"Take bricklayers. A few years ago, when a bricklayer's wage was
9s. a day he used to lay about 800 bricks, but today when his wages run
from 135. to 155., or i6s., he lays about 400 bricks. Let us get back to
the building of a cottage which today costs £270. Where does the dif-
ference in cost come in? The value of the timber, on which there is
not a considerable amount of labor bestowed for that four-roomed
cottage, has not increased by more than at the very outside £30. But the
cost of building that cottage was nearly doubled. The point is that
socialism is aiming at equality. They are aiming at an impossible thing.
No such thing as equality is possible unless they destroy liberty. If
you have equality, there is no liberty, and if you have liberty there can
be no equality.

The Socialistic Labor principle of today is to pull everyone down
to the level of the average man, and then call themselves democrats.
True democracy means calling every man up to the height of his capacity
for service. * * *

(PAGE 143)

There is a call— an urgent call— at the present time being made to
Australian workers to rise up from the mire into which they have been
dragged, and to respond to their better nature, and the appeal from the

108

general public for justice and for sane reasoning. This bitter hatred
between Capital and Labor must be turned down. * * *

(PAGE 171)

A skilled worker representing a powerful union said at a recent
sitting that he and his colleagues were sent there to get increases, no
matter what their own individual opinions might be. They would only
vote the one way, and he supposed the employers' delegates would vote
the other way, so that the chairman would have to make the decision.
It did not matter what increase the Board gave; the unions were de-
termined to go on and ask for more. They had no minimum, and no
concern as to what effect it had on the industry. If it meant killing it,
then it would have to be killed. If they did not carry out their in-
structions, they would at once be shunted, and others more determined
would take their place. They were out for all they could possibly get,
regardless of any other issue, and the future must be left to take care
of itself. This was an honest exposition of the policy of the Trades
Hall and employees' delegates to the Wages Board, and correctly inter-
preted their attitude at the meetings, which were really degenerating into
a farce. The question of increase of wages had today no relation to
the condition of an industry or its ability to bear the burden of increased
wages' cost. The only solution they saw was that when an industry
could not further continue by passing the increased cost on to the
public, the Government must proceed to prohibitive duties, or, better
still, nationalise all industries. * * *

(PAGE 182)

The issue is plain. It is not whether political unionism is right or
wrong. It is now more than an issue ; it is nearing a crisis. It is a
struggle between law and lawlessness. It is an issue that has now reached
its culmination in this country?

Today the Australian people — each man, woman and child of whom
is directly interested in our common industrial welfare — must face the
question whether socialistic and ofttimes criminal unionism or law and
order and common justice, shall prevail. * * *

(PAGE 204)

Recently a large employer of labor said:

"I have dealt with organized labor for perhaps 20 years, and we
have kept our industry running, but at the expense of much thought,
time, and money, and all we have so far been able to accomplish, has
simply been to sit on the safety valve and prevent an explosion. How
long we shall be able to do this is problematical." * * *

(PAGE 206)

Even though this appeal from a worker to workers is as a man
crying out in a wilderness, yet just as surely as the sun rises and sets,
the peaceful solution of labor problems must eventually obtain if this
country is to advance. Men of great foresight and broad views are
coming to understand this as never before, and the doctrine here taught,
will, I believe, find a lodgment in the hearts of all classes, and then
the day of the square deal will surely dawn.

Woman Suffrage.

In the matter of political franchise in Australia, the right
to vote at all elections is extended to women equally with men,
and, as this right of franchise is of long standing, the argument
that woman suffrage will purify politics and better the condi-*
tion of women does not hold good in these countries. We dis-

109

cussed this question with many men and women, in both New
Zealand and Australia, and found no one who did not express
the opinion, substantially, that the votes of women were more
responsible for the unfavorable industrial conditions than any
other influence, for the reason that the political power of the
organized forces was doubled by the women's vote, while the
vote of the unorganized classes was not proportionately increased
because of the indifference and apathy of the women of these
classes, particularly among the society women, who take but little
or no interest in political matters. In fact, so far as our obser-
vations extended, the interests of women would be the better
safeguarded if left entirely in the hands of the men. To us,
a most lamentable spectacle of disrespect for womanhood is the
general custom of "barmaids" in the saloons of Australasia, in
most of which women, instead of men, dispense the liquids. If
woman suffrage means anything at all, it should never permit
the existence of a system so degrading to womanhood as the
passing out of beer and whiskey over saloon bars, and the fact
that such is the common custom throughout Australasia, where
for many years women have exercised the right to .vote, does
not warrant the claim that woman suffrage is either beneficial
or elevating to womanhood. So far as we could ascertain,
Parliament has not enacted a single ^law especially beneficial to
or at the instance of women during its existence. Social in-
dustrial justice has not been advanced by the votes of women,
else class domination and color discrimination would have
ceased.

"A White Australia."

One cannot mingle very long among the people of Australia
without realizing the fact that many of them have strong preju-
dices against every human being through whose veins flows a
drop of blood which gives to the skin a tinge of yellow, black or
brown. Their slogan is, "A White Australia," for admission to
which no member of the colored races need apply. They have
buried, deep down in oblivion, all memory of the fact that this
country which they now so boldly declare shall be a "white man's
country" was, not so very long ago, a black man's country,
and that, had the aborigines, who are of the blackest of black
men, adopted the policy that none but black, yellow or brown
men should inhabit it, the white man might just now be a curi-
osity in Australia, and these same aborigines, instead of being
hived together in a little section by themselves, might be enjoy-
ing that which is justly their own.

There is no country or spot of ground in the wide world,
no matter by what people inhabited, that the white man does

1 10

not invade just as soon as he discovers there is wealth to be
obtained there, and his first move is to grab all that is worth
having and drive the natives "into their holes." Every man,
of whatever race or color, has the right to go anywhere on earth
to seek the opportunity to earn a living and accumulate wealth,
if he goes about it honestly and does not intrude on the rights
of others or violate the law. To discriminate against a China-
man, Japanese, Hindu, or any other human being by uncondi-
tionally denying them this right, while granting it to all others,
is a crime not only against these people, but against the Creator
of all men, for which, some day, the white man will have to
render an account.

There are more than 450,000,000 people in China, 325,000,-
ooo in India, 36,000,000 in Java and 50,000,000 in Japan, a total
of approximately 861,000,000 in these four countries alone, be-
sides many more millions scattered throughout the Far East, all
of whom come under the ban of Australia's "White Man's"
policy. The combined area of China, India, Java and Japan is
approximately 6,367,400 square miles, having an average of
135 persons to the square mile, while Australia has 2,974,581
square miles with an average of a trifle over one and one-half
persons to the square mile.

The white man in all countries, particularly in America,
is spending millions of dollars annually in the support of mis-
sionaries to teach the yellow, black and brown races to aspire to
higher ideals, and at the same time they are denying these per-
sons the right of opportunity to obtain the higher standard of
living which they are educating them to aspire to. Surely there
is no consistency in such "benevolence," and the higher education
which these people are gradually acquiring is opening their eyes
to the insults which the "white man" is heaping upon them.
Bitter will be the punishment when the accounting is demanded,
perhaps in less than fifty years hence. They have a real griev-
ance to settle, and the sooner the "white man" silences the dema-
gogues who cater and truckle to the shrieks of labor agitators
and undesirable "white" citizens and treat these people fairly, the
farther off will the day of reckoning be, and the less serious its
consequences. Many Australians realize this and are filled with
fear that, particularly, China and Japan have designs on Austra-
lia's vast area of peopleless territory as a relief station for their
already over-crowded and ever-increasing population. These
labor agitators are insisting upon social industrial justice for
their own privileged few, while flagrantly compelling the Govern-
ment to deny it to these and all non-unionists and employers.

Mention the subject to almost any man you chance to talk

with and he will express the fear, if not the belief, that unless
they manage to settle up the country before very long, the
"Japs" or the Chinese will people it for them, in spite of their
restrictive color laws and in face of any defence that Australia
could possibly muster, with her compulsory trained army and
infant navy, and such short-sighted Governmental discrimination
would itself furnish the cause of war. The Japanese-British
alliance may be relied upon temporarily to appease the situation
and delay the day of reckoning, but when the day for retribution
does come, no alliance will stand in the way of its execution.
Take, for example, Queensland, with 670,000 square miles and
656,000 population, and the Northern Territory, 523,000 square
miles and 3,700 population. If, perchance, there should some
fine morning be 50,000,000 people landed on the shores of these
two spots on the map, they would then only be one-third as
thickly peopled as are the countries named in the above estimate.
Land now worth ten "bobs" (shillings) an acre would then rise
in value an hundredfold, and, in accordance with the socialistic
or communistic theory, toward which Australia is rapidly drift-
ing, why should those people be crowded into the sea when there
are such large areas of unpopulated country near by which by
dint of hard toil, for which they are noted, they could cultivate
and enjoy the privilege of performing their fair share in the eco-
nomic problem of life. "But," cries the workless agitator, "we
can't compete with coolie labor." No such cry comes from the
business man, notwithstanding the fact that the demagogic poli-
ticians in Australia, as in the United States, pander to an or-
ganized labor monopoly and use their influence in Parliament to
further legislation tending to promote the interests of the shift-
less and improvident, at the expense of the thrifty and compe-
tent, and at the same time, and by the same means, further a
condition of ruthless competition in business.

The socialistic labor unionists and their sympathizers are
infected with the craven idea that if the man of color is permitted
to settle in Australia, a few years will see the black man, the
yellow and the brown man "in the saddle," and in superior
authority to themselves. It is as common in Australia as it is
in the United States for public demagogues who wax fat in
their profession to talk a great deal about the "dignity of labor,"
while all laborers would willingly forego their share of the dignity
if they could rid themselves of the necessity. If, then, there is
so much dignity in labor, the Chinese and the Japanese coolies
are supreme in all its glory, for they can teach the "white man"
how to labor and what labor really is, yet we hear not a word
from them about its dignity. To exclude them, unconditionally,

112

from any country is to fear them, and if they are inferior, to
fear them is cowardice of the rankest kind.

If a Chinaman or a "Jap," or any other so-called man of
color, can do certain work for less pay than the so-called white
man and do it as well or better, he certainly is entitled to par-
ticipate in the "dignity of labor" and its economic results in any
country in which labor is dignity, and, after all that is said
against him, if you will compare the coolie, for example, with
the thousands of shiftless loafers and bums that swarm the
parks, the wharfs and saloons of Australia, and with the millions
of undesirables we not only admit but welcome to the United
States as "white men," you will find them far more desirable
residents in any community, for they are a peaceably inclined,
law abiding, provident, temperate and industrious people. They
are frugal in their habits and get as much for their -labor as
economic conditions will allow. They adapt themselves to cir-
cumstances and waste nothing. Their "white" antagonists could,
if they would, learn from them a lesson in this respect that would
be most helpful in lessening the discontent that is so prevalent
among themselves. These people are polite and courteous by
nature, and their natural bent is in the direction of good citizen-
ship rather than toward being a burden upon society.

During 24 days' stay in four principal cities in China, one
in Manchuria and three in Japan, we made frequent visits to the
coolie districts without witnessing a single drunk or disorderly
person, while in Australia we found drunkenness to be a com-
mon pastime.

Australians of all classes are liberal spenders. A favorite
argument of the labor agitator against these excluded classes
is, that they don't spend their money, while the Australian worker
does, and is, therefore, a better man in a community. This may
be good logic, but a thoughtful man will hardly admit that a
man who wastes his surplus earnings is a better citizen than
one who saves them for a- rainy day.

While, as we have stated, Australia is a country of great
natural resources, it is not without its pests and natural draw-
backs. In Queensland there are hundreds of thousands of
acres of wonderfully fertile land so thickly covered with prickly
pear (cactus) that it cannot be utilized for any purpose, the
expense of destroying the pest being greater than the value of
the land when cleared. This pest is spreading so rapidly as to
cause serious alarm.

A scientist, who has been experimenting for a number of
years on a means of destroying the pest by some sort of manu-
factured gas, has entered into a contract with the Government

to undertake to clear 100,000 acres on condition that if he is suc-
cessful in the venture the land is to be deeded to him. In all our
travels through China and Japan we saw no land anywhere that
was covered with rank growths ; every foot of tillable ground be-
ing under a high state of cultivation, and we venture the asser-
tion that if Queensland would open her doors to a few thousand
Chinese or Japanese, and give them a portion of this prickly pear
land for clearing it they would find a way to annihilate the pest
and that they would transform prickly pear land into a veritable
garden of profitable agriculture, such as can be seen all over
China and Japan.

Then there is the white ant pest, with which Queensland
is especially seriously troubled. These little pests seem to have
an economic theory of their own ; unlike the labor unionists they
believe in industry as the best means of advancement. That they
are industrious and efficient, no one who has seen them at work
and examined the results of their labor will doubt. They seem all
to be "woodworkers" by trade, and bend their energies on honey-
combing the woodwork in houses, which it is the general custom
to build upon stilts or piles, with inverted pans, resembling ordi-
nary pie pans, at the top ends of the piles and under the sills of
the house. They say the ants won't venture to travel around
the edge walls of these pans, but confine their destructive opera-
tions to the piles, which, being ten to fifteen inches in diameter,
years of their labor is required to materially injure them. In
the country district, these enterprising "Miniature Socialists" en-
gage in home building. In motoring through woods around
Brisbane we saw hundreds of these ant houses or hills, as they
call them, some of which were fully six feet high and five or
six feet in diameter at the base. In external appearance these
houses resemble a tapering pile of baked clay, the interior of
which upon close examination will be found to contain millions
of fine cells which constitute the dwelling places of these busy
little insects, so that in reality these odd looking clay hills are
modern ants' tenement houses.

If there were a fair sprinkling of brown and yellow men,
or both, throughout Queensland, perhaps they would find a way
to eliminate these pests or turn them to some useful purpose.
But of all the pests with which Australia is infected, the rabbit
pest is the worst. The country is literally alive with rabbits,
and the question of their elimination is one of serious importance
to the farming and pastoral interests. They eat everything in
sight, and sight everything to eat. Farmers and pastoralists are
put to great and otherwise unnecessary expense, in erecting wire
netting fences around their lands, and which extend six inches

114

to one foot below the surface of the ground. Then they set
out to trap, shoot, poison or otherwise destroy the pests that are
inside the fenced lands. Here again the Chinaman and Japa-
nese would come in handy in promoting the general welfare of
the country, for they would soon find a way to convert all the
rabbits into potpie, and thereby leave the sheep and cattle free
to enjoy that which is their own.

Then, again, Queensland, for example, is one of the finest
cotton growing pieces of country on earth, but no one cares to
engage in the industry because of labor conditions. If, how-
ever, coolie or negro labor could be had, the resources of
Queensland could be made to develop by leaps and bounds, and
which the narrow, selfish, "dog in the manger" policy of the
Government, at the bidding of the labor unions, is holding back.
Australians would have no vegetables to eat if it were not for
the few Chinamen who are there, and were there before the
exclusion act was passed, and wrho are the principal market gar-
deners of the country. Australians do not take kindly to such
work.

Australia is pleading and crying for more people, any kind
of people, so long as they are "white." What a pity we cannot
turn her way some portion, at least,, of the millions of the low
class of immigrants that are constantly flocking to our shores
from Southern Europe, who would find plenty of sympathizers
in Australia, and who would increase the popular clamor for
"a white Australia."

It was our privilege and pleasure to have audiences with a
number of Chinese and Japanese high officials, and in each case
this question of discrimination against their people was dis-
cussed. The keen sense of humiliation and displeasure with
which they look at the matter was manifest, although in no case
was there any spirit of retaliation apparent.

As a matter of fact, what Australia really needs, to fit in
with her vast peopleless areas and her natural advantages, is five
to ten millions of Chinese, Japanese and our American negroes.
If she would admit these people under proper stipulated political
restrictions, they would be the means through which her unde-
veloped resources would spring forth and a new era of pros-
perity would be developed for everybody. If she does not
amend her present "White Man's Policy" and give her yellow
and brown neighbors a chance, she may be sure that some day
they will help themselves to what they are justly entitled to, with
something added for good measure, and then Australia will rue
the day of her "White Man's Policy" and her people will regret
their stupidity.

Let Australia, as a means of developing her resources and
peopling the country, repeal her injurious labor laws, and estab-
lish tolerable industrial conditions; abandon her State owner-
ship policy; "limber up" her immigration laws; sell or lease
her railroads to private corporations and grant liberal franchise
for the building of new ones, guaranteeing assurance of per-
manent enjoyment of the same, and she will, in a short time,
blossom like a rose.

New Zealand.

Referring now more specifically to New Zealand, its total
area is 104,760 squares miles. In 1900 its total population was,
whites 770,682, Maoris (natives) 39,854, making a total of 810,-
536. In 1912 its white population was 1,052,627 and Maoris
49,844, making a total of 1,102,471 ; being an increase in whites
of 281,945, Maoris 9,990 — together 291,935. Its total debt in
1900 was $241,509,363, per head 1313.37. In 1912 its total debt
was $400,281,419 or $380.27 per head, the increase per head in
12 years being $66.90. Its principal cities are Auckland, Well-
ington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

Auckland, the most northerly of New Zealand cities, is a city
of hills and valleys, spread over a large area, and including its
suburbs, has a population of 110,000. It has a magnificent
harbor, excellent docking facilities and extensive shipping in-
terests. Its business and public buildings are of substantial con-
struction and the city bears evidence of a prosperous and intel-
ligent upbuilding. It has a good tramway system, which is
owned and operated by an English corporation, the fares being
the same as in Sydney, a penny (2 cents) for each section or
district. There are no tenement and very few two-story houses
in Auckland, nearly all families being provided with neat, cozy
houses. Its telephone service is good, but its system of street
lighting is deficient and not at all up to the requirements of a
modern city of its size.

Wellington, the capital of the Dominion, is situated at the
southern extremity of North Island, 425 miles from Auckland
by rail, and has a population of 74,000. The residential part of
the city is built on the side of a very high hill or mountain, whose
side curves in the form of a horseshoe ; its business section lying
on practically a level plateau at the base. Wellington has an ex-
cellent harbor and its shipping interests are extensive. It has
a good tramway system, which is owned and operated by the
municipality. The Sydney and Auckland system rates of fare
prevail, a four-mile ride, for example, costing 4d. (8 cents). Its
business and public buildings are of substantial character and

116

will compare favorably with those in modern cities of similar
size in the United States.

Christchurch, situated on the east coast of South Island,
175 miles from Wellington by water, has a population of 85,000.
The city is level and beautifully laid out with wide streets and
public grounds, and the impression the visitor gets of the city
is that it is an ideal place in which to live.

Dunedin, situated on the east coast of South Island, 190
miles south of Christchurch, has a population of 68,000. Its
residential section is built on the side of a hill with its business
section lying at the base. It has a good harbor, with excellent
docking facilities, and its shipping interests are of considerable
importance.

That part of New Zealand north of Auckland is but sparse-
ly populated and is practically barren rock and sand; the chief
product being Kauri gum, which is dug out of the ground where
it has been deposited from trees long since extinct and shipped
in large quantities to all parts of the world for use, principally,
in making varnish. This is an extensive industry, and many
firms are engaged in exportation of the gum.

Government and Business.

New Zealand is primarily a pastoral country and can never
be anything else. As such it has accomplished marvelous things
in the development of its cities and natural resources. Seventy
years ago it was inhabited only by native Maoris, except a few
white settlers who were scattered here and there about the
islands. Its real development has taken place within the past 60
years, although the cities look much older. Nature has not
done more for any country than it has done for New Zealand,
which is the paradise of cattle and sheep and once was a Utopia
for their owners. But, as is the' case everywhere, there has
not been an equal distribution of the wealth of the country, and
so the discontented ne'er-do-well and socialistic element set about
to juggle its institutions into a conglomerate mass of State owned
enterprises, which at present include banking, fire and life insur-
ance, coal dealing, farming, manufacturing, butchering, export-
ing, real estate and some 20 or 30 other lines of commercial
and industrial activities, with the result that about every man
you meet and talk with wears a woe-begone countenance and
expresses his disgust at the turn of events. The very atmos-
phere seems to be pregnant with depression and stagnation,
such as prevails in boomed towns after the bottom has dropped
out. In fact, the great number of unemployed, the languishing

117

condition of the industries, the attitude of the people and the
appearance of things generally, all have a tendency to suggest to
the observer a process of decadency and dry rot. As an illustration
of this, we said to a certain business man, with whom we were dis-
cussing these matters, "There doesn't appear to be any very rich
men here. Are there no millionaires in Auckland?" His reply was,
"Yes, several of them and a good many men worth upward of a
million, but they don't display their wealth." We asked, "Why is
that so?" He replied, "They are afraid to let it be known for
fear the Government will find a way to take it away from them."
This colloquy was repeated to a hotel-keeper, who said, "Right
he was. There is a very pronounced, though quiet sentiment
of that character among business men all over New Zealand."

A merchant expressed the belief that New Zealanders were
seeing the folly of experimenting with socialistic theories, which,
while attractive and fascinating, in practice work only for evil
and humiliation, and said that, in his opinion, the ultimate result
of the great Auckland and Wellington strikes of 1913 would be
to change public sentiment entirely with respect to legislation
and the Government policy of robbing the prudent man for the
benefit of the idle and the improvident.

The Government of New Zealand protects its manufacturing
industries by a heavy tariff ; but it is quite apparent that its
limited market will not warrant manufacturing on a scale large
enough to justify extensive investments in manufacturing en-
terprises, either by the State or by individuals, or to create home
competition by which prices may be kept within reasonable
bounds. Consequently, the masses are taxed to promote an
impossible proposition. Then, again, suppose the Government
should take a notion to monopolize the industries of the country
and should adopt methods to drive out individual competition,
what is there to prevent it doing so, and what would become of
the private capital invested in such industries? This is quite
possible in a socialistic community.

Government Lands.

One of the enticing theories of the socialistic party is to do
away with private ownership of land, and as rapidly as it can,
the Government is resuming all the large estates; consequently
private owners of large tracts of land have a strong feeling of
insecurity in their possessions, for whenever the Government
wants to resume their lands it will do so. Hence, no man will
buy land in the hope of building up a home for himself in his
old age and a heritage for his children; the ultimate goal to

118

which New Zealand at present aspires being that the State shall
be the only freeholder. To that end a graduated land tax so
burdens the larger land holders that they are glad to sell their
lands to the State. Thus stock raising on a large scale is gradu-
ally drawing to an end. Lands bought by the State will not be
resold but will be leased in small parcels, on conditions similar
to those mentioned elsewhere in this report as prevailing in
Australia, and which are of such a restrictive and arbitrary
character as to destroy all ambition of the tenant to improve the
land he occupies or do more than, from year to year, sap it of
its virtue. He feels that he has been victimized ; that the system
under which he labors forbids that he shall possess more than
he consumes ; that all his excess production belongs to the public ;
that he has surrendered his individuality to the State and is no
longer a free agent, but simply a single equal unit among the
industrious and the idle; the thoughtful and indifferent; the
provident and the spendthrift; the honorable and the dishonor-
able; the drunkard and the temperate; the sane and the insane;
the soil-tiller and office-holder; the preacher and the doctor;
the lawyer and the barmaid; the tax gatherer and the tax
payer, and all else that goes to make up the activities of life,
and beyond all this he sees for the future only a paradise for
paupers and a premium on idleness.

It will be remembered that not many years ago a certain
individual gathered together a large number of people in
Australasia who were not satisfied with the progress being made
along the lines of their socialistic ideals, and hied them off to a
place by themselves, in Paraguay, which was the proper thing
to do, but before they reached the "promised land" dissensions
arose because some had provided themselves with crackers and
other things which they refused to assign to the family kettle
but kept for their own consumption. Suffice it to say that the
enterprise soon fell to pieces and that the prime mover in the
scheme is now said to be back in Auckland, connected with a
newspaper of that city.

Government Railways.

There are about 2000 miles of railroad in New Zealand,
owned and operated by the Government, the gauge of which is
3 feet 6 inches. The road-beds are good and the equipment and
service, while primitive and inefficient when compared with rail-
roads in the United States, are all that could reasonably be ex-
pected when the differences in conditions are considered. The
average rate of fare, first class, is 3^2 cents per mile, sleeping
car rates about the same as in the United States. Not all New

119

Zealanders are proud of their railroads; though some office-
holders are especially boastful of them and claim that they are
a paying investment. Not having any statistics at hand we can
neither verify nor refute the claim. The roads seem to be
fairly well managed and operated, considering all the circum-
stances relating to their existence, and it would be unfair to
criticize adversely, as some have done, the railroads of New
Zealand by comparing them with roads in more thickly populated
countries.

Industrial Conditions in New Zealand.

With respect to industrial conditions in New Zealand. In
addition to the references and quotations from publications which
appear earlier in this report, under the caption "Australasia," a
brief history of the great general strike which took place in the
fall of 1913, which we obtained from an authoritative source, will
be of interest. This strike was launched October 2Oth, at Hunt-
ly, by the coal miners, who struck in violation of agreement and
contrary to law, because the mine operators discharged 16 men
whom they claimed they had no work for on account of dull
trade. The Miners' Union was registered under the Arbitra-
tion and Conciliation Act, and, therefore, for it to peremptorily
strike was a direct violation of the law. Moreover, after a
similar trouble a year before, work was resumed under an agree-
ment with the company in which the union officials agreed to do
all in their power to prevent any strikes in future, and not to
promote any strike until a secret ballot had been taken, as pro-
vided by law, and consent obtained of two-thirds of the mem-
bers, but no secret ballot was taken before this strike was de-
clared. The United Federation of Labor supported the action
of the union leaders in declaring the strike, on the pretence that
the company had discharged the men because they were active
in union matters. October 22d the waterside workers of Well-
ing struck against a local ship company, and there was trouble
brewing at several other places in the Dominion. The strike
of the waterside workers at Auckland was called Oct. 29th,
the men refusing to handle coal brought to that port by sea.
When this strike had been in progress a few days, the Fed-
eration of Labor called a general strike of waterside workers,
carters, seamen and 15 or 20 other unions, the idea being to
so paralyze the industries of the country as to force recog-
nition of union supremacy in all industrial matters. When the
strike was at its height there were about 7000 men involved in
Auckland alone, and a condition of chaos prevailed in all
parts of the Dominion, the result being, the complete paraly-

I2O

zation of shipping and the holding up of all vessels for a period
of about two weeks. The Government was helpless, though ap-
parently witling to maintain order and prevent destruction of
property, and the local police were entirely inadequate to cope
with the situation in any of the affected districts.

Therefore, realizing that the country was facing a condition
of anarchy, the authorities issued a general call for volunteers,
mounted and unmounted, to be sworn in as special constabulary
to re-establish normal conditions. The call was promptly and
generously answered and thousands of men from the cities and
the country districts volunteered their services and were mus-
tered into service. About 3,200 volunteers were assigned to duty
in Auckland, which had then become the pivotal point in the
industrial war that had seized the "Land of No Strikes." About
one-half of these volunteers were mounted men from the coun-
try districts who provided their own horses. They were fur-
nished with axe-helves for batons and assigned to duty at the
wharfs and other places where trouble was on or likely to occur.
Some of the mounted "specials," together with a large number
of men who had been willing but afraid to work, started in to
discharge and load the many ocean liners that were held up in
the harbor, while others acted in the capacity of carters, and,
under the strong protection of the mounted farmer boys, de-
livered freight to and from the ships and warehouses. This
broke the backbone of the strike, which after a duration of
eight weeks was called off and law and order was then restored.

Next to Auckland, Wellington was the more warlike port,
and the situation there was handled the same as in Auckland,
the authorities of the two cities working in co-operation and
harmony. The tramway system at Auckland was tied up for
1 8 days, ostensibly for want of coal, but in reality as a matter
of diplomacy.

The losses sustained by all classes, through this industrial
upheaval, were very heavy, the total loss to the country being
estimated at from $6,000,000 to $8,000,000. But there is a
strong feeling among the business and thoughtful men generally,
that the loss, however great, will prove a blessing in disguise, and
that it will prove to be the beginning of the end of socialistic
foolishness in New Zealand, evidence of which is already apparent,
and is mildly expressed in the following from the Melbourne
Age of April 3Oth:

RESULT OF MAYORAL ELECTION.

In the Wellington mayoral election, which was held today, J. P.
Luke, sitting mayor, received 11,501 votes, D. Maclaren (United Labor
Party), 4,339 votes; J. Glover (Social Democrat), who contested the

121

seat in place of J. Holland, who is now undergoing a sentence for sedi-
tion in connection with the recent strike of waterside workers, 4,337
votes.

The Honorable J. MacGreegor, one of the sponsors for the
New Zealand Arbitration Act, has written a number of "open"
letters to the Dominion Prime Minister, Mr. Massey, leader of
the Liberal Party, on the failure of the law to achieve industrial
peace, and as one of them, in particular, characterizes the
effectiveness of the law as measured by its practical operation,
we take the liberty to quote from it the following :

You have, I have no doubt, some recollection of that remarkable
deputation that waited upon you in February last to submit you certain
resolutions that had been passed by the "Syndicalist Socialist Conference,"
surely the most arrogant and insolent deputation that was ever granted
an audience by a Prime Minister. I am going to endeavor to show with
regard to one of those resolutions, at any rate, that due consideration
would mean treating with contempt. As you are aware, no union can
have any status under the Act, unless it is registered as an "industrial
union"; but provision is made for enabling a union to get its registration
cancelled and so surrender the benefits and escape the penalties of the
Act. In this way a union is enabled to indulge with impunity in the
luxury of a strike. Now, the Waihi union cancelled its registration.
Thereupon a number of the members of the union who believed in the
arbitration system had seceded, formed a new union, and got it regis-
tered. This was made the pretext for the Waihi strike that proved so
disastrous to all concerned. We are not in a position to understand
the nature of the demand made by the deputation : that the Act should
be so altered that when a registered union cancels its registration in
order to be free to strike, as the Waihi union did, no other union shall
be allowed registration in its place : that an Act intended to prevent
strikes should be so altered as to facilitate and encourage strikes, by
forbidding registration, in such circumstances, of unions that are op-
posed to strikes. It is surely difficult to conceive greater impudence that
is implied in the submitting of such a demand to the Prime Minister,
by a deputation comprising several of those agitators who were 'largely
responsible for the worst strike New Zealand ever saw. And now we
find the demand made by this deputation suggested as one of the
"objects" of the proposed United Federation of Labor that is to re-
generate our effete social and industrial systems. But the same Act
that forbids a registered union to strike gives it the right to cancel its
registration in order to strike. The legal position, therefore, seems to
be that, by registering under the Act, a union surrenders the right to
strike, with the reservation of the power to resume that right at any
time. The first thing that strikes an ordinary man with regard to
such a provision in an Act for the prevention of strikes is, that it must
tend to render the Act futile, and futile it certainly has proved.

In your speech at Dunedin a few days ago you referred with a
feeling of satisfaction to the immunity from strikes existing at the time,
and you were no doubt entitled to do so, for the improvement is no
doubt largely attributable to the firmness shown by the Government in
its administration of the ordinary law in the case of Waihi; but it was
also largely due to two other facts — namely, that the employers — and
especially the farmers — have at last been roused to combine and organ-
ize for the protection of the community against the intolerable tyranny
and arrogance of organized labor. There are embodied in our Act three
principles which, under the manipulations of the kind of unions that the

122

Act has created and fostered, inevitably render it practically useless as
a means of preventing strikes. Two of those principles have been in-
troduced at different times since 1894, no doubt at the instance of the
unions, and all that is necessary to perfect it as one instrument far
enabling the Federationists to attain their ends is to comply with the
demand now made for an amendment to prevent the creation of what
they call "scab unions."

The three principles referred to are found in the following pro-
visions: First, that which forbids the registration of a second union
of any trade in the same locality; second, that which authorized the
granting of preference to unionists, by which workers who are opposed
to strikes may be coerced into joining a union whose main reliance is
upon the strike; and third, that which allows a union to cancel its
registration at any time in order to strike. * * *

I implore you to scrutinize closely any proposals for legislation
dealing with such industries, and to bear in mind that nothing is easier
than to cause irreparable injury to an industry by ill-considered legisla-
tion. * * * There must be a limit to legislation for the propitiation of
labor, and that this limit seems to have been reached in this country is
indicated by the fact that every effort in that direction not only fails
to produce the desired effect, but, instead, simply increased the cost ^of
living. The labor leaders know this, and they rejoice at every legislative
failure because each one as it occurs plays into their hands by furnish-
ing them new arguments in favor of their contention that there is no
hope for the worker except in the overthrow of the whole industrial and
social system. The Industrial Arbitration Act is, itself, the most com-
plete failure of all our legislative experiments, and the labor leaders
simply tolerate it because it serves their purposes; the amendments I
suggest would go far to thwart thejr designs.

On April 3, 1914, the Honorable F. M. B. Fisher, "Liberal"
Minister of Customs, addressed a public meeting at Wellington,
and from whose address quotations appear elsewhere in this
report, at which meeting there was a disturbing element evidently
bent on breaking up the meeting. After a number of interrup-
tions and noisy demonstrations, the speaker said : "The meeting
suggests to me an interesting electoral reform, and that is to
disfranchise every man who attempts to break up a public meet-
ing * * * they would thus prevent the people who do not re-
spect the laws from making them. These men must not get the
idea into their heads that they can frighten or terrorize the Gov-
ernment."

The following are extracts from the annual report of the
Wellington Employers' Association, adopted September 19, 1913:

The past twelve months have been fraught with the worst form of
labour unrest the Dominion has experienced since the Arbitration Act
came into operation. Of chief importance has been the Waihi strike,
which was brought about by members of the New Zealand Federation of
Labour, in an endeavor to coerce the engine-drivers at Waihi into joining
their organization. * * *

The busy season of the Freezing Companies was selected by the
slaughtermen of the Dominion for the making of an unreasonable de-
mand of an increase of 5s. per 100 in the rate for sheep-killing. This
demand was made notwithstanding the definite arrangement made at the
preceding conference held in 1910 between the Dominion employers and

123

the representatives of the Slaughtermen's Federation that the settlement
then arrived at was for a period of five years. * * *

In common with other industrial world centres, New Zealand is
experiencing a full share of the troubles brought about by what your
Committee considers are prevalent mistaken ideas in the minds of some
workers that they are not receiving adequate pay for services rendered,
and that their interests and those of their employers are antagonistic.
The inculcation of these beliefs is directly due to the advocacy of a
considerable section of the workers' leaders, who are creating a grave
and hurtful spirit in the minds of many workers that they are not re-
ceiving fair treatment from their employers. The resulting dissatisfac-
tion is showing, not only in decreasing efficiency in the work in hand,
but also in the characters of the workers. The absence of the right
spirit in many employees is plainly apparent, and this must inevitably
injuriously affect their moral fibre and general character and efficiency.
The present attitude of workers towards their work is a large factor in
creating a disinclination on the part of those with capital to venture into
any new industry. The open advocacy of lawlessness and disregard of
both legal and moral obligations by some leaders is doing untold harm
in this Dominion.

With respect to industrial legislation, employers were fortunately
practically free from the necessity for considering amendments or new
legislation, owing chiefly, it is believed, to the existence of a new Parlia-
ment, and the taking over of the reins of government by Mr. Massey
and his party. It is hoped that the new Government will recognize that
the trades and industries of the Dominion have already been subjected
to more restrictive legislation than is necessary, and will grant a time
of peace.

The operation of the Shops anjl Offices Act is continuing to harass
and interfere with the business of shopkeepers, and is preventing them
from coping with the unavoidable exigencies of their business. The
shopkeepers of the city are looking forward to securing, through the
Minister of Labour and Parliament, some relief from many of the un-
necessary restrictions they are labouring under.

As time goes on, the greater need arises for securing combined and
united action on the part of employers on all matters affecting the
employing class, and the usefulness and value of the Federation and
affiliated Associations is now being more fully recognized and appre-
ciated by employers. It is anticipated the Federation will be called upon
at its next annual meeting to formulate a definite plan for organization
and the creation of a Defence Fund.

The experiences of recent years clearly demonstrate that employers'
interests can best be protected and advanced by their having a Central
Committee, and officers who can speak in the united name of the
employers of the Dominion.

The following synopsis of procedure in settlement of a trade
dispute under the New Zealand Industrial Conciliation and Arbi-
tration Act, as amended in 1911, will in this connection serve a
useful purpose:

It is optional for Employers' or Workers' Unions to register as
Industrial Unions under the Act.

When alterations in hours, wages and working conditions are
sought by either side the initial step is the service of the claims to be
made. This means the creation of the "dispite," a necessary preliminary
to the legal proceedings which follow. It has to be noted that a Workers'
Union may create a dispute with individual employers who have no union,
but Employers' Unions cannot seek an award in any trade unless the

124

workers have registered a union in connection with it. Thus, the work-
ers have the option of working under an Arbitration Court award or
not, but the employers have no alternative if the workers desire to bind
them by an award. When an award is made by the Court it remains
binding upon the employers until either side chooses to ask for another
award or the union cancels its registration under the Act.

The application is to the Conciliation Commissioner. There are
three of these appointed by the Government at $2,500 a year each and
travelling allowances with jurisdiction over stated portions of the Do-
main. Their chief duty is to endeavor to induce the parties to a dispute
to agree upon terms of settlement. Each employer named in the list is a

earty to the dispute and has the right to appear in person or by agent,
sually the secretary of the local Employers' Association appears as
agent for all the employers. A solicitor (practicing lawyer) cannot
appear in these cases unless all parties consent. As a matter of fact,
legal gentlemen never have taken part in these trade disputes.

The Conciliation Commissioners with the Assessors named at the
end of the attached application and an equal number of Assessors whom
the employers are required to name form a Conciliation Council whose
duties are, firstly :

(i) To endeavor to bring about an amicable settlement of the
dispute by conference. Prior to consideration of the dispute before the
Council the respondents have the right to submit the terms and conditions
they wish to secure. This they do by filing "counter-proposals."

Failing a settlement by conference the Council endeavors to unani-
mously agree upon terms which it can recommend the parties to adopt
in settlement of the dispute. It is important 'to note that these recom-
mendations must be unanimously agreed upon and that they are not
settled by the majority vote.

If the Council induce the parties to agree upon some points such
partial agreement is reported to the Arbitration Court, and the other
matters in dispute are referred to the Court for settlement.

Should a recommendation on all points in dispute be made by the
Council, 30 days are given dissatisfied parties within which they may
lodge objection. If no objection is lodged the recommendations come
into force in the same way as an industrial agreement would if signed
by the parties.

Should an objection be filed then the dispute is referred by the
Clerk of Awards to the Arbitration Court.

The Court is constituted of a Judge who has the same status as a
Judge of the Supreme Court (a life appointment) and one representa-
tive each for the employers and workers, appointed every three years by
the Industrial Unions of Employers and Workers, respectively. They
receive £500 a year and travelling allowances.

This Court sits every three months in the various centres for the
hearing of local disputes. The area affected by awards is generally
stated in them. In the carpenters' case under review it was limited
to 50 miles from Wellington City.

When a case is called on by the Court the ordinary procedure of
the law Courts is generally though not rigidly adhered to. After hearing
arguments and evidence from both sides the Court reserves its decision
and ultimately makes an award which is a final settlement of the matters
in dispute for the period of time (not exceeding three years) fixed by
the Court.

There are 20 secretaries of Labor Unions in Wellington, drawing
salaries aggregating, at a low estimate, $15,000 a year, the estimate for
the Dominion being $75,000 a year for salaries of Union secretaries,
alone, in addition to which a very large sum is expended in salaries and
expenses of other Labor officials and agitators, with which this wonderful
little country is abundantly supplied.

125

At the hotel at which we stopped the following notice was
posted in each room :

Owing to New Zealand Labor laws visitors are particularly re-
quested to observe punctuality at all meals.

One of your Commissioners stepped into a cobbler's shop
and waited 20 minutes while the cobbler built up the heels of
his shoes. He asked the cobbler if he belonged to the cobblers'
union. He said, "No, I would not let those fellows control me."
Your Commissioner said, "Why not? They have succeeded in
having wages raised, haven't they?" "Yes," he said, " they have
and the more they succeed at it the worse they are off, for they
can't buy as much with their high wages as they could when they
got less, and besides, they are not nearly as well satisfied as they
were then and everybody else is grumbling about conditions,
which aint like they used to be by a good deal."

The following is a reproduction of a schedule of wages and
working conditions which were received by an employer at Auck-
land while we were there and was handed to us for use in con-
nection with this report.

Amalgamated Society of Engineers.

AUCKLAND BRANCH

Proposed Working Conditions for Northern Industrial District.

I.— Hours of Work.

Forty-four hours shall constitute a week's work. Eight hours '
shall be worked on each working day except Saturday, upon which
day four hours shall be worked. Starting time to be at 7.30 a.m. and
stopping time at 5 p.m.

II. — Overtime.

(a) All time worked in excess of that mentioned in Clause I. hereof
to be paid for at the rate of time and a-half until 10 o'clock
p.m., and from thence to the starting of the ordinary day shift
next morning, double time rates to be paid, and each day to
stand by itself.

(b) Systematic overtime shall not be allowed. Overtime worked
for more than 12 hours in any two consecutive weeks to be
deemed systematic.

III.— Holidays and Sunday Work.

Work done upon New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Mon-
day, Anniversary Day, Labour Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day or
Sunday, double time rates to be paid for working the same number
of hours of an ordinary day. Any time worked before 7.30 a.m. or

126

after 5 p.m. shall be paid for at the rate of time and a-half in addi-
tion. An employee called to work after usual working hours shall
receive a minimum payment equivalent to four hours' work.

IV.— Night Shifts.

(a) Workers engaged upon night shifts shall be paid 50 per cent,
extra. Three consecutive nights to be worked before it can be
recognized as a night shift, otherwise overtime rates, as men-
tioned in Clause II. hereof, to be paid.

(b) A night shift shall mean eight hours worked between ordinary
stopping time in the evening and starting time next morning.

(c) Only one shift in the 24 hours to be regarded as a day shift,
namely, eight hours worked between ordinary starting time
in the morning and stopping time in the evening.

(d) Any employee having worked all night and being required
to continue working on into .the next day, the double time rate
to be paid for all such time worked.

V.— Outside Work.

(a) A worker employed outside of the employer's establishment
shall 'be paid one shilling per day extra, or for any portion of
a day.

(b) All employees required to travel to a job during working hours
shall be paid for such hours at ordinary rates, also for such
ordinary working hours that they may be kept waiting after
arrival at the job.

(c) All employees required to travel outside of ordinary working
hours shall be paid for the actual time of travelling, provided
that the maximum number of hours on each outward or home-
ward journey to be so paid shall not exceed twelve.

(d) Employees shall be paid their fares both ways and reasonable
travelling expenses, and if required to stay away from home,
their board and lodging at current rates.

(e) Employees travelling by boat shall, if travelling by coastal boat,
be allowed saloon fare; and if travelling by inter-State boat,
second-class fare, except when such represents steerage, in
which case saloon fare shall be allowed.

(f) When travelling at night time by train, if at any time second-
class sleeping accommodation is provided, the employer shall
allow second-class sleeping berth ticket. Patternmakers, for
work done outside the employer's establishment, shall receive
i/- per day extra.

(g) Any employee sent out to work and placed in charge of one or
more workmen, shall receive 3/- per day extra.

VI. — Dirt Money.

(a) Ships: Any journeyman or apprentice who is engaged upon
ship repair work shall receive i/- per day extra or for any por-
tion of a day.

(b) Ashore: Journeymen and apprentices employed on dirty repair
work, such as stripping old machinery or removal of same, or
inside smoke boxes or through manholes of boilers or con-
densers, machinery connected with freezing works, or all run-
ning machinery, shall receive i/- per day extra or for any por-
tion of a day, in addition to other allowances.

127

5. d.

! • 13

VII.— Wages.

The minimum wage for the following classes of workmen
shall be:— Per hour. Per day.

Fitters

Turners

Armature winders

Milling machinists ..

Motor mechanics

Brassfinishers ..

Die sinkers and tool makers

Universal grinders

Blacksmiths .. .. .. . . / ..

Coppersmiths

Oliver smiths

Stampers and drop hammer forgers

Planers, shapers, slotters and borers

Patternmakers ..

Drillers, screwers and other machinists

not otherwise mentioned
Leading hands to receive 25 per cent, in addition to above rates.
All wages to be paid weekly, and no back time kept. Wages to
be paid in employer's time.

Definition of a Motor Mechanic

A chauffeur shall not be deemed a motor mechanic. A motor
mechanic is a workman engaged upon the repair or construction of
cars, or may be employed upon the upkeep of the plant or machinery.

VIII.— -Piecework.

(a) Piecework, taskwork or premium bonus system shall not be
engaged upon under any conditions whatsoever.

(b) No workmen to be employed upon two machines at the same
time.

IX. — Termination of Engagements.

(a) Upon the termination of an engagement either on the part of
the employer or workman, the wages of such worker shall be
paid the same evening or immediately after the ordinary start-
ing time next morning. Failing such the worker shall be paid
at ordinary rates for all such time that he is kept waiting.

X. — Apprentices.

(a) An employer taking an apprentice to learn the trade shall be
deemed to undertake the duty which he agrees to perform as a
duty enforceable under this Award, and shall pay such appren-
tice not less than the under-mentioned rates of wages: —

s. d.
First year, per week . . . . . . . . . . 10

Second year, per week . . . . . . 15

Third year, per week.. .. .. .. .. 20

Fourth year, per week . . . . . . . . 30

Fifth year, per week . . . . . . . . . . 40

(b) At the expiration of the apprenticeship he shall receive not less
than the minimum rate as paid to journeymen.

(c) Boys shall be apprenticed to any of the following branches of
the trade: Fitters, Turners, Electrical Fitters, Armature Wind-
ers, Toolmakers, Die Sinkers, Motor Mechanics, Spring Smiths,
Blacksmiths, Coppersmiths, Cliver Smiths, Brassfinishers,
Milling Machinists, Universal Grinders, Patternmakers, Drop
Hammer Forgers, Planers, Shapers, Slotters and Borers.

128

(d) The period of apprenticeship shall be for five years, and all
apprenticeships shall be by indenture. A copy of the inden-
ture shall be registered with the Chief Industrial Registrar, or
Local Inspector of Factories, and a copy shall be held by the
lawful guardians of such apprentice, and no apprentice shall be
more than 18 years of age at the time of the execution of the
indenture. Three months probation shall be allowed the first
employer of any apprentice to determine his fitness, such three
months to be included in the period of apprenticeship. An
apprentice shall be kept constantly employed at the particular
branch of the trade to which he is indentured.

(e) In no case shall an apprentice be allowed to work overtime.

(f) At the end of the period of apprenticeship the employer shall
give the apprentice a certificate to show that he has served his
apprenticeship. Also a certificate of moral character if required.

(g) Should the employer at any time before the termination of the
apprenticeship wish for any reason to dispense with the ser-
vices of the apprentice, he shall give him a certificate for the
time served and procure him another employer carrying on a
business within a reasonable distance of the original employ-
er's place of business, who shall continue to teach the appren-
tice and to pay the rate of wages prescribed by this award
according to the total length of time he has served, and gen-
erally to perform the obligation of the original employer. But
it shall'*not be obligatory upon an employer to find the ap-
prentice another employer if he shall so misconduct himself as
to entitle the employer to discharge him, but he shall give him
a certificate covering the time actually served.

(h) An employer taking an apprentice shall give notice to the In-
spector of Factories within one week after the expiration of
the period of probation, and shall state the branch of trade to
which he is indentured. The employer shall receive an ac-
knowledgment of receipt of same, and an employer transferring
an apprentice to another employer shall similarly within one
week give notice of such transfer to the Inspector.

(i) An employer shall not be deemed to have discharged his duty
to an apprentice, if he fails to keep him at work through slack-
ness, but such slackness may form a proper ground for trans-
ferring him to another employer willing to undertake the re-
sponsibility of teaching him.

(j) When an apprentice is discharged for cause, the employer shall
give notice in writing of the discharge and the cause thereof
to the Inspector of Factories, who shall notify the Secretary
of the Union.

(k) All time lost by an apprentice through his own default or
through sickness in any year of his apprenticeship shall be
made up before such apprentice shall be considered to have
entered upon the next succeeding year of his apprenticeship.
An apprentice shall not be compelled to make up any time
lost through accident occurring or through compulsory mili-
tary training.

(I) An employer shall not be bound to pay an apprentice for lost
time through the default of the apprentice or by his voluntary
absence from work with the consent of the employer. But an
employer shall not be entitled to make any deduction from the
wages of such apprentice for lost time through sickness or
any cause other than those hereinbefore described.

129

(m) It shall be deemed to be a breach of this award if an employer
uses any undue influence to coerce an apprentice to take a
holiday with a view to avoid payment for same.

(n) Where facilities are provided, it shall be compulsory for an
apprentice to attend classes at a Technical College, and the
employer shall pay the college fees for the period of two
years for any two classes that the apprentice may elect to
attend during any two years of his apprenticeship.

(o) The proportion of apprentices to the number of journeymen
employed shall be as one to four. After the date of the filing
of this award no fresh apprenticeships shall be entered into
by an employer which will make the total number of appren-
tices to all trades mentioned greater than the above propor-
tion. For the, purpose of arriving at the above proportion, the
total number of journeymen shall be deemed to be the aver-
age number of journeymen working on all the working days
of the twelve months immediately previous to the time of
indenture.

(P) All apprentices employed at the date of the filing of this award
must be indentured for the unexpired period of their appren-
ticeship, and the conditions as to wages, etc., as provided in
this award, to apply to these apprentices also.

(q) A Board of Examiners shall be appointed to consist of one
representative of the Union and one representative of the em-
ployers. Periodical examinations of the apprentice shall take
place in the month of May. Such examination»-to be held in
the workshop where the apprentice is employed. The employer
shall provide machinery, time and material, and in every way
facilitate the work of the Examiners.

If upon due enquiry the Examiners are of opinion that the
apprentice has not been given reasonable opportunity by the
employer to obfain a proper knowledge of the trade, they shall
report the same to the Department of Labour as a breach of
this award.

The Board shall be provided with a list of the names and
occupation of the various apprentices and the dates of their
indenture, and not less than 14 days previous to the date of
the examination shall issue a certificate to the apprentice, and
also notify the employer. If such apprentice fails to satisfy
the Examiners, they will not endorse the certificate until such
apprentice again submits himself for examination and satisfies
them of his competency.

An employer shall not be compelled to pay an apprentice
the increase of wages accruing to him if he fails to satisfy the
Examiners.

In the engaging of apprentices preference shall be given to
sons of members of the Union.

XI.— Under-rate Workers.

(a) Any worker who considers himself incapable of earning the
minimum wage fixed by this award, may be paid such lower
wage as may from time to time be fixed on the application of
the worker, after due notice to the Union by the Inspector of
Awards or such other person as may from time to time be ap-
pointed for that purpose. And such Inspector or such other
person, in fixing such' wage, shall have regard to the worker's
capability, his past earnings, and such other circumstances as
such Inspector or other person shall think fit to consider, after
hearing such evidence arid argument as the Union and such
worker shall offer.

130

(b) Such permit shall be for a period not exceeding six months as
such Inspector or other person may determine, and after the
expiration of such period shall continue in force until 14 days'
notice has been given to such worker by the Secretary of the
Union, requiring him to have his wage again fixed in manner
prescribed by this clause. Provided that in the case of any
person whose wage is so fixed by reason of old age or perma-
nent disability, it may be fixed for such longer period as such
Inspector or other person shall think fit.

(c) Notwithstanding the foregoing, it shall be competent for the
worker to agree with the President or Secretary of the Union upon
such wage without having the same so fixed.

(d) It shall be the duty of the Union to give notice to the Inspec-
tor of Awards of every agreement made with a worker pur-
suant hereto.

(e) It shall be the duty of an employer before employing a worker
at such lower wage to examine the permit or agreement by
which such wage is fixed.

XII. — Preference.

(a) From and after the coming into the operation of this award,
any worker of the classes mentioned in Clause VII. hereof
shall, within fourteen days, become a member of the Union,
upon forwarding to the Secretary a written application, ac-
companied with an entrance fee of 5/-, and the weekly con-
tribution not to exceed sixpence per week, such worker to be
admitted a member without ballot or election, and such worker
to be admitted a member providing he is a competent work-
man and of sober habits and good moral character.

(b) It shall be a condition of employment that employees become
members of the Union under the conditions as set forth in
sub-section (a) of this clause.

XIII.

This award shall come into operation upon the day

of and continue in force until the day of 19

As Applying to Ohinemuri Goldfields.
I.— Hours of Work.

(a) Forty-four hours shall constitute a week's work. Eight hours
shall 'be worked each day except Saturday, when four hours
shall be worked.

(b) Work shall commence at 7.30 a.m. and cease at 4 p.m., with an
interval of half-an-hour at noon for crib time.

II. — Overtime.

(a) All time worked in excess of that mentioned in Clause I. hereof
to be paid for at the rate of time and a-half until 10 o'clock
p.m.. and from thence until starting of the ordinary day shift
next morning, double time rates to be paid, and each day to
stand by itself.

(b) Systematic overtime not allowed. Overtime worked for more
than 12 hours in two consecutive weeks to be deemed sys-
tematic.

III. — Holidays and Sundays.

(a) Work done upon New Year's Day, Good Friday, -Easter Mon-
day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Miners' Day or Sunday, dou-
ble time rates to be paid for working the same number of
hours of an ordinary day.

(b) Any time worked before 7.30 a.m. and after 4 p.m. shall be paid
for at the rate of time and a-half in addition.

IV.— Night Shifts.

(a) Workers engaged on afternoon or night shifts shall receive
2/- per shift extra. Three consecutive nights or afternoon
shifts to be worked before it can be recognised as such, other-
wise overtime rates to be paid as provided in Clause II. hereof.

(b) Only one shift in the twenty-four hours to be regarded as a
day shift, namely, that worked between 7.30 a.m. and 4 o'clock
p.m.

(c) Any worker who has been engaged for 24 hours with the ex-
ception of crib time, shall be compelled to stand off for eight
hours.

V.— Outside Work.

(a) A worker employed outside of the employer's establishment
shall be paid one shilling per day extra, or for any portion
of a day.

(b) All employees required to travel to job during working hours
shall be paid for such hours at ordinary rates, also for such
ordinary working hours that they may be kept waiting upon
arrival at the job.

(d) Employees shall be paid their fares both ways, also reasonable
travelling expenses, and if required to stay away from home,
their board and lodging at current rates.

(e) Employees travelling by boat shall, if travelling by coastal
boat, be allowed saloon fare, except when such represents
steerage, in which case saloon fare shall be allowed.

(g) Any employee sent out to work and placed in charge of one or
more workmen shall receive 3/- per day extra.

VI. — Dirt Money.

(a) All journeymen or apprentices employed upon tube mills, ele-
vation wheels, turbines, gas engines, condensers, under engine
beds, all boiler work (other than new work), inside boilers or
smoke boxes, and all underground work, agitators and crush-
ers, or -any dirty, confined places, shall be paid i/- per day
extra or for any portion of a day.

(b) All journeymen or apprentices employed in mining shafts, or
at water turbines, shall also receive dirt money, and the shifts
shall not exceed six hours.

132

VII.— Minimum Wage.

(a) The minimum wage for the following classes of workmen
shall be:— Per hour. Per day.

s. d. s. d.

Fitters 8 13 4

Turners . . . . . . . . . . 8 134

Armature winders . . . . . . . . 8 134

Milling machinists . . . . . . . . 8 134

Electrical fitters 8 13 4

Motor repairers . . . . . . . . 8 134

Wiremen 4% n o

Blacksmiths .. .. .. .. .. 8 13 4

Coppersmiths . . . . . . . . 8 13 4

Patternmakers S1/? 13 8

Machine joiners . . . . . . . . 8% 13 8

Planers, shapers, slotters and borers . . I 8 13 4

(b) Leading hands to receive 25 per cent, in addition.

VIII.— Piecework.

(a) Piecework, taskwork or premium bonus system shall not be
engaged upon under any conditions whatsoever.

(b) No workmen to be employed upon two machines at the same
time.

IX. — Termination of Engagements.

Upon the termination of an engagement either on the part of
the employer or workman, the wages of such worker shall be paid
the same evening, or immediately after starting time next morning^
failing such the worker shall be paid at ordinary rates for all such
time that he is kept waiting.

X. — Apprentices.

(a) For youths at all classes of trades mentioned in Clause VII.
hereof the following rates of wages shall be paid: —

s. d.
First year, per day . . . . . . . . . . 40

Second year, per day . . . . . . . . . . 5 o

Third year, per day .. .. .. .. .. 6 o

Fourth year, per day . . . . . . . . . . 7 o

Fifth year, per day . . . . . . . . . . 8 o

(b) All youths, after five years' service, shall receive the minimum
rate as paid to journeymen.

XI. — Preference.

(a) From and after the coming into operation of this award, any
worker of the classes mentioned in Clause VII. hereof shall,
within fourteen days, become a member of the Union, upon
forwarding to the Secretary a written application accompanied
with an entrance fee of s/-, and the weekly contribution shall
not exceed sixpence per week. The applicant shall be ad-
mitted without ballot or election, provided he is a competent
workman and of sober habits and good moral character.

(b) It shall be a condition of employment that workmen become
members of the Union under the condition set forth in sub-
section (a) of this award.

133

Conclusions.

Based upon the information acquired from many sources,
and the published and oral statements hereinbefore presented,
your Commissioners are led to the following conclusions:

(1) That magazine and newspaper articles to the effect
that Australasia had solved the industrial problem by legislative
action and that Australia and New Zealand had each been trans-
formed into an industrial paradise are idle tales, without a
shadow of fact upon which to base them; that instead of indus-
trial conditions in these countries being "ideal," they are deplor-
able in the extreme, and that there are to be found in New
Zealand and Australia more idle, disillusioned, faultfinding people
who condemn the country and its institutions, than can be found
in any other communities of equal population.

(2) That New Zealand is, as has been claimed, "a glorious
little country," and that the development of its cities, its com-
merce and industries in the 60 years of its progressive history,
bespeaks thrift and energy on the part of the sturdy, open-
hearted people who have brought such things to pass, but who,
because of the general prosperity which they have enjoyed, have
grown apathetic and indifferent as to whither its institutions,
politically, were drifting, until an organized minority, which
looks upon the public purse as an inexhaustible treasure supply
from which every man can help himself, had practically seized
control of the Government, and until evidence of decadence is
seen and heard on all sides; that the eyes of the sober-minded,
substantial citizens have been opened to the deplorable conditions
into which, during the past decade or more, the country has
been plunged, and that they now are moving to correct the errors
which have surreptitiously crept into their legislative policies.
Results of recent elections indicate that New Zealand is retrac-
ing her steps.

(3) That the natural resources of Australia measure up to
the claims that are made for them, and that it has followed the
lead of New Zealand in the matter of experimental legislation
and State Socialism, which have taken root and become a chronic
disease in the Commonwealth and State Governments, with the
result that Australia is facing a period of decadence and dry
rot, while the process of "Nationalizing the Industries" is still
going on, and a chief subject of agitation is the placing of a
premium on idleness by the paying of wages, out of the public
treasury, to habitual idlers and unemployed.

134

(4) That, although there is plenty of wealth in Australasia,
there is no vulgar or ostentatious display of it. People having
vested interests at stake realize the socialistic trend of things
and religiously avoid aggravating the situation by feeding the
soap box orator and his political allies with examples of luxurious
display of what they please to call "predatory wealth." In this
regard Australasia is holding out an object lesson that would be
well for many people in this country to heed and follow.

(5) That, in practical operation, State Socialism in Aus-
tralasia, while attractive in theory to some people, has proved a

.dismal failure and has made these countries appear before the
world as "ideal countries going wrong" and as expressed in the
language of one of their own business men supported by the
opinion of many others, as "the Paradise of fools," the responsi-
bility for which rests chiefly upon the shoulders of dishonorable
politicians . who make capital out of catering to the organized vote
at the expense of the welfare of the country. The hope of Aus-
tralasia lies in the repudiation of these politicians and their
theories.

(6) That the Press of Australasia is, as a rule, clean, con-
servative and fair, with very little tendency to muck-raking, or
yellow journalism, which may, however, be accounted for by some
law regulating the liberty of the Press — (while we were at
Sydney, a judgment for- $2,000 was affirmed against a Mel-
bourne newspaper for printing an obituary notice of a person
not dead, which was handed into the office of the paper in the
customary manner by some person not identified) ; that the
fairness, vigilance and impartiality of the Press is a prime factor
in keeping public life reasonably clean.

(7) That the stretch of conscience that enables a repre-
sentative of all the people to vote for "preference to unionists"
is abominable, and that decadence is a just reward for any coun-
try whose Government stands for such a flagrant violation of
human rights. Yet, with all, neither the Australian nor the
Dominion Parliaments have fallen so low in the sphere of political
injustice as to enact, or even propose, such vile legislation as
the exemption provision of the Sundry Civil Appropriations Bill,
passed by the present "American" Congress, or, as embodied in
the Bacon-Bartlet Bill.

(8) That the laws of Australasia which provide for com-
pulsory Arbitration, Wages Boards and a Minimum Wage, have
proved inefficient and inadequate for their intended purposes,
and that instead of accomplishing their objects they are serving
to make New Zealand and Australia breeding countries of
loafers and idlers; that they have practically destroyed all hope

135

of reward for personal ambition among the workers and have
served only the socialistic purpose of leveling up and leveling
down the whole class to one standard of opportunity.

(9) That the wage question is an economic problem
which should be kept aloof from politics, for once it gets mixed
up with them, it can never be separated and a sorry mess will
inevitably result. It has been thoroughly demonstrated in Aus-
tralasia that the function of Government is not to appease its
warring factions by compromising fundamental principles, but
to protect the rights of every citizen by the use of all the power
at its command when necessary; that the more Government
intervenes in private business, the more it will be compelled to
intervene, and that it is easy to enact but almost impossible
to repeal such measures, especially when their effect is the cre-
ation of a huge Governmental machine.

(10) That workmen's compensation laws are correct in
theory, upon the ground that loss through injury to a worker
should find its equity in the cost of production, and that when
such laws are founded upon just principles and fairly adminis-
tered they are a benefit to the community.

(IT) That, according to official Commonwealth statistics
for 1914, the purchasing power of money had depreciated since
1901, practically in the same ratio as wages a-dvanced during the
same period, it being, therefore, apparent that however much
legislation may have been enacted as a panacea for the economic
ills of society, the same has had practically no effect on the
natural law of supply and demand which has maintained its
supremacy, and that the real effect of the industrial legislation
has been to create disappointment and breed more discontent
by imposing upon the people a burdensome and expensive system
which has failed to give value received.

(12) That, if, in view of the homogeneous character of
the workers of Australia, its system of industrial legislation fails
of its purpose, namely, the creation of industrial peace, any
hope of similar legislation proving successful, or even partially
so, in the United States, with its heterogeneous mass of workers,
must be futile and could only prove suicidal to the best interests
of the nation.

(13) That, (a) non-enforcement of law is one of the
prime causes of lawlessness in cases of labor disturbance, and
for which officials charged with the responsibility of maintaining
the peace should be held to account; (b) that officials of labor
unions should be held individually responsible for damages ac-
cruing from strikes, in the same manner that directors and

136

officers of business corporations are held responsible for what
happens as result of their actions. If this were the case, there
would be fewer strikes, less maiming of independent workers
and less destruction of property; (c) that employees of public
service utilities should be enlisted for stated periods, under con-
tract that would make stoppage by strike or other conspiracy
equivalent to mutiny or desertion; (d) that, if the organization
of the labor unions places men in power in Government who
enact laws favorable to the unionists, such Government will re-
fuse to enforce such laws against the unions. A domestic ex-
ample of such dereliction in the enforcement of the law against
powerful privileged classes is found in the unwillingness of our
Federal Government to prosecute labor unions under the Sher-
man Law.

(14) That practically all labor organizations of Austral-
asia, as in the United States and elsewhere, are based upon
false principles — principles that are not only economically un-
sound, but which work unjust and cruel hardship upon the ma-
jority of workers themselves, who do not agree with the unions
but suffer at the hands of an organized minority of their fellows,
who try to force out of industry more than it contains, and
whose slogan is the socialistic idea that labor creates all wealth
and, therefore, all wealth belongs to labor. But we have only to
look at the results of labor when not directed by superior guid-
ance, reinforced by capital, to see the absurdity and ridiculous-
ness of the claim.

(15) That, (a) a practical remedy for industrial unrest
and disturbance lies in the dissolution of unionism as at present
organized, and the founding of a new unionism, with efficiency
and greater productivity, instead of deficiency and restricted
productivity, as its watchword and basis of conduct, and recog-
nizing that the only line along which it can hope to permanently
better labor, or realize its expectations is by lessening the cost of
production through increased productivity, and thereby increas-
ing the purchasing power of money wages; (b) that when labor
purges itself of its evil and organizes with equity in lieu of arbi-
trary despotism as its basic principle, when it adopts and operates
upon a platform of equitable business methods and when it seeks
no privileges which it is unwilling to extend to others, then and
not until then will industrial peace and harmony be restored,
then and not until then will labor and capital go forward hand
in hand to higher and nobler achievements. It is not within
the tolerance of human nature for one class of citizens to meekly
submit to the imposition of tyranny by another class.

i37

(16) That, the fact of the whole matter is that the only
thing that will save our own country from the influence of
organized industrial despotism, is concrete organization and co-
operation of employers and other forces who are opposed to the
same, too many of whom have heretofore been apathetic and in-
different as to what has been going on around them, and too
much absorbed in business and pleasure, but who cannot escape
the consequences if they stand idly by and permit an organized
minority to rule over them, and who, in furtherance of that end
elect to public office men who have no scruples about lending
their influence to the promotion of class legislation designed to
tear down the citadel of security that has so long preserved our
free institutions, and who cast their vote at the crack of the lash
of organized labor, for which they should be treated with con-
tempt in their respective communities.

(17) That, the more industrial peace is sought to be en-
forced through legislation which encroaches upon the natural and
inalienable rights of citizens, the more pronounced will be the
spirit of antipathy between the employer and the employed ; that
there are certain avenues over which industrial legislation can
safely and successfully travel, and other avenues which lead to
turmoil and strife and therefore unwise to enter upon. We be-
lieve results in Australia clearly demonstrate that industrial
"salvation by legislation is not possible," that "there are many
things legislation can do, but there are many things it can not
do/' and therefore great care should be exercised to draw the line
at the proper limit, wherein lies the danger of industrial legisla-
tion. Men can enact legislation that will assist the operation of
natural laws, but when they undertake to enact laws which are
opposed to the laws of Nature failure and chaos will be the in-
evitable result.

(18) That, inasmuch as a number of States have enacted,
and others are contemplating enacting, minimum wage laws, we
believe that such legislation is ill-advised and will in time prove a
serious mistake, in that it will work to the detriment rather than
to the advantage of the common weal, and, furthermore, that
legislation having for its object the regulation or control of
contractural relations between employer and employee in this
country should be given far more serious consideration by our
lawmakers than it has heretofore received, lest we encounter the
pitfalls to which attention has hereinbefore been specifically
called, only to find, in the last analysis, that "in going down hill
on a slippery track the going is easy, the task, getting back."

(19) That, inasmuch as present-day legislation seems

138

to be leaning strongly toward a policy of compromise of basic
principles in partial satisfaction, at least, of organized demands
for special privileges and immunities, and for so-called "Social
Justice," regardless of its effect on prosperity and posterity, we
recommend that the National Association of Manufacturers, in
keeping with its constructive policies, adopt measures to keep
itself informed on the progress and development of all subjects
for legislation affecting fundamental principles, that it may at all
times be in position to act intelligently and wisely with respect
thereto and not fall into the snare of supporting measures pur-
porting to be constructive, but which, in the last analysis, will
prove to be destructive, and that it steadfastly maintain its oppo-
sition to any and all legislative innovations whose tendencies are
to create or encourage national inefficiency, or class distinction,
or which do not contribute to human achievement.

(20) That, waiving the questions of its Socialistic tendencies
and its deplorable industrial conditions, which will, we believe,
right themselves in time, Australasia, located as it is in the South
Pacific, aloof from all other English speaking nations, is prone
to a friendly and sympathetic feeling toward the United States
to which it would naturally turn for assistance in seasons of dis-
tress, and that the possessions of the United States in the
Hawaiian and the Philippine Islands and Samoa should lead to
a close bond of friendship and mutual interest between these
countries and cement them together in inseparable ties of friend-
ly intercourse and good will.

(21) That it is not to be inferred from anything herein,
that we deprecate legitimate progress, decry effort to bring about
an amelioration of the condition of labor, or are averse to any-
thing which will work a restoration of the ancient amity that
existed between employer and employee. We heartily approve
every movement that promises permanent progress to either labor
or capital. We cordially espouse all effort intelligently directed
to improvement in the conditions of labor and laborer, and we
look forward with genuine enthusiasm to that day which shall
witness the exit of the professional agitator and the advent of
peace between employer and employee, a peace based upon mutual
regard for mutual interests and not upon selfish regard for mere
class advancement.

Respectfully submitted,

JOHN KIRBY, JR.
DAVID M. PARRY.

ALBERT A. SNOWDEN,

Secretary.
139

INDEX

PAGE

Accidents, compensation for 10

Adelaide, city of, brief account of 6

Anti-Trust Legislation 15

Apprentice, form of application for license to work as 60

Apprentices 97

Arbitration, compulsory 92

Auckland, city of, brief account of 116

Australasia, people of, brief account of 19

Australia, Commonwealth of, brief account of 4

pensions paid in 6

people of 1 10

principal cities of 4

public debt of 6

railways of 7

taxes in 10

Banking institutions 18

Brisbane, city of, brief account of 4

Christchurch, city of, brief account of 117

Cities, principal, of Australia 4

New Zealand 1 16

visited 3

Commonwealth of Australia, brief account of 4

Compulsory arbitration 92

Conclusions and recommendations 134

Crown lands 16

Discipline, Unionism's effect on 83

Dunedin, city of, brief account of 117

Editorial on debate on industrial laws 25

Editorials and other newspaper accounts 23 and 71

Government and business in New Zealand 117

owned railways in Australia 7

ownership of homes for workingmen 15

land in Australia 16

New Zealand 118

railways in New Zealand 119

Hobart, city of, brief account of 6

Holidays 86 and 88

Homes for workingmen 1 5

Hours and wages 83

Industrial conditions in Australia 22

New Zealand 120

laws, debate on, newspaper account of 28

press comments on 38

140

PAGE

Industries, Government ownership of 8

Industry, Government regulation of 63

Labor and capital, editorial on 25

Land, Government ownership in New Zealand 118

Laws and wages 69

Industrial, debate on, newspaper account of 28

press comments on 38

regulating industries 63

Melbourne, city of, brief account of 5

Mineral wealth 19

Minimum wage, form of application for license to work at less than.. 61

Minimum wages 88

Newspaper account of debate on industrial laws 28

Newspaper articles 23 and 71

New Zealand, brief account of 116

cities of 116

Government and business in 117

ownership of railways in 119

industrial conditions in 120

Output, restriction of 78

Pensions in Australia 6

People of Australia no

Australasia, brief account of 19

Perth, city of, brief account of 6

Press, Tl^e, opinions of 23 and 71

Public debt of Australia 6

Railways, Government ownership of, in Australia 7

New Zealand 119

of Australia 7

Rates of wages, weekly, for principal occupations 84

Refrigeration system 17

Restriction of output 78

Sydney, city, of, brief account of 5

Taxes in Australia , ' 10

Trust Legislation 15

Unionism, effect of, on discipline 83

views on 98

what is wrong with ? 98

Unions, number of members of, in Australia 82

Wage earners' views 81

Wages, weekly rates of, for principal occupations 84

hours and 83

laws and 69

minimum 88

Wellington, city of, brief account of 116

Workingmen, homes for 15

Workmen's Compensation 10

141

LOAN DEPT.

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Full text of "Report of the American trade commission on industrial conditions in Australasiia, 1914"

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