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EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYED.
Mr Seddon recently suggested that the
employers and employees in New Zealand
should meet and try to come to an
agreement on trade matters, after the
example which has been so successful in
Great By team But, Mr Seddon is too
late He should have begun with what
he now proposes and left alone his tin
kong with the law, and then he might
have been able to boast that he had
initiated a system by which trade difficulties
were discussed and dealt with in
a sensible manner As it is, all his
law making is a failure One difficulty
is followed by another, just as is the
case in the United States, but Mr Seddon
and the Trades Unions appear to
learn nothing by or from experience
This is the peculiarity of the ordinary
trade unionist He conceives that he
can do whatever he dress es, and, as
Herbert Spencer said long ago when a
certain kind of legislation fails he demands
more of it, and never seems to
discover that the course which he has
taken will never bring him to the end
which he desires From the very nature
of the case, trade disputes cannot be
settled by legislation no matter what
may be the comte instituted 61 the
powers given to them But the plain
truth is, that the workers, or those who
are supposed to advise them are in
favour of courts, because they know
that they cannot be made to obey their
decrees if they do not suit them They
think that the advantage is all on their
side, and thus they cry out for legisla-
tion, and do not perceive that the game
which they play can be played by others
too in the United States very nearly
every possible Scheme has been tried
with the result that the unions are being
steadily defeated, simply because the
employers have learned to combine, and
are able to check to the employees in
every attempt to impose undesirable
conditions, The following is an extract
from a letter received from
an important film in Chicago
which confirms the statements received
from other parts of the country. The
writer says -The unions certainly are
having it their own way with you but
as usual they will overdo it, and the
people will rise up and hit them in the
end We have them pretty well in
hand here by means of organisation
Every stake of any consequence in the
last three years has been lost by the
still ours We have in open shop and run
our own business without legal 01 trade
union interference. Every Typothotao
shop in the city (and the Typotlietao
are always, large printers) has abolished
the use of the union label A strike
is now on, but the open shop is established
in the printing trade, and it
evidently will prevail Every time the
union label his come to final trial in
this country it has been knocked out as
illegal and in restraint of trade"
Rhodes Scholarships - Applications
from candidates must be received by the
Registrar of the Tjiiivcrsxty on or be
fore the 20th inst
Bank Holiday - Wednesday next,
being Hob not Cap Day, has been proclaimed
as a bank holiday for Southern
Tasmania j
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