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POINTS FOR ELECTORS, j
What transpired the other day in the i
New South Wales Arbitration Court is sig- I
nificant of what would happen throughout !
Anstralia if the Referendum proposals were
carried. It was proposed on behalf of the \
Moulders' Union to fix a universal rate o j
wages that would apply to moulders all i
over the 6tatc regardless of local condi- |
tions, the cost of living, accessibility of f
employment or any of the other considers-
tions that should determine the reward ot
labor. Judge' Hcydon, commenting on this
preposterous demand, scouted the idea oi
a determination arrived at in Sydney rui- j
ing every part of the State. Under the ,
play of reasonable competition union
theories could not override the condition of
the labor market and local circumstance... ;
The union idea could not prevail before the ,-
Industrial Court was established: local cir
cumstances made the theory of the uni
versal wage impossible. But now the
unions wanted one uniform rate and one
uniform set of conditions, clamping every
thing down by awards and decisions of the
court and using the court as an instrument
to give effect, not to the industrial ideal,
but, to an artificial theory set up by the
union. Judge Tleydon would not allow the
court to be used for union purposes, anil
intimated that the immediate condition1!
of trade must govern the terms oi employ
ment. There could be no such thing as a
universal wage.
This sensible, outspoken utterance from 1
a judicial authority' follows very appro
priately the wild demand put forward by ;
Mr. J. C. Watson at the Exhibition meet
ing on. Monday. Mr. Watson's edicts, it
should be borne in mind, have all the ,
authority of an official proclamation, lie
is the power behind the throne; the mov
ing spirit of the Labor Conference which
has declared itself the supreme power in
politics, the source from -which the Labor
Government derives sanction and counte
nance, the body that can "make and un- ;
make Ministries." Mr. Watson invited
bis Exhibition audience to give l"-r central
Parliament control over indt:«-'ri... mutters
throughout Australia. lie dwelt upon the
absurdity of one wages board fixing, say,
£3 per week for operatives on the east side
of Swanston-street, and another wages ,
hoard fixing £2 per week for operatives
on the west side. "And yet," added Mr.
Watson, "exactly the same state of affairs
exists to-day, on a larger scale, within the
confines of Australia." If 'language means
anything "at all, these words mean that
Mr. Watson would have the same wages
rate for the whole continent. There would
be no difference between Dubbo, where
living we are told is cheap, and Dar
win, where it is necessarily very dear. The
general scale of wages in Darwin is
fixed at about £4 pee week. That rate
under an award _ of the Commonwealth ,:
Arbitration Court would apply equally to
Mount Gambicr or Mordlulloc. What
unionists arc endeavoring to do in New
South Wales, and described by Judge
Heydon as a violent shaping of industrial
conditions to nnion purposes, the Labor
party, by means of the Referendum, is
hoping to establish throughout Australia.
Mr. Watson's warning of the universal
wage should be an emphatic admonition to
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