The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-05-23

award of the Arbitration court raised the minimum wages of the men from one shilling onepence to one shilling threepence per hour. The employers found that the award of the court was not warranted in the present state of the trade. and, taking united action, they dismissed all their employees ex
 cept those whom they considered com potent to earn the minimum wage. An important factor in the dispute is the depressed state of the furniture trade in Melbourne, which enables im- portations to be made at a cheaper rate than that at which the articles can be manufactured in New Zealand, even after a twenty-five per cent. duty has been paid on the imported article. This brings into view the fiscal aspect of the question. The Auckland manu- lecturers state that it will pay them better to import than to manufacture certain classes of furniture, and one of the shrewdest New Zealand boot manu- lecturers recently mentioned the fact that. but for the capital he had invest ed in machinery. it would pay him bet ter to import boots and shoes from America, notwithstanding the twenty two and one-half per cent, ad valorem duty now imposed. In any case, it Is evident that there must be limit of wages, which. if exceeded, will make 1t more profitable for the employer to im- port than to manufacture.
 The question then arises as to wheth- CT it will be wise to raise this limit by the imposition of increased duties on imported goods. Some of the labor people are beginning to advocate this plan; but ven if it were put into ope- ration, it could hardly be more than a
 temporary expedient, and it would un- doubtedly recoil on the community as a
 whole. The alternative appears to be a classification of skilled workers &C., cording to their ability and energy;
 but this would attack the very root of much of our socialistic legislation, such as the government cooperative system, in which the strong must work for the weak. Moreover, there would be very great difficulties in the inauguration of
 satisfactory system of classification, anu IIIC "OhiNs iiO oSNcts clare that he, and he alone, must be the
 judge of the competency of the work CTS he has to employ Meantime, how ever the position is as stated, and it is
 noteworthy that, in consequence, a
 more intimate connection between la
 bor laws and protection is becoming apparent to the minds of colonial arti- sans.
 The government and the officials, at
 the outset, sought to minimize the in- portance of the Auckland lockout and stated that the dispute would probably
 be settled entirely In day or two. MT, l Tregear the head of the Labor depart
 ment, proceeded post haste from We'll | ington to Auckland to endeavor to ef- feet an amicable settlement, and on arriving there he stated that he rod
 been instructed by the government to say that mo expense would be spared
 to support the award of the Arbitra- | tion court" All efforts at conciliation
 proved futile, and MT. Tregear had to admit his failure to effect a settlement of the dispute. This was on March 12, and the same evening the premier, in addressing a. labor deputation at Ma pier, made an important pronounce ment. The deputation expressed the opinion that complete preference to un- rr,