The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-08
GOVERNMENT OF
 NEW ZEALAND
Secretary TreSear Tells How His
 Colony Handles Labor and Capital.

tCopyright, 1904. by Frank c. Carpenter)
 Washington, D. C.
 I give you today an interview which have just received from the leading au- thority on capital and labor of what many consider the most advanced labor country of the world. It comes from the other side Of the globe. away down be- low the equator. from the colony or New Zealand. It is written by the Hon. orable Edward Tregear, who for the past fifteen years has been, secretary of labor for that colony. and who has always been one of the prime movers in New Zealand's experiments on the labor prob iem The interview Is in response to questions which I sent MT. Tregear sew erai months ago. and 1t gives the situa- ton as regards labor and capital in that country in 1904.
 New Zealand's Secretary for Labor. ~ It is now four years since l met Sec rotary Tregear in his office at the labor department in Wellington. New Zealand. He is a bright-eyed. scholarly looking man of perhaps forty-five years of age. He is thoroughly posted on the labor situation and especially on all things connected with labor in Australia and New Zealand. During our chat he told me what the government was then do- ing to reconcile the troubles of labor and capital; how it had established the week. lv half holiday, had practically fixed the forty-eight hour week, end how 1t was to some extent regulating trusts and the accumulation of large fortunes. He said that the working men of the country nae become the preponderating influence in political life and their success had been won not through violence, but by reason ing out the matter on the stump and thereby getting the balance of power in parliament MT. Tregear then thought that New Zealands efforts toward equal iz.ng the rights of man would be initiated by other countries. He said the colony was steadily advancing, and that he hoped great things for the future. That was in the year 1900. Here is what ne says of the situation today. The ques- tions interspersed through the interview are mine:
 Industrial New Zealand in 1904.
 ''Department of Labor,
 "Wellington, N E., March 15, 1904. "My Dear Mir. Carpenter:
 ''It is not easy to condense in single article answers to the large social and economic questions you send me, but l will do my best. You ask whether or ranized labor has been for the good of this colony? I believe that the organiza- ton of labor in New Zealand has been productive of much good potn 10 eih- ployer and employed. It has allowed in- dustrial affairs to be looked at from calm, collective standpoint. The em- uloyers have met the organizations or their men by forming similar unions and associations among themselves. so that ia regard to the conditions of wages, hours, etc, in a trade the personality Of the individual counts little and his ener- sies have to be turned to his own more perfect work and the improvement or methods and materials rather than to the grosser sorts of trade competition
 "The sweater has been eliminated ana the honest employer, who wishes to pay fair wages is encouraged by the absence of the commercial pirate. Moreover, em- blowers are not at the mercy Of their men in critical times.
 Ion the part of the workers themselves organization has helped enormously to better their condition. The trade unions have been mostly superseded by indus trial unions. registered under the arbitra- ton act, and such unions can do nothing directly to raise the wages of their mem bers They have. however, great political and social influence"
 "I have understood that the trade