"ALL ON THE SAME FOOTING."

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12399, 21 December 1909, Page 4

"ALL ON THE SAME FOOTING."

A« was only to be expected, the "Her-! aid '' seeks by misrepresentation to make political capital out of the protest which we entered yesterday morning against _ah obvious instance of the inequitable operation of one of our labour laws. We are foolishly charged with making an endeavour to " aid and abet a certain local firm," whereas'we1 distinctly stated that we held, no brief for the firm in question",'" but were protesting solely, on behalf, of the trading community generally, against a system which rendered possible an injustice of the kind to which we referred. Naturally such a .protest would, not receive the sympathetic endorsement of the " Herald," for that journal appears to havo set itself to deliberately and persistently misrepresent and injure employers of labour and to sow the seeds! of. class enmity and distrust. But while it cannot say a good word for business men. and while it seems to find some isort ; of.morbid .satisfaction in constantly pin-pricking employers, it might at !east make,an occasional effort to conduct, a , controversy with some •measure- of fairness. We,, certainly do not give- place .to, tha,/' Herald.'.' when it comes to. genuine..appreciation and 1 hearty, approval ol sane -and equitable labour laws, designed to properly prb-j tect the workers and to. adequately safe : ' guard their. just rights and. privileges. But avo, hold that a f .lawrwhicli prpliibits one firm from conducting its., business and meeting .public,convenience,in. ah accustomed manner during, one, special season of the.,, ye.ar j; while f ,it ~enables other firms: in ;th'§ !: same....lint-, of- business i to keep open, is. neither sane nor equjtI able! :And we ■ makft the same pontehj tion with regard to a law which enJ ables some men to work Overtime wlien- \ ever it is required of;them, while it deI bars other men from doing the same oxcept under certain • i-estricted conditions. The basic principle of a democratic law is that it shall be absolutely, impartial in'its operation'; and'"to our mind that principle is violated when, as in the particular case under notice, some men are permitted to work while others are debarred from doing so. I The "Herald " says: " To call an Act I a legislative absurdity when its purpose is to prevent employers from I making money by unduly Avorking ! their hands, is au action quite in keep- | ing with the good old Tory custom of 1 strenuous opposition to anything tending to make the lot of, the wqrker easier!" The note of exclamation is our own. Tho ridiculous reasoning is. exclusively the property of the "Herald." Take the case in question: The firm could legally keep open and "make money" by the simple process of putting relatives in the places of the regu- j •; lar shop assistants during the evening hours. The law apparently sees no rea-; son to prevent the relatives of employers from working until 9 o'clock in the evening, probably without payment, but it will not permit the regular hands to share in the profit of these " moneymaking " hours, however anxious they may be to do so. And, bear in mirid;it is only for a few evenings at one special season of the year that the public desire and business men are anxious jto provide special /facilities for evening shopping. We are quite p.ware that the fault does not rest with the representative officers of the Labour Department. It rests either with the law itself or with those responsible for the interpretation of the law in such ft way as to act unwisely in restraint of trade. But the anomaly remains all the same. , And the " Herald " unwittingly concedes the reasonableness of our argument when it admits in respect to the law under discussion that all traders should be placed on the same footing. —