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THIRD SESSION OF NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL CONFERENCE.

I Wednesday, 16th May, 1928. The Conference resumed a.t 10 a.m., Mr. A. D. Thomson presiding. Apologies for absence were received from Mr. W. Nash (who was engaged on other public business), Professor A. G. B. Fisher, Professor D. 0. Williams, Mr. J. G. Brechin (who through illness was unable to attend any further meetings of the Conference), and Mr. H. J. Middleton. Report of Special Sub-Committee.- First Section. The Chairman : Gentlemen, the time has arrived for you to discuss in open conference the findings of your special sub-committee. I understand that you have before you printed copies of the report of the sub-committee for your consideration. The first step is to move the motion for the reception of the report, and I call upon Mr. Bloodworth to move that the report be received. Mr. Bloodworth: Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, it is my privilege as Chairman of the special sub-committee to submit for your consideration the report of the sub-committee, of which you have printed copies before you. You will observe that the report is headed " First Section," which indicates that there are other sections to follow. The report is as follows : — REPORT OF SPECIAL SUB -COMMITTEE. —FIRST SECTION. Wellington, 16th May, 1928. The Chairman, National Industrial Conference, Wellington. We have the honour to present the following report on the work of the Special Sub-Committee of this Conference. It is desirable, first, to explain the circumstances which led to the setting-up of this sub-committee. The general Conference met in Parliamentary Buildings on Tuesday, 27th March. The order paper submitted to the delegates by the Parliamentary Committee, to which had been entrusted all the arrangements for the Conference, was as follows : — (a) The effect of the present system of industrial legislation on — (1) The welfare of the country : (2) The interests of employers : (3) The interests of the workers. (b) The effect of the present system of industrial legislation on the primary industries of the Dominion, on which the prosperity of New Zealand ultimately depends. (c) The possibility of adjusting the effect of industrial awards and agreements on the primary industries, taking into account (a) their fixed income from the sale of their products abroad, and (6) any other method of encouraging primary industries. (id) The exclusion or inclusion of any particular industry from or in the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. (e) The basis upon which award rates should be fixed. (/) Payment by piecework or otherwise according to volume of output. (g) The constitution of the Court of Arbitration and the representation thereon of parties ' concerned. (h) Preference to unionists. (i) Improved methods of avoiding industrial disturbances and other like delays in carrying on industry. (j) Such alterations, if any, as are desirable in the industrial legislation of the Dominion. (k) Apprenticeship. (I) Immigration.

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