doctrinaires whose methods may be mischievous whilst their sincerity is not called in question.”
This conference viewed with the greatest alarm the proposal to apply arbitration to the colony’s State-owned railways, and it “most strongly objected to the whole principle of compulsion.” In its eyes, in short, the Bill was “an unwarrantable interference with the freedom of the subject, and most prejudicial to the progress of trade and manufactures.” “Freedom of the subject” was a phrase that was often used in the colony in those days, and it was one of the most effective means of raising feeling against not only the Arbitration Act but nearly all the other Labour Bills as they were placed before Parliament and the country.
In referring to these incidents in his “State Experiments,” Mr. Reeves points with some degree of complacency to the fact that in 1900, after this “most prejudicial” law had been at work for nearly five years, the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, one of the chief mercantile bodies in the colony, published the following remarks in its annual report:—
“Probably at no period in the history of New Zealand can we find such unmistakable signs of general prosperity as we have experienced during the past year. Our industries, almost without exception, have had their capacities taxed to the very utmost, skilled labour has been practically unobtainable, and, except in the case of one or two exceptional trades, there is every prospect of a continued demand for the productions of New Zealand labour. The number of workers employed in our factories in the year 1895 was 29,879. That number has steadily increased until, at March 31st, 1900, the number employed reached 48,938, being an increase of 19,059, or nearly 64 per cent. in five years. No stronger proof could be required of the forward march of our industrial army, and it is satisfactory to note that the industries that have benefited most by the wave of prosperity which we are now enjoying have been able to give to the workers higher wages and improved conditions of employment.”
After the Act was ready to be put into operation, the unions showed some hesitation in bringing themselves under its jurisdiction. Then one came in and then another, until nearly all of them were registered as Industrial Unions of Workers under the Act.
In the latter part of 1895 the Federated Boot Manufacturers’ Association, representing the boot-making trade in practically the whole of the colony, was registered as an Industrial Union
