peace between employer and employees, might be
tried. But what if the attempt at conciliation failed ?
A bill had indeed been drafted in South Australia in
which there was to be recourse to conciliation or
arbitration with a sanction. If the parties would not,
or could not, agree, an agreement was to be made for
them, and this agreement enforced. It was on these
lines that the New Zealand Industrial Conciliation
and Arbitration Act was drafted. Most of its
leading features are still the law under the Acts of
1908. Under the 1894 Act and its amendments (and



158 LABOUR LEGISLATION

there were amendments in the following years: 1895,
1896, 1898, 1900, 1901, 1903, 1904, 1906 and 1908),
the principle of invoking a Court, if conciliation fails,
of compulsorily setting wages, hours of labour, and
conditions of labour for employees, in various indus-
tries remains. At one time the conciliation principle
was most in view, and at another time the Court
of Arbitration settled all disputes. The Conciliation
Boards were not very successful. The provisions
of the existing Act, as amended by an Act passed
in 1908, may be summarised as follows : The colony
is divided into industrial districts, and there is a
Council of Conciliation for each district. There are
four Conciliation Commissioners. A Council of Con-
ciliation consists of the Conciliation Commissioner
for the district, and assessors, who may be one, two
or three, appointed by those who apply to the Coun-
cil to intervene in a dispute, and a like number
appointed by those who are called the respondents,
and who are engaged in the trade in the district
where the dispute originates, and who are either
employees if the employers appeal for the settlement
of a dispute, or employers if employees are the
complainants. There is provision for registering
unions that is, unions of employees in a certain
trade, and associations of employers engaged in a
trade. If any dispute arises between the employees
of the trade and the employers, either party may



COUNCILS OF CONCILIATION 159

apply to the Council, and the Council can then sit
and hear the dispute. If the Council is unable to
get the parties to agree, the Council tries to get
a temporary agreement sanctioned till the Court of
Arbitration can sit and hear the dispute, and the
Arbitration Court deal subsequently with the dis-
pute. The Court consists of a judge who is also a
judge of the Supreme Court, appointed for life, and
one assessor elected by all the trades unions of the
Dominion, and one elected by all the employers'
industrial associations in New Zealand. The Court
has power to settle any dispute, and to determine the
length of time an award may be binding, not exceed-
ing three years. It has to decide according to equity
and good conscience as it thinks fit, and from its
award there is no appeal to any tribunal. Its
function is more legislative than judicial, for it fixes
wages, hours of employment, and the conditions under
which an industry has to be carried on. An award
cannot increase the statutory hours of labour, but it
may limit them, and it may also increase the wages
provided by statutes for employees.

In the year ending 31st March, 1909, there were
twelve industrial agreements made (which, on being
filed, had the force of awards), nine recommendations
made by Conciliation Boards, which also had the
effect of awards, and 88 awards made by the Arbi-
tration Court and other Courts. So there are still



160 LABOUR LEGISLATION

labour disputes in New Zealand, but they are usually
settled without strikes and lock-outs.

So far as strikes and lock-outs are concerned the
present provisions were enacted in 1908. "A strike "
was defined as the act of any number of workers, who
are or have been in the employment, whether of the
same employer or of different employers, in discon-
tinuing that employment, whether wholly or partially,
or in breaking their contracts of service, or in refusing,
or failing after such discontinuance, to resume or
return to their employment, the said discontinuance,
etc., being due to any combination, agreement or
common undertaking, whether express or implied,
made with intent to compel employers to agree to
the terms of employment asked by the employees,
and to injure the employers or to procure another
strike, or assist other workers in the employment of
any other employers.

"Lock-out" means the act of an employer in
closing his place of business, or suspending, or dis-
continuing his business or any branch thereof, with
intent to compel or induce any workers to agree to
terms of employment, or comply with any demand
made upon them, by the said or any other employer,
or to cause loss to his workers, or to procure another
lock-out, or to assist any other employer, to compel
or induce any workers to agree to terms of employ-
ment or comply with any demand made by him.



STRIKES AND LOCK-OUTS 161

The penalty on a worker, if there is any award in
his industry, is not exceeding 10, and on an employer
a penalty not exceeding 500. If a worker, not him-
self striking, instigates or aids or abets in a strike,
he is liable to a 10 penalty, and an industrial union
which aids, etc., is liable to a penalty not exceeding
200. Any person who giveS money to a party to
strike or lock-out, or to a union of workers or of
employers of which a striker or one who causes a
lock-out is a member, is deemed to have aided and
abetted a strike, or lock-out, and is liable to the
penalties already mentioned. If the majority of a
union, "employees' or employers', has engaged in a
strike or lock-out, the union is held to have aided
and abetted the strike or lock-out. There are special
and increased penalties for strikes and lock-outs in
such special industries as gas, electricity for light and
power, delivery of coal, water supply, slaughtering of
meat, working of ferries and tramways, etc. There
are also many provisions for punishing breaches of
awards or of industrial agreements.

There are special provisions for the hours of
labour and wages of coal and gold miners.

There are also many stringent provisions as to the
conduct of coal mining. No female or boy, that is, a
male under 13, can be employed in or about a coal
mine, and the employment of youths between the
ages of 13 and 18 is much restricted. They cannot

S. N. Z. 11



162 LABOUR LEGISLATION

be employed as ladder or bracemen at a place set
over a shaft, nor have charge of an engine, or wind-
lass, or of any part of the machinery, ropes, chains,
tackle, etc., by which persons are brought up or
carried along in a mine, nor for more than 48 hours
in a week, nor for more than eight hours in a day,
except in cases of emergency. Persons in charge of
steam machinery are limited to eight hours' con-
secutive work, and then a rest of four hours must
intervene.

A miner is entitled to overtime when he is
employed underground for more than eight hours a
day, and under the award under which coal miners
work this means wages at an increased rate. There
is no Sunday labour save by permission of an in-
spector, and permission must only be given when the
work cannot be suspended without risk to the mine.
There are multitudinous regulations as to ventilation,
ways, keeping of explosives, etc. There are also pro-
visions for compensation to workers for accidents,
and an accident is declared prima facie proof of
negligence.

The Crown may resume all coal-bearing land
which has been alienated by the Crown since 1891,
but the owners have to be paid compensation for the
land and improvements, but not for coal. In every
mine there is a sick and accident fund for the relief
of miners or their families, and the employer has to



PROTECTION OF WORKMEN 163

pay one halfpenny per ton on all coal except brown
coal or lignite, and a farthing a ton on brown coal or
lignite. The money is paid in to the Government
savings banks, and the Minister of Mines and the
Public Trustee are "trustees of the fund."

There are somewhat similar provisions enacted as
to gold mining. No female and no male youth under
14 years of age can work in or about a gold mine, etc.,
and there are elaborate rules and regulations as to
the conduct of gold mining, similar to those enacted
by the Coal Mines Acts.

The care of the State is not, however, confined
to miners. The employer has, under a penalty,
to provide proper accommodation for agricultural
labourers and sheep shearers. Seamen also have
not been neglected. The Government sees that
proper accommodation is provided, and the Arbitra-
tion Court fixes the rate of wages. In fact, over all
labour there is the aegis of the Government. There
is even a Scaffolding Act to guard the lives of builders.
There are workers' dwellings erected by the State in
many parts of the Dominion, and as has been pointed
out, loans are granted by the State to workers who
wish to erect their own houses.

In 1908-9 there were 12,040 factories registered,
the hands employed in factories were 78,848, and the
wages paid 5,710,226. There are 12,689 shops, and
in these shops 34,1 19 persons are engaged. Of these,

112



164 LABOUR LEGISLATION

20,701 are shop assistants and the remainder are
employers. 1,792,199 were paid in wages to shop
assistants in the year 1908-9.

There are 49,347 workmen belonging to 345 trade
unions, and 3918 employers belonging to employers'
unions.

The total number of industrial agreements and of
awards in force is at present 354.

At the basis of the system of industrial conciliation
and arbitration lies the recognition of trade unions
and employers' unions, and the system could not
perhaps be worked unless such a basis were recog-
nised. It would be almost impossible to deal with
individual complaints from either employers or em-
ployed. In those trades or occupations where unions
are unknown, awards are unknown. There have been
no awards in the case of domestic service, nor in the
case of agricultural labourers, and the question has
been debated whether domestic servants can be said
to be workers in an industry in the meaning of the
Act. In many industries a preference has been given
to the employment of members of a trade union of
the industry over those who are non-unionists. Where
such a provision has, however, been inserted in an
award, the award has almost always laid down the
terms of admission to the union. All workers of
the trade must be admitted on payment of a small
annual fee.



165

It is continually asked what has been the effect of
this interference with labour, this fixing of the wages,
conditions, hours of labour, etc. Before an answer
is given the particular and peculiar position of New
Zealand must be recognised. It is a thinly populated
country that exports but a small quantity of manu-
factured goods. Its main exports are the products of
the pastoral and agricultural farms, and of the mine.
Out of a total value of over 20 millions of exports,
manufactured goods (if flax Phormium tenax be
eliminated) show no sign of increase during the past
ten years. In 1897 the value was 193,622, and in
1908 176,039. The articles exported were ale, beer,
apparel, leather, soap, woollens and miscellaneous.
In most of the industries in which awards are made,
the industries are not affected by outside competition.
It does not matter what wages or conditions of labour
prevail in the bakers' or butchers' trades, for example :
fresh bread and fresh meat must be had by the
inhabitants. A law that might be successful in New
Zealand, which is not an exporter of manufactured
goods, might wholly fail in a country that relied on its
sale of manufactured goods to foreign peoples. This,
at all events, can be said : strikes have been rare, and
the Dominion is progressing. It is recognised that no
industry is worth having if it cannot pay a living wage.
The people in New Zealand believe that it is better
to have no industries than to have a people steeped in



166 LABOUR LEGISLATION

misery, with physical health shattered, and with no
hope of comfort or happiness.

There is one fact that may have some bearing on
the subject, and that is, that often wages exceed
those fixed by awards, and that when work is scarce
there are few applications to the Court for an increase
of wages. When work is plentiful and labour scarce,
the demand is ever made for higher pay.

In the Capital there is a Government labour de-
partment which has been in existence for 19 years.
It supervises the various labour regulations, and the
various agencies or labour bureaux throughout the
Dominion. The annual cost of the department is about
27,000. This includes the cost of administering the
Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. There
are labour offices or bureaux throughout New Zealand,
and in four of the cities there is a department
to look after the unemployed. These branches deal
with the unemployed, finding work for them and
aiding them to get work. In the year ending 31st
March, 1909, 10,391 were so helped, 4,190 being placed
with private employers and 6,201 on Government
works. Those placed in Government works were
mostly labourers, being 5,901 out of the 6,201 em-
ployed. The Government has always a considerable
number of public works in progress, railways, roads,
tracks, coal mines, etc., and the number of labourers
employed by the State is therefore large. During



LABOUR DEPARTMENT 167

last year there was in the winter months a consider-
able number of unemployed, as there had been a
shrinkage in the price of wool, and of some of the
other staple products of the country.

There is, as exists in England, a Workers' Com-
pensation Act. It varies in some of its provisions
from the English statute, but not in many vital
details.



SECTION III

LAND LEGISLATION

THE first settlers who landed in New Zealand
bought land from the Maoris before the proclamation
in 1840 of the Queen's sovereignty. The land was
unsurveyed, and the settlers were not always careful
to investigate the title of those who conveyed it to
them. The price given was often most inadequate.
Thousands of acres were sold in exchange for goods
of small value. In 1840 a treaty was made with the
Maoris, being first signed near the mouth of the
Waitangi river in the Bay of Islands. This treaty,
as has been said, was called the Treaty of Waitangi,
and is to-day looked upon by the Maoris with more
reverence than Englishmen treat "Magna Charta"
or " The Bill of Rights." Its provisions have already



168 LAND LEGISLATION

been set out in the chapter dealing with the early
history of the Dominion.

At the time the treaty was made large tracts of
land had been purchased by the New Zealand Com-
pany ; and how one large tract, upon part of which
the city of Wellington now stands, was purchased is
related by Mr E. J. Wakefield in his book Adven-
ture in New Zealand. Mr Wakefield describes the
meetings with the natives and the long discussions
with the chiefs, without which no business could be
done with the ancient Maoris. There were several
meetings on succeeding days, during which the
advantages and disadvantages likely to accrue to
the natives were discussed by both parties, before the
chiefs signified their assent to a sale and fixed the
boundaries of the land to be alienated. He goes on
to detail the circumstances in connection with the
fixing of the price, the approval and acceptance by
the chiefs of the goods offered and the final signing
of the deed of conveyance. This is the story given in
his own words :

" This morning, the goods which Colonel Wakefield
intended to give the natives for their land were got
upon deck, in the presence of about a hundred of the
natives. Except incessant chattering, they offered no
obstruction or inconvenience to this process ; but as
they filled up a good deal of room on deck, which was
wanted in order to assort the various things, my



PURCHASE OF LAND FROM NATIVES 169

uncle requested Wharepouri to explain this and get
them to go ashore until all was ready. He instantly
addressed them from the hurricane-house, and set
the example of going on shore himself, which was
readily and expeditiously followed by all. . . .

"When all the articles had been selected and
arranged, a message was sent on shore for all the
chiefs, who came accompanied by their sons. They
examined the stock of goods strictly and carefully,
and approved of the quality and quantity. . . .

"I had prepared a deed according to Colonel
Wakefield's instructions, nearly in the words of some
deeds which we had on board, that had been drawn
on the model of those used by missionary land-buyers
in the northern part of the island. The boundaries
and native names being inserted from Wharepouri's
dictation, the deed was brought on deck, and laid on
the capstan. As I read it through, sentence by sen-
tence, in English, Barrett interpreted into Maori ;
and he was repeatedly urged by Colonel Wakefield to
explain fully each important provision contained in
it. The native reserves were especially dwelt upon.
Although the natives had repeatedly discussed every
point, and this was therefore only a repetition of the
agreement to which they had all given an ample
assent on several occasions, and though they were
anxious to get the goods on shore, and the distribu-
tion ended, they listened with great attention and



170 LAND LEGISLATION

decorum to the recapitulation of the deed in both
languages. The chiefs then came up in succession to
the capstan in order to make their marks. As each
one's name was called I wrote it down, and held the
pen .whilst he made a mark opposite. They all
brought their sons with them, in order, as they
suggested, to bind them in the transaction and to
prove that they looked forward to the future.

"The boats were then sent away with the goods
to the settlements, the chief of each accompanying
them, and undertaking to distribute them at his own
place."

In 1839, although the sovereignty had not then
been proclaimed, the Secretary of State for the
Colonies had declared that the Government would
not recognise any titles to land in New Zealand
which were not afterwards confirmed by the Govern-
ment. The Governor and Legislative Council of New
South Wales proceeded, in 1840, to act according to
the instruction of the Secretary of State, and passed
an Act empowering the Government to appoint com-
missioners to examine and report on land claims in
New Zealand. The second ordinance passed by the
Governor and Legislative Council of New Zealand
(9th June, 1841) repealed the Act of New South
Wales, and determined the commission. The ordi-
nance repeated the declaration in the New South
Wales Act that no titles to land were valid unless



recognised by the Queen, and authorised the Governor
to appoint a commission to examine and report on
all claims to land. It declared that the commissioners
were to be guided by the real justice and good con-
science of the case. A certain value appearing in
schedule " B " of the ordinance was to be deemed the
fair value of the land. The rate varied from Qd. per
acre in 1815-24 to from 4s. to 8s. in 1839. There
were other conditions set forth in the ordinance. The
work begun by this commission was continued by
other commissioners and land claims judges till 1878,
and even since then the Government has recognised
some claims. There were various amendments made
in this ordinance, and one amendment was to restrict
the area that would be recognised as acquired. As a
complement to this ordinance it was declared by an
ordinance in 1842 that all lands validly sold by the
Maoris were vested in Her Majesty as part of the
demesne of the Crown. This was necessary to give a
good title to the persons found to be purchasers.

After the Treaty of Waitangi, the Government had
to acquire land for settlement from the Maoris by
purchase, and purchases began shortly after the year
1841. No land has ever been taken from the Maoris
save by purchase except in the case of land confis-
cated in some districts because of the rebellion of
the Maori owners. It was not till 1849 that a Crown
Lands Ordinance was passed. Prior to this date the



172 LAND LEGISLATION

settlers in the various parts of the country had
obtained their land from the New Zealand Company,
or from the associations that had founded the different
settlements. It is unnecessary to detail the diverse
and varied schemes adopted to dispose of Crown
lands. The schemes varied with the district. In
Canterbury, save when the Governor issued regula-
tions reducing for a time the price of land, land
was sold on a system of free selection before* survey
at a uniform rate of 2 per acre, a system that
continued down to 1877. This was what was called
the Wakefield system. In Otago there were many
methods adopted of disposing of lands, by auction, by
selection after survey, on deferred payments, and
many others. In the North Island land was less
readily acquired, as the natives were numerous, and
purchases from natives were often slow in completion,
and as in many districts the land was covered with
forest, roads were few and badly made. Different
systems of land disposal have continued down to the
present day. The usual method is to open a block
for settlement and to give the land, if there is com-
petition, to the person who obtains it by ballot,
provided he has enough capital to work it and has no
other land. The area one can acquire is limited, and
if the purchaser is the proprietor of a certain area
he cannot obtain land from the Crown. There is
now a leasing system without the right of purchase,



CONTROL OF POSSESSION 173

with provision for renewal of leases and for per-
manent improvements remaining the property of the
lessee.

Various restrictions exist to prevent land mono-
poly, and to secure occupation and utilisation of
the lands. In 1892 a system was originated of the
compulsory acquisition of land for small or closer
settlement. This still exists, and what may be done
now to secure private lands may be briefly stated.
The land to be acquired must be suitable for (a) settle-
ment, or (b) providing land for sites for homesteads on
pastoral Crown lands, or (c) providing low-lying land
necessary for working neighbouring pastoral Crown
land, or (d) exchanging high laud only suitable for
pastoral purposes for low-lying land suitable for
agriculture, or (e) providing land by purchase or
exchange to consolidate any estate or to adjust its
boundaries. It is almost entirely under (a) that
estates have been acquired. In some instances the
owners have made agreements with the Government,
but in most there has been compulsory acquisition.
The minimum area that can be acquired compulsorily
is, in the case of country land, any amount over 1000
acres of first-class land, 2000 acres of second-class
land, or 5000 acres of third-class land. Of land within
five miles of a city any area over 200 acres may be
taken. Land may also be taken for workers' homes
in a borough if the population is 15,000 or over. The



174 LAND LEGISLATION

mode of taking is to gazette the requisition and serve
a copy of it on the owner. The owner must then,
within 42 days, make his claim. He may object to
the taking, and if so, his objection must be heard by
a Court consisting of a Supreme Court Judge and
two assessors, one appointed by the claimant and one
by the Minister of Lands. The owner also states the
monetary amount of his claim. There are various
matters dealt with in such claims. After the land is
classified by the Court, the Court determines what
land may be taken and the compensation to be paid.
The compensation can only be (1) the value of the
land, and (2) the loss to the claimant's business by
taking the land. All land is valued at its unimproved
value in New Zealand and entered on an assessment
roll. The improvements have to be ascertained by
evidence. There is a percentage added to the unim-
proved value of 10 per cent, if the land value is under
50,000, and if it exceeds 50,000, then 10 per cent,
for the 50,000 and 5 per cent, for the sum in excess
of 50,000. The owner can, on the assessment roll,
always fix his own value, but on that value he has to
pay his land tax.

~The land so acquired is disposed of on perpetual
renewable leases of 33 years at a rental of 4. 10s.
per cent, on the amount paid for the land. At the
end of such lease the renewal rental is 4. 10s. per
cent, on the value of the land. If there are more



COMPULSORY SALE AND COMPENSATION 175

eligible applicants than one, then the ballot settles