Compulsory arbitration in New Zealand : the first forty years

248 Pages·1986·5.47 MB·English

by  James Holt

Compulsory Arbitration in New Zealand
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Compulsory
Arbitration
in New Zealand
The First Forty Years
JAMES HOLT
Auckland University Press
©Jill Holt 1986
First published 1986
PRINTED IN NEW ZEALAND
from type computer-set by Jacobsons Typesetters Limited
by University Printing Services, Auckland
ISBN 1 86940 006 2
This book is dedicated to
Bill Holt
who drowned in the Motu River
9 April 1982
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Contents
Acknowledgements 8
Laurence James Holt (1939-1983): a Memoir 9
Preface 13
1 Origins 15
2 The Arbitration System Emerges, 1894-1901 33
3 1901-1908 57
4 1909-1913 93
5 War and Inflation, 1914-1920 116
6 Stabilisation, 1920-5 143
7 The Farmers' Revolt, 1926-1935 165
Appendices:
I: Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1894 192
II: Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amend-
ment Act, 1908 215
III: Judges and Assessors of the Court of Arbitration 235
Bibliography 236
Index 243
Acknowledgements
On Jim's behalf I would like to thank the many very kind people without
whom the book would never have reached publication. First I thank all
the librarians and archivists in public, private, and university libraries
who gave Jim help when he was doing basic research. For fear of omission
I mention no names, but I hope all who helped in giving him access to
documents, manuscripts, and books will accept this as a personal
acknowledgement.
I thank the typists of the Auckland University History Department
who typed the manuscript on to a word processor and I am grateful to the
staff of the History Department for arranging this and for supporting
publication, and to Michael Belgrave for preparing the book to be typeset
by computer.
I would like to thank Keith Sinclair for reading the script, organizing
initial contacts with Dennis McEldowney of the University Press, and
overseeing and encouraging publication.
I owe particular thanks to Raewyn Dalziel, who at a very difficult time
collected the chapters, made copies, arranged for colleagues to read the
script, and generally provided immense support.
Above all I thank Erik Olssen, who edited and checked the text and read
the proofs at several stages. His skill and dedication, together with his
knowledge of the topic and the period, have ensured that the book appears
with the meticulous attention to detail Jim Holt would have given it.
Jill Holt
8
Laurence James Holt (1939-1983)
a Memoir
James Holt died suddenly on 24 July 1983. He had recently moved to
Wellington from Auckland with his family to assume the position of
Chief Historian in the Historical Publications Branch of the Depart-
ment of Internal Affairs.
After six weeks in the new position he had begun to enjoy Wellington,
the job, the friends he had made, the political contacts. He had written
a speech or two for the new leader of the Labour Party, David Lange.
He was at work on a project for his good friend, Labour's finance
spokesman, Roger Douglas. He was seeing at first hand the lives that
many of his close friends in politics were leading. His study of the
arbitration system in New Zealand was nearly finished, and would soon
be ready for publication. He was, as ever, brimming over with historical
anecdotes and insights into New Zealand, and the country's social and
economic development. And then the suddenness of his death. It led on
to a week of mourning, involving a great many from the worlds of
academia, politics, and the civil service, first in Wellington and then
in Auckland. Friends and colleagues come and go; Jim Holt was
irreplaceable.
Jim Holt was born in Auckland on 14 September 1939, a few days
after the outbreak of World War II. He was born into an anti-violent
family, one which put all its endeavours into stopping wars. It always
seemed to me, as I grew up in the same neighbourhood, that it was an
intellectually enriched family. The Holts, and their cousins in the next
street, the Leathems, and their other close friends, were educated
people. Laurence, Jim's father, became the first Professor of Account-
ancy at the University of Auckland. His mother was a graduate. Jim, as
one might expect, was a very verbal child. I have a clear picture of him
sitting at the end of the Leathems' table, in Kitenui Avenue, talking
nineteen to the dozen. It was the late 1940s. All of us were attuned to
radio and its personalities. Jim's cousin, Robert, to whom we all looked
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