NEW TRADES HALL

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 115, 13 February 1928, Page 11

NEW TRADES HALL

MEMORIAL STONE LAID REFERENCES TO COMING ELECTION On Saturday, Mr. H. E. Holland, M.P., laid the foundation-stone of the new Wellington Trades Hall in the presence of a large assemblage of representatives of the local Labour organisations. Included in the gathering were Messrs. P. Fraser and R. McKeen, M.P.’s, R. Semple, A. Collins, and A. Parlane. Mrs. Holland and many other ladies were also present. The building is being erected in Vivian Street, and will be a three-story, steel-framed structure, to house not only the various unions, but also the “New Zealand Worker,” the organ ol the Labour Party. Introducing Mr. Holland, Mr. F. D. Cornwell, president of the Trades and Labour Council, stated that the Luild'ng scheme had been before local unions for 2(1 years. At present a hall to seat 500 people, and the necessary meeting rooms, were being proceeded with. The completed plan would require at least another £25,000, involving a total cost of £50,000. Mr. W. Fielding, the architect, in presenting Mr. Holland with a silver trowel, expressed the hope that the various organisations would abide in peace and harmony in the new premises. Mr. Holland's Address. Mr. Holland, after laying the stone, stressed the ideals of Labour. He said that he believed that the building would not only be a home and a temple of Labour for the local organisations, but in time, would become the headquarters of the Dominion Labour movement. The new hall represented a startling advance from the time when the Trades and Labour Council met in a dingy little room iii Cuba Street. Dominion congresses would be held in the' hall, and decisions come to that would affect the political and industrial life of New Zealand. He urged the necessity of solidarity in the Labour movement. “This year,” added Mr. Holland, “we have to face the electors; handicapped as we have always been with the want of funds, and with the whole of the Press, with one or two exceptions, against us. You can make this hall a success, and by political and industrial solidarity you can go further, and you can win this country for Labour in November next. We have never on a single occasion been defeated by our opponents ; they are not numerous enough to beat us. ’ We are always beaten, when we are beaten, by the working men and women, who lack the knowledge to know where their own interests lie; or else they have the knowledge, but are not true' to the interests of their own section of the community. The day has gone when we can afford to have division in the ranks of Labour.” Mr. J. Roberts, chairman of directors of the “New Zealand Worker,” made a strong appeal for financial support for that journal. The new building, he said, would be a credit to the Labour movement, in that it was being erected on the co-operative principle, and would demonstrate the efficiency of Labour, both as. to cost and workmanship. Afternoon tea was served in the present social room.