The Daily News FRIDAY, MARCH 16. LABOR AND PARLIAMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8061, 16 March 1906, Page 2

The Daily News FRIDAY, MARCH 16. LABOR AND PARLIAMENT.

English papers which came to hand 0! oy the last mail contain some inter- tl ssting information regarding the fc position of the Labor members in the w British House of Commons. There- it markable increase of this element was perhaps the chief feature of the . recent elections, and there can be no |, doubt that its attitude will be closely ji scrutinised during the next few years, |, For the first time it is in a position ii to make itself felt iu spite of the huge a majority of the Government. In- c eluding Mr Burns and one or two others who are Labor members, al- i though not members of the Labor | party, the number is placed at 51. c There is perhaps some question as to .- the right of some of these to bo class- t ed tinder this head. Mr Nicholls < (Sorthants South west) is said to be ' a minister, Mr Richardson (Notting- j ham South) a grocer, Mr Rowlands ■ (Durtford, Kent) a member of the Goldsmiths' Company, Mr Jowett ( (Bradford West) is an employer or ] mill manager, Mr Snowdon (Blackburn) was in the Inland Revenue Department, and Mr Macdonahl (Lei- i cester) has been a teacher, clerk, and journalist in succession. There are, however, at least forty-five genuine representatives of workers' unions. The greatest number representing one trade are the miners, sixteen. The railway servants and printing trades have throe each, the engineers, shipwrights, cotton operatives, steel smelters, ni.d carpenters have two each, and the nine other trades have one each. There are several who do not represent any single union or trade. There are seven members who are nominated by the Independent Labor party, and not by the unions. These seven include most of the Labor members who are not laborers, The party they represent is an oll'shoot of the Social Democratic Federation, and had its origin in 1892, when some of the membeis of the latter body thought it was too academic and unpractical. The principles of the party are distinctly Socialistic and are stated to be the securing of the collective and communal ownership of all means of production, distribution, and exchange. Of this : party, Mr Keir Hardy and Mr Raihsay Macdonald are the leading lights. At the Trade Union Congress in IHO9 a resolution was passed calling upon the Parliamentary Committee to summon a conference of trade tin- ; ions, co-operative and Socialist representatives to discuss the ipiestion of labor representation in the House of , Commons. This was the origin of the Labor Representation Committee, . of which we have lately hoard so much. The co-operative societies would not join, but seventy trade unions and several Socialist organisations did, and a committee of thiri teen was formed, on which the trade ■ unions had ten representatives, and the Socialist and Independent Labor ' parties three. This committee has ■ been, as we all know, extraordinarily successful in organising the represen--1 tation of lalior. It arranged a Parliamentary fund, and put up fifty-one members, of whom twenty-nine were ; successful, of which seven represent the Independent Labor party, and the rest the various trade unions, which put their nominees in the committee's hands. These twentynine are the ouly Labor members who can be said to be strictly members of a party, although no doubt they will be generally supported by the rest. They are pledged to act together, and not to identify themselves with any any other party. There is, however a distinct clearage between them and the other Labor members. They have already repudiated Mr Burns, and it is doubtful how many of the other Labor members will be invited i . to join them. They will probably find common ground on the questions of trade disputes and workers' accident compensation, in both of which laws the workers demand important amendment. The other questions on which they are interested are more Socialistic. The feeding of school children and provision for the unemployed are examples of these, and the latter is very likely to produce a split in the party. Another question on which opinions are very diverse is education, many of the Union-candi-dates being strongly in favor of denominational schools, while the Socialist members are supposed to lean towards secularism.