FEDERATION OF LABOR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 208, 22 January 1913, Page 5

FEDERATION OF LABOR.

By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Tuesday. Over 100 delegates are in attendance at the conference convened by the Federation of Labor. The press is not admitted, but an official report is supplied. Mr. Webb, president of the Federation, said he sincerely anticipated the outcome would be'the passing of petty divisions over mere details which had characterised the labor movement in the past. He appealed to delegates to let the dead past bury its dead and come together in more perfect unity. The Hon. J. Rigg was elected chairman. On the recommendation of the Federation Executive, Mr. P. Hickey was appointed secretary. Mr. E. Tregear, who was given an ovation, said that although he had been a devoted advocate of arbitration for 20 years, it was not as a sort of education. They had seen it used by employers to break up the large unions that thev hated and detested. Mr. Webb outlined the reasois for calling the conference. Referring to what had happened at Waihi and other places in regard to union breaking, he alleged that the engine-drivers formed a separate union at the instigation of the mine-owners. It was not the Massey Government which had defeated the workers, but their own sectionalism and disorganisation. Mr. Semple amplified Mr. Webb's remarks, dealing with '-scab" union at Huntly on the lines heard before. The Federation had no apology to offer as to the Waihi fight. It wis forced upon them, and it was better to have gone down fighting grandly than have shirked the fight. Whatever else they did they eculd unite to crush Massey and the crowd that were out to smash the working class organisation with class-made law. the policeman's baton, and the soldier's rifle.

CONFERENCE IN WELLINGTON.

A QUESTION OF DELEGATES.

Wellington, Last Night, The Labor Conference spent the whole afternoon discussing a motion to admit delegates from the United Labor Party. Considerable opposition was shown, and finally an amendment to admit two delegates was carried. Then resolutions were adopted to invito two delegates from the executive of the Socialist Party and two from the League of Independent Workers of the World, and the conference adjourned.