GENEVA LABOR CONFERENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 January 1922, Page 7

GENEVA LABOR CONFERENCE.

AUSTRALIAN DELEGATE’S VIEWS. By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright. London, Jan. 20. Mr. Merry, the Australian Labor representative at the Geneva Labor Con-ference,-interviewed, said he was convinced international Labor conferences were likly to do immense good for the world’s workers if they were prepared to make steady progress. They could not expect to have a roof on the structure before the foundations were laid. He hoped all the Empire’s delgates would be assembled before the next conference with a view to reaching an agreement on subjects included in the agenda. Otherwise there was danger of continental represerjtatlives '.having everything cut and dried, resulting in British views and votes being useless. He had suffered some opprobrium at Geneva because he was the only Labor delegate who opposed the prohibition of the use of white lead.

Other Laborites attacked Mr. Merry with some bitterness. They supplied delegates with dodgers illustrated with his photograph, representing him as a Labor curiosity. Nevertheless he is convinced that he took t'hp right stand. The evidence for the prohibition was very thin. He believed the white lead compromise eventually reached was in the best interests of the workers everywhere. particularly in South Australia. Since he returned from Geneva he had been touring England with Mr. Barnes, of the Migration Department, and he was satisfied that workers in Australian cities had nothing to fear from immigration. The selection was carried out in a very thorough manner. Every chosen emigrant had to undertake to work on the land for a minimum of 12 months and an increase in the rural population was bound to produce extra work in the cities. Labor opposition to immigration was unworthy and short-sighted in a vast country crying out for more people. He hoped to arrange to meet Labor - ites of every State, in order to explain fully the International Labor Conference’s value and work. —Ans.-N.Z. Cable Assn.