LABOR FEDERATION

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 1736, 22 January 1913, Page 4

LABOR FEDERATION

CONFERENCE IN WELLINGTON. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) W ELLING'I ON, La»st Night. Over one hundred delegates attended the conference convened by tlie Federation of Labour. The press" was not admitted. An official report supplied !>■., Mr Webb, president of the Federation, said it was sincerely anticipated thai, til© outcome of the conference would. l be the passing of the petty divisions over mero details which had characterised the labour movement, in thft past. He appealed to the,delegnt<ss to. let tho dead past bury its dead, and to come together in more perfect unity.

The Hon J. Rigg was elected chairman, and on "tho recommendation oil' the Federation Executivo Mr P. Hickey was appointed secretary. Mr E. Tregear, who was given a «- ovation, said that although he had been a devoted advocato of arbitration for twenty years, it was n.->, the. sort of arbitration they had seen used by the employers to break up tho larger unions that they hated and detested.

Mr Webb outlined the reasons for. calling the conference. Referring to what :!iad happened at Waihi and other places in regard to union-break-ing,- he alleged that the engine-driv-ers had formed a separate union at the instigation of the mine-owners. It was not the Massey -Government which defeated the workers, but thenown sectionalism and disorganisation. Mr H. Semplo amplified Mr WebbVj remarks, dealing with the "scab" union at Hunt I.v. The Federation had no apology to offer in regard to th.n AVai hi* figlrt. Tt was forced upon (hem, and it was hotter to have gone down fighting grandly than to hav(> shirked (lie fight. Whatever else they did. they could unite tn crush Massey and liis crowd, who were out to sma<sb the working class organisation with. ulaspmado laws, the policeman's baton. an<t the soldier's rifle-.