LABOUR LENDS A HAND.

Forest and Bird, Issue 47, 1 February 1938, Page 13

LABOUR LENDS A HAND.

THE National Association of Audobon Societies is a powerful combination aiming primarily at bird protection in America, but nevertheless extending their activities to many countries.

Mr. Robert Cushman Murphy, recently elected President, writes as follows in the Association’s official publication, “Bird Lore”: — “ The conservation movement, ordinarily thought of as wholly altruistic, frequently receives unexpected support from sources motivated by ‘enlightened selfishness.’ For example, a West Coast labour union has recently delivered an ultimatum that threatens to tie up Japanese ships in American ports unless Japan compels her own fishermen to cease fishing on the high seas for salmon which, at the appointed season, make their spawning runs up North American rivers. The aim is neither unreasonable nor unprecedented, for years ago, as a result of arbitration, Japan, Great Britain and the United States terminated the pelagic fishery for fur seals in the North Pacific. The present protest with regard to salmon is the second instance within a year in which organised labour has attempted to play a role in wild-life conservation. Only last autumn a strike of Scandinavian seamen forced the British antarctic whaling fleet to reduce its catch. “In many parts of the world, the past decade has seen a general expansion of labour influence in public affairs. To a considerable degree, organised labour has concerned itself with urban problems and has maintained an urban point of view. But as knowledge of the interrelations between man and all other forms of life becomes more widely disseminated, it is inevitable that labour should take a vital interest in the fundamental causes of proper land-use and sea-use. No group of people has a greater stake in wild-life resources than has labour; no group would more promptly and deeply suffer through the exhaustion of such natural wealth.”