FLLIED LABOUR CONGRESS

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 57, 23 February 1918, Page 5

FLLIED LABOUR CONGRESS

DENIES ENEMY LEANINGS. BUSINESS POSTPONED. LONDON, February 22. The Inter-Allied Socialist and Labour Conference decided emphatically to repudiate the suggestion that the conference was under German influence. It is understood that the principle of a league of nations was approved, but there was a cleavage of opinion on the question of territorial adjustments. The real business of the conference has been postponed owing to the non-arrival of the French, Italian, and Serbian delegates. Only Britain, Belgium, and Rumania are so far represented. Mr J. W. Oxden, the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trade Union Congress, who presided, described the gathering as unique, and the first evidence of the workers' determination to take a deciding part in the war. The "Daily Chronicle" says that the Socialist Conference, to be held in London, may prove important if it agrees upon a common declaration. The similar conference last year proved merely a polyglot chaos, but considerable progress has since been made. It is regrettable that America, Australasia, and South Africa are not represented, especially because British Labour's extra-European proposals are th e weakest feature of its war aims. How could the young democracies of South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, and the American Pacific coast enjoy peaceful, development and freedom in the future in the face of the menace of German aggrssion?—(A. and N.Z. Cable.)