GENEVA LABOUR CONFERENCE

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22662, 17 March 1939, Page 12

GENEVA LABOUR CONFERENCE

THE GOVERNMENT’S REPRESENTATIVE

MR LANGSTONE SELECTED WELLINGTON, March 16. The Cabinet has selected the Minister for Lands (the Hon. F. Langstone) to represent the Government at the twenty-fifth session of the International Labour Conference in Geneva this year. Making this announcement this evening, the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage) said the date of the Minister’s departure for Europe was not yet fixed, but it would be necessary to leave early next month. “The conference will open on June 8, a few days later than usual, and it will last about three weeks,” said Mr Savage. “There are six items on the agenda paper this year, covering questions of technical and vocational apprenticeship, the regulation of contracts of employment of native workers, recruiting and placement of immigrant workers, the regulation of hours of work and rest periods for road transport workers, the reduction of hours of work in industry, commerce, and offices, and the reduction of working hodrs in coal mines. The principle of having Ministerial representation at the Geneva conference has nearly always been followed by most countries. The International Labour Office necessarily welcomes a plenipotentiary delegate who has full knowledge of his Government’s policy, particularly on Labour questions.”