LABOUR CONFERENCE

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 99, 20 January 1908, Page 7

LABOUR CONFERENCE

: — 9— ' HAYES AND HAVE-NOTS. A FIERY SPEECH By MR, CURRAN. LEGISLATION ASKED FOR, AN EXTREME RESOLUTION LOST. Pr T*M!aiurii—ruKM ,tssaai ( mo!f--CQrTEi<jm, (Rec. Jan. 19, 4,40 p.m.) London, January 18, Tho majority of tho delegates who aro attending tho labour party's annua) conferonqa at Hull wero present at ,a ppccial conference of trado union and Socialist and eooporativo prgan.isatiqns on the unemployed question.' CURTAIL THE RICH. Mr, P. F. Curran, mombor of tho Bouse of Commons, for Jarrow, presided. Ho said that the £200,000...which had boon granted for roliof purposes was a more drop in the oooan. They should not accopt Government philanthropy or help under charity conditions, As long as tho law of private enterprise, was the guiding principle of tho worth's industry and • commerce, they would always have' unemployed. \ , Mr. Curran wont on to say that they could not eolvo tho question until they curtailed tho incomo of the rich, who aro in possession, and thereby acMod to the incomes of the ppor. They dpsirpd legislation to prevent the ohaos and rnjn that would follow an uprising of'the people crying for bread. A MILDER TONE. v Mr, Ramsay. Mao Donald, mcmbor for Leicoster, protested against the habit of voting nionoy in a panic.. Ho moved a resolution (loclaring that: unemployment Was notcauwl by free trado, and ;could not be averted by periods of good tf.ado, but was a permanent feature of. thq .present industrial organise tion. . ' •' Tho resolution also lirgod the vigorous uso of legislative ap<j administrative powers,, inr eluding shortening, of the hours of labour of public and'other employees, and protection of the worker against tho operation of land and other nipnopolies; and called upon tho Gorernmont to fulfil the promise made in tho King's Speech in : 1906 to amond' thp' Unemployed Act of 190 a, ■: ' Tho resolution set forth that such amendment, • to bo satisfactory, must embody tho principles of . tho Labour Party's bill. MEN DEMORALISED. Mr. J. O'Grady, member for Leeds, in seconding the resolution, said that tho Queen's Unemployed Fundi though promoted by a woman with a big heart, had done moro roal damage to common manhood among tho unemployed than'anything during tho last twenty years, . it had degraded and demoralised them.. Protection, as a remedy against unemployed,, was absurd to rest on, and. free trade, was doubly absurd, ' Several delegates advised caution, lest,the rest of tho Labour cause should be weakened in the country. •The resolution .was earned with enthusir asm,/'a purely, Socialist amendment being negatived by 210.'votes tp 13. SOME A(MS ANP OBJECTS. , The Labour .party's Bill divides tho unemployed into .three .classes;—.'. / . < ~ (l) ThaskiUed.ami able workman temporarily out' of-'ivwk? 'toha' Willd CM dehlf with r on M what is known ha tho JJljjerfeld system (3) Tho workman who has probably been permanently, displaced by machinery, or who ia too old'to take a'further part in tho rush of factory life-—tliis man is to he placed in tho country in industrial villages. (3) The class called nnamployablo, who are to be dealt with as semi-criminals, ill penal farm colonies. The annual conference of the labour-Party, to be held at Hull,' is tho eighth, and is expatted to last three days. The Paper Stainers' Union will jno've an important addition to the objects in, the party's platform by adding the words:— ■ , " Whose Ultimate object shall be. the obtaining for the wqrkers. tho full results of their labour by tho overthrow of the present com'-' petitivo system, of capitalism and tho institution of a-system of;public ownership and control of all tho means of liio." Among tho other points in the resolutions to bo submitted are'tho following:— Establishment Df a daily or weekly Labour newspaper. Universal eight hours' day. . Erection,'of national and municipal workshops for the blind. • Old age pensions. Maintenance: by: pensions of the incapable and infirm blind. Payment of members of Parliament and their ejection expenses. Local and National funds for tho unemployed. Sunday closing qf all hairdressers' shops. Minimum wage ,'for Government employees of 30s. per week,'with a tS hours week. All municipal aldermen to be olected by the ratepayers. -, i Woman suffrage. ■ A resolution is also down in tho namo of the General Hallway Workers' Union, suggesting that a national colour of white should bo adopted under which to fight all elections.