MR. PETER BOWLING.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1030, 20 January 1911, Page 7

MR. PETER BOWLING.

AT TBE TRADES 'COUNCIL. Mr. Peter- Bowling returned to Wellington from liis organising tour on behalf of tlm New Zealand Federation of Labour ye.slcrihiy. lu company with the president ol the General Labourers' Union no visited the Trades and Labour Council Inst evening, where -he was asked to speak on industrial unionism, and also on the attitude of the Labour party in New South Wales on the liquor fjuesHon. . , •. Bowling stated that he had 110 j intention when ho enmo to speak on any : question, but, from reports in tho pre?s, ho concluded that .Mr. iTodge,, M.P., i might have been present, and lie wished to renew his acquaintance with him. As they had been good enough to' request him to speak on these matters, ho would do «o, the more especially on account of the impression which had gained ground, even amongst themselves, m regard to his mission in the Dominion, lie was not hero to create dissension unless truth caused dissension. He then dealt .with tho workers' position as a class, whosfi economic interests wero identical, referred to their economic dependence and position which they should take up as industrial organised workers. -He also.! condemned the _. attitude of tlioso who rushed into print in condemnation nf others who might differ from them 1 It would be moro manly, lie "thought, to meet each other and thrash out whatever differences there were between them. He then _ rpferrerl to the futility of conducting industrial organisations on sectional lines. Tho right to work had been already asserted bv the Scottish miners, and- this must be adopted by all bodies of industrial workers. Referring to t.hc liquor question, Mr. Bowling said that the attitude of the New South Wales Labour party was a democratic one. They believed in tho issue being settled by a plebiscite of the whole people. If 'the trade was satisfactory under private interest, the Government'should take control of it.

Mr; Bowling had an appreciative .hearing-