LABOUR'S MIND.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 118, 21 May 1910, Page 9

LABOUR'S MIND.

S> DIFFERENCES AMONG LEADERS. RIVAL CONFERENCES POSSIBLE. It is known that delegates of trades and labour councils will have a conference in Auckland next month, and it is rumoured that representatives of unions not affiliated with trades' councils will have an independent conclave in Wellington, presently. Mt. D. Moriarty, "the head 1 aaid front of the rebellion," the spokesman of the uneffiliated unions, was questioned about that rumour today. He did not deny it. He was asked whether the leaders of the newmovement here 'had been in communication with the "outside" unions, beyond the Wellington, dfetrict. He 6miled in reply, and remarked that this particular matter was not yet in a stage for publicity. Mr. Moriarty's contention is that there is "no split in the Labour Party, because there is no party to split." Ho declares, emphatically, that there is no organised Labour Party in New Zealand, or any organisation of Labour in any shape or form, except the ordinary trades unionism. Ho denies, too, thai, a trades council, constituted as Wellington's council is, expresses the attitude of Labou- as a whole here. When he was a member of the council, he added, he was not a paid secretary, and he objected to paid secretaries holding office as members of the council. < Now he was a. paid secretary (the Furnitirreworkers' Union), and he still held the opinion which he then expressed. To support his claim that there was no comprehensive organisation of Labour in Wellington, Mr. Moriarty referred to last year's Mayoral election, when the Hon. J. Rigg polled fewer than 1000 votes. At that time, too, several members of the Trades Council sought seats on the City Council, but all failed to get a place except Mr. D. M'Laren, who was a member of the previous council. The same- thing happened at the recent Hospital and Charitable Aid Board election, said Mr. Moriarty. Where were the votes, where was the support of the so-called organised Labour. Mr. Moriarty mentioned that about naif the unions in Wellington have no connection with the Trades Council. The outside unions included some strong ones — the two Seamen's Unions, the Butchers' (Mr. A. H. Cooper), the Bakers' (Mr. Andrew Collins), Furniture Workers', Building Trade Workers', Cooks and Stewards' (distinct from the Cooks and Waiters' Union). Messrs. Moriarty 3 Oooper, and Collins are not domiciled in the Trades Hall. They have their offices in the Beehive Chambers. "We are not drones," said Mr. Moriarty, playfully, referring to the name The Trades Council's opinion is that some disaffection is traceable to personal feeling and bitterness, and it is not anticipated that the workers of New Zealand will be ranged into two conflicting parties.