LABOUR AND COMPULSION

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 6, 8 January 1916, Page 5

LABOUR AND COMPULSION

ACRIMONIOUS SCENES AT CONGRESS , . LONDON, 6th January. The Labour Congress was marked by acrimonious scenes. It was held in the great Central Hail, which was crowded with a thousand delegates, representing four hundred unions. The result of the vote was awaited with anxiety in the House of Commons. At the conclusion o£ the Congress the Parliamentary Labour Party met privately, -and discussed the result of the railway men's amendment. It was felt, in -view of Mr. Henderson's speech, as likely to be serious. There was a great sensation when it was announced that Mr G. H. Roberts (Junior Lord of the Treasury), Mr. W. Brace, and Mr. A. Henderson had resigned. HOW TO OPPOSE COMPULSION—"WAIT AND SEE." LONDON, 7th January. At the Labour Conference an amendment favouring 'national service during the war was negatived by 1,580,000. Mr Bellamy, the railway men's delegate, said : "Probably some would ask how will you oppose compulsion ? Are yon going to' strike V His answer was : "Wait and see." ■ Mr. Havelock Wilson said if Mr. Asquith's pledge had not been given, recruiting would have been less satisfactory If the pledge was not carried out there would be grave dissension in the country. He believed the unattested single men belonged to the middle class. * The proceediugs were punctuated with uproar. MR. HENDERSON'S ATTITUDE. LONDON, 7th January. * During the discussion at the Trades Union Congress (part of which was .reported yesterday), Mr. Thomas said that a general election would be a crime against those serving in the trenches and Labour. If an election was forced, would they_ admit that only Labour could bo conscripted and not wealth ? _ Conscription was not wanted to win the war, but for ulterior ends. Mr."W. C. Anderson, M.P., said there was behind the Bill a conspiracy intermixed with personal ambition. Mr.' A. Henderson, M.P., Leader of the Labour Party, said : "We have reached a crisis in the history of the nation, and a greater crisis in the history of our own movement. Lord Kitchener wanted by the spring thirty thousand recruits a week, also thirty thousand a week to the end of the year, or a total of a million and a-half. Would the Conference place its opinion against that of Lord Kitchener? Mr. Henderson, added : "I would rather face a by-election than oppose the Bill." ' Mr. P. Snowden :."Come to my constituency and fight the issue!" . After many interruptions and heated exchanges, Mr. Henderson said : "Is there a man who would dare to vote for1 releasing the 500,000 attested married men ? Had' I left my colleagues in the Cabinet, it would have meant breaking the coalition "• "GOOD ENOUGH FOR AUSTRALIANS." LONDON, 7th January. The Daily Chronicle interviewed Sir George Reid, who said that Lord Kitchener's, Mr. Asquith's, and Mr. Bonar Law's assurances that compulsion \ will be necessary to.bring the war to a successful conclusion were good enough for Australians, if not for others. The Chronicle says : "Sir George Reid will be welcomed at Westminster as a great Imperialist." THE RESIGNATIONS— MR. HENDERSON TO EXPLAIN. LONDON, 7th January. Mr. Henderson will explain in the House of Commons on Tuesday why he and his colleagues resigned from the Cabinet. " [Mr. A. Henderson (President of the Board of Education, and who advises the Government on Labour questions), Mr. G. H. Roberts (A Junior Lord of the Treasury), and Mr. W. Bruce (Under-Secretary for Home Affairs) have resigned.] ...