AT GENEVA

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 72, 28 March 1929, Page 10

AT GENEVA

THE LABOUR OFFICE

NEW ZEALAND'S POSITION

THE MAY CONFERENCE

Tho announcement by the ..Prime Minister that he .is favourablo to Now Zealand boing represented at the International Labour Conference to be held at Geneva in May of this year has given rise to a feeling of satisfaction in Labour circles, and it is proposed to mako representations to the Prime Minister on the subject when he returns from the South. New Zealand, it is pointed out, has not yet been represented at the International Labour Conferences held at Geneva. Should tho Government decide upon representation, there will probably bo threo delegates—ono representing tho Government, one representing the em: ployers, and ono representing tho employees. It would bo necessary for tho delegates to leave for Geneva almost immediately.

The setting up of tho International Labour Office was provided for in the Treaty of Versailles, and its programme is set out in tho Preamble to Part XIII. of tho Treaty. The Preamble was as follows: —

Whereas the League of Nations has for its object the establishment of universal peace, and such a peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice; and whereas conditions of Labour exist involving such injustice, hardship, and privation to large numbers of people as to produce unrest so great that the peace and harmony of the world are imperilled; and an improvement of those conditions is urgently required; as, for example, by the regulation of the hours of work, including the establishment of a maximum working day and week, the regulation of the labour supply, tho prevention of unemployment, the provision of an adequate living wage, tho protection of tho worker against sickness, diseases, and injury arising out of his employment, the protection of children, young persons, and women, provision for old age and injury, protection of the interests of workers when employed in countries other than their own, recognition of tho principle of freedom'of association, the organisation of vocational and technical education and other measures; . whereas also the failure of any nation to adopt humane conditions of employment is an obstacle in tho way of other nations which desire to imi prove the conditions in their' own countries; the High Contracting Parties, moved by sentiments of justice and humanity as well as by the desire to secure the permanent peace of the world, agree to the following: Then follows the decision to set up the International Labour organisation. This was signed by 32 belligerent Powers, and it has sjneo been, accepted by many others. FOUNDATION AND FUNCTIONS. For the first six years of its existence the Organisation, apart from a few months when it was working in London, did its work in a building just outside of Geneva, but in 1926 it moved into its own homo on the,sliores of tho lake, and- tho foundation-stone bears the following inscription in Latin, which has since been adopted as tho motto of tho Organisation: "If you-wish for peace you must sow justice.'' From the inception of the International Labour Office the. Director has been M. Albert Thomas, who has had as his assistant an Englishman, Mr. H. B. Butler. Both M. Thomas and Mr. Butler, have had wide experience of governmental and labour mattors. Mr. Butler, after holding posts in tho Home Office, and Foreign Office, and, ttie Ministry of Labour, was assistant general secretary of the Labour Commission at the- Peace Conference in Paris, and he did a great deal towards getting the International Labour Office started. Over three hundred men and women from thirty different countries are employed in 'the office of tho Organisation, and their duties are such as to keep them busily engaged throughout the whole of the year. Ono section deals specially 'with correspondence with Governments, which are constantly asking tho Office for help in all sorts of ways; with preparations for the meetings of the governing body and the annual conference; and with correspondence arising as a result of the conference. This is known as the Diplomatic Division. Then there are the Research, Administrative, and Intelligence sections, all of which have their special duties. However, "tho Publications Section is probably the most important of all, for it is through this channel that the Office disseminates tho results of its activities. The publications are many and varied and it has been, found that they have proved of inestimable value to countries throughout the world in coping with labour%and and kindred problems. THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE. A.t least once a year, in May or June, there is a conference of the International Labour Office, just as every year, in September, there is a meeting of the Assembly of tho Leaguo of Nations. To this conference every State which is a member may send four delegates, two to represent tho Government of the country and one each to represent employers and employees respectively. Usually accompanying the delegates are advisers, who have a special knowledge of tho mattors that are likely to come before tho. conferenco, one of tho advisers usually being'a woman, as tho conference naturally deals with many questions affecting the employment of women. Sinco 1919 tho conferences held at Geneva have dealt with many of the subjects to which reference is mado in the Preamble to the Treaty of Versailles. Subjects already dealt ,with have included the following: (a) The regulation of hours of work, tho protection of children, young persons, and women; (b) freedom of association; (c) protection of tho interests of the workers; (d) protection, of tho worker against sick^ ness, disease, and injury; (o) tho prevontion of unemployment (the organisation has found work for thousands of destitute persons); (f) the provision of an adequato living wage; (g) conditions of labour involving injustice, hardship, and privation to large numbers of people. • , On each of the subjects mentioned, as well as on ax host bf other smaller but yet impo»tant matters the Organisation has prepared reports and collected data which have proved of great bene«t. .