RIVAL UNIONS.

Grey River Argus, 8 April 1927, Page 6

RIVAL UNIONS.

SEAMAN’S DAMAGES CLAIM. ) Alleged victimisation. WELLINGTON, April 7 The case in which. James Brennan claims £5O damages from Walsh, of Wellington, Newfield, of Lyttelton and the Wellington Federated Sea , men’s Industrial Union, alleging that he was wrongfully prevented from securing employment by the defendants’ threats against his prospective employers, was continued before Mr Salmon, S.M , to-day. Mr Hoggard gave a history of the existing rival seamen’s unions, and I said that Walsh had been an unsuccessful candidate for the Presidency of the old Wellington Union, and had a following among the extreme section His views were not_ the views of the majority of the union. He had expressed vw»C that were in favour uf violence, whereas the great bill* •>f the seainou favoured constitutional methods. Delay in the regislration o> I lamtiff’s union gave Walsh his portunity. He gathered 21 frienns and applied for registration on January 25, two days before (Tie , other's certificate was issued. Walsh’s application was granted on the same day in record time. He. had since mam tuned that his union was the trui members of the plaintiff’s union from securing employment. The evidence is being heard. labour administration

need of discipline. “The trouble ahead of Labour is lack of discipline, lack of cohesiveness in regard to its own policy. No organisation can function properly without discipline. Labour must move on the policy of gradualness. It cannot tolerate the men who believe in revolutionary methods. I have no fault to find with the political opinions of men of this type any more than I have fault to find'with the Nationalists—but I have told them not only lately, but for years that their best place is outside the ranks of Labour. Let them adopt whatever policy they like, but they have no right to destroy the discipline of Labour, and compel Labour to take up false positions.” In these words the Labour Premier of Queensland, the lion. W. M’Cormack with much emphasis, laid down his view on a phase of the Labour movement of out standing importance at the present time. The. occasion was a farewell dinner at Parliament House tendered him on the eve of his departure on a tour of America and Great Brit-

The Premier continuing, said that Labour had the ability to control industry—of which so much is spoken and so little understood. But Labour must educate itself, so that it may takw its responsibilities in bad times as well as in good. All these things will have to be faced. The modern school of thought, that regards Labour as a dying force, wants revolution. We do not believe in that.. We do not believe that we have to follow Moscow’s road. We believe that the policy of gradual economic change and gradual betterment of the great mass of the people is the right line fof Australia to move on. We cannot continue to allow our policy to be dictated by people who, speaking in tho name of Labour, attempt to create chaos that will give them an opportunity of putting their revolutionary ideas into practice. The party was not going to allow itself to be dictated to by an outside revolutionary group. Labour believed in gradual economic, change, making tor better conditions, and trfe gradual betterment of the great mass of the people.