THE H.B. TRIBUNE. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1922. LABOUR IN N.S.W.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 233, 14 September 1922, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1922. LABOUR IN N.S.W.

Politically speaking , at any rate, . Labour in New South Wales does not seem just now to be a particularly happy oj‘ united family. Ever since the recent general election there have been very definite signs of internal dissension, which is not yet displaying any symptoms of abatement. Apart altogether from the open defection of so prominent a member as Mr. Catts, who refused to submit to Caucus discipline in the candidature that ultimately resulted in his election, and from the secession movement which he has been organising, there seems to be but little accord between the joint governing bodies, the State executive of the Australian Labour Party apd the State Parliamentary Labour Caucus. Cross accusations of gross corruption and of dishonourable manipulation of selection ballots have been bandied back and forth, denied and re-asserted, though without any specific charges being as yet sheeted home. Certain of the Labour members of Parliament express themselves as highly dissatisfied with the inner workings of the party’s affairs, and demand an independent investigation. The executive invites them to formulate their charges and promises to set up a committee to hea) and take evidence upon them, and so to dispose of them —presumably without the necessity of washing evidently dirty linen in public. The complainants, however, as much as say that they can have no possible confidence in the finding of any enquiry conducted under the control of the executive, and insist on recourse being given to some assuredly disinterested tribunal, although how this is to be constituted does not apepar to be suggested. By this means alone, they say, can mutual trust be revived, and then only, it is strongly hinted, if a very drastic purging of the constituent personnel of the executive is undertaken. Just before our this week’s Australian mail left Sydney a conference had been held between the executive and the caucus at which some very electric passages at arms are stated to have taken place, but seemingly without in any way clearing the overcharged atmosphere of Macdonnell House, the party’s headquarters. Thus the conference, although ostensibly called for the purpose of ‘‘solidifying Labour s forces,” broke up in “most admired disorder,” but not without resolving, like Burns’s “Twa Dogs,” on a quite different and more friendly occasion, “to meet again some other day.” The debate, as it is euphemistically termed in the supplied official report, was adjourned till last Friday’s meeting of the executive, of whose proceedings we do not as yet appeal- to have had any account by cable. It is with considerable, if largely curious, interest that we await further press reports of how the brew develops. In the industrial sphere there are also unmistakable signs that the extremists who have hitherto managed to secure and hold control are losing influence. More particularly is this to be seen in the very definite refusal on the part of a large number of unions to have anything to do with the universal “go slow” scheme formulated by the New South Wales Labour Council. Frequent resolutions to this effect are

being published in the daily press. The latest protest against this suicidal plan that has met our eye comes from the United Labourers' Union, the secretary of which has, under instructions from the executive, issued an appeal to the Trades Hall unions, in which he says: “As the Federal elections loom near the white-anters are preaching a policy to hamstring existing industries with go-slow schemes. Although the A.L.P. executive has denounced the policy as opposed to Labour ideals, a recently whitewashed member of the breakaway crowd, readmitted to the fold, is on the emergency council to carry ou the ‘cacanny’ ‘measure-for-measure’ campaign launched by the secretary of the Labour Council, who is now on the ocean on the road to Red Russia.” Referring to the cabled report that an influential commission had left London for Australia with a view to the firm establishment there of the cotton industry, thus providing employment for thousands, he says that the “council of action” had already at long range fired the go-slow bomb to beware investors of capital. He winds up by declaring that “the ca’-canny system would pull down our White Australia to the level of an aboriginal camp out in the Mulga scrub.” Of a somewhat different character is the set battle that is in progress between the Graziers’ Association and those who seek to control the Shearers’ Union. These latter have sought to restrain the union members from accepting the apparently very liberal rates which had been fixed by the Arbitration Court for the current season’s operations. The wool-growers have, however, stood firm throughout the State. The result is that, what between voluntary mutual assistance and the refusal of a very large section of the unionists themselves to be coerced into a course which they recognise as both impolitic and unjust under existing conditions, shearing is going on everywhere at a quite satisfactory rate. In fact, takipg indications all round, it is obvious that, in the Mother State at any rate, the credit of the direct actionists is falling to the level of a very heavy discount.