LABOUR VIEWPOINT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16021, 13 September 1915, Page 8

LABOUR VIEWPOINT.

PACIFICISTS' INTRIGUE.

SOCIALIST PROTEST.

Times and Sydney Sun Services. (Received September 12, 9 p.m.)

London, September 11.

Mr. John Hodge, M.P. for the Gorton division of Lancashire, presiding at a meeting of the Socialist National Defence Committee at Bristol, referred to the intrigues of pacificists. He regretted the action of Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald and others. If continued, trade unionists must expel them from the Labour Party. A resolution was passed repudiating intrigues " disloyal alike to the workers and to the nation."

HIGH COST OF LIVING.

FIXING OF PRICES URGED.

London, September 10.

The Trades Union Congress, sitting at Bristol, entered a protest against the rise in the cost of living, which it was alleged was due to private speculation, and decided to urge the Government to take control of the supplies of necessities. It was resolved to ask the Government to appoint a committee, which should include Labour representatives, to fix the retail pri?es of foodstuffs.

It was urged that women who were employed on war work should join the trades unions, and it was resolved that there should be equal pay for equal work. Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald, the lat=» leader of the Labour Party, conveyed to the Congress fraternal greetings on behalf of the Labour Party. He said: "Everybody agrees that it is every citizen's duty to uphold the national honour. At the present moment the nation demands the best that we can do." Mr. Mac Donald concluded by appealing to the Congress to regard any present differences as being merely transitory, leading to greater mutual respect and loyalty.

The Congress passed a resolution urging that women displaced after the war be guaranteed employment. It was decided to immediately investigate Mr. Lloyd George's charges of slackness.