Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, JAN, 24, 1906. LABOR PARLIAMENT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10571, 24 January 1906, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, JAN, 24, 1906. LABOR PARLIAMENT.

The statement published with some show of authority a. few days ago that the proposed Parliament of Labor would be abandoned, has not been officially confirmed, but seems likely to be correct, owing to the reluctance of a number of the organisations interested to co-ope-rate. The Premier's proposal, though involving a constitutional departure to which some exception might be taken, was right m its inception, the idea being to bring together all parties' interested iii various labor problem s with the object of frankly discussing their differences and arrivmg at a lair understanding lor the future. The project arose m connection with the agitation that has been raised against the invasion of New Zealand by the American Harvester Trust. Employers aud employed both made outcry against the Trust, and seeing the difficulty of enforcing a remedy tbat would give general satisfaction, the Premier invited all parties interested to come together and talk the thing over. The Labor Unions and some of the Employers' Associations made ready response, but tbe Formers' Union, which was particularly interested because the importation of harvesting machinery is a matter specially affecting i&'fftembers, stood alool, and as several other bodies are doing the 6a_e there seems little likelihood of a representative assembly being secured. The mistake has been made of loading the agenda paper of the conference with a great number oi debatable subjects. The Premier, not content with tine one vital issue that provoked the' conference, sought to enlarge Us scope of influence and suggested a dozen or more topics of controversial character, whilst the Labor Unions brought forward a. good many more, some of them of an extravagant nature, and there seemed prospect that the conference, instead of confining itself to a practical discussion of an important subject, needing immediate attention, would devolve into a debating society, beating the air upon questions on which it was impossible to agree, aud that no good could result."' Under such circumstances the conference had better be dropped. In the invitations that were issued lor the gathering one section of the community was overlooked. Corporations and uuions of every kind were included, but the non-unionist workers, : who form a very large majority of the workers of the colony, were not proposed to be represented. It was only fair that these people should have had their say. They are affected to a very great extent by the operations of labor legislation, gaining m some cases, perhaps a certain amount of indirect benefit, but more often suffering through tbe increase m the price of commodities. It is undeniable that the cost of living has greatly increased m recent years, whilst the non-unionist laborers have not received proportionate benefits. We refer not only to the thousands of unskilled laborers, but to various servants of the State, outside the unions, particularly tbe sweated Post Office employes, and to the lower-paid orders m commercial life. The Government is right m seeking the opinions of all classes of the community on matters of common interest, and though the endeavor to secure a conference on tliis occasion may have failed there are other and easy methods of obtaining the opinions of the respective interests. It would do well m the future to 6tudy social problems from all points of view, not- merely from that of /the section that is most clamorous for reform, and its decisions and remedies should be based upon the relief that will be given to the person who an American visitor the other day described as "the j last man m the procession" — and that, • m tliis colony, is not the unionist with • all his interests comfortably safeguarded, but the hard-working, struggling breadwinner outside the pale of organised labor.