MR TREGEAR AND THE EMPLOYERS.

Colonist, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11675, 10 July 1906, Page 4

MR TREGEAR AND THE EMPLOYERS.

; the premier's reply. 1 Wellington, July 9. The Premier, the Hon. W. ilallJones, has written to the Secretary 1 of the New Zealand Employers' Federation acknowledging the receipt of their letter of the 20th ultimo, asking that Mr Tregear should be removed from office as L Seoretary of the Labor Department on account of a letter he had writ- : ten to a friend in America expressing certain Socialistic views. The Premier, in reply, says that the letter referred to was a private one to a friend; that it was not signed by Mr Tregear in his official capacity: that the supposed copy of the letter is not a true copy, sentences written by Mr Tregear having been omitted, and other sentences inserted and the Hon W. Hall-Jones gives examples of this, and says that to wrest from the letter an attack on the New Zealand Employers* Federation was perverse and unwarranted. ' No accusation, concludes the Prem- ' ier, or even inference, has hitherto reached tbe Government that Mr Tregear has failed in carrying out his official duties with discretion and impartiality. I cannot concur in the principle you expound—that the Government has the right to interfere with any private expression of personal opinions held by»itß officers. Under the circumstances Ido not consider it to be my duty to take action as you suggest.