LABOR PARLIAMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 6 April 1907, Page 2

LABOR PARLIAMENT .

LATEST TELEGRAMS.

Per Press Association. Duiicdin, April 5. The Trades' Conference met again I'iis forenoon. On the motion of Mr. 'I horn (Canterbury) it Wils resolved that wheieas nil financial benefits accruing i,'"in labor legislation in the ibis,, has Won nullified by tl„. iU . t i im „f t| 1(! capililllfitH _ clilKS ill raising ])l ic-t-s out of proportion lo the increase in wages, and wheels the reason for tliiH lies in the ii.icdsbed power of capitalists, this eon-fe.-encc strongly ,„- g , , h e ,„„,,,,, of X( , w Zealand to make a stand, and demand legislation that will initiate a system of producing the ncccisaiies of life ami ol supplying them to the people at cost. '

A letter was received from \fr MneI.WId. of Hie ••While Australia" movement, scut to ascertain the Ice'iie, ( ,f tlie conference, with regard to the petition of prison labor in general bade articles. The conference unanimously lesolvd that our prisons should be removed from centres of population, and the inmates generally be employed in •.'•ell >i-c»totinn and agricultural pursuits, am, i.ul those unable to engage in such emploj moot be restricted to the uianu-•'ii-.i,v of articles required in ooimect>n Willi the prisons. It was resolved that llaxmill nod saw mill employees and agricultural laborers he provided with similar accommodation hi that provided for shearers, Several debt-ates spoke of Ihe revolting Condit ous under which llaxmill hands were leqiiired to live. TlilO LAND BILL CONSIDERED. Per Press Association. Dnncdin, April 5. At yesterday's meeting of the 'trades' a>d Labor Conference, Mr. MeCullocb. ,I'o,'cd that the conference leallinn its s.-vifii adherence to the principle of hum nationalisation. In regard to the I jvi". Jj'll. the conference supported and niih.'wd its progressive provisions, and, i.' ihe Hcrests of the workers, strongly i 'iced an nineiKluient of the limitationc r.-,e, rclucing the limitation from to £30,000 unimproved value, ■Mid of leserving to the State the sole ; V 'it of purchase of excess hind at owne s p.ejciit valuation for taxation purines, v.us 10 per cent , such lands so ' ' "ii-od to he disposed of under renewr c e;tsc clause in the Bill; the period ■'i. revaluation for all lands to he re'l k -d trom 0(i to 22 years. ) wos also resolved that prisons be ir.noi,it from centres of population, and i,'el hotels he deemed shops within the meaning of the Shops and Offices Act. REPORT ON ARBITRATION ACT. Per Press Association. Dunedin, April 5. At the Trades and Labor Conference the report of the committee on the principle and working of the Arbitration Act was received. After referring to the' relation of wages to (he cost of living, the report stated that the Act is not oven a partial solution of the economic and social troubles of Hie wage-earning class, nor can it ever touch the matter unless the (,'ourt is given power to adjudicate on matters of interest, rent, and profit, at the same time as it deals with wages. "We recommend that for the present, councils and unions will he advised to adhere to the Act with the hope of its being improved upon, so (hat a working modus vivendi be sustained until the economic basis of society is altered. Instead of relying on thcAct as the principle means of economic emancipation, we strongly urge that workeiu should seek relief along the lines of direct representation in Parliament, and on the local councils of the colony, and the gradual socialisation of the industries of the country. The report will be discussed to-morrow.