LABOUR'S VOICE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13482, 23 July 1907, Page 2

LABOUR'S VOICE.

DEPUTATION TO THE MINISTER.

Per. Press Association.

WELLINGTON, July 23. , A deputation, representing the coW ference of the Trades Councils of the colony waited on the Hon. J. A. Millar to-night, to place before him a long list of resolutions fcddpted at the last conference, which sat at Dunedin in April. Mr. A. H. Cooper, president, said the I deputation could claim to voice the opinions of organised labour throughout the colony. They wished to distinctly state that they whole-heartedly supported the principle of conciliation as embodied in the Conciliation and Arbitration Act. To some extent the Act had been discredited and rendered inoperative, but the fault lay entirely with the Legislature. They # desired that where employers, employing;" 1 a majority of workmen, agreed to the'recommendation of the Conciliation Board, these recommendations should have the force of an award; further, that all employers entering a business after an award had been made, should be at once made parties to it, and that Conciliation Boards should have power of amending their recommendations. As they wanted the present Act retained, they opposed the proposal to establish Wages Boards. Fifty per cent, of the unions would not, through inability to get men to serve on the boards, be able to avail themselves of the privilege. The resolutions passed at the Dunedin Conference were then submitted to the i Minister. > The Minister, in reply, said he hoped ''during this or next week to circulate the Amendisgi^£!«aK(^a^ioi^-Aist»«mong- -la^ tbour .unions*,,, His*aae*.x>b|6Gt< had been, to encourage unionism; and k to enable facilities^ to~-be*-given 'to' deal with aIP disputes in a prompt manner. He hoped the scheme he*had devised wbtild enable a breach to be dealt with within four days of its coming to, the notice of the Department, j I$ v *w^sopery easy to t^K about a Ifcarpaifei* currency bufiriito one got inside and saw the intricacies of finance he saw it. was different. The proposal was not practicable unless the State bought all the gold in the colony and sold. i% outside. He had tried to adjust the. tariff so- that no industry should be sacrificed for another. The object of putting a specific duty per pair on boots was to do away ■ with the , importation of sweated goods. Accord-, ing to one resolution the Conference carried, it had constituted itself a political party, and then they asked the Government to advance money for delegates to attend the Conference. If tHe»Gbvernment granted it to one; they would have to do it to all. The Government desired to continue the vote, but if the Conference was to be a political organisation, they would be simply forced to say "No.V