LABOUR CHARTER.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16507, 7 August 1919, Page 4

LABOUR CHARTER.

IN THE LEAGUE COVENANT. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND. August o. “One, of tho far-reaching and important subjects dealt with by tho Peace Conference,’’ said Sir Joseph Ward, "is contained in (ho Labour Charter which is attached to the Peace Covenant, and is intended to deal with Labour problems. 'The charter affirms a great principle, but its practicability must remain more than in doubt until all the great countries are included in it. Two of tho groat Powers—the United States and Japan have not subscribed to it. It certainly was disappointing to mo that the great protagonist who reprasonted America found it necessary, for internal political reasons, to havo tho United States excluded from tho proposals of the Labour Charter. In tho case of Japan, her acquiescence is postponed for a period of five years. Obviously if the countries which havo given their adhesion to it wore to enact by local legislation similar rates of pay and hours of labour in various industries, they would ho in tho position of having to compete with all tho other groat countries free of any such responsibility, and the structure, the foundation of which was laid at Paris, would bo unstable in its real effect. Nevertheless, it is a great move forward that a commencement has been made. “The idea is a fine one,’’ commented Sir Joseph, "and I should denrlv like to sea it generally adopted and finally carried into effective operation. After all, it is a task of great magnitude and much perplexity to tackle a world-wide problem affecting so many different races with different local conditions, and if a universal system were evolved in a period of five or oven ten years, it would bo next door to a miracle. The opinion I form is that each part of the British Empire, as well ns each of the groat countries that wore represented at Alio Peace Conference, will require to work out its own problem, n« effecting labour, within its own bounds and through its own legislatures.’