MR TREGEAR AND THE EMPLOYERS' FEDERATION.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5382, 11 July 1906, Page 3

MR TREGEAR AND THE EMPLOYERS' FEDERATION.

THE REPLY OF THE PREMIER.

Wellington, July 9. The Premier (the Hon. W. Hall-Jones) has written to the secretary of the New Zealand Employ eis' Federation acknowledging receipt of the letter of the 20th ult. asking that Mr Tregear should be removed from office as Secretary for Labor on account of the letter he bad written 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. Mr Hall-Jones gives examples of this, and says that " to wrest from the letter an attack on the New Zealand Employers' Federation is perverse and unwarranted. No accusation," concludes the Premier, "or even inference has hitherto reached the 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 a right to interfere with the private expression of personal opinions held by its officers. Under the circumstances I do not consider it to be my duty to take the action you suggest,"