THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, JULY 17, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8185, 17 July 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, JULY 17, 1906.

The New Zealand Employers' Federation has recently issued a manifesto, a copy of which is to hand from the Secretary of the local branch (Mr S. E. Wright). The manifesto aeta forth that in view of the aggressiveness of the Labour Party and the great publicity that has been given to the many far-reaching and drastio resolutions passed by the Trades and Labour Conference, the Advisory Board, with the oonsent and approval of the various Associations affiliated with the Federation, has deemed it advisable to make public the opinions hflld by employers generally with regard to the prin oipal questions dealt with, particularly those relating to socialism and the labour laws of the colony. It iB denied that the Employers' Federation laoks sympathy with Labour,

that it desires to repeal many of the Labour Acts, and that It is antagonistic to the present Government. The manifesto points oat that the' Federation, as a body, has no politics ; it treats all qnestiona from a purely commercial and industrial standpoint, that is from the point of view of the employers, for, needless to say, however nicely adjusted the relations of capital and labour may be, the respective partieß will always, to some extent, hold views antagonistic to eaoh other. Many of the criticisms, however, that have been made by the Labour leaders on the Employers' Federation are unwarrantable, distinctly unfair in fact, and the manifesto points out that in 1903 a speoial committee was set up with instructions to go through the whole of the Labour laws and to point out the section whiab, in its opinion, required amendment, either in the interests of employers or workers. The findings of this committee, which were endorsed by the Federation, were made publio at the time, and Labour representatives acknowledged that many of the amendments suggested were in the right direction. "These findings," says manifesto, constitute an effective answer to the Labour leaders' assertion that the Employers' Associations are antagonistic to all Labour measures, and that they would repeal them it they had the power." The desire of the Federation, it is declared, has always been to increase employment and to provide work for all at a fair wage, with reasonable hours, and thus safeguard and prumote the extension of our industries. The employers, in their manifesto, proceed to say that "socialism is the gulf that is widely separating the two bodies that should have so much in common. This is fully revealed by a perusal of the first six resolutions passed at the recent Trades Oounoils Conference. These reaolutions deal with:—Nationalisation of land and of mineral wealth; nationalisation of marine coastal, and intercolonial services; Government State clothing and boot factories, flour and woollen mills, bakeries, ironworks, and shipbuilding yards; nationalisation of kauri-gum industry; rating on unimproved values; stoppage of sale of Crown Lands and revaluation of Crown Lands held on lease." It is difficult to understand why the Federation should regard rating on unimproved values as "extreme socialism." Surely the prinoiple of rating on unimproved value is not inimical to the welfare of industries and commerce generally?