Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 1911. TROUBLES OF THE LABOUR MINISTER.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10252, 31 May 1911, Page 4

Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 1911. TROUBLES OF THE LABOUR MINISTER.

The Hon. Mr Millar, Minister for Labour, oame in for a tempestuous time at the hands of the representatives of itlhe Furniture Makers' Union in Wellington yesterday. Tire deputation which waited upon Mm .stated without (reservation tfliat the Union* had ilost faith an the Labour Department, owing to its refusal to take to Court breaches of the award brought under its notice by the Unions. The deputation claimed the right, under ttlhe okoumstances, of the Union itself taking cases and bringing them before (the Court at Wellington from other parts of tfhe district. The Minister for Labour .strongly opposed 'such a proposal. He was prepared, he said, to have the Act amended iso as to divide the district into a number of Union districts in order that cases might be heard in or near to places where alleged (breaches had occurred. He expressed himself as quite willing, if the Unions generally passed a resolution in favour of abolishing tihe Labour Department, to introduce a Bill to that end. The latter remark is singularly significant, coming as it does from a Minister who has done more than any other to place harassing labour (legislation upon the Statute Book of the Dommion. The idea of the Government being influenced by resolution of she Labour Unions shows at once their willingness 'to pander to a class. Contrast the remark of the Minister with the treatment which has been meted out to the Farmers' Union's from year to year. Do we ever hear of a Minister 'stating that if the Dominion, Conference of the Farmers' Union passes a resolution that this or that

Act. ho wiped off the Statute Book, the resolution will bo given effect to ? Not a bit of it. It is only when a Labour Uiiiion makes a demand that the Minister is willing to concede it. Could there he a more degrading spectacle, a more startling commentary upon the self-abnegation of a Liberal Government, than that presented by the Hon. J. A. Millar yesterday ?