The Wanganui Chronicle. " Nulla Dies Sine Linea." WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1913. THE "LABOUR" CONFERENCE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12857, 29 January 1913, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. " Nulla Dies Sine Linea." WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1913. THE "LABOUR" CONFERENCE.

The Wailii folly practically sealed the doom of the Federation of Labour. The proceedings of the agitators ami their dupes in that unfortunate mining town were such as to open the eyes of the public at large to the insensate and tyrannous policy of the irersponsible." bosses" whose one aim is to get the workers under their control. Even if the Federation leaders had repented, and decided to adopt a policy more in accord with the principles <of equity, common-sense, and economic wisdom, it would have taken them years to win their way back to any appreciable measure of public support and confidence. But they did not repent. Neither did they see fit to adopt a saner and moro reasonable attitude. On the contrary, they preceded to deliberately misrepresent the facts concerning what took place at Waihi. They sought to cover their own ignominious failure' by indulging in blatant revilings of the forces of law and 'order. In ih)s they wer,e indiscreet; but it remained for them to perpetrate- their crowning indiscretion at th-e ■ so-called -Labour* Conference which has just been hejd, in Wellington. The leaders of the Fed-' eration will probably not hesitate to claim that they have turned the Conference to good account, in that they have, succeeded in drawing the United Labour Party into their net. They have, apparently, managed to effect an arrangement .providing for the amalgamation of the United Labour Party, the Socialist Party, and ihi#> Federation of Labour. On tho face of it. and if tho amalgamation was likely to moan anything worth talking about, tho notorious Mr. Semple and his associates might have some reason for self-congratulation ; but we are confident that tli? level-headed workers of the Dominion will iifvcr givo their sanction to such an alliance. They have never yet shown any inclination to confuse the principles of unionism with tho unprincipled tactics of the exponents of lawlessness. The average union- ! Ist, however ready he may Tbe to,fight , for what he deems to lie hji^ t 'rights,, is ,J not an anarchist, and;,h.#,xj&ia£ (siaculyrJ opposed to the methods uof <%h<^ 'Jsiovait/-\ and tho bludgeon as he is 'to the methods of the "sweater." Consequently, tho swallowing up of the United Lab-1 our Party by the Federation of Labour, instead of making for " -working-class solidity " —to use a term much-mouth-

Ed by tho Federation " bosses " —is far tnoro likely to mean the ultimate extinction of both organisations. The United Labour.'Party, had it continued to hold atloof frbm the extremists, had come chance of becoming & political force and might, perhaps, have iaksn tho place of the discredited and disorganised Liberal Party. The leaders of that party had everything to gain and nothing to lose by retaining their independence and refusing to allow their organisation to become officially associated with the advocates of class violence. Tho surprising thing is that Professor Mills, who since his arrival in New Zealaoid has made him--self recognised as the head and front of the United Labour Party, should have so easily yielded to tho overtures of the men ha has so roundly denounc- \ cd. By so doing he has seriously prejudiced the cause of the organisation ho has been trying to build up and has dono incalculable injury to his own reputation as a safe and reliable leader. Ho has made himself a party to an arrangehient which, if it were possible to carry it into effect, would compel every worker who is a member of a union to subscribe towards the upkeep of a .socialistic and revolutionary organisation controlled by men who have openly demonstrated tneir hostility to all legal agencies designed to make for th,o preservation of industrial peace. Tho Federationists, oiot unnaturally, are bitterly opposed to the Massey. Government. They could scarcely be expected to applaud a Government which showed itseM ready and able to end "the lawlessness for which they were responsible^ but men like Professor Mills and Mr Tregear must have been ill at ease as they eat and listened to. the purilo and untruthful vapourings. in. ■which tho defeated agitators vented their spite. We wonder what they said, for example, when they were asked to voto on a resolution which affirmed " that with the lessons of the past year written in tho blood of our dead comrade before us, no effort should be {•pared during the next twenty-two mont'hr. that will tend to bring about tho political destruction of the Massey Government." If thsir better feelings prompted them at all they must have felt it to be their duty in the interests of fair play and honest criticism to point out that " the blood of their dead comrade" wag only shed in self-defence by a man who had first been grievously wounded by the unfortunate deceased. The truth of that lamentable incident is well known to the public of the Dominion, and wilful indulgence in untruthful clap-trap by interested •agitators is not at all likely to influence the judgment of sensible people. Rather is it likely to have the effect of strengthening public confidence in the Government.