The I.L.O. Confere ice The debates of the International Labour
Conference this year have been marked by a new, and not unwelcorne, frankness. Last week an Australian employers' delegate drew upon his country's experience to utter a warning against too much labour legislation. On Tuesday the workers' delegate from the Dutch East Indies brought up the recent skirmish in Morocco, in which seventy-five Frenchmen were reported to have lost their lives, as an illustration of the general indifference among Europeans to the fate of the non-white races. He contended, in fact, that, so long as the fixed idea of the inferiority of coloured peoples persisted, it was useless to hope for the pressure of public opinion, which alone would make possible the abolition of forced labour. The annual conflict as to the credentials of the " Workers' Delegate " sent by the Italian Government ended in the usual way. The British Government representative, with many others, abstained from voting. En passant we may note the absence of Signor Rossoni, who has hitherto had to bear the burden and heat of the day, and, as M. Jouhaux suggested, now seems likely to suffer the same fate as his opposite number, Tomsky, in Russia. The best piece of work at the Conference so far is the almost unanimous approval of the I.L.O. report on Unemploy- ment, which -is so pregnant with wisdom for the coal and textile industries of this country.
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