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BARRY TRADES COUNCIL.

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BARRY TRADES COUNCIL. INTENDING PESIGXATION OF OFFICIALS. I Mr James Hill presided at the fortnightly meet- ing of the Barry Trades and Labour Council held on Thursday evening, the 28th ultimo, when there again was a meagre attendance of members.—Mr Fred Angus and Mr C. W. Collins were received as delegates of the Barry and Cadoxton branches of the Amalgamated Societies of Railway Servants.- Mr S. Tottles, of the Barry branch of the Navvies' Union, was elected trustee in place of Mr Fred Walls, removed to London. At t'1is stage of the proceedings, the President intimated that it was with deep regret that the officials of the Council felt bound to take the step they intended to do. At every meeting of the Council the attendance of the delegates became le3s and less, and had come down from over twenty to about seven or eight. The business on the agenda at every meeting was not only of great importance to the local workers, but also to the i. workers generally of Great Britain, but through the lack of attendance, and the apathy of the delegates, it had to be adjourned from meeting to meeting, and eventually passed with but little discussion. The officials, therefore, had decided to hand in their resignations, in the hope that new officials would be able to infuse a better spirit into the Council. Such questions as Sir Matthew White Ridley's Factories and Workshops' Bill and the Housing of the Working Classes Bill, which should receive special attention had to be adjourned from time to time. The. officials were devoting a great deal of time to the work of the Council, but the delegates did not attend, and were not satisfied with the way in which the business was carried out. — Mr T. J. Chamberlain (the secretary) stated he felc the position acutely. He had been an official on the Council since 1894, and daring that time the enthusiasm of the delegates seemed to have worn off. The question of attend- ance was raised some time ago by Mr Reeves, and he (the speaker) had in consequence written to the various branches on the matter, but the same state of things continued to exist. The president had intimated that the officials intended resigning, and this course they must adopt if they did not receive better support from the members. There were 46 delegates on the roll, and those present barely represented one-fourth of that number.—Mr W. Reeves said no one had done more than he had at the meetings of his branch to endeavour to get his colleagues to attend, but the only reason he could get for their irregularity was that they were gardening or out for a walk. At present, in his particular trade, work was very brisk, but that did not alter the fact that there were times when they could attend the Council meetings instead of walking about the streets, and he fully sympathised with the officials in their position.—Mr R. Hughes hoped there was no necessity for the officers of the Council to hand in their resignations. He had every confidence in the officials, and the manner in which they had attended to their duties. They had never had a president who was more regular in attendance than Mr Hill since he had been con- nected with the Council. He was of opinion that if the Jingoism which now prevailed in the country would die out, the workers would take a deeper interest in questions affecting themselves. -Mr G. Saunders, the assistant secretary, said this had not come upon the delegates as a surprise, it having been discussed before, and he bad noticed that at every Council meeting the attendance dwindled away.-The President stated that the officials were prepared to allow the matter to stand over till the next meeting, and this was agreed to. Mr W.-Reeves formally moved, a.nd Mr F. Angus seconded, that the minute relating to the Council dissociating from the National Federation of Trades Councils be deleted, but the discussion thereon was deferred till the next meeting, and the Secretary was directed to summon the whole of the members to attend. The Secretary intimated that he had seen in the Press an application for the use of a room at Holton-road School for meeting purposes, and he was of opinion that they as ratepayers should also have access to their own property, and they should give their representative instructions to support the rescission of the previous resolution of the Board that the schools should only be used for educational purposes. At present, unless they could prove that the purposes for which the use of the room was required was educational they could not obtain it.—Mr W. Reeves moved, and it was seconded by Mr J. Angus, that Mr Bees be instructed to support this question. The Council then discussed in detail the Factories and Workshops Act, to be introduced into the House of Commons by Sir Matthew White RIdley, and the proposed amendment of the same, as proposed by the conference, representing 615,2^22 workers, recently held in London, and at which the Barry Trades Council was represented by Mr John Ward, the general secretary of the Navvies Union, and a resolution was passed in favour of the amendments proposed by the Conference.

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