Mr. Adamson, the Labour leader, opened the debate on the
AddreaS as Leader of the Opposition. The industrial situation,
he said, was almost as menacing a danger as the war itself. He admitted that much of the trouble was due to " a small band of revolutionaries" who wanted to upset society, and to a small band of Trade Unionists who wanted to upset their officials As a Constitutionalist, Mr. Adamson said that he would not encourage either revolution or unofficial action. But the revolutionaries and mutineers, ho added, represented only a very small part of the Labour movement, and traded oil the genuine grievances felt by the majority, especially in regard to wages, hours, the fear of unemployment, and the higher cost of living—which is of course due in no small part to the rapid rise in wages. Mr. Adamson objected to the continuance of Con- scription to maintain the Army which is to give us a secure Peace. As Leader of the Opposition, he would not, he said. oppo ie ell Government Bills in the old-fashioned way. Sir Donald Maclean, for the Asquithian group, said much the same thing.
