The papers of Friday week published a remarkable letter from
Mr. W. V. Osborne, whose name is well known in con- nexion with the "Osborne judgment." It has been said per- t sisteutly by Mr. Osborne's opponents that in taking action in the Courts against the compulsory levies of the Trade-Unions for the support of pledge-bound Labour Members he was ,backed by rich men who used him as a political instrument. Sir John Gorst, for example, said :—" Where did Osborne get his funds to purchase this celebrated judgment? They were found by rich men and enemies of Labour." In his letter Mr. Osborne says that he wrote to the Trade-Union Congress asking that his accounts should be investigated, but the offer was refused. Yet this offer was in the knowledge of those who made "the most abusive statements" about him at the Congress.
Previous page
