The Trade-Union Congress opened at Sheffield on Monday, the delegates
numbering 501, representing 210 societies with a membership of nearly two millions. Mr. Haslam, M.P., after declining to support a protest made by two delegates against the presence of Lord Fitzwilliam, who has been engaged in a dispute with the miners at the Elsecar Colliery, delivered the presidential address. Dealing in general terms with trade unrest, he declared that the essential point was the maintenance of collective bargaining, which demanded recognition from the employers, and equally demanded confidence in the leaders of the Trade-Unions. Loyalty and essential discipline were absolutely needful, and though no doubt unnecessary delay did take place in the settlement of some minor difficulties, their object should 'be, not the breaking of agreements by individual actions, but rather the expediting by proper rule and regulation of the settlement of their disputes. The newly established Labour Exchanges were open to criticism, but it should be reasonable and fair in order to secure necessary alterations in the administration and regulations of the system. He welcomed Sir H. Llewellyn Smith's pronouncement at the British Asso- ciation as foreshadowing the main lines of the Government scheme for dealing with unemployment.
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