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The response to the hand of fellowship extended by the Federation to the New Zealand Unions was extremely gratifying. On January 21, 1913, conference opened in “The Maoriland Worker” Building, Wellington, and was attended by 112 delegates representing 88 organisations.

The Federation Executive invited the Hon. John Rigg, M.L.C., to preside, an invitation that was endorsed by Conference, and readily accepted by Mr. Rigg. As chairman, Mr. Rigg won the delegates from the outset by his tact and great knowledge of procedure. At times, when the atmosphere became sultry through the clash of debate and the heated exchanges of men who had violently opposed each other for years, the chairman had only to intervene with a quiet word of advice or give a hint that the offender was somewhat astray, to ensure instant order. One would need to have attended the Conference to understand how charged with energy the atmosphere at times became, and how quickly the threatened storm subsided when the chairman spoke. I would unhesitatingly say that to Mr. John Rigg, M.L.C., as he was then, more than to any one other person, the success of the first Unity Conference was due.

I acted as Conference Secretary, and had also taken over the work of arranging the Conference from Mr. J. Glover on my return from Australia.

Conference might be divided into three distinct phases:—