Page:Labour in Madras.djvu/178



152 LABOUR IN MADRAS her great influence on the British Labour Party to secure redress of the grievances of labourers and to assist their President, Mr. Wadia, in his efforts in that direction." "The Members of the Madras Labour Union express their gratitude to Mr. John Scurr for having taken keen interest in labour conditions here and earnestly request him to co-operate with their President, Mr. Wadia in his efforts in England to further their cause." At the same meeting an address (the text of which will be found in the appendix) was presented to Mr. Wadia, who replied as follows : MY BROTHERS ---Let me thank you for the kindness you have shown me and the confidence which you have reposed in me in presenting this address. When I am in England it will be my primary duty to speak to the Labour Party and to the labour organizations there on your behalf. I am not forgetting that in England, while I am speaking on your behalf and fighting your fight, I will have to meet representatives of the other side--Sir Clement Simpson, and also, I am informed, Mr. Powell of the Tramway Co., who is going to England. But I know that our cause is so righteous and true, so palpably just and right, that in the struggle between the two parties there is only one end and that is complete victory for us. One other and somewhat serious difficulty that, as your representative, I will have to face, will be to speak on your behalf against the employers who happen to be Indians. Already I see that a well-known capitalist of Bombay, also a Parsi belonging to my own family, has come out to-day in England with a statement about the Extremists and the Home Rulers who