As the time drew near for the General Council to meet there was every evidence that the meeting would be a stormy one. Resolutions for agenda condemning the Executive for closing the St. Faith's strike came in by the score. Letters of protest poured into the office. I drew up my report, got the books audited, got the balance sheet printed ready for the meeting as instructed by the Executive, prepared the agenda, hired the Town Hall and Assembly Rooms at Fakenham for the day and invited the representative of the press as ordered by the Executive. I also prepared myself for the attack that I knew was going to be made on me. The Executive met at the office of the Union. The Executive dealt one more blow at the St. Faith's men by carrying a motion that all strike pay cease after a week. Five voted for it and four against. The meeting was stormy all through.

On the Saturday morning my assistant Miss Pike and myself were up early and got everything ready for the meeting. Every delegate was presented with a balance sheet and a copy of my report as he came into the hall. Exactly at 10.30 a.m. Mr. George Nicholls took the chair; on his left sat Mr. Winfrey, the Treasurer. I sat on his right, and the following were on the platform: Messrs. T. Giles, J. A. Arnett, J. Stibbons, A. P. Petch and M. Berry. Mr. Godling was at the door as steward.

After the roll call was taken and the minutes of the last meeting read and confirmed, my report was taken and discussed, at the suggestion of the chairman, before we proceeded with the election of the officers. The following is a summary of it:—

Fellow Workers,—In presenting you with my fifth report I wish again to thank you for the confidence you have placed in me during the year; also all the kind friends that have rendered me such valuable help during the year. The year has been a most eventful one. Great interest has been taken in the Union. We have enrolled over 2,000 members since I last gave my report. In May last the men in St. Faith's and Trunch districts got restless. The men at St. Faith's put in a demand to the employers for 1s. rise and their working week to finish at 2 p.m. on Saturday. This was refused and the men came out on strike on May 28th and have been out on strike ever since. The committee on December 28th decided to close down the strike at St. Faith's in consequence of the financial strain.

At the conclusion the President gave his address in which he rather severely criticized the strike and said had he been at the committee meeting he should not have sanctioned the men coming out on strike on such a request.

Mr. Winfrey condemned the strike and accused Mr. Day and myself of sanctioning the strike without consulting the rest of the committee, and said he did not know anything about it until he went to Weasenham on June 6th, after the men had been out on strike a week. I replied to this rather warmly, pointing out that I carried out to the very letter the resolution he (Mr. Winfrey) had moved at a committee meeting held on April 25th, and, further, that I received a cheque from Mr. Winfrey on June 4th to pay the men their first lock-out pay—so how could he say he did not know? Further, before the strike commenced I had written both to the President and the Treasurer begging them to let me call the committee together to discuss the whole situation.

The discussion was carried on during the day with great spirit and incriminations were indulged in from all sides.

A motion of censure on the Executive was moved by Mr. G. E. Hewitt on behalf of the St. Faith's Branch for closing the strike. This was as follows:—

That this Council protests against the dishonourable way the Executive closed down the St. Faith's strike.

After a long discussion the resolution was put to the meeting and carried by a large majority.

The President, Mr. Geo. Nicholls, at once handed in his resignation, and although he was unanimously requested several times to withdraw it, he refused to do so. Mr. Winfrey refused to allow his name to go to the ballot for the treasureship. Mr. Day was opposing him. Mr. W. R. Smith was elected president by a large majority. Mr. W. B. Harris vice-president, Mr. H. A. Day treasurer, and the following were elected to serve on the Executive: Messrs. J. Arnett, W. Smith, G. E. Hewitt, W. Holmes, R. Green, H. Harvey, W. G. Godling, M. Berry and James Coe.

Mr. Nicholls then left the chair, and he with Mr. Winfrey retired from the meeting. Mr. W. B. Harris occupied it for the rest of the business, but the meeting was too excited to transact much business and it ended in confusion. Thus ended the first chapter of the Union.

I left the meeting greatly perplexed, wondering if the child I had brought into being was going to be killed in its infancy. I knew its life was in terrible danger, having passed through a similar experience in the years that were past. I had, however, great hopes for the future.

I think that I ought not to close this stage of the Union's history without paying a tribute to those who were going out of the movement and who jointly with me had done their best to build up the Union to its present position. In the previous pages in giving the facts of the struggles we had to pass through in the early stages of the Union it might appear that I complain rather bitterly of my colleagues who had worked with me during the four years, but nothing of the kind is my intention. No body of men have worked with greater honesty or were prepared to make greater sacrifices in the cause of human progress. Neither the president, Mr. Nicholls, nor Mr. Winfrey nor Mr. H. A. Day ever took a penny piece for time, rail fare or out-of-pocket expenses, and on one occasion these three gentlemen paid for the delegates' lunch at one of the General Council meetings. No member of the committee ever charged more than 2s. per day and his rail fare, and for the first twelve months took only their rail fare. In fact, in March we had a balance at the bank of £1,569 0s. 10d. saved in less than four years, and, when it is remembered that the members only paid 2d. per week contribution or 8d. per month, it must be admitted that there is great credit due to those men who had given so much time and labour to build up a movement of this kind. Most of them were inexperienced so far as Trade Unionism was concerned.

The only mistake they made was that they endeavoured to build a strong labourers' Union on strictly commercial lines, which was not humanly possible; but the mistake was a creditable one, and these pioneers of this movement will go down to history as having laid a foundation of one of the finest movements in the world's history. I can look back with my connection with these men in the early stages of this movement with the greatest pleasure. The work was hard but it was of the pleasantest kind, and although Sir Richard Winfrey, M.P., has since allied himself with a party that is anti-progressive, he has done some good work for the agricultural labourers. I am sorry we shall always have to remain in opposite camps, and I feel it my duty to appear on a platform in opposition to him, still he must be given credit for the good work he has done.

The same must be said of my friend Mr. George Nicholls. I only wish he had stayed with us. He could have done far more useful work, but this separation is only what has always happened in times of strikes. I have never known a strike so far as agricultural labourers are concerned without it has either ended in a split or a large number of the labourers concerned leaving the Union, and that is one of the reasons all through my long connection with the Labour movement why I have always been against the strike weapon being used until every other means have failed to secure justice. Even a victory by a strike is dearly bought. I would commend this experience to my young readers who are coming along in the Labour movement in the future. For strikes in the future will be more dreadful than they have been in the past.