Labour Australia

Many readers of the "Labor Daily," especially those of the older generation, will regret to hear of the death of James Owen Moroney, which took place in Lewisham Hospital as the result of an operation on Wednesday, September 29.

The deceased had been in indifferent health for some time, but the end was unexpectedly sudden.

Jim Moroney (as everyone knew him years ago) was one of the pioneer members of the Labor Movement, when it included Socialists and others in its ranks.

Later on vital differences arose, and from that time onward the Socialist League, afterward the Socialist Labor Party, became a separate political body and Mr. Moroney was for many years one of a very strenuous band of workers, who sacrificed their time, money and energy in preaching the gospel of Socialism, mainly in the metropolitan area and among the coal-mining towns of the Newcastle and South Coast districts. Over twenty years ago he contested West Wallsend in the Socialist interest, and after the federation of the Australian States, he formed one of the Socialist Senate bunch for several successive elections, on each occasion forfeiting his £25 deposit.

His political opinions never interfered with his industrial activities. As a tobacco worker he was a pioneer in forming the Tobacco Workers' Union, of which he was president up to the time of his death, performing much useful service for his co-workers without fee or reward. For a number of years he was a delegate on the New South Wales Labor Council and was also a regular reader and supporter of the "Labor Daily" in which his union holds a thousand shares.

The funeral, which was largely attended, took place at Rookwood on Friday last. His old friend and fellow-worker, Mr. Tom Batho, delivered a sympathetic address at the grave, and Mr. McCloy, president of the Association for the Advancement of the Blind, in which the deceased took an active interest.