LABOUR PARTY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 37, 13 February 1934, Page 11

LABOUR PARTY.

" PLATFORM " REVISED MORE MODERATE POLICY. PROPOSALS FOR CONFERENCE. Proposals for a complete revision of the platform of the New Zealand Labour party in the direction of a more moderate policy are to be submitted to the eighteenth annual conference of the party which is to begin in the Trades Hall, Christchurch, 011 Easter Monday, April 2. The platform (says the "Christchurch Times") has been entirely rewritten, and in addition to the deletion of -a number of clauses, important alterations are proposed with the object of making the policy easier of attainment. The Socialist objective is retained without alteration. The , method of attaining it. by constitutional means, is not proposed to be changed. By the removal of a good deal of verbiage and a •grouping of a number of points, the platform is set forth in clearer terms and is considerably shortened. The proposed revisions were presented to the 1933 conference at Auckland, and were referred to the present year's conference for consideration. Proportional Representation. The adoption of the proportional representation system of voting, which has been keenly debated at several conferences, is retained in the revised platform, but the enactment of the initiative, the referendum and the recall has been deleted. In other respects the revised platform as regards electoral and constitutional questions is similar to the old platform except that the number of clauses has been reduced from ten to live. The land policy has been expressed in clearer terms, and a clause providing for "full recognition of owner's interest in all land, including tenure, the right of sale, transfer and bequest," has been deleted. Central Bank. The policy of the party in regard to finance and credit ha*> been clarified and is proposed to be set out as follows: — "The establishment of a Central State Bank to organise and control the banking system and credit resources so as to provide maximum facilities for use at minimum cost in primary and secondary production." In the existing platform the party undertakes to provide all credit necessary for primary production and for house building by the extension of the State Advances Office.

Considerable inodilic:ilion of the policy regarding .State ownership is proposed. The existing platform sets out that the' party will establish a Stateowned shipping service, State ownership of all branches of insurance, development of existing State enterprises, establishment of State farms and the extension of public ownership of national utilities and the speedy national control of the food supplies of the people with a measure of union control of the industry. All these clauses have been deleted and the policy is to be set oift in simple terms, as follows:—"The progressive extension of public control and ownership of national utilities and services." Health and Education. Similarly the policy in regard to health has been very considerably modified. It is proposed to be expressed in the following terms:—"Organisation of the hospital and medical sysfem to ensure adequate medical, surgical and nursing attention for all." The existing platform provides for nationalisation of the medical service, with free medical, dental and maternity attention; the establishment of a State Housing Department; and the establishment of baby clinics, at which the best medical skill and attention shall be available free of cost. The clausrs relating to education have been carefully revised and reduced to simple terms. Clauses providing for "the replacement of all military instruction iu schools by constructive education in humane thought"; "economic and industrial history to be taught in all public schools, and modern methods, including the use of the cinema, to be adopted"; "compulsory instruction in first-aid and dietetic principles"; and "the universal language—Esperanto —to be included in the .curriculum for all State schools," have been dropped. The revised clauses merely provide for "free, secular and compulsory primary education, and free secondary and university education"; "all school books and equipment to be supplied to pupils free of cost"; and "an organised system of physical culture to be included in the school curriculum." On the question of taxation the platform reads:—"Readjustment of the taxation system to conserve the community created values to the State, with graduated direct taxation on unearned incomes and spccial remission on earned income." Compulsory Arbitration. The industrial policy has been re-writ-ten, and a clause providing for "good housing accommodation and trad© union wages and hours for all workers" has been deleted. The policy in regard to the Arbitration Cou*t is stated as follows: —"An Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act to provide for a compulsory decision on wages aTHI conditions. and to ensure a standard of living which will conform with increases in the production of Wealth. The Act to cover all classes of workers, including domestic servants and agricultural employees." A new clause is added relating to unemployment, as follows:—"lmmediate provision of productive work to enable unemployed to earn sufficient to maintain themselves and their dependents, with ultimate transference to ordinary productive employment." In most other respects the proposed new platform follows the lines of the existing platform except that the wording has been simplified.

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