LABOUR CONFERENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 63, 11 September 1937, Page 15

LABOUR CONFERENCE

DOMINION VENUE

MR. MCKEEN'S SUGGESTION

Addressing a meeting of the Toe H Movement on the functions ;of the International Labour Organisation, Mr. R. McKeen, M.P. for Wellington South, stated that he was strongly of the opinion that the 1.L.0. should hold regional conferences in parts of the world that would enable a number of nations in close proximity to meet and discuss economic and social problems common to such countries, and he cited the successful Santiago Conference which took place in January last y^ar. This conference was held as the result of an invitation extended by the Government of Chile to the governing body of the 1.L.0. To this conference every State in South, Central, and North America, and Canada, sent representatives of their Governments, employers, and workers.

Mr. McKeen also mentioned the successful termination of the textile conference which was held in Washington this year. The discussions on the 40----hour week which took place at that conference, he said, were continued at the Geneva conference, and the 40----hour week draft convention for textile workers was carried.

Mr. McKeen said he thought it would be an excellent gesture on^the part of the New Zealand Government to extend an invitation for a regional conference to be held in New Zealand, composed, of representatives of all countries bordering the' Pacific, as he believed that it would result in a better understanding of each other's difficulties and problems. It would also, he said, be the means of strengthening the bonds of friendship between such countries, thus enabling them.'to play their part in furthering permanent peace for the world.