LABOUR PARTY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 75, 30 March 1939, Page 8

LABOUR PARTY

EASTER CONFERENCE

REMITS CRITICISED

(Special to the "Evening Post.")

PALMERSTON N., Th^s Day.

"Doubtless some .of you have read with interest remits to be dealt with at the Easter Conference of the Labour Party," stated the Hon. J. G. Cobbe when speaking at Rongotea last evening. "A number of these remits contain much food for thought on the part of those who still hold those oldfashioned ethical principles which now seem to be regarded as out of date," he said. "Most of the remits dealt with and the resolutions carried at these conferences in the past have been regarded by outsiders as 'hot air,' but the position is different today and must be taken seriously, owing to the Ministerial statement published some time ago that 'Resolutions carried at the Labour Conference become the policy of the party.' This means, in plain English, that the policy of the Government of New Zealand is now dictated by Ahe Easter conference. "ft is interesting to note a few of the remits to be dealt with and which affect the freedom of the public. Take this for instance:—'The administration of the Public Service towards the removal of officials who unsympathetically administer the Government s policy, and their replacement with persons able and willing to do so.' This, of course, means that officials carrying out their duties impartially are to be dismissed. Under the head of Education, the proposal is to abolish education boards and Bible in schools. The abolition of education boards would be a definite step towards dictatorship. The ban on Bible reading in the schools is an indication of the Socialist leaning towards the ultimate overthrow of the Christian faith and the substitution of 'that golden age in which men should live under the simple dominion of reason, in perfect equality and perfect amity, without property, or marriage, or King, or God.' It is proposed to teach children the principles of Socialism, presumably as a substitute for Christianity. Another proposal is,to place a limit on personal incomes. I need hardly remind you that this, if adopted, would stifle all private enterprise. "As one would naturally expect. j there are some special remits dealing with the farmer, who will be interested to learn that it is proposed to abolish the freehold. And yet, incredible as it seems, we have in every country electorate farmers so devoid of wisdom respecting their own interests and so false to the vital interests of their fellow-farmers that they vote for a Government that must carry out the resolutions carried at the New I Zealand Labour Conference."