THE WELFARE LEAGUE

Evening Star, Issue 16993, 15 March 1919, Page 5

THE WELFARE LEAGUE

NEW POLITICAL PARTY FORMED. At a well-attended meeting of delegates from all parts of the Dominion, held in Wellington on the 12th inst., it was imammously resolved to constitute a league called the New Zealand Welfare League. The following is the official report supplied : What actuated the formation of the league was a feeling that the problems awaiting solution after the war required ability, sincerity, and responsibility in the elected representatives of the people for their settlement and the necessity to oppose the propaganda and activities of those sections of the community which openly espouse Bolshevik or revolutionary principles. The league's chief undertaking will be to organise all men who support stable government and a policy of sane progress, favoring no one class of the country, and get them to the poll. They will also influence the selection of suitable and responsible candidates for Parliament, and endeavor to raise the personal standard of the people's representatives in Parliament. The principal objects of the league are thus stated : To organise all who support stable government and a policy of sane progress, favoring no one class of the community ; to oppose revolutionary political propaganda, while giving support to the legitimate rights of Labor; to educate public opinion with respect to the political problems of the day, such as health, the well-being of children, a better understanding between employer and employee, the fallacy of restricted output, the necessity of increased production to meet the interest on war loans and pensions, and generally to promote good government, to ensure the general welfare of all _ classes, to assist in the repatriation of soldiers and their reabsorption into civil life, and to select suitable and responsible men for Parliament and other public bodies. The league are independent of, and un pledged to, any of the existing parties, and aim at securing the due influence at the polls of the large body of sane moderate opinion and electing men of constructive ability. Mr C. P. Skerrett, K.C., of_ Wellington, was unanimously elected president of the league, and a constitution was adopted. Prompt steps will be taken to form branches of the league throughout New Zealand. |