RUNANGA NOTES

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 March 1942, Page 7

RUNANGA NOTES

[OUR own correspondent.] Mr. S. Morris presided at the annual meeting of the Runanga Branch of the. N.Z. Labour Party, held last evening. The balance-sheet was received as satisfactory. The election of officers resulted: President, Mr. S. Morris (reelected); vice-president, Mrs. Barker; secretary, Mr. W. Duggan; treasurer, Mr. J. Deardon; executive, Mesdames W. Timlin, F. Oakley, W. Hughes, and Messrs. W. Simpson and W. O’Neill. It was decided to appoint delegates to the local War Effort Committee. The president of the N.Z. Labour Party, Mr. J. Roberts, paid an informal visit to the Branch, and was welcomed by the chairman, who described Runanga as the hub of progress in New Zealand. Over £120,000 a year was distributed in earnings in the town, and he cited the Co-operative Society, the Miners’ Union social activities and the Medical Society as evidence of the advances towards Socialism made by Runanga. Mr. Roberts said it was not his first visit to Runanga, and its record as the centre of industrial sdcialism in New Zealand was well known, indeed he described it as the capital of New Zealand, in the sense of its leadership in Socialism. ' He was a labour leader, but was essentially a Socialist, an industrial Socialist. To-day, the responsibility of industrial unionism to produce the goods and services to supply the needs of New Zealand was great. Coal in the North Island was constantly in demand, and just as it was the job of every man to do his best, to keep up the supply, -so was it the job of everyone in the other industries to see that the coal-miner was supplied with his needs. He had often heard owners saying what they “produced,” but pointed out that they proI ducecl nothing. They did not put the | coal there, nor did they take it out. i The miners were the real producers. The essential principles of Socialism were firstly to render service t’o our fellow-man. Secondly, to produce for use and not for profit, and thirdly that the surplus production be utilised to raise the living .standard of the people and not to enrich the few. The only way to achieve Socialism and make it a success, is to prove by results that the Socialist can produce the goods, and produce them better than the other fellow. To-day. there was too much criticising of their leaders by men in the political and industrial movement. It was a funny thing, he said, but a man might be your best friend so long as lie was a fellow member of a union, but no sooner did you appoint him an official than you begin to fmd fault with him. The good unionist would show more comradeship and stick by his mates, trusting the men appointed to lead them. He was not a pacifist and never had been. The common people of the world would never have achieved the advantages they had gained had they been pacifists. He believed that every citizen should be a soldier and every soldier a citizen. We would defend ourselves. The forces of reaction in Germany and Japan in attacking us were trying to break up the rights and liberties so dearly won. He had travelled the world and knew of no country where there was greater freedom for the individual nor a higher living.standard than in New Zealand. No Government had ever done more lor the people who render service and produce goods than the Labour Government. It was the trade union movement —the combination of working men—-who had been responsible for the raising of the standard of living in this country. The Labour movement must be big enough and courageous enough to establish a new social order for the people of New Zealand, after the war. They must work together with the working people of the other nations to prevent the possibility of the periodical recurrence of wars. Civilisation could not survive if every 25 years the cream of the world’s men were to be slaughtered. Such a new social order would involve little change for Runanga, which had already achieved Socialism in its main essentials. Runanga had blazed the way, and the spirit shown over the years was wonderful. They didn’t want Socialism with a lot of ‘ifs,’ but pure and unadulterated, and Runanga would show the way. He paid a tribute to the women in the labour movement for Iheir unceasing work. Mr. Roberts was given an ovation, and answered a number m questions relating to the party. A vote of thanks was accorded on the motion of Mesdames F. Oakley and W. Wright.