LABOUR MOVEMENT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21900, 19 December 1945, Page 6

LABOUR MOVEMENT

FIGHTING FOR SECURITY ADDRESS BY ORGANISER On Sunday evening members of the Gisborne Labour Party enjoyed an address by Mr. A. C. Baxter, organiser for the New Zealand Labour Party, who has been touring the Bay of Plenty electorate. Mr. Baxter has had a distinguished war record, having been awarded a D.F.C. and Bar. The meeting was held at the Bon Accord and presided over by Mr. W. Harnett. Mr. Baxter said that he enjoyed meeting farmers as prior to the war he was a farmer. He said he was proud of Labour’s record and that Labour's policy was democratic, controversial and humanitarian. He said that the Social Security Act had won worldwide interest. Mr. Baxter said he agreed that the farmer was the backbone of the country, but the workers on the farms were the spinal cord to that backbone. The Labour movement was fighting for security against wars, security for national and international prosperity, security against the exploitation of the young, old and infirm, and security against ignorance and ill-health.

Mr. Baxter said that if the country was worth fighting for in wartime it must be worth working for in peacetime.

At the conclusion of the meeting a vote of thanks to the speaker was moved by Mr. D. W. Coleman, M.P., seconded by Mr. J. H. Hall, and carried by acclamation by those present, who pledged themselves to whole-heartedly support the New Zealand Labour Party.