RUNANGA NOTES

Grey River Argus, 20 March 1942, Page 8

RUNANGA NOTES

(Our Own Correspondent) The Runanga Labour Party at its annual meeting elected officers as follows: President, Mr S. Morris (re--elected); vice-president, Mrs Barker; secretary, Mr W. Duggan; treasurer, Mr J Peardon; 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 Mr J. Roberts, president of the New Zealand Labour Party addres:cd the Runanga Branch on tn casion of its annual meeting, and w?.s given an ovation, with a vote of thanks on the motion of Mesdames F. Oakley and W. Wright. He was welcomed by the cha'.rman. Mr Morris. who referred to the Co-operat ve Society, Miners’ Union social activity and the Medical Society as evidence of advancement on socialistic. 1 nes. Mr Roberts agreed Runanga was leading in socialism. He was an industrial socialist. ■.■ and recognised it as the responsibility of industrial unionism to produce the goods and services to supply the needs of New Zealand. Coal in the North Island was constantly in demand. It was the job of every man to do his best to keep up the supply. It likewise was the job of everyone in other industries to see that the coal miner was supplied with his needs. He had often heard owners'‘saying what they “produced,” but they produced nothing. They did not put the coal there, nor take' it out. The miners were the real producers. The essential principles of Socialism were: To render service to one’s fellow man, to produce for use and not for profit, and to raise the? living standard of the people not to enrich the few The only way to achieve Socialism was to prove by results that the Socialist can produce the goods better than the other fellow. There was too much criticising of their leaders bv men in the political and industrial movement. A man might be your best friend so long as he was a 1 ellow member of a union, but no sooner did you appoint him an official than you ’begin to find fault wit him. The good unionist would show ' more comradeship and trust towards those of his mates who were appointed to lead. The copimon people of the world would never have achieved the advantages they had gained had they been pacifists. He believe that every citizen should be a soldier and every soldier a c.tizen. We would defend ourselves. The forces of reaction in Germany and Japan were trying to break up the rights and liberties dearlv won. Ho had travelled the world and knew of no country where there was greater freedom for the individual nor a higher living standard than in Neo Zealand. No Government had ever done more for 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 raising the standard of living, in the country. The Labour movement must be big and courageous enough to establish a new social order for New Zealand after the war. They must work together with the working people of the other nations to orevent 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 essentials. Runanga had blazed the way and the spirit shown over the years wps wonderful.