RUNANGA NEWS

Grey River Argus, 18 November 1946, Page 2

RUNANGA NEWS

P. C. WEBB TESTIMONIAL

fOur Own Correspondent]

The retirement, through continued ill-health, of Hon. P. C. Webb from the Parliamentary Labour Party, will at least temporarily remove from its ranks one whose work in the Labour Movement, and as Minister of Mines in the Labour Government, needs no detailing, but it is felt by munity'that his appointment to the portfolio of Mines was a wise one in that he was the first practical coal miner ever appointed to hold such office in this country. It is pleasing to record that the residents of the Runanga State mines districts are recognising his efforts on behalf of the district, arrangements having been completed to hang a portrait of the Minister in the Miners’ Hall, Qn the occasion of a banquet to be held in his honour on the evening on Friday, November 29. Tentative discussions have also been held regarding the endowment of a memorial scholarship, this to keep evergreen the name of a man whose life has been so largely devoted to the service of the workers, and whose enforced retirement ends a record that is w'oven into the fabric of humane social and industrial legislation that adorns the statutes of New Zealand to-day—a fabric, every thread of which Governments the world over are grasping and slowly patterning into their own legislation. BLOOD DONOR SOCIETY Some 420 males’ and females have registered under the above society. Of these, the great majority have been “typed”, whilst the services of a good number have already been availed of for donations to the Greymouth Hospital. It is understood that the total registered locally far exceeds that recorded in the Greymouth district. All credit to our local residents for their ready sympathy and recognition to a humane cause! The secretaryorganiser, Mr Johnny McPhee, has every reason to feel proud of the response to his untiring efforts.