LABOUR CONFERENCE

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 22 April 1935, Page 8

LABOUR CONFERENCE

Party Delegates Discuss General Election Plans PROSPECTS THOUGHT BRIGHT

(By Teiegrapt—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, To-day. The nineteenth annual conference of the New Zealand Labour Party opened to-day. Mr Armstrong, M.P., was in the chair and 156 delegates were present. More are expected to arrive during the afternoon. Mr Fraser, M.P., president of the Wellington Labour representation committee, welcomed, the delegates. He said the conference was most important, not only to the party, hut to New Zealand as a whole. It was generally acknowledged that, for the first time in its history, the party was within reasonable distance of becoming the Government. The realisation of that hope depended to a considerable ex-' tent on the deliberations, decisions and wisdom of the present conference. The national secretary, Mr Thorn, reported that the past year- had been one of unexampled activity by the party, which again had made rapid strides. The future could be faced hopefully and confidently, though much remained to be done before the general election. The party was never better organised or more united in a deter - mmation in winning New Zealand for Labour. Under the present able leadership and with the united support of all members this undoubtedly could be achieved. The conference business must be strictly confined to Labour’s plan for New Zealand, to the best means of obtaining jpowen and. the methods to be adopted, to put the plan into operation with Labour sitting on the Government benches.

Mr Armstrong, in his presidential address, said the chief object of the party was to raise the standard of life of men and women who did the useful and nacessary jwork of the coimtry. This could not be accomplished while the monetary system was left to the undisputed control of profiteers, who operated it in the interests of profit, without consideration of the interests of the mass of peo«pie. There could be no real prosperity until the control of credit and currency was divorced from a system of private profit and transferred to the Government responsible to the people of the Dominion. He was firmly of the opinion that the prospects of labour being successful at the polls were never brighter. If Labour did not win there was a grave danger of democratic government being overthrown in favour of some kind, of dictatorship.