King Country Chronicle. Tuesday, February 16, 1937. THE LABOUR CONFERENCE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4956, 16 February 1937, Page 4

King Country Chronicle. Tuesday, February 16, 1937. THE LABOUR CONFERENCE.

The New Zealand Labour Party will have a variety of subjects to discuss at the conference to be held at Easter, and this gathering is “destined to go down in the political records of this country as the most momentous in the history of the Labour Party.” No doubt it will, from the Labour standpoint, but it remains to be seen whether a Labour Government with its responsibilities will be willing to place some of the proposals on the Statute Book. In the words of the Minister of Finance uttered some twelve months ago, it was the aim of the Labour Party “to make New Zealand the most effectively socialislically-controlled country in the world.” Certainly the Government cannot be charged with lack of initiative in its first year of office, and there may be renewed inspiration before Parliament meets again this year. The remits for the Labour Conference have been cut down to eighty-eight by a grouping system, and the delegates will have a busy time in bringing forward thenproposals to make this Dominion an ideal Socialistic country. The banking system is to be nationalised, and idle bank deposits taxed. If the banking system is to be controlled by the Government it will open up many dangerous possibilities by making use of money for political purposes. The only safe system is by State control of banking, with directors placed on the same basis as Judges of the Supreme Court, i.e., free from political control. The old familiar theory of “debt-free” money is another remit to the Conference. In other words this remit asks for “something for nothing,” a thing mat has been found impossible in other countries, and is just as impossible in this Dominion. Money is only a medium of excnange for goods and services, and although there is room for some reforms in the monetary system, there is no such thing as “debt-free” money.” Another group has a remit dealing with the sales tax, the exchange rate, wage and salary taxation, and Customs duties on necessities. The promoters of these remits should remember that many of the more responsible candidates stated in their pre-election speeches that if the Labour Party came into power there would be no increase in taxation, the sales tax would be repealed, and the exchange rate readjusted. It will also ask that the Arbitration Court be abolished. This is one of the outstanding measures framed by the Seddon regime which the present Government aims to follow in its legislation, so this remit may receive little consideration by the Conference, and less by the Government. One of the most extraordinary proposals, however, is that legalising strikes. The Minister of Labour, by his action in the “stayin’’ strike among the freezing works employees, has to a certain extent made strikes legal, even though there is at present a law making strikes an offence against the State. If the Arbitration Court is to be abolished and strikes legalised then there is nothing but industrial chaos ahead of the Dominion. Other remits include the taking over of the meat, fish, milk supplies and the film exchange business by the State. The Conference is to be asked to increase the number of Justices of the Peace by the appointment of “competent members of the Party” and to see to it that where Public Service officials are not sympathetic to the Labour Government’s legislation they should be replaced by persons better disposed. Education comes within the scope of the Conference and it is proposed that “the present class-room psychology be altered from one of Imperialism and profit economcs to one of International Socialism and Socialistic Economics.” A Minister of Propaganda is to be appointed for this purpose, the same as has been done in Nazi Germany. Many of the remits are likely to clash, and the chairman of the Conference may have a most difficult task. In any

case this ■ country is not ready for Socialism and dictation. There is a vast difference between Democracy and Socialism, and it is to be hoped that the Labour Party-will recognise this fact before it seeks to press its fantastic demands for social regeneration on the Government.