CIVIC RECEPTION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 15 May 1941, Page 9

CIVIC RECEPTION

VISIT BY BRITISH LABOUR LEADER MR W. HOLMES WELCOMED TO NELSON TRIBUTE TO BRITAIN’S WORKING CLASSES Referring to New Zealand’s old age pension scheme, which was the first of its kind in any country in the world, Mr William Holmes, the British Labour leader, at a civic j reception tendered to him at the Council Chamber last evening, said that the test of civilisation in any country was how they treated the young and the old. Mr Holmes said he was sure that the people of Great Britain would retain their unity and courage under the war conditions and would win through to final victory. The Mayor (Mr G. L. Page) on be-! half of the people of Nelson extended a cordial welcome to Mr Holmes who , had been asociated all his life with the 1 Trade Union movement in Great Bri-! tain, being a past president of the | Trade Union Congress and General! Secretary of the Agricultural Workers' 1 Union of Great Britain. Mr Page said i that Mr Holmes came to New Zealand i as an ambassador for the people of i Great Britain. The speaker referred I to the wonderful morale and spirit of ; the people of Britain in the terrible ordeal they were at present facing and he asked Mr Holmes to convey to the people of Britain the good wishes and an assurance of the loyal support of the people of the Dominion. The Mayor also extended a welcome to the Hon. P. Webb, who had accompanied Mr Holmes on the visit as a representative of the Government of New Zealand. Mr H. Atmore, M.P. said he was pleased to be associated with the Mayor in the welcome extended to Mr Holmes, on behalf of the people of the Nelson city and district. In addition to being a representative of the working people of Great Britain Mr Holmes was the accredited representative of the British Government and so he was an ambassador in every sense of the word. He said that Britain was fighting for freedom and all that made life worth living, and he paid a tribute to the help being given by the United States of America. The men who were going to the war and risking their lives j were doing it in order to secure a new j order based on social justice and Christian principles. There would be no peace without a new order based on Christian principles. Mr L. Ward, president of the Nelson Trade and Labour Council extend- • ed a welcome to the visitor on behalf j of the Trade Union movement in Nel- 1 son. The workers of Great Britain, he said, had made sacrifices in the privileges which had been gained for them by the union leaders of the past, only in order to defend all that the British people held dear—freedorfl, justice and the right for each one to choose his own occupation, recreation and way of life. He asked Mr Holmes to convey! to the Trade Union movement in Britain an assurance that the New Zealand workers were loyally behind the j workers of Britain and that the New! Zealand"* Government was doing its best j < to preserve for the workers of the 1 ' i Dominion all the privileges which had j: j been gained for them over the years, j < THE NEW ORDER ; ; In reply Mr Holmes thanked the var- j < ; ious speakers for their welcome. His! ' : tour had been one long succession of j ! | welcomes and as a workman who had : I taken part in the strife of the past it 1 ! was a new thing for him, except when : Ihe had been a City Councillor to be j 1 welcomed by Mayors. I Mr Holmes said that New Zealand i had always had a robust democracy 1 | and in many things the Dominion had I given a lead to the Old Country. It 1 | had been a great help to Great Bri|tain. when efforts were being made to ‘ j popularise the old age pension scheme, 1 Ito find that New Zealand had taken ; I the first practical step in the matter. 1 !It had been said that he came to New 1 j Zealand as an ambassador, and may be ihe was the forerunner of a new class ' lof ambassador, in being one who spoke 1 ! the language of the working class. He ! 'referred to the good era smanship of' [the British worker, and said that the'; I old type of worker was one who never | begged, borrowed or stole and never i threw himself on the poor law for i ( help. It was the old type of radical 1 ; Trade Unionist who had produced the 1 ‘ 1 independent type of workman who | gave of his best and demanded a fair * ( return for the work he did. He said i ( that the things New Zealand was doing now to improve the lot of the poorer j people were what they w; ..ted to do in | Britain when the war was over. Air Holmes said that there was not! a man or woman in Great Britain or the British Commonwealth of Nations who had wanted war. They had hoped that civilisation had passed that stage.; but unfortunately there were other people who looked at the position in a different way. He said that he was satisfied that whatever grievance any country had, it could have been satis- : factorily settled without war. However a different type of diplomat was required. He believed that if the matters leading to the present dispute had , been argued out in the same way as 1 the representatives at the International j Labour Office had discussed their prob- 1 lems, then peace could have been re- i ! tained. ! In referring to his efforts in the interests of the agricultural workers of 1 ! Great Britain, Mr Holmes said that I the people in any country who grew: the food to keep the people alive, had i always been looked on as the lowest: type of worker and industry and they had never received the same consideration or reward for their services as that given to industrial workers. He | had tried to secure for agricultural j workers the same wages, the same ’ h uses and the same opportunity for j them and their children as the con-! ditions enjoyed by industrial workers, j Mr Holmes said there would be no! new social order without people who 1 believed in it, worked for it and were I prepared to make sacrifices in order J to achieve it. He said that prior to thej war German trade unionists, all of them very fine men. with whom the T.U.C. had had many contacts, had told them that under the Hitler regime war would be inevitable and that the only way for German workers to regain their freedom would be to have a war in which Britain was victorious. That opinion was given emphasis by the recent action of Rudolf Hess who had escaped to Britain which was the only place a German could go to L he wished to win freedom. It was the only place in Europe where Hess could have been sure of fair play. Mr Holmes said that the Trade Union movement in Great Britain had , pledged itself to support the Govern- \ ment and he believed that the British 1 would st : ck together and wir. , nr it.i or had come V *be noint made 1 1 by Lincoln during the 'var of fh(. South and the North ir. America when ; he had said, “You can’t have a state ; have slave and half free.” If the world ; was to get nearer to the sort of place j all would desire it to be. there could | not be a world half slave and half free 11 The reception was concluded with the singing of the Nation..! Anthem. • 1