LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE

Taranaki Daily News, 26 April 1930, Page 15

LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE

DISCUSSIONS ON UNEMPLOYMENT.

By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, April 23.

Unemployment was the main topic of discussion at the annual conference of the New Zealand Labour Party which was resumed in the .trades hall to-day. The action to be taken regarding the reports of the Government committee on unemployment was. determined after a lengthy discussion. The conference decided that an open industrial conference should be called and from this gathering a committee should bo appointed to meet a committee from the New Zealand Labour Party for the purpose of considering the reports and the recommendations insofar as they affected, the welfare of the general public and the workers of New Zealand, the joint committee to furnish a report of its conclusions to the Parliamentary Labour Party on the same subject.

A remit was referred to the Parliamentary Labour Party suggesting that it should consider the value of a reduction of working hours in industry as a contribution to minimising the number of unemployed. The morning session was devoted to a discussion on the question of proportiosal representation. The result was a decision to defer for consideration until the next annual conference the motion proposing tho deletion of proportional representation from tho party’s platform, tho national executive being instructed to communicate with tho Labour and Socialist Parties and other organisations in all countries in which proportional representation is operating or has operated with a view to obtaining the fullest information as to the working of the system. The information so collected is to be available to all affiliations at least one month prior to the date of the next conference.

The conference in the afternoon carried a remit supporting tho repeal of the sections in tho Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act which exempt county councils or road boards from the general applieotion of awards, and local authorities and public bodies carrying out relief works from the provisions of awards, industrial agreements or agreements under the Labour Disputes Investigation Act, 1913,

It is expected the conference' will conclude its business to-morrow night.