“NOT UNANIMOUS”

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1053, 18 August 1930, Page 8

“NOT UNANIMOUS”

Sir, —- In connection with Mrs. Cassie’s letter on the Child Welfare Act, permit me to say, as a member of the executive of the Auckland Women’s Branch of the New Zealand Labour Party, that at a meeting last week some of the members expressed so much.concern because the name of the branch had been mentioned in a letter sent to the Society for the Protection of Women and Children recently, that we agreed that the secretary should write to the Press explaining that the branch was not in any way responsible for the letter. That was as far as the instructions to the secretary went. Mrs. Cassie was not authorised to write a eulogy on the Child Welfare Act and its administration, or to enter into any controversy on the subject. The sentiments she has expressed are her own and, as such, she is entitled to hold them, but they do not reflect the unanimous opinion of the branch. Personally, I have always maintained that some of the provisions of the Act are far too drastic and should be amended, and I know* that several of the members hold the same opinion. Moreover, two or three resolutions have been carried by the branch, one quite recently, asking the Minister of Education to have the Act amended. E. GIBSON.