THE DEFENCE ACT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 239, 9 April 1912, Page 5

THE DEFENCE ACT

A SOCIALIST PROTEST. By Telegraph—Press Aaseciatisn. Wellington, Last Night. The New Zealand Socialist Party's Easter Conference was continued to-day. The following motions were carried unanimously:—"That this conference declares itself uncompromisingly hostile to all forms of militarism, recognising that whilst the present class status exists armed forces will be used to buttress up capitalism, and to hold down the workers; the conference further recognises that all the energies of the working class can be most profitably utilised in building up their industrial and political organisations, which shall finally render war impossible, and which organisations, by international affiliation and alliances between working classes of all nations, are at present the chief guarantee of the peace of the world; that this conference proclaims its sincere sympathy with those youths and young men who, denying the right of the State to force them into military service, have resisted the encroachment upon their liberties, and in consequence suffered fine or imprisonment; that this conference also declares that the so-called New Zealand Defence Act is not truly such, that it is not in the interests of peace, but tends towards war, in that, being designed with a view to the co-ordination of the military forces of the Dominion with those of the Mother Country in aggressive as well as offensive warfare, it will be considered by the people as a threat and a menace to them, and may lead to reprisals; that the enormous cost that would be entailed by carrying out the present proposals is more than can be borne by this community, and must place extra burdens on the workers; this conference further declares that no such extraordinary measures as are embodied in the compulsory clauses are necessary in this Dominion, and it calls for the immediate repeal of the Act.