9. The Chairman of the Party for the preceding year shall preside over the Conference. 10. _Conference Officials._--The first business of the Conference shall be the appointment of tellers. It shall next elect a Standing Orders Committee, with power to examine the credentials of delegates, and to deal with special business which may be delegated to it by the Conference. 11. In case any vacancy occurs on the N.A.C. between Conferences, the unsuccessful candidate receiving the largest number of votes at the preceding election shall fill the vacancy. Vacancies in the list of officers shall be filled up by the vote of the branches. 12. The principle of the second ballot shall be observed in all elections. 13. The Conference shall choose in which Divisional Area the next Conference shall be held. V.--PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATES 1. The N.A.C. shall keep a list of members of the Party from which candidates may be selected by branches. 2. Any Branch at any time may nominate any eligible member of the Party to be placed upon that list. 3. The N.A.C. itself may place names on the list. 4. No person shall be placed upon this list unless he has been a member of the Party for at least twelve months. 5. Branches desiring to place a candidate in their constituencies must in the first instance communicate with the N.A.C., and have the candidate selected at a properly convened conference of representatives of the local branches of all societies affiliated with the Labor Party, so that the candidate may be chosen in accordance with the constitution of the Labor Party. The N.A.C. shall have power to suspend this clause where local or other circumstances appear to justify such a course. 6. Before the N.A.C. sanctions any candidature it shall be entitled to secure guarantees of adequate local financial support. 7. No Branch shall take any action which affects prejudicially the position or prospects of a Parliamentary candidate, who has received the credentials of the Labor Party, without first laying the case before the N.A.C. 8. Each candidate must undertake that he will run his election in accordance with the principles and policy of the Party, and that if elected he will support the Party on all questions coming within the scope of the principles of the I.L.P. * * * * * _The Constitution shall not be altered or amended except every third year, unless upon the requisition of two-thirds of the N.A.C. or one-third of the branches of the Party, when the proposed alterations or amendments shall be considered at the following Conference._--Resolution, Edinburgh, 1909. BASIS OF THE FABIAN SOCIETY The Fabian Society consists of Socialists.