CORONATION TRIP.

Auckland Star, Volume LVXIII, Issue 53, 4 March 1937, Page 11

CORONATION TRIP.

N.S.W. DILEMMA. WILL STATE PREMIER GO? PARTY COMPLICATIONS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDXEY, February 27. A complication has arisen regarding the representation of Xew South Walee at the Coronation which may cause considerable trouble in political circles here. Jt has been generally understood that Mr. Stevens, more particularly in view <if his recent trip Home, would decline to go to England for the Coronation, and he hae publicly expressed his decision to that effect. But within the past week two incidents have occurred which may conceivably make a difference to the situation. In the lirst place Mr. Lyons, speaking at Canberra, commented with regret on the fact that Mr. Stevens would not be in London during the Coronation functions. "The Premiers of the other States will be at Home," said the Prime Minister, "and it seems a pity that the Premier of the Mother State should be absent."' On this, Mr. Stevens being approached by the Press, declined to make any comment, but it seems that he will hardly lie able to preserve this attitude of dignified reticence much longer. For the Kinpire Parliamentary Association, with its headquarters in London, has cabled to the executive of the local branch suggesting that, if the Premier still finds himself unable to come to London, he should nominate a representative to act in his place at the coining Kmpire Parliamentary Conference. There are two points to be stressed in this connection—that the presence of Mr. Stevens would be welcome in political circles at Home, and that the local branch of the Empire Parliamentary Association has therefore been asked to surrender to the Premier its undoubted right to elect a delegate, irrespective of any outside opinion. Party Rivalry. To explain the situation this produced. I must point out that the rivalry between I.'.A.P. and I'.C.P. extends far beyond the limits of Parliament, to all the organisations with which the two parties are connected. In this case the I'.C.P. section of the Empire Parliamentary Association had decided that if the Premier could not, or would not, go to the Coronation the association should send in his place the Minister of Lands (Mr, Burteiishaw) who, it may be needless to add, is a leading member of the I'.C.P. But when the cabled message from the London headquarters of the Kmpiie Parliamentary Association came up for discussion by the local executive (this week, the Minister of Labour and I Industry (Mr. Dunningham), who is a I'.A.P. man. moved a resolution urging the Premier to reconsider his decision, already published not to visit England in May. Reason to Regret It. Mr. Dunningham got sufficient support to carry his resolution, but it is quite possible that the Premier may yet have reason to regret it. For the Country party members of the Empire Parliamentary Association resent the efforts made by the U.A.P. members to rob them of the privilege of sending one of themselves to represent Xew South Wales at the Coronation festivals. Moreover, there is a general feeling that the Prime Minister rather exceeded the limits of official responsibility by bringing pressure to bear upon the Premier in this indirect way. More than this, many members of the E.P.A.. both U.A.P. and U.C.P. men, are inclined to repudiate whet they have termed the "overseas domination" exercised from E.P.A. headquarters in London over the local branch here.

Naturally Mr. Stevens, who fully realises the delicacy of his position, is holding his peace, no doubt reserving to himself the right in the last resort to change his mind. But it must not be forgotten that when Mr. S'.evens decided not to go Home this time, the deputyPremier. Mr. liruxner, also declined, on the definite understanding that, if he did not make the trip, his place would be taken by some other U.C'.P. Minister. This is the most awkward factor in the situation that confronts Mr. Stevens to-day.