CHANGE MOOTED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 295, 14 December 1938, Page 6

CHANGE MOOTED.

LABOUR NOMINEES.

LOCAL BODY POSITIONS.

CONFERENCE REMIT LIKELY.

A move which it is thought by some supporters of the Labour party will counteract disruptive elements of quite recent development from swaviog the jHjlicv of the movement is that which is stated to aim at the placing of nominations for local body offices on a similar ba-is t<» those for Parliamentary positions. It is understood that a considerable body of opinion supports the proposed procedure, which will probably come forward for consideration at the Faster conference in Wellington.

While amendment of the party's rules along these lines would apply purely to political activities, it is viewed as an offshoot of the belief among a large section of those associated with the industrial Labour movement that the time has arrived for a tightening up ot the party's organisation generally in order to eliminate what are considered to be "white anting" tactics. It i« interesting to note that the constitution of the Labour party provides that no person is eligible for nomination as a Parliamentary candidate who has not been a bone-lido ordinary member or an affiliated member of the party for at least two years prior to the date of nomination. Eligibility for candidature in the ease of local body elections, however, is limited to membership for one year only. The national executive may exempt from these provisions any person who satisfies it that he has given extended ser vice in a Labour party in another part of the British Empire. If a nomination for Parliamentary honours is approved at a meeting of a branch or affiliation and then by a meeting of the Labour Representation Committee, it is then required to be sent to the national executive. Approved candidates endorsed by the national executive are eligible for selection, but there i* the right of appeal given to nominees not approved by the L.R.C. Members of the party whose names ar.e on the list of approved candidates, but no others, are eligible for selection ballot for any constituency in Xew Zealand.