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Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 303, 23 December 1939, Page 7

LOSS OF POST.

MR. J. A. LEE, M.P.

"COMRADE AND FRIEND."

SPEAKER'S HIGH TRIBUTE.

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

HASTINGS, Friday.

"I have nothing to say at the moment as to the reasons adduced by Mr. Nash for the Cabinet's drastic action —there will be opportunities at the proper time and place to discuss these," said the Hon. W. E. Barnard, Speaker of the House of Representatives,, to-day, when interviewe' on the subject of Mr. J. A. Lee's loss of position of Parliamentary Under-Secretary.

"However, with public attention focused for the moiueut on Mr.LLe t I feel impelled to pay a tribute to a comrade and friend for whom I have a high personal and political regard," Mr. Barnard continued. "Mr. Lee was an early volunteer in the last war, and served his country with distinction on the battlefield, not without physical pain and loss. A grateful country—after more than 20 years—remembers him in this connection to the extent of 9d a day.

"He lxas been a powerful force in helping to create the Labour movement in New Zealand, and I have not known him shrink from close adherence to the principles of Labour and democracies. I know that he stands to-day as loyally as ever to those principles. I do not always agree with Mr. Lee. We all | have our defects of character and judgment. But John Lee has been an inspiration to many in political and economical fields and a brilliant and purposeful son of the Dominion. He is honoured by tens of thousands of New Zealand citizens. "Intensely Virile." "Alt. Lee is intensely virile," continued Mr. Barnard. "As the one responsible for the initiation of the Government housing scheme jie showed capacity as an administrator. With the'

appointment of Mr. Armstrong as Minister of Housing, Mr. Lee's services in this respect were not required to the same degree.

"Like myself, he is a member of the Council of Defence, and I can testify in general terms to the very great value of his services to the country in this capacity. With no Minister of military experience on the council, the value of Mr. Lee's counsel and advice as an experienced soldier will be readily appreciated. "To-day we want recruits. They are coming forward too slowly. Mr. Lee's power and abilities are temporarily unused. Why not put him in charge of recruiting T There ia no man in New Zealand who could do the work better.

| "It is timg, I think, that a proper grip was taken of the military situation," Mr. Barnard said, "and perhaps with the return of Mr. Fraser from overseas steps will be taken to do this. I am convinced, however, that the public needs to be more fully informed as to the aims and objects of the war. Those of us who went through the last iwar may be critical as to what the bull's eye is this time. "Mr. Lee is out of the Under-Secre-taryship certainly," Mr. Barnard concluded, "but it is not the end of him, politically or otherwise. Mr. Nash states that the Government had unanimously asked his Excellency to revoke the appointment. By this Mr. Nash means the Cabinet, not the Parliaments ry party."