COALITION?

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 87, 14 April 1941, Page 8

COALITION?

VEXED QUESTION.

NOT YET ANSWERED.

LABOUR INTEREST.

PARTY CONFERENCE OPENED.

WELLINGTON, this day

Although the Federation of Labour has been in se-<sion in Wellington during the past week, one of the questions uppermost in the minds of Labour supporters —coalition or no coalition has not yet been answered by the Prime Minister or any other leader of the party who addressed the federation. However, it i* expected that a definite pronouncement on the subject will be forced from the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser some time this week during the course of the Faster conference of the Labour party, which began here to-day.

It is an open secret that a large proportion of the supporters of the paity contend that, come what may, Labour i* capable of guiding Xew Zealand's destinies, and it is expected that the speakers at the conference will make it abundantly clear to Parliamentarians who might be toying with the coalition idea that they will have none of it. The suggestion is made that some of the Parliamentary group will-.probably demand a free hand to about a merger should a situation, particularly one relating to the war, Warrant such a etep. One thing is certain, and that is that the question -will be raised in one form or other, as both and Labour party branches have voiced in resolutions opposition to any form of tie up with the National party.

Stalling For Time? Just what satisfaction delegates to tjie conference are likely to receive from their presentation of contentious remits, especially some concerning the war effort, remains to l*e seen, but there has sprung up a feeling among some that there probably will be a good deal of stalling for time and probably a repetition of last year's performance of leaving many questions for disposal by the National Executive. This line of action was adopted last Easter when the late Mr. Savage'i death caused an abrupt termination .if the deliberations and many difficult questions went unanswered.

Some of the delegates see in the trend of events at the federation conference things that are to come, for the conference of the industrial section of the Labour movement concluded unexpectedly, leaving a considerable amount of business to be referred to the executive.

"The conference finished 011 Thursday evening under circumstances that do the executive little credit," said one delegate to-day. "Only half the business was completed 011 Thursday afternoon when the president, Mr. A. McLagan, announced that the hall had been booked for three days only and moved that the conference adjourn and leave the remainder of the business to the executive. An amendment, however, that an endeavour be made to secure another hall, was carried. Later it was reported that another hall was not procurable, and delegates sat on till ten o'clock in an effort to conclude the business. That was impossible, however, and the opnference therefore adjourned. Many delegates, because of this happening, are under the impression that the executive do not want the rank and file to have too much say. The past two conferences lasted four days. Why was this one cut down to three?" asked the delegate.

Discontent Alleged.

"To put it mildly, there is a feeling of discontent among many delegates."

It is a safe bet that what the federation thinks a large section of the political organisation of the party also thinks and therefore references to the war effort and the introduction of the emergency regulations in the federation's report are of particular interest. The contents of the report have been copyrighted, but a delegate explained to-day that overwhelming endorsement was given the federation's view that the winning of the war was of paramount importance. The executive, he added, made it clear that it made no apology for having devoted a great part of its efforts during the year in collaborating with the Government in making New Zealand's war effort as effective as possible. The support accorded the report, said the delegate, was indicative that the remit before the party conference urging the repeal of conscription would receive scanty support, although it would no doubt create a good deal of discussion, centring mainly on the manner in which conscription was introduced. An effort was made to have the section of the federation's report dealing with the war effort amended, the sponsors complaining that, while conscription of manpower was in full force, promises to introduce conscription of wealth still remained in the stage of promises. It is understood that statements by Messrs. Fraser, Nash and Sullivan had a marked influence on the rejection of the amendment.

Mr. Nash Convincing. Mr. Xasli, said the delegate, was particularly convincing and presented a hopeful outlook while at the same time recognising the difficulties of the present situation with regard to the restriction of exports and shipping. So f»r as it went there was a preponderance of support for the federation executive's actions, even on the contentious question of amendment to the Public Safety Emergency Regulations giving the Attorney-General power to bring about the dismissal of any worker from his employment and prevent any worker from being or becoming a member of a union. Indeed, just where the executive stood with the majority of delegates, representing close on 200,000 unionists, was reflected by the re-election of the president, Mr. McLagan, and other officials of the past year.