N.Z. DIVISION

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 13056, 26 January 1943, Page 2

N.Z. DIVISION

DECISION ON SPHERE OF SERVICE Not Discussed By House Statement- By Leader of Opposition (PA.) Christchurch. Parliament was never given the opportunity to discuss where the New Zealand Division would serve, said the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Holland, replying to the statement by the Minister of Supply, Mr Sullivan, that Parliament as a whole and not the Government or the War Cabinet, had unanimously reached the decision followed.

"I wish emphatically to contradict the statement." Mr Holland said. "Mr Sullivan, in his statement, is giving information about a secret session which is supposed to be secret, but that would not be so bad if what he has said gave a proper picture of the position. Mr Sullivan speaks of the decision being made by unanimous vote of Parliament. In point of fact no vote of Parliament has ever been taken as to where the Division should serve.

"The simple facts are that negotiations over the disposition of the Division were undertaken between Mr Fraser and Mr Churchill without consultation with Parliament and without its knowledge or concurrence," he said. "The first I knew of the negotiations was when cablegrams were read to us in secret session and the Prime Minister told us the War Cabinet's decision, which left Parliament no option but to agree. To say that Parliament made the decision is entirely wrong." Mr Holland said he was not at liberty to disclose what had happened in secret session, but since Mr Sullivan had told the public that the decision was unanimous, which it was not, he wished to make it quite clear that he himself was not aware of any negotiations until they had been completed. Moreover, he had objected strongly to such negotiations being opened without the prior approval of Parliament. He was satisfied that had Parliament been consulted before Mr Churchill was approached a course very different from that taken would have been adopted.