ENTRY INTO POLITICS

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23446, 29 September 1941, Page 6

ENTRY INTO POLITICS

— * — MOVE ADVOCATED BY R.S.A. AUCKLAND RESOLUTION (P.A.) AUCKLAND, September 27. Members of the Auckland Returned Soldiers’ Association are to be asked at the next quarterly meeting to decide the question of changing one word in the constitution, which will have far-rcaching effects if carried out. The first clause in the constitution provides that the association “shall bo non-party political and non-sectarian,” and the remit will come before the meeting on October 21. To delete the word “non-party,” under the constitution, 10 per cent, of the members must attend the meeting to make such an alteration, a postal ballot not being provided for. The proposed change was fully discussed at a conference of the executive of the association and delegates from returned soldiers’ clubs in the Auckland area, and the proposal to place a remit before the quarterly meeting was carried by a substantial majority. The president, Mr J. W. Kendall, gave it as his conviction that the Returned Soldiers’ Association would never secure the assistance for members that they deserved so long as it kept out of politics. The view was vigorously supported by others present, including a representative of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Mr Kendall, in reply to a question, said that he believed that if Auckland decided to become a political body it might involve disaffiliation from the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association.