NATIONAL PARTY

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 127, 25 November 1940, Page 9

NATIONAL PARTY

LEADERSHIP ISSUE

CAUCUS BEING HELD

NO RUSH DECISION

No decision about the leadership ; of the National Party was reached i when the Opposition caucus which was called to discuss this question today adjourned for lunch. In view 1 of the implications involved an early decision is not expected, the general feeling among members being that there should be the fullest and freest discussion before any action is taken that concerns the unity and future welfare of the National Party. There was an attendance of nineteen me.mbers this morning, the absentees being the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, who is to arrive tomorrow, the Hon. Sir Apirana Ngata, and the four soldier members, Brigadier J. Hargest, Major J. M. Allen, Captain A. N. Grigg, and Lieutenant T. L. Macdonald. Today's discussion about the question of leadership is the climax to a campaign for a change in the leadership that has developed rapidly during the last few weeks, the name of Mr. S. G. Holland, member for Christchurch North, being prominently mentioned as a contender for the position. When Mr. Hamilton and the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates were appointed to the War Cabinet, it was suggested in certain quarters that the National Party's position might be prejudiced when it came to any criticism of the war effort, and some members felt that Mr. Hamilton could not hold down his job as Leader of the Opposition as well as a member of the War Cabinet, though he was elected to the War Cabinet by vir* tue of his position as party leader. Voting by members of caucus on the issue is bound to be extremely close, and any vote against Mr. Hamilton will no doubt be regarded as a vote of no confidence in the older members of the party. If this does happen, there is a possibility of both Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Coates resigning from the War Cabinet: