LABOUR PURGE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20253, 22 May 1940, Page 11

LABOUR PURGE

LEE SUPPORTERS , EXPULSION WANTED The expulsion from the Labour Party of all members who support Mr. •J. A. Lee is believed to be the aim of the staunchest Government supporters of branches in Christchurch. At a recent meeting of the Christchurch East branch, it is reported, Mr. R. A. Brooks, secretary of the Hotel and Restaurant Workers’ Union, which cast, with othe;.; big unions, a block vote for Mr. Lee’s expulsion, proposed that the branch’s delegate to the North Canterbury Labour Representation Committee should be removed from that office. The delegate was also threatened that his expulsion from the party would follow. All branches of the Labour Representation Committee have before them a motion submitted to the committee that Mr. Lee should be admitted to the party. It was on this motion that the committee referred to branches the question of the expulsion of the member for Grey Lynn. The voting so far indicates that the Labour branches in and about Christchurch are strongly in support of the expulsion and strongly behind the Government. Within the Labour Party and outside it. there is a body of opinion which favours Mr. Lee’s criticism that the Government has not acted in a democratic style and that the policy submitted to the electors at the 1938 election has not been fulfilled.—Christchurch Press.