CAUCUS TO-DAY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22242, 30 January 1947, Page 6

CAUCUS TO-DAY

NATIONAL PARTY M.P.S

LEADERSHIP QUESTIONS

(S.R.) WELLINGTON. Jan. 29. National Party members .are already gathering at Parliament Building for the party’s first caucus since the general election gave them an equality, of European members in the House or Representatives.

It is this fact which they emphasise and will do so when Parliament meets. There will consequently be an Opposition demand for greater weight in the Select Committees, which hitherto have been arranged to give the Government a good majority. “Why,” asked a National Party member to-day, “should the Government have more members than the Opposition on committees dealing with European affairs, particularly public accounts?”

It is recalled that Mr. S. G. Holland has made a practice of submitting the question of the leadership to his Parliamentary supporters. This will be a democratic formality, but the question of the deputy-leadership is definitely up for decision. The position was filled last Parliament by Mr. W. J. Poison, former member for Stratford, who was called acting-leader during Mr. Holland’s visit to the battlefields. Mr. Poison's place on the front bench has to be filled, and the caucus is expected to appoint one of its members to the position of deputy-leader of the Opposition. Following its systematic methods, the Opposition Party is expected to appoint committees or groups to study important public questions, among which the present industrial and economic position is foremost. Their reports are likely to be submitted to a subsequent caucus of the party, probably a month hence. These committees serve as a basis for the party’s programme, and therefore their work can be regarded as immediate planning for the next general election.