“PARTY HAD NO KNOWLEDGE OF PRIVATE LETTER”

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22826, 22 December 1948, Page 6

“PARTY HAD NO KNOWLEDGE OF PRIVATE LETTER”

(P.A.) WELLINGTON. Dec. 21. In a statement today the Wellington district secretary of the Communist Party, Mr. A. B. Skilton, said his organisation had no knowledge of the private letter from Mr. Cecil Holmes, of the National Film Unit staff, to Mr. J. P. Lewin, president of the Public Service Association.

“It is an indication of tiic ‘police state’ methods of the Government that it publishes the private correspondence of its citizens,’’ said the statement, which asserted that the Communist Party had no ulterior or sinister motives. In Press statements and official publications the Communist Party had openly expressed support for Public Service Association membership. It considered that failure to satisfy the grievances would be a blow to the Labour movement and a victory not for the Government but for the National Party. The statement said the Communist Party regarded the “red plot” accusations as an attempt to divert the attention of the public servants and the general public from the wage claims with the object of discrediting the Public Service Association leadership and dividing membership. “Personal Views Expressed” The letter was obviously between members of the association on union organisation and policy, said the statement, and the personal views on the organisation and tactics expressed in the letter were entirely those of its author and not those of the Communist Party; nor would they be supported by it.

The resolution contained in the letter seemed to be a reiteration of the declared policy of the Public Service Association and had been stated on many occasions.

Mr. Skilton said he was advised that Mr. Holmes was the official representative of the Public Service Association at the film studio and was elected by the members of that department. Whether Mr. Holmes was a member of the Communist Party, the Labour Party or the National Party, it would be his duty to organise meetings to obtain the views of members and to hear officials of the Public Service Association. As a member of the Wellington section committee of the Public Service Association, it was only to be expected that Mr! Holmes would strongly support the policy of his national executive.