LABOUR CAUCUS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 25 May 1938, Page 7

LABOUR CAUCUS

PLANS FOR SESSION PARLIAMENT LIKELY TO MEET AT END OF JUNE , [United Press Association] WELLINGTON. This Day. A caucus of members of the Parliamentary Labour Party will be held in Wellington to-day. The Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, who will preside, said in an interview last evening that the meeting was likely to extend over two days. "Members of caucus.” said Mr Savage. “will be given a rough outline of the legislation to be submitted to Par- ' liament at the forthcoming session. 1 Obviously only a rough outline of the , Government's legislative proposals can be given because the Bills have yet to be drafted. It is only a fair thing to give your Parliamentary supporters an idea of pending legislation and what it is proposed to do in the immediate future. The old idea of things was for a Cabinet to do just as it liked and only I call a caucus of its supporters when it got into difficulties. Our job is to tell our supporters what we are doing and what we propose to do in order to avoid getting into situations like that. “There is nothing unusual in having a caucus of the Parliamentary Labour Party just now.” Mr Savage continued. "The Labour Party will al- - be having caucuses, whether the Government or in Opposition, so that every man in the party will know what is happening. Take the case, for instance. of a Labour Party member at Tauranga—we don’t want that man tasked a question and not know what I the answer is. "We are approaching the last sesI sion of the present Parliament. All the I Bills are not drafted yet. but we will ;be able to give the caucus the sub- ! stance of them. We will always follow J the practice of keeping our supporters j informed of what ’ e are doing, for ! that is the way to keep a party solid. |lf you trust a man he will trust you; similarly, if you keep him at a dis- j tance. lie will react likewise.” Asked if he could indicate when the

session of Parliament would open, Mr i Savage said that no decision had yet | been made. Cabinet would have to de- ; :-ide when Parliament was to be called together. There was no reason to believe that Parliament would rheet at Dther than the normal time, toward the end of June.