MR. LEE'S STAND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23615, 27 March 1940, Page 10

MR. LEE'S STAND

CONFIDENCE IN FUTURE i FIGHTING FOR PRINCIPLES COMMENT ON CONFERENCE VOTE [by TELEGRAPH —OWN" correspondent] WELLING TON, Tuesday •Having been, according to his supporters, figuratively thrown down the stairs l»y the Labour Party. Mr. -J. A. Lee. M.P.. now finds himself temporarily on the bottom landing on the climb to political importance. I' rom his manner to-day Mr. Lee is nursing no bruises, and little animosity. With' that air of indifference which he has created previously in times of political adversity he looks to the future with confidence. He was in his merriest mood when seen in his room at Parliament Buildings this afternoon, but his attitude on political matters was Asquithian. He would not discuss the immediate future. His attitude was one of "wait and see." Appreciation of Support Mr. Lee was writing busily at his desk \vjien visited early this afternoon. All that he would say was that he would now go to fight for Labour principles and democracy. Asket,l for his reaction to the vote of the conference. .Air. Lee said his reply was niven in his concluding remarks to the conlerence last night—"l IjluW you a kiss as I wave you good-bye." He appreciated the Mil votes from delegates who had only one voting card when it came to voting on the motion lor his expulsion. "It is interesting to contemplate." he remarked. "that, in my hour of temporary defeat there was polled for me the largest vote ever shown on a defeated side at a Labour Party conference." Future Political Style Questioned as to the political style tinder which he could be classified in future/ Mr. Lee said:—"l can regard myself as a Democratic Labour Party —and all completely returned soldier. That's all I have to say about the future." While the interviewer was chatting to Mr. Lee. Mrs. Lee visited his room. As an official delegate of an Auckland branch she attended the Labour Party conference yesterday and displayed her unflagging 'loyalty to her husband in his mon'ient of political trial bv standing at 1 vis side while he made his dramatic appeal to conference. Mrs. Lee's Intentions The ban on her husband from future membership of the Labour Party does not extend to Mrs. Lee, but she admitted that she had expelled herself and did not intend to attend further sessions of the conference. There is 110 possibility of Mr. Lee making a ballot-box test of the justice of the party's action. Although he is no longer a member of the Labour Party and will not be accepted as a candidate ftt any future election for the ' Grey Lynn seat he retains his seat as member for that electorate. «■ There is no chance of his resigning to contest it with an official Labour candidate unless he feels at some stage that he is unable to support any part 1 of the party's policy for which he stood in arising is so remote as to be not worthy of consideration, for it is on adherence to Labour's policy that his supporters claim that Mr. Lee has been rejected by"the party. Reference at Conference No developments over the expulsion of Mr. Lee are expected to arise until branches meet on the return from Wellington of their delegates to the conference. Only then will the full effect of Mr. Lee's sensational forced exit from the Labour Party be tested. Whether the voting at the conference Was a true index of the opinion of the mass of individual members of the Labour Party has yet to be proved. The only reference at the Labour Party's conference _ to-day to last night's, sensational incidents was by 1 Mr. * J'. Roberts, chairman, who informed, delegates that Mr. Lee's name was removed from the list of nominations, for office. Mrs. Lee's name remained on the list of those nominated for the national executive.

CAREER IN PARLIAMENT POST AS „ UNDER-SECRETARY DIFFERENCE WITH CABINET Elected,to Parliament in the Labour interests for Auckland East in 1922 at the of 31, Mr. Loo represented that constituency until 1928, when he was defeated by Mr. J. B. Donald. Three years later he was chosen to contest 'the Grey Lynn seat, which ho won and has held since then. When the Labour Party came to power in 1935 Mr. Lee became UnderSecretary in relation to the Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Nash, but when the Hon. H. T. Armstrong was appointed Minister of Housing last year, Sir. Lee, who had taken a large part in the housing scheme from its inception, became attached to Mr. Armstrong. ' _ A notice was published in a supplementary Gazette last December revoking Mr. Lee's appointment as Under-Secretary. In d statement at the same time Mr. Nash said the action was associated with Mr. Lee's writings which conveyed impressions incompatible with the mutual trust and loyalty essential between / those who worked in close co-operation. "It was obvious that with members of the' Cabinet engaged in a campaign throuo-hout New Zealand for autocratic control of the Labour Party and with myself engaged in a, campaign for democratic control, there must be disharmony," said Mr. Lee in reply. EXPULSION PRECEDENTS ,TWO PREVIOUS INSTANCES The expulsion of Mr. Lee is not without precedent. A member of the Labour Party for 31 years, Mr. Hiram Hunter, one of the founders of the movement in Christchurch, was expelled in November, ]9-37. This action was taken on account of letters concerning Labour representation on local bodies which he contributed to the correspondence columns of the Cbristchurcli Press. A division in the ranks of the Labour Party in Great Britain culminated in the expulsion of Sir Stafford Cripps last year. He was charged with disloyalty because, it was alleged, he bad issued to local branches of the party a memorandum on his campaign for a Popular Front after the national oxc-/-i , rejected the proposal. Sir '. aiioid_ has continued to represent East Bristol in the House of Commons. 19TI S ° nt S ' nce JaMU:I, '.v.