GENERAL ELECTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24715, 18 September 1941, Page 6

GENERAL ELECTION

DECISION AT WEEK-END POSTPONEMENT UNLIKELY LABOUR VIEW HARDENING (0.C.) WELLINGTON, Sept. 17. The indications are 4kaLJtte.,ear]ieit at which the Prime Minister, Mr P. Fraser, will make his announcement on the question of a general election will be the week-end. He will hear a deputation from the People's Movement on Friday, and on Saturday he will again meet the Parliamentary Labour Caucus. A decision will probably then be made. So far as can' be gathered, no overtures have been made by the Prime Minister to open discussions with the National Party on the questions involved in any decision to postpone the election. Before he left on his mission overseas, Mr Fraser said that if a National Government was not formed an election would be held. Short Campaign Expected The impression gained in the lobbies is that the Labour Party, both parliamentary and industrial, has developed in its resistance to a political alliance. The question is reported to have been discussed before and after the Prima Minister's return, and the view of the caucus that a National Government would not be acceptable is said to have been clearly conveyed to Mr Fraser. Since Mr Fraser met his Parliamentary colleagues in caucus (the meeting was adjourned till Saturday), there has been a sharp increase in the number in the lobbies who believe that an election will be held. The desire of members to finish the business of the session and return to their electorates for what they believe will be a short electioneering campaign is becoming apparent. Both parties have their campaign machinery ready to operate once an announcement is made by the Government that the election will be held, and some National Party members report that their selected opponents hav« already commenced electioneering. A Possible Alternative A possible alternative to an election, which the Government may offer, is an extension of the War Cabinet to give the Opposition a larger representation, but lobby reports are that, if made, the offer is not likely to be accepted by the Opposition. The National Party has indicated consistently that a choice would have to be made between a National Government and a general election. An offer made sometime ago to the Leader of the Opposition, Mr S. G. Holland, was rejected, and no further negotiations for his acceptance of a seat in the War Cabinet have taken place: