DOMINION LABOR PARTY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume L, Issue 16426, 9 May 1924, Page 6

DOMINION LABOR PARTY.

STORY OF; A RIFT.

UNQUALIFIED DENIALS,

(Special to the Herald.)

CHRISTCHURCH, this, day. A report emanating from Wellington is in circulation that there is a rift in the New Zealand Labor party, and that the position has now become so strained that the lour Canterbury members have made up their minds that thev, will not acknowledge Mr. H. E. Holland's right to speak for the party. "There is not a word of truth in the whole report,'* declared Mr. E. J. Howard, M.P., when the rumor was brought under his notice. "The party is the happiest, little group it has ever been my luck to be associated with from within. I< have been associated with the Labor movement in Australia, and for the past 22 years with the movement in New Zealand, dating back to the old political Labor League, which was the first independent Labor party to be formed in New Zealand, and right up to the deatli of the Federation of Labor and the Unity Conference, I have never known the Labor party to be so unanimous in its outlook, and so healthy in its spirit as at present. There are absolutely no rows, no misunderstandings, and no ill-feeling within the party whatever. We Christchurch members have the same liberty of action as any other individual members of Parliament on all questions »not within the party's platform. Each group works as a unit in its own territory, all the time in conformity with the Labor party's policy." Mr. Sullivan, M.P., said: "The whole story is a figment of the writer's imagination. There is no revolt by Canterbury members against the party. The idea has never been discussed, and I do not believe thought about by any one of the four Christchurch members, as matters, represented to the Prime Minister by tho Canterbury Labor members always have been in accord with the Labor platform and with the considered attitude of the Labor party as a whole. As manifested dn Parliament, we are a very happy family." "Utter rot" was how Mr. McCombs described the report. Mr. Armstrong decried the' whole statement as an absurdity. As a matter of fact, the party as a whole was never more united than it is at the present time, and I am quite sure every one of the Christchurch members has absolute confidence in Mr. Holland as leader. Personally I know of no man in this country or out of it that I would put in Mr. Holland's place." LAND AND FINANCE POLICY. (Per Press Association.) MASTE*RTDN, last night, Mr. Holland, leader of the Labor tiarty, addressed a large public meeting here to-night, propounding Labor's land nnd finance policy, stressing as the two planks of their platform on the land question, the conservation of national endowments and security of tenure, giving the farmer the full benefit of working his run. The remainder of the address was on the lines of recent meetings. ______«.