TIMARU LABOUR PARTY

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23279, 15 August 1945, Page 2

TIMARU LABOUR PARTY

Sir, —Almost coincident with your editorial of July 26 deploring Party obedience to lobby whip-cracking, the president of the Timaru Labour Party wrote extolling the system. Mr Oliver took the stage in approved fashion, then sensing developments not in the Partyrut, walked off in high dudgeon. Yes. the Party lash is long, extending even unto Timaru. Silence gives consent, so it must be assumed that Mr Oliver’s executive approves the "Defaulters’ Benefit Bill,” is completely unsympathetic towards the local Pensioners' Association (Mr Oliver’s letter of August 14 merely explains something obvious), and discounts the significance of the Park referendum- Accordingly, let us look back a bit. Mr Oliver attained the presidency by 11 votes to 10; he accepted 21 votes in a Labour stronghold as a democratic expression. The vote for the Hospital Board was proportionately miles ahead. Will the Timaru Labour Party wake up? It's a pretty pass if a politicians’ local parliament adopts as its slogan: “Not a word lest we embarrass.”—l am, etc., R. W. Anderson.