POLITICAL STATURE OF MR. FRASER STILL GREAT

Wanganui Chronicle, 20 July 1950, Page 4

POLITICAL STATURE OF MR. FRASER STILL GREAT

Labour Party Secretary Says Nationalists Fear Him PARLIAMENT’ BLDGS., Last Niqhi (PA). —In the past week a new departure in New Zealand politics has become ev dent, wfth the spectacle of members of the National Government neglecting their debating duties to make impertinent questions concerning the leadership of the Parliamentary Labour Party, said the secretary of the New Zealand Labour Party, Mr A. J. McDonald, tonight. “Mr Fraser was unanimously elected leader of the Parliamentary party by caucus.” said Mr McDonald. “His leadership was unanimously confirmed by the recent Labour Party conference. "The people of this country are fully aware of this, and the attempts of Nationalist members to sow seeds of dissension and distrust will fall on stony ground,’ said Mr McDonald. It required little political acumen to d scern the reasons for these attacks. They were an attempt to lower the prestige of a statesman who stood head and shoulders above any puny personality in the National Party, and to divert public attention from the new Government’s shortcomings, particularly its trail of broken pledges. Mr McDonald said Mr Fraser’s record in the national and international sphere gave him a far greater political stature than his latest detractor, Mr Goosman, who, drunk with the power of newly assumed office, had now set himself up as the unofficial adviser to the Labour Party on Hs own affairs. The National Party, of course, would like to see Mr Fraser deposed. His outstanding political Career, .his full knowledge of Parliamentary procedure, his ability to lead and hold men, and other qualifications, made him the most formidable single opponent the Government had to face. The National Party realised this and wished to see him removed from office. Mr McDonald said Mr Goosman should get on with the task of administering his seven portfolios. “When a Minister who carries such a weight of responsibility as Mr Goosman does rises in the House in an Important debate, the people of this country rightly expect him to render an account of his stewardship, and not, in the exhilaration of new-found power, attempt to dictate to his pollical opponents how they should run their domestic affairs,” said Mr McDonald.