DISLOYAL N.Z. LABOUR PARTY.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 15974, 17 November 1919, Page 4

DISLOYAL N.Z. LABOUR PARTY.

While the war was raging, and the necessity for sending every available man to the front was doily being impressed upon the nation by the civil and military leaders at Home, constant attempts to frustrate the efforts of the New Zealand authorities wore being made by members of the New Zealand Labour Party. In view of these facte, it is not, w little strange to note how solicitous the.Laborr Party’s candidates now profess to be for tho welfare of the soldiers and die dependents of those who sacrifiod their lives or have returned to the Dominion broken in health. The electors, however, will not soon forget the disloyal attitude of the prominent leaders of the N.Z. Labour Party, as instance a recent happening at To Kuiti,* where tho Mayor declined to preside at a meeting called by the Labour candidate for the. Waitoma seat. The Mayor advised the Labour Party of his decision by letter. This was mentioned at Hie meeting, and although the letter was not read, a motion censuring tho Mayor for his refusal to preside, was lost by 10 votes to 14. The Labour Parly declined to make the contents of the letter public, and the Mayor then sent a copy of the letter to the secretary of the Party. The copy reads as follows: "Dear Sir, —Your note of yesterday’s data to hand asking me to take the chair at Mr Broom’s meeting to-morrow night. I thank you for your offer, but at. the same time I feel myself constrained to decline to preside. It is but fair that I should, under tho circumstances, give you specific reasons for my attitude. I feel that as Mayor, and as such tho accredited representative of the townspeople, I could not conscientiously take tho chair at a meeting convened by a party which, judged as a party by the public utterances of its Parliamentary leaders, is distinctly and decidedly disloyal. . . Your party not only actively opposed the war, but in every way possible hindered its due and proper prosecution. 1 need hardly remind you that one of its leading representatives, Mr Webb, suffered imprisonment rather than serve, and his conduct was applauded and not condemned by his Parliamentary associates. On top of all that, the party organ lias been guilty of condemnatory references to our brave and suffering soldiers, of which no right-thinking, loyal citizen can but bo other than ashamed. The purpose of tho meeting being to assist in sending Mr Broom to join with and act imder tho direction of the men to whose utterances I have refex'rcd, I really must decline to assist. To .do otherwise would be but to countenance the past conduct of the party leaders, and to affront tho loyalty of the vast majority of this Dominion, and, above all, to insult the memory of our honoured dead. I write you this with some regret, but as a matter of both personal conscience and public duty.—l am, yours faithfully, G. p. Finlay, Mayor, Te Kuiti.”