LABOUR PARTY BRANCH ACTIVITIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24406, 18 September 1940, Page 11

LABOUR PARTY BRANCH ACTIVITIES

rO THE EDITOB Sir— Many incidents give us cause to wonder these days, but the branch meeting of the Oamaru Labour Party last Saturday, night was about as big a farce as I have heard of for. some time. It is high time our local branch got down to sanity and tried to assist its Government, instead: of talking utter drivel. One could well close one's eyes and imagine oneself at a Nationalist meeting of the bitterest type; whose slogan would be ".Oppose, oppose, oppose!" • . The main subject on this occasion was the forming of a Home Guard. This proposal seemed to be a downward step in the estimation of those present, one to be regarded with suspicion, and. in fact, Unveiled antagonism Why this flutter in the dovecot? Is it that we, as a loyal branch ot a Labour Party, have something to hide? It is. I fear, a case of "if the cap fits, wear it." Why all this outburst at a Labour members activities. Mr Semple has done yeoman service on the roads, public works, etc., and has stuck' to his principles through a lifetime even to the extent of undergoing imprisonment for them. As an energetic, active statesman he cannot be beaten, even though his manner of expressing his opinions is rather cheap and could well be improved on. Mr Colquhuon's intervene tion was well timed and as he is himself a returned soldier his statement carried much weight. Two speakers gave a short, constructive statement — the first I have heard at these meetings for many months. Where are the old sound Labour members? They seem to have gradually dropped out of the ranks. Here we find a meeting controlled by a secretary whose activities and utterances do not always call for approval, a chairman who calls the meeting to order generally when it passes an opinion in favour of the Government and allows everyone to talk when against it. two hysterical women in a corner who chip arid heckle continuously in a promiscuous manner Criticism of the Government is no' subversive, but criticism such at we sometimes hear at these meetings could well be called subversive propaganda, and one wonders whether the local branch is being fed Communist propaganda so insidiously that members do not themselves recognise it. The object of a Home Guard was, I believed, as one member rose to state, to protect us in case of invasion, but the fear that some members expressed has given me a new conception of it, and I say with all my heart. " Form it soon." Why is there no reporter at Labour branch meetings, or is there? When our secretary gets his educational classes going it will be interesting to hear what Professor Gill will teach. After practically a whole evening 61 hot air and drivel when someone raised the question of the 5 per cent, increase in wages the chairman rose to a belated sense of order and remarked that we could not. and must not, interfere with the law. For a Micawber-like farce recommend me to an evening with the local branch of the Oamaru Labour Party.—l am, etc.. Loyalist, Oamaru. September 12.