A LABOUR SPLIT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 543, 29 May 1933, Page 4

A LABOUR SPLIT

There could be no clearer iiidicatioii that Mr. J. T. Lang is losing his grip on the New South Wales Labour party than the recent news that Mr. A. C. Wills is to contest the Bulli by-election against the endorsed Lang party candidate. For many years Mr. Willis, a former president of the Miners' Federation, was Mr. Lang's right-hand man; indeed, many contended that he controlled and directed Mr. Lang's policy. Some even gave him the credit (or the discredit) of fathering the notorious Lang Plan. However that may be, it is an undoubted fact that while he represented the Lang party in the Legislative Council, Mr. Willis was hand in glove with Mr. Lang and Jwas invariably consulted on matters of policy. The same combination worked in perfect harmony at all Labour party conferences when Mr Lang's star was in the ascendant and when his, word was law in the Labour councils. When the delicate situation created in London by the Lang loan policy became insupportable, it was Mr. Willis who went to England as Agent-General to endeavour to convince the London financiers of the justice of the Lang ! cause. That he failed was no re- | flection on his ability, for he j was attempting the impossible. j And now the old campaigners j have parted. The news that Mr. Willis obtained an overwhelming victory at a meeting of the Bulli Labour Electorate Council, in spite of his failure to seeure the endorsement of the state executive of "the movement," indicates the seriousness of the breaeh in Labour ranks and of the plight of the Lang faction. The excommunication of Mr. Willis by the State Labour party has merely served to exhibit his strength. Obviously Mr Willis, astute, suave, mysterious, preferring hitherto the unilluminated background to the glare of the limelight, has seen the waning of the star and his own opportunity. Bulli, a coalmining area, is one in which his influence is wide-spread. Anything can happen iri New South Wales Labour politics. It is of course impossible to gauge Mr. Willis's personal ambitions; but it is possible to predict that the mantle of his former chief may yet fall upon his shoulders. He may become in name as well as repute the leader of his party; and the uncertainty of politics is such that the Premiership may not be out of his reach. Fortunately for New South Wales, while the Labour house is divided against itself that possibility will remain remote.