PARLIAMENT TO RESUME

Southland Times, Issue 24872, 12 October 1942, Page 4

PARLIAMENT TO RESUME

INTEREST IN PARTY POSITION (Special) WELLINGTON, October 11. Recent political developments have stimulated interest in the session of Parliament to be resumed in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. Since Parliament last met on August 21 four National Party ministers have resigned from the Wax- Cabinet and the War Administration in accordance with the majority decision of the party caucus and when the House meets again this week it is thought that the Opposition will seek an opportunity to discuss the events and other circumstances that led to this decision. Members of fixe Parliamentary Labour Party are to discuss the political situation at a caucus of the party on Wednesday morning. No information of the future of the War Administration or the allocation of ministerial responsibilities surrendered by the Opposition ministers who have resigned is expected until after Axis caucus, fox- it is thought that the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser) will wish to consult with his party before taking any action. The position in the House of the Minister of Armed Forces and War Co-ordination (the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates) and the Associate Minister of Supply (the Hon. Adam Hamilton), who resigned in terms of the National Party decision and then immediately accepted an invitation by the Prime Minister to rejoin the War Cabinet is not without some interest. Both occupy seats in the Opposition front row benches, Mr Coates sharing a seat with Sir Alfred Ransom and Mr Hamilton having the Leader of the Opposition (Mr S. G. Holland) as his bench-mate. Whether they will move across the floor of the House to. seats with the Labour ministers remains to be seen. No official information is available about the likely duration of sessxon. There is understood to be some legislation requiring attention, but most of it is believed to be of a washing-up and relatively minor nature.

DOMESTIC AND WAR AFFAIRS Division Not Considered Possible (Special Correspondent, N.Z.P-A.) (Rec. 9.20 p.m.) , The Economisa, commenting on the breaking down of “the strange compromise between the Government and the Opposition in New Zealand, says: “The National Party caucus apparently disapproved of the leniency to the miners, although it is difficult to see why it expressed its disapproval so forcibly as the handling of the coal strike was presumably carried out by the domestic Cabinet, for whose policy the National Party has no responsibility. The split in the Coalition shows quite clearly that there can be no division in total war between domestic and war affairs.”