LARGE MAJORITY FOR MR FRASER IN LABOUR CAUCUS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 April 1940, Page 5

LARGE MAJORITY FOR MR FRASER IN LABOUR CAUCUS

Members of Cabinet Confirmed in Office SELECTION OF MINISTERS TO BE REVIEWED AT END OF YEAR EARLY REPORT ON ADDITION TO STRENGTH (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. By a large and absolute majority, a caucus of members of. the Parliamentary Labour Party held in Wellington yesterday elected, the Hon P. Fraser to be leader of the party. He will, therefore, become Prime Minister in succession to the late. Kt Hon M. .1. Savage. Ministers in Mr Savage’s Administration, who have been acting as a provisional. Ministry since Monday, were confirmed in office by caucus, but the whole question 01. Cabinet selection is to be reviewed by caucus at the end of the year. Air Fraser will call on the Governor-General, Lord Galway, on his Excellency’s return to Wellington and submit the names of his Ministers and their portfolios. Another caucus is to be held in a few weeks, When Mr Fraser ’will report on the question, of increasing the strength of the Ministry. Since he first entered Parliament in 1918 Air Fraser has represented the Wellington Central, electorate continuously in the House of Representatives, and since 1934 he has been deputyleader of the party.

Mr Fraser had two opponents for the leadership, Dr D. G. McMillan, M.P. for Dunedin West, and Mi- C. L. Carr, M.P. for Timaru. On personal grounds there was little or no opposition to Mr Fraser’s selection as leader- of the party, but for reasons connected with the elective principle his nomination, which was moved by the Minister of Railways, Mr Sullivan, was challenged. The selection of a deputy-leader of the party was held over. The caucus, which was stated by Mr Fraser to have been most united and harmonious, concluded late yesterday afternoon. There was almost a full attendance, the Minister of Lands, Mr Langstone, and Mr R. T. Ratana, M.P. for Western Maori, being absent because of indisposition. Mr Fraser, in an official statement, said that caucus had agreed that the present Cabinet be confirmed in office, and that at a later date the question of any addition or additions to the existing Ministry should be the subject of a report by himself to caucus. The whole question of Cabinet selection would be reviewed by caucus at the end of the year. Changes in the allocation of portfolios are inevitable, more particularly in the cases of Mr Fraser and Mr Nash. Mr Fraser is responsible for the administration of the portfolios connected with Education, Health,. Marine, Mental Hospitals, Police and the Inspection of Machinery, and it is thought that on assuming the office of Prime Minister he may divest himself of at least some of these and allocate them among his colleagues. Portfolios held by Mr Nash are Finance, Customs, Social Security, Stamp Duties, Marketing, Land and Income Tax Department, Public Service Superannuation, Government Life Insurance, State Fire Insurance, and the Census and Statistics Department, though the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr Parry, has been acting as Minister of Social Security since Mr Nash left for England last year. An additional Minister will have to be appointed to bring Cabinet up to the strength at which it stood before the death of Mr Savage, and anticipations that Cabinet will be strengthened by one or more Ministers may possibly be borne out when Mr Fraser presents his report on these questions ’to caucus about six weeks hence. A vote of confidence in Mr Fraser as leader and a pledge of loyalty to him was carried by caucus without dissent.