WAR CABINET

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 November 1940, Page 8

WAR CABINET

POSITION OF NATIONAL PARTY IN VIEW OF CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP. STATEMENT BY PREMIER. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. “Obviously very serious issues have been raised by the change in leadership of the Opposition and the Government will require time to consider the situation,” the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, said in the House of Representatives last night when speaking of the War Cabinet and the Opposition. After congratulating Mr Holland on his appointment, Mr Fraser said the question arose of the impact of the change on the War Cabinet. That would have to receive the consideration of the Government and the Government Party. When the War Cabinet was set up, there was no stipulation as to the representation of the Opposition in it. It was not laid down that the Leader of the Opposition had to be one of the two members, but it was certainly implied. He had no other thought in his mind, and he wanted to say that there could be no two more acceptable members, personally, of the War Cabinet than Mr Hamilton and Mr Coates. He desired to pay a sincere tribute to the assiduity and devotion to its work of the WaiCabinet and to express his personal gratitude to its members for what they had accomplished. “But the War Cabinet was brought into being for the purpose of solidifying and unifying the country's war effort, putting it apart from ordinary political controversy, and getting the very best co-operation in regard to contributing our share toward the success of the common cause,” said the Prime Minister. “Now the question of the Leader of the Opposition arises. It is not a question of individuals. It is a question of coming together for a common aim. Whether that can be carried out either practicably or’in the eyes of the country efficiently and satisfactorily if the Leader of the Opposition is not in the War Cabinet is a matter that requires and will receive the most earnest and grave consideration. It is certainly a departure from what was contemplated when the War Cabinet was set up. and if the Leader of the Opposition, who embodies the

spirit of lhe Opposition, is absent from the War Cabinet, then, on personal examination, something essential is missing, not only from the Cabinet but from the national war effort.” Mr Holland, said it had been agreed unanimously at the National Party' caucus that the representation of the party on the War Cabinet should stand unchanged. He said also that Mr Fraser and he had had a discussion that afternoon, and he thought the Prime Minister would agree that they had reached a mutual understanding.