Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, JULY 22, 1941. AN ILL-SUPPORTED LEADER.
QN Ills recent record and experience, the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr B. G. Menzies, might almost be said to be an illustration of the saying that a prophet is not without honour, save in his own country. In his visit to Great Britain and the United States not long ago, Mr Menzies stood out as an effective and powerful spokesman of British overseas democracy. All who heard the broadcast he delivered in this country as he passed through it on his homeward way appear to have been impressed, mans* of them profoundly, by the telling force of his statement and analysis of.the facts of the war and appeal for a united, wholehearted and unsparing effort lor victory.
Ever since he returned to Australia, however, Mr Menzies lias figured as a leader whose authority' is disputed and even at times derided. In a cablegram received on Saturday, one of his supporters was quoted as declaring that : “The cards appear to be slacked against Mr Menzies.” 'This aptly sums iq) the position as it stands, though whether the stacking might, have been averted by Mr Menzies and his leading colleagues is perhaps an open question.
Although his Government is in office without an effective majority, so that, it is liable to be defeated in Parliament, as it was recently, by the adverse vote of a single Independent member, the Federal Prime Minister has been reasonably successful in establishing a working understanding with the Labour Party and in securing a measure of co-operation from the leader of that party, Mr J. Curtin, and his colleagues. Mr Menzies is menaced, however, by a revolt within his own party —a revolt by a group which some commentators have called the forgotten men —and there is at the same time a section ol the Labour Party, headed by Dr Evatt and Mr Beasley, which maintains that the Menzies Government has failed to carry out reforms vitally needed in some features of Avar administration, particularly the organisation ami control of the Munitions Department. These Labour members were stated recently to be confident of securing the support of their leader, Mr Curtin, for the changes they advocate in war administration.
Unrest and revolt within his’own party are alleged by some to be due to Mr Menzies having permitted factors other than merit Io operate in his choice and retention ol' Ministers. On this subject, the Canberra correspondent of the “Sydney Morning Herald” wrote not long ago: —
Younger members of Mr Hutchinson’s —and for that matter, Mr McCall’s —type may feel only disappointment when they see the first-class and experienced ability of a Mr Spooner or a Mr Abbott beating them into Cabinet. But when they look at 1 some of the .Cabinet material which survives every reshuffle, they naturally tend to ask whether they have not equal qualifications. Their feelings can hardly avoid being shared by some older stagers— Messrs Perkins and Francis, for example—who, in bygone Ministerial years, at least contrived to avoid the gaucheries native to a section of the Cabinet.
It may be that' in coneentrating on great affairs, Mr Menzies has neglected relatively minor but still not unimportant details, and that lie has given some grounds for a charge that lie is unduly autocratic. On the other hand, some of his followers may be making 100 much of fancied slights and neglects. In any event, in view of the almost invisible margin by which the Menzies Government holds office, it and the parties which support it—the United Australia Party and the Federal Country Party—obviously are in an extremly critical position. Many, no doubt, will regret that a leader of the apparent quality and calibre of Mr Menzies has rather poor prospects of gaining effective, continuing support and it evidently gives ground for concern that serious political unset!lenient should rule in Australia in the present time of emergency.
Mr Menzies, it was reported yesterday, has called a meeting of the Parliamentary members of the United Australia Party on July 28 to test the challenge to his leadership by a section of the party. The rebel section may be small, bid as Australian Federal politics are at present ordered, even a small dissident section may be able to influence the course ol‘ events in a degree out of all proportion to its numerical strength. Account has to be taken also of the possible reactions of the second Government party —the Country Party—and the Labour Party.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 July 1941, Page 4
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749Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, JULY 22, 1941. AN ILL-SUPPORTED LEADER. Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 July 1941, Page 4
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