RETURNED SOLDIERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 September 1941, Page 2

RETURNED SOLDIERS

CHANGE IN CONSTITUTION. PROPOSED IN AUCKLAND. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, September 27. Members of the Auckland R.S.A. are to be asked at the next quarterly meeting to decide the question of changing one word in the constitution which will have far-reaching effects if carried. The first clause in the constitution provides that the association shall be non-party political and non-sectarian, and a remit will come before the meeting on October 21 to delete the word non-party. Under the constitution 10 per cent of the members must attend any meeting to make such an alteration, a postal ballot not being provided for. The question of the proposed change was fully discussed at the conference between the executive of the association and delegates from the returned soldiers’ clubs in the Auckland area, and (he proposal to place the remit before the quarterly meeting was carried by a substantial majority. The president, Mr J. W. Kendall, gave it as his conviction that the R.S.A. would never secure for its members the assistance they deserved so long as it kept out of politics. That view was vigorously supported by others present, including a representative of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. In reply to a question, Mr Kendall said he believed that if the Auckland association decided to- become a political body it might involve disaffiliation from the N.Z.R.S.A.