HON. A. COOK, M.L.C.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 April 1943, Page 2

HON. A. COOK, M.L.C.

DEATH AT SEA OFFICIALLY PRESUMED SHIP TORPEDOED & SUNK NEAR AZORES. TRIBUTES BY PRIME MINISTER & OTHER COLLEAGUES. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, announced with the deepest regret' yesterday that the Hon Arthur Cook, M.L.C., was a passenger in the California Star, which was torpedoed some 100 miles north-west of the Azores, en route to Great Britain, and that he had not been reported among the survivors. “Mr Cook had been selected by the New Zealand Federation of Labour to be its representative at the Trades Union Congress now in session in the United Kingdom, and was on his way there when the ship was torpedoed,” said Mr Fraser. “A considerable number of the survivors landed at the Azores a few days after the ship was’ sunk, but I am sorry to say that up to the present there has been no report concerning Mr Cook. The last that was seen of him by some of the survivors was that he was on a raft with the first officer. While there was still a possibility that Mr Cook and his companions may have been picked up, there is no evidence of the fact, and he has officially been presumed to be lost. „ “I extend to Mrs Cook and the members of the family the sincere sympathy of the Government and of both Houses of Parliament, as well as of the whole Labour movement,” continued the Prime Minister. “Mr Cook was a valued and highly respected member of the Labour Party, and an active official of the trade union movement for many years. He was one of the most outstanding figures in the New Zealand Labour movement. His forthright honesty and sincerity of purpose and efficiency and enthusiasm was a strong contributing factor to the building up of the New Zealand Workers’ Union. His loss is a very great one. His appointment to the Upper House was an excellent one, and I deeply regret that we have' been deprived of the advantage of his valued service and advice.” Tributes to Mr Cook were paid also by the Minister of Industrial Manpower (Mr McLagan) and the secretary of the New Zealand Labour Party (Mr M. Moohan). Mi’ Cook was appointed to the Legislative Council in September, 1942. He was for 18 years general secretary of the New Zealand Workers’ Union. In August, 1942, he retired from that position on account of the strain oil close work affecting his eyesight, and later made a visit to Australia on, a healthrecruiting trip. After his return from Australia he was appointed to represent New Zealand at the British Trades Union conference now in session. ___________