Labour Party Moves to Regain Benches

(by Political Correspondent G. R. Hawke)

As even the New Zealand Press recognised the Hon. A. H. Nordmeyer was obviously the man best suited to be the new leader of the Labour Party. Further he is the only politician in NZ who holds out any hope of becoming a statesman of International status.

His suggestion at the Students' Congress in January that New Zealand should use her influence in new initiatives towards disarmament is far removed from the policy of the present administration.

One can hope for a more forceful hostility to French and American atom tests in the Pacific and elsewhere from Nordmeyer than from the National Government. This applies to more than the disarmament issue. We cannot envisage him playing the role of American pawn in a somewhat shady move to keep China out of the United Nations.

His reputed ability to make a realistic appraisal of a situation rests on more than the 1958 budget. The recently reported statement "NZ must be willing to trade with any country that is willing to trade with her" shows that he belongs to that small group of politicians who are not overawed by the Communist bogy.

But his road to political office will not be entirely smooth. It appears that the National Party will campaign on the well-known slogan of the "Black Budget" but it is doubtful whether this will have much effect. Its main effect in 1960 as shown by the survey of R.M. Chapman and others, was to keep Labour supporters away from the polls but this is unlikely to be reproduced. Traditional Labour supporters will resume their former habits.

Nordmeyer's major concern may well be with the old Labour problem of unity—first, within the parliamentary party and secondly within the Labour movement as a whole.

That the election of Nordmeyer as leader was unanimous is a healthy sign. But it is a sign more of the party's recognition of the need for unity than of united enthusiasm for Nordmeyer. Several other candidates may well have come forward had any one of them been prepared to be the first. Nordmeyer has in particular to completely win the representatives of the Auckland area where so much of Labour strength is seated.

But the Party's recognition of the problem can be expected to continue at least until after the election.

More problematical is the attitude of the Trade Union movement. Although F. P. Walsh is reported to have privately been in favour of Nordmeyer, the latter has no trade union background. And as the recent Southland strike shows, F. P. Walsh no longer dominates the TU movement as he once did. We expect Nordmeyer's statements of Labour policy in early April to be predominently concerned with this problem.

Nordmeyer has his problems but he must be a favourite amongst those who gamble on political events.