Labour's View

"If you want to know the party line on C.M.T. look in Hansard," said the Hon. A. H. Nordmeyer.

Salient's perusal of Hansard revealed that in past debates the Labour Party has consistently condemned C.M.T. It was an inefficient method of keeping up the armed forces in relation to its cost.

R. J. Tizard, writing in the "Statesman", said: "Short term training, with recalls to camp and a fairly long period on reserve, does not meet the need for a fully prepared force."

Mr Nordmeyer declined to say what the Party would do if it came into office in the next election. "At the moment, following many internal changes, Party policy is in a state of flux. I do not feel I can say with certitude what we will do."

Asked if he had any personal comments to make, Mr Nord-Meyer became less reticent. He felt that C.M.T. had become outmoded. Events had moved rapidly, he said, and C.M.T. stood nowhere in relation to the nuclear bomb.

Mr Nordmeyer emphasised that his personal feelings were naturally the same as party policy. He would not say whether this was because he subjected his own feelings to the party line, or because he had great influence in the making of the party. He felt that future party policy would follow the lines recorded in Hansard.

He would say nothing further on the subject.

On this question, the Hon. W. A. Fox, Minister of Marine in the last Labour government said:

"University students should be treated no differently from any one else." Mr Fox felt that the dispute about the requests to examine University files was purely an administrative difficulty was unnecessary, he said, and of course would not have arisen if C.M.T. had not been brought in.

Like Mr Nordmeyer, he thought that party policy on this matter would not change at the next election.