Grassroots members of the Progressive Labour Party (PLP) will get to hear first hand the circumstances surrounding the recent challenge to the leadership of Premier Jennifer Smith by some members of the party's Parliamentary caucus.

The party's branches will be discussing the issue at meetings set to take place over the next two weeks.

Several branch heads contacted by this newspaper said that other matters besides the leadership challenge will be discussed.

But the meetings will be an important indicator of how the PLP's grassroots members feel about the leadership meeting.

And their thoughts will be communicated to the party hierarchy.

Hamilton Parish branch head Charles Daniels said his branch should be meeting soon but a date had not yet been confirmed.

He added that he hoped people would "come out of the woodwork" to say how they feel. But he also wanted the members to come up with some solutions.

"We've heard all the complaints," Mr. Daniels said.

"I'm still a supporter of the Premier but like everyone else I have some concerns about style or issues I would like to see handled differently... Everyone has a wish list."

Much depended on who shows up at the meeting, he said.

"There's no way of telling whether they'll be pro leadership or demanding a change - there are probably people on both sides of the issue. This will be the first true barometer of who in our branch has concerns over the leadership and who doesn't."

Asked what his personal feeling was when he heard that the Premier had been challenged by some of her backbenchers, he said he was surprised at the timing.

"I wasn't expecting a challenge like last week. I know, like everybody else, that the delegates' conference is coming up. I saw that as a time for any challenge."

He said the party might be experiencing growing pains "in terms of being a Government as well as a party... Sometimes you have to be able to separate what the party issues are from those the public has chosen to run the Government."

Mr. Daniels also said that he was concerned that there might be a rerun of events in the early eighties when the party split into several factions - leading to an exodus and the formation of the National Liberal Party.

At the end of the bloodletting the PLP's share of seats in Parliament had dropped from 18 to about half a dozen.

"Being privy to that sort of thing going on, I thought `here we go again'. My concern as branch chairman is to ensure that doesn't happen again."

The branches meet on a weekly basis to discuss constituency concerns and to keep the members up to date on developments.

Candidate selection for elections begins at the branch level.

Asked if he was informed that there was going to be a caucus meeting on the leadership issue, Scott Pearman, chairman of the Pembroke branch, said he would rather not comment.

"I am quite sure a lot of matters would be discussed (at the branch's meeting this week) so everybody has an understanding of what was known," he said.

He said he did not sense any concern among the branch members in the wake of the leadership vote.

"But until I hear from my branch I cannot properly express how they feel. I'm sure they will express it clearly Thursday."

At least two of the backbenchers believed to have voted for the Premier's resignation are Pembroke MPs.

Joan Dillas Wright, head of the Warwick branch - the political home of dissident MP Dale Butler, said a meeting had already been held and another one was planned.

Beyond that she was not prepared to comment.

Southampton branch chair Rudy Daniels said that a meeting was planned for the end of the week.

"Those issues of late will be discussed as well as branch matters generally," Mr. Daniels said.

"I don't think there's real concern. I think most people are generally happy with the leadership. I can't speak for everyone but I think that's the feeling."

While branches are responsible for selection of parliamentary candidates, Mr. Daniels said he did not see the leadership vote as one in which the branch would take disciplinary action.

"Government matters are a different realm from party matters," he said.

"Our job is to make sure the people get the kind of representation they hope for... If you get seven out of ten people saying I don't support your view that's a message for the MP and he will just take it for what it's worth."

He added that he hoped most of the party's MPs are acting in solidarity with the party line and put their role as constituency representatives first.

"We've seen in the past where backbenchers decide they no longer support the party leader and want to do something about it. That's human nature. I just hope that the MPs recognise the fact (that they are representatives) and rather than it being personal they would appreciate and listen to the views of the people that vote for them."