ALLEGED OFFER OF BRILE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLVI, Issue 10704, 31 March 1926, Page 7

ALLEGED OFFER OF BRILE.

STATEMENT BY MISS MELVILLE.

EDEN ELECTION SENSATION

(Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, March 30.

A sensational allegation that she had been offered a pecuniary inducement to retire from the Eden contest was made by Miss Ellen Melville, the Independent Reformer, speaking at Hen- ; derson last evening. Miss Melville frankly described the offer as a bribe, and said it had been made in her office by a member of the Reform League in Auckland and contingent on. her retiring. She was offered, according to her account, £l5O a year for three years and then a safe seat. Another extraordinary feature of the meeting was that Mr V. H. Potter, Reform member for Roskill, took the platform in support of Miss Melville. Mr Potter, of course, remembers that Sir James Gunson opposed him ira Roskill as an Independent Progressive in the general election of 1919, but that hardly explains Mr Potter's present support of Miss Melville, as she herself stood against him as an Independent Reformer in 1922. The fact of the matter is (however ridiculous it may sound) that Mr Potte rhas Cabinet aspirations, and he believes that they are jeopardised by Sir .James Gumson's candidature. If Sir James Gunson is elected, Mr Potter's chances of Ministerial rank dwindle (if it is possible that he possesses any chances to dwindle). . # It is stated that the same attitude is taken by two other Reform members, Mr J. S.Dickson (Parnell) and Mr A. Harris (Waitemata), both of whom cherish fond hopes of being included in the Cabinet. Neither Mr Harris nor Mr Dickson has so far shown by overt act that their sympathies are with Miss Melville, or, to be exact, against Sir James, but it is stated that they, with Mr Potter, have offered her support.