REVELATIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 95, 23 April 1928, Page 8

REVELATIONS.

SECRET ALLIANCE EXPOSED.

P.P.A. AND REFORM.

SENSATIONAL MANIFESTO.

BITTER ATTACK ON PREMIER

(By Telegraph—Special to "Star. ")

WELLINGTON", this dav

A quarrel of the bitterest type, calculated to affect the Re?o.'"i party materially, has taken place between the Keform League anil the Protestant Political Association. .Secret manifestoes issued by both sides reveal that they are at daggers drawn.

"During the past ten years the P.P.A. h.n. in measurable degree, assistcr to return members of your party to Parliament at a heavy cost of money, time and effort," states a circular by the P.P.A.

to Reform members of Parliament in explanation of it* right to address them. "There are member-' of the pnrtv who were brought into political life by this a.-sociation. You arc awn re that there is general dissatisfaction with the party and its leadership. We are in a position to gnaue the strength and depth of tlie feeling by the reports of organisers and by personal contact throughout the Dominion. The fact that at least two other political parties are in process of formation with influential backing is significant. We have been impressed bv the number of individuals who have been supporters of the association and also of the Reform party for years who have firmly declined to contribute to the funds of the association as they have done unless an express guarantee is given that the association will not support the Reform party under its present leader. This is as true in Dunedin as in Auckland, in the towns arid cities «s in the conntrv.

"The Dominion executive is faced with ♦he difficult ♦ ask of framing a policy for ♦ his association, and a. campaign ♦o meet ♦he situation in view of the next election. . . . The individual member* of the Reform pnrtv share Mie responsibility for. and must be affected by thn dissatisfaction and distrust. m>t to y open antagonism, which exists. T'-"-will experience the ami ; t is therefore in your interest that ♦ Imposition be fully considered. Middle Class Antagonised. "It would be no difficult task to set out. at. length the reason# for our dissatisfaction. The Reform party was elected a* an anti-Socialist party. Our association carries on a constant propaganda. against Socialism, but the Reform party has enacted legislation, e.g.. bus legislation, which the socialists could not have excelled. This legislation has prejudicially affected and antagonised the great middle class, and has had a serious effect throughout our membership. You will know how the farming industry view this and other legislation which affects them. Increased Expenditure and Taxation. "The second reason is the increasing expenditure and consequently increasing taxation. The financial difficulties through which the people have been passing have not actuated the Government to lessen the high public expenditure. Rather, it has been increased. Fresh taxation has been added in the form of income tax and customs duties, both of which chiefly affect the middle classes; the expenditure on the Public Scrvice now approaches one-half of the total revenue. We are, next to the Socialistic State of Queensland, the most over-governed people in the Empire; there is one civil servant for every 24 persons; there is a growing tendency to increase the departmental expenditure; the system of commissioner control, which deprives the Government and Parliament of any real or effective control of the civil service, is in a measure responsible for the present condition. The local rates and taxes added constitute a burden which is rapidly approaching the intolerable. New Zealand taxation is in excuss of the combined Australian taxation.

Sectarian issues. "Our organisation has no connection with organisations such as the New Zealand Alliance or the Bible in Schools League. We do not, therefore, refer to the association, but to the general opinion, when we state that the present leader is believed to have no sympathy with moral and social reform, and that, because of this, a large section of the community has lost faith in him and in his Government. As as association we are convinced that the leader of the Reform party, unlike his honoured predecessor, if not openly antagonistic, is passively hostile. There is no opportunity under his leadership of securing the reforms for which we stand, because the members of his party, although in the main pledged to our platform, refuse to take the initiative or to assert themselves in the caucus. Rather, during the last session a further concession to the anti-National Roman Secondary Schools was enacted, granting free passes to and from school in holiday time. The members of the party voted for that concession. Further, the present Cabinet includes members who make no secret of their hostility to the association, its objects and leaders. As a political organisation, we view with increasing concern the number of Romanists who are being appointed to important positions under the Reform Government, as well as the fact that the entrants into the Public Service are, we believe, in an undue proportion Romanists. We raised this charge against the Seddon-Ward Government, and apparently wo shall be forced to raise it against the Reform party. We desire assurance from you, as a member of the Reform party, that the grievances as to policy and administration will be remedied. It will, however, be appar--11 r ,rl° i y ° U that ' failin £ "ome definite Liii ° r ® ssuranc es, the association ted tn I?!? to frame 4 policy calculated to better serve the interests which Its aim 18 to maintain. A conv of this member of'"* a<Wres,ied to al '"ost every member of your party."

*eply by League Secretary. In answer to this threat, Mr. E A Reform T D0m,11,0 . ,, secretary of the Reform League, has issued a statement to the members of his league. "A nronounced set has been made agaiiut Mr Co.*. h, „„r politic.! „pp„K| ™j !• .! "'^ an, "« r " f the so-called United P'*ity, who, after deserting the Reform party, with whom he had no legitimate intention °l ,enl J r avowed his mention of forcing the heads of the —m QHMriaathm cuMrf j nHi jpl

"I am not aware how far these prohibitionists who are working against the Reform party are responsible for the campaign of slander that has been covertly initiated against Mr. Coates," proceeds Mr. James, "or whether they are in sympathy with the movement which has been initiated by Mr. Davy or not. From information gained, however, I am convinced that if they and the 'United party' are successful in their attempt to make Mr. Coates' continuance in office impossible, they will administer the severest blow to the Reform cause that it is possible for any political party to inflict upon another, and they will succeed in handing over the Government of the country to the Red Fed. element, which they are so anxious to keep out of office. j "A Mischievous Document." j Bearing that in mind. I can onlv I characterise the circular letter signed by I Mr. Ira D. Bridger, as president, and Mr. Howard Elliott, as secretary of the I .P.A., as a most mischievous document, intended to breed suspicion and bring about disruption in the ranks of the Reform party. When these gentlemen clahn that 'in a measureable degree the P.P.A. assisted to return members of the Reform party to Parliament at a heavy cost of money, time, and effort,' that claim, if it has any foundation in fact, is seriously discounted by the past action of the association which, under Mr. Elliott's leadership, has helped to discredit and defeat candidates for Parliament stauding in the Reform interest. In proof of that statement 1 need only refer to the 1022 elections, when it foolishly, and against the earlier protests made by the late Mr. W. F. Massey and myself in 1919, published the names of candidates for whom it asked citizens to vote. That was on the very eve of the general election, and seriously discounted the chances of many of our candidates and actually led to defeat. Again in 1923, when Sir James Allen vacated the Bruce seat on the eve of his departure to take up the High C'ommissionership in London, the gentleman chosen in the Reform interest to contest the seat was defeated as a result of the P.P.A. action in supporting Mr. Edie.

"I may further point to the attempt made by Mr. Elliott to discredit the Government in connection with the appointment of Mr. Dallard as ControllerGeneral of Prisons and the alleged maladministration of the Department. Mr. Elliott worked and agitated amongst the people who were the supporters of the Reform cause long before his association came into existence." The Coates Wave. Denying that Mr. Massey was i eturned in 1922 on an anti-Socialist policy, "as the Socialist movement in Nvw Zealand at that time was negligible," Mr. Jafnes states that sectarian issues were not in evidence at the last general election and that it was the (nates wave" which brought the Reform party back to power. He also denies that New Zealand taxation is la excess of the combined taxation levied by the Australian State Governments and by the Commonwealth Government. On the subject of the allegation that "last session a further concession to the anti-national Roman Catholic schools was enacted, giving free railway passes to and from the schools in holiday time," and that members of the Reform party voted for the concession, Mr. James points out that the grant was merely one to allow school boarders to travel to and from school at holiday seasons at three-fourths of the ordinary fare, and that no vote on the question was taken.