REFORM MEMBERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 280, 26 November 1928, Page 10

REFORM MEMBERS.

ATTITUDE TOWARDS UNITED. MR. W. H. FIELD EXPLAINS. IN FAVOUR OF COALITION. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, thie day. With reference to the report that Mr. W. H. Field, the Reform M.P. for Otaki, intends to join the United party, Mr. Field states that during the whole of his campaign he expressed the view that the natural division of the people of this country was a clear-cut one, between the moderates on the one side and the extremists on the other, and that it was a great pity the two moderate parties were not amalgamated and fighting in one camp. He said there had been no essential difference between the respective policies of these parties for years past. At his final meeting in Otaki he had been asked whether he could under any circumstances support Sir Joseph Ward, and he had replied that in the very unlikely event of the Reform party being "knocked right out" he would support the United party as against Labour. After the election," said Mr. Field, he further expressed the view that it would be in the interests of the country, and he though the wish of the country, that the occasion should be seized for a coalition between the Reform and the United parties. He had said that, if that were brought about and Sir Joseph Ward became Prime Minister, he (Mr. Field) would have no difficulty in following him. In the event of there being no coalition and. Sir Joseph Ward forming a Ministry from his party, Mr. Field had said he believed the Reform party would gladly assist him and his Government in passing sound measures for the benefit of the country. Sir Joseph Ward had now declared against a coalition, and there was, therefore, an end to that way out of the difficulty. With respect to the euggestion that he was likely to join the United party, Mr. Field said he had been elected as Reform member and if he had any thought of leaving the party, which he certainly had not, his first duty would be to consult his constituents.