THE 1928 COMMITTEE.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19691, 7 August 1929, Page 17

THE 1928 COMMITTEE.

TO tBK CDITOS OF THB PWOT Sir, —I notiee a letter on the above subject in your columns, signed '"Chairman, Nineteen Twenty-eight Committee." This looks peculiar, and suggests a secret society, like the Kb £lux Klan. Mr Stronach Pateroon wa» chairman of this committee quite recently, and I presume he i« still. If so, I am surely entitled to the courtesy of his signature. 1 gave a little ridicu's to the committee in March last in an endeavour to bring it down to earth, and I succeeded, for in their reply the committee stated that they were out to secure a definite removal from the Meat and Dairy Boards of their absolnte control powers. This banter the chairman refers to as "misrepresentation" on my part, "or gross and culpable ignorance." If some people were born with a better sense of humour they would be saved from a lot of worry in thia world. The chairman regards it ae an offence that 1 made reference to. the 1928 Committee recently in the House. Per mit me to say, sir, that the chairman's servant saw me with reference to this, and I informed him that I had the information complained of given to me, and I thought the frank and open way was to ask the question across the floor of the House, giving the person referred to the opportunity of admitting or denying it. This I did, but the member remained silent. I could do no more, and considering the importance of the question, I certainly could do no less. The messenger would convey these facta to his chairman. It suited the chairman better, however, to attack me by taking the newspaper reports. He indignantly denies that the person referred to was a member of the Central Committee, and says my statement is untrue. Will the chair-

| man point out to me where, even in a newspaper report, 1 mention such a thing as the Central Committee f In- | deed, later, this immaculate gentleman admits that he does not know whether the person referred to is a member of the committee or not, but "as far as the executive knows he is not." Apparently the method I adopted to ask the question direct was the only method I had of securing an answer, but one would have at least expected the chair man (when he comes into the public print to make such an emphatic denial) to know whether he had any grounds for basing his statement on. I accept, of course, without the slightest reservation, his statement that the 1928 Committee have nothing to do with the traders' agitation against the wheat dnties, and I think he should thank me for having given him the opportunity of clearing up this allegation. —Yours, etc., DAVID JONES. Wellington, August sth, 1929.