THE NATIONAL PARTY

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21809, 15 June 1936, Page 7

THE NATIONAL PARTY

TO THE EHITOX 01 THE FEE3S. Sir —your correspondent “Student” criticises the recent conference at which the New Zealand National party was formed. He calls it a “convention of the old political parties comprising Reformers and United, now to be known as the National party. in doing this, he has made a fundamental error because delegates, who were not in any way attached to those two parties, were present to further the move for an entirely new party. Seeing that his letter was based on a misunderstanding of the objects and constitution of the conference, I shaU not take up your space to cnticise his comments. “Student* quite rightly assorts* that “it is up to us aU to join hinds from the extreme south to the far north to establish an organisation of a character that will be a force m the land.” This is a good definition of what that conference determined to do —an entirely new national movement. No "old diehardS are standing at the gate” to bar progress; indeed, one of the leaders of the late Coalition definitely stated: that the time had come for the older men to stand aside. >f If I may venture to advise Student, I would say to him, “Get behind this movement; bring new blood into it, and do not throw doubts on its bona fldes by talking of dlehard 'old political parties. They are not in the contemplated picture. As to the members of the Present Opposition, he should realise that there are several whose services would be of the greatest value to such a movement as he visualises. —Yours, etc., . ANOTHER STUDENT. June 10, 1936.