THE NEW ZEALAND NATIONAL PARTY

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21811, 17 June 1936, Page 7

THE NEW ZEALAND NATIONAL PARTY

ro TBR EDITOR OF THI PRESS. Sir, —It is amusing to watcli the efforts of "Another Studeni” and “H.C.T.” in th3ir probably well-meant but futile attempt to clothe the old Reform party with the rather thin disguise of a new party. It is interesting to note the number of changes of labels adopted by the party in the course of their career. Known for a long time as the Conservative party, it thought it wise, in order to rid itself of the odium attached to that party, to change its name to the Reform party, later to the National party, and it is now masquerading under the cognomen of the New Zealand National party. Its change of coats, truly a coat of many colours, will deceive no one. As I was not among those who assembled to hear the advocates of the new party, I am relying on the press reports, and I find that Mr A. McKellar. a member and treasurer of the old party, occupied the chair, and that the speakers were, the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, Messrs S. G. Holland, M.P., H. S. S. Kyle, M.P., Poulton, Vernon, McAlpine; and, if I am not mistaken, all, with the exception of Mr Forbes, were true blue Reformers, and he has lost not only the confidence of the Liberals in this Dominion, but of the electors in his constituency, being a minority representative. It has been said that in spite of his associations with the Liberal party he was already at heart a Conservative, and his recent actions are quite consistent with that statement. Apparently the representatives of the other parties were conspicuous by their absence from this meeting. It will take a great deal more than the pathetic efforts of anonymous correspondents, even when supported by the statement of the chairman that the new party was not a “hash-up” of the old. to convince your readers that they have experienced a change of heart, in the face of the foregoing facts. I venture to suggest that the fear of those with good incomes getting what Mr Forbes describes as a “good whack” occupied a more prominent part of the minds of those present than the welfare of the Dominion as a whole. •I was surprised to read of Mr Holland’s reference to the socialisation of Parliamentary honorariums by the Labour party. Surely that is a matter that concerns the members of that party only. If the promoters of the new party are sincere, which is open to question, then their tactics are deplorable.—Yours, etc., V R. B. DALLEY. June 16, 1936.