Fendalton Seat

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28371, 2 September 1957, Page 3

Fendalton Seat

Sir,—l have always understood that politics is an unlovely game, and I now see that that is the fault of electors as much as of the politicians. This mean, carping. snivelling, sniping at Mr Watts, apparently by supporters of the party he has served so faithfully and so well, should turn the stomach of any decent' citizen. Surely these people know the elementary facts of political life? A key man in a government must have a safe seat if continuity of administration is to be secured and if he is not to be unnecessarily distracted from the-discharge of the country’s business by periodical election dog-flghts. Did not Mr Watts, then a back-bencher, forgo his strong claims to the Fendalton seat in 1946 to allow Mr Holland to switch from St. Albans, which contained most of his former electorate (and his father’s) of Christchurch North?—Yours, etc., ST. ALBANS. August 30, 1957.

Sir, —I, too, think Mr Watts would have been returned, perhaps not with a big majority, if he had remained in St Albans. But it would have been a strain on a man in his position. He does not strike me as being a man who just wanted a safe seat.—Yours etc., VOTE. August 31, 1957. «