Buller By-Election

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29872, 12 July 1962, Page 3

Buller By-Election

Sir,—People such as ”B. Constant” should read a lesson in political history. For what happened in Buller is only a repetition of what has been happening ever since the famous by-election in 1913 for Gyttelton, when James McCombs was elected. In fact it has been happening in Lyttelton ever since, and in Waitakarei, Raglan, Dunedin North, Westland, Waitemata (now North Shore), and Auckland West, to mention only a few. Yet at subsequent elections Labour has come back wjth a bang. In point of fact the one outstanding lesson ' in Buller is that something like 1800 did not vote at all, and that National went up by only 92, a mere splinter by comparison.—Yours, etc., R. M. THOMSON. July 11, 1962.

Sir.—Far from having my armour pierced at Buller, I emerged triumphant because Labour held the seat in spite of glittering promises by the Tories and a heavy drift of Labour voters from Westport due to the redundancy caused by the actions of the Tory Government. Unlike “C.F.” and Tories. I have no knowledge of the French of William the Conqueror, and, like the workers, I know only the good old homely Saxon fongue, and therefore instead of crying “Touche” I and the Labour supporters say remember the Nelson cotton mill, the S.P.A.N.Z. loan, the reductions in death duties, and the grant of a monopoly of Westland timber. “Sonia Yetsofar” should study Labour’s policy and she will find that many potential Labour voters only stay away from the polls because they do not know that Labour carries out its policy of happiness and prosperity for all instead of just for a privileged few.—Yours, etc, DISILLUSIONED NATIONALIST. July 11, 1962.