Woman M.P. Sought

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30115, 26 April 1963, Page 2

Woman M.P. Sought

Canterbury should aim at producing a woman candidate for the National Party in the next General Election, said the

president of the New Zealand National

Party (Mr J. H. Meadowcroft) when speaking at a women’s

rally, held on Wednesday in association with

National Party Week.

“We have only one woman in Parliament, though she makes up in quality what the other side has in quantity," he said.

W4>nen spent about 80 per cent “of the wages going into New Zealand homes, which would amount to about £4BO million a year, he said. Women who spent this much money would surely like to have more say in the way the country was run.

The Canterbury-Westland division of the party would give a woman candidate all the help she wanted, he said. The women's section of this division had a reputation for

being the finest women’s organisation in the National Party movement throughout New Zealand, he said. "Show me a strong women’s section and I am looking at a strong branch and a strong electorate," he said. Views for Policy Women, by discussion groups, independent and collective thinking, could make submissions to the party's policy, he said It was not too late for their view on policy for the next election. Women members of the party could also help by trying to increase membership in junior sections. “In 1970, 24 per cent, of the population will be in the schools,” he said. “There is an object for you." If the women’s organisation could help inculcate in the minds of the young the aims of the party and the way of life for which it stood, it would be doing a great service to New Zealand, he said.

Welcoming Mr Meadowcroft and the Minister of Broadcasting (Mr Kinsella), the president of the Canter-bury-Westland division (Mr C. C. A. McLachlan) also paid tribute to the women's

work. “If you took the women’s organisation away from the Canterbury division there would be very little left,” he said.

The rally had been held as part of National Party week in response to an appeal by the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake). said Mrs L. G. Cooper, chairman of the women’s organisation.