Member Of TV Panel Election Candidate

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32119, 15 October 1969, Page 2

Member Of TV Panel Election Candidate

"The Frol” Special Service DUNEDIN, October 14. A member of the Dunedin television panel, “Matter of Opinion,” Mrs lona Williams, is the National Party candidate for the Dunedin North electorate.

Her entry into politics was rapid and unexpected. After the panel show was suddenly dropped Mrs Williams received a telephone call from a man who said he considered the dropping of the programme “a slap in the eye for Dunedin.”

“1 replied that he could expect little better when they can’t even find the necessary candidates for the National Party, and he asked me if I would be willing to stand. ‘Yes,’ I replied, and that was that,” she ;said. The wife of the head of the University of Otago’s economics department (Professor J. W. Williams) she has always been interested in civic affairs, but she has not yet fully ascertained what the new step of becoming a political candidate will demand. “AVERAGE VOTER” “I see myself as an average voter, without a political background,” Mrs Williams said, “and as an ordinary citizen I hope that I can see and put forward the average voter’s point of view.” Born in Dunedin, Mrs Williams was educated at St Clair Primary School, Otago Girls’

High School and Archerfield, a private, non-denominational girls’ school.

Deciding on teaching as her career, she went to Dunedin Teachers' College and after her probationary year in Dunedin went to London where she taught for a time before marrying. In 1949 she and her husband moved to Ghana, then called the Gold Coast, where they remained until their return to Dunedin in 1961. QUITE DIFFERENT “In Ghana,” she said, "I taught in two quite different schools. Both were multiracial but one was run by the army and staffed by locally employed wives at that time, and the other was run by parents of the pupils. “This school began as a kindergarten for our children, then as they grew it became a primary school. Eventually Mr Nkrumah sent his children to our school to be educated.

“The women of Ghana are the blood of the nation,” Mrs Williams said, “and the men carry the spirit All .descent is carried through the women and a man’s closest relative is his mother’s brother. “In the case of chieftains, the next in line for the position is not his son but his sister’s son as he has no absolute proof that he is the father of his wife’s child and the blood of the tribe must be continued. “The women have a marked

standing in trading and are much better businessmen than their husbands." 13 YEARS After 13 years in Ghana Mrs William and her husband began to wonder what the future held for their children Julia and Matthew, as there is little provision in the country for secondary schooling The idea of sending the children away to school held little appeal and they thought this was the best time to move. Professor Williams’s present position was advertised as vacant and the family came to New Zealand. Professor Williams’s interest lies in underdeveloped lands and since Mrs Williams returned to Dunedin she has accompanied him to PapuaNew Guinea. Y.W.C.A. WORK She has become interested in the Y.W.C.A. after becoming involved in voluntary work assisting a group of girls to prepare themselves for jobs. The course lasted four months, at the end of which time jobs were found to suit each girl. Recently she was appointed to the board of directors of the Dunedin Y.W.C.A. "I have been impressed by the work of New Zealand women in the Y.W.C.A.,” she said. "They give not only their financial support but also their time and energy raising funds to assist the Y.W.CA. in other parts of the world. “I also like the fact that almost every possible category of woman is represented in the association, and not, as in many organisations, only one type.”