Mr Chapman criticised

Press, 18 October 1976, Page 12

Mr Chapman criticised

PA Wellington The president -of the Labour Party (Mr A. J. Faulkner) said that he must seriously question the practices of the National Party president (Mr G. A. Chapman) in his "quite unprecedented activities over the coming electoral boundary changes.” From Mr Chapman’s action over the last few weeks, people were entitled to ask whether he was trying to influence the work of the Electoral Boundaries Commission, Mr Faulkner said. Mr Chapman had been “stumping the country” giving the National Party’s version of what the boundary changes should be before the Electoral Commission had even had its first meeting, said Mr Faulkner. Not content with that. Mr Chapman now proposed that New Zealand depart from the longestablished principle of community interest in drawing up electorates. “In its place, Mr Chapman suggests carving the larger provincial cities into strange hybrid electorates with a large rural content,” said Mr Faulkner.