IN WHAT PARTY?

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 299, 14 September 1936, Page 10

IN WHAT PARTY?

Mr. F. W Ddidge’s Political Affiliations HON. P. FRASER CAUSTIC V/l S 'F By Telegraph—Frees Association. t • Auckland, Septenibei 13. Caustic comment on the past and present political affiliations of Mr. FW. Doidge, the National Party candidate for Manukau, was made by the - Minister of Education, the' HOn. P. Fraser, in an address at Ellerslie. "I am trying to understand what he is up to, what he stands for, what hew party he belongs to, and what people . belong to it,” sgld the Minister.; "Is it the National Party, Democrat Party, or Doidge Party? ‘ I confess I am mystified, and I believe the electors, are mystifleffi. too. Mr. Doidge started as a Deuu/trat, but the Democrats no longer exist. They were like" the boy who stood on the burning deck. The deck has disappeared under them and now they keep bobbing up under all sorts of ‘names. What I wobld like to know is, is Mr. Doidge standing as a candidate of the /National. Party, and is be Its leader or nol? "It seems to me they all want to be leaders—Messrs Forbes. Coates, Polson 'and Broadfodt. They are like a Portuguese army, all officers and no rank-and-file. What is more, there is not likely to be any rank and file. Has Mr. Doidge the confidence of Mr. Forbes as Leader of the Opposition, or of Mr. Coates? If not, who is behind him?” Mr. Fraser went on to say that apparently there whs a general rallying of reactionary forces behind Mr. Doidge, but he wanted to know what party they represented. L>l<l Mr.*' Doidge support Messrs. .Forbes and Coates in their attitude to Labour’s policy, or was he a Democrat masquerading under the name of a Nationalist? No word had come from Mr. Forbes or Mr. Coates, and it - was natural to ask whether they were supporting him. Presumably Mr. Doidge didn’t expect their support in view of things he had said about them in the Rotorua campaign., Mr. Fraser quoted a number of newspaper extracts > in. which Mr. Doidge was reported to have said that Mr. Forbes was being treated ns. a political nonentity and a rubber stamp. thaFNew Zealand had been under Soviet rule and Mr.' Coates head of the Soviet, and that be wished he could relegate both to a long political retirement on the hardest back benches in the House. Mr. Fraser also quoted from an article by Mr. Doidge in "Smith’s Weekly” to the effect that Labour gained power because the elec-« tors Were determined to rid themselves of the Forbes-Coates administration, and that if Mr. Savage turned the key on Parliament like Cromwell and gave the country a legislative rest for three years his name would be forever blessed. "Then why does he want to get into Parliament?” asked Mr. Fraser. "It is an insult to the intelligence of the electors to ask them to vote- for something he doesn’t believe in himself.”