UNITED PARTY

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 55, 14 September 1928, Page 10

UNITED PARTY

TO-DAY'S CONFERENCE CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS "ONE GKEAT END" To-day a conference of candidates selected to contest the seats at the coming elections on behalf of tho United Party was held in the Accountants' Chambers. Fifty-one candidates from all parts of New Zealand attended, in addition to the sitting members of th» Nationalist Party. Mr. R. Masters, ex-member for Stratford, presided. In opening the conference, the chairman said: "It gives me great pleasure, gentlemau, to formally open this conference, and on behalf of tho United New Zealand Political Organisation, to extend a very hearty welcome to the candidates here assembled. May I make mention of the fact that thero aro four gentlemen who havo been invited to attend this conference, the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Ward, M.P., and Messrs. C. A. Wilkinson, W. J. Poison, and H. Atmore, M.P. These gentlemen have not yet linked up, but I trust that they will assist us in our deliberations to-day, and before tho conference concludes they will decide to throw in their lot with the United Party. On behalf of my executive I extend a hearty welcome to these gentlemen. We have a tremendous amount of work beforo us, so I shall not occupy much of your time. May I point out that this occasion is quite uniquo in. the annals of New Zealand political history, and it is up to each and every one of us to strive towards tho establishment of a precedent that will never be eclipsed. Never before has there been so much dissatisfaction with the existing political conditions; never before has there been such a strong, determined, and united effort to ameliorate the conditions and to put the affairs of the country 'in order. It has been attempted in the past, but the attempts have failed and these tentative parties have never reached tho culminating point, the completion, that now lies in our hands to make or mar. And when I think of the uutiring efforts of the organisation, the ceaseless work it has accomplished in bringing you together, I feel sure that it will meet with the success it so justly deserves.. More, when I look round this hall and see men before mo who have contributed their quota of work, and more, who steadfastly held to the course they set themselves, and who now sit here with determination written on their faces and actuated by the spirit to construct and create, I feel confident that we will rise from our final sitting with something that is worthy of all that has been done. It will be something they will be proud to belong to, a United Party, capable led, strong of personnel, and as perfect of policy as human brain and human energy can make possible. OUT OF THE ASHES. Gentlemen, cast your minds back one year. The political air was heavy with suspicion and dissatisfaction. A great party, the Liberal Party was moribund. A decadent party held sway, and only the Labour Party, intolerable to we New Zealanders, offered as Reform's alternative. Liberalism lay in ashes, while the spirit of Reform had fled with that of its great leader. Phoenix-like, out of the ashes, have we risen. The organisation grew from one individual to a tremendous and a very efficient political force. It has had its set-backs, and the old game of the "Party in Power" has been played vigorously, even up to the eleventh hour just prior to the conference, but it has survived and grown out of all proportion in the face of difficulties such as few men can appreciate. The organisation has placed the threads on the loom, the candidates must weave tho pattern. Form your party, evolve your policy, and I predict, gentlemen, that it will .not be long before you occupy the Treasury Benches. Now that our policy is in the melting-pot, when the dross must be separated from the true metal, I know the candidates appreciate the need for real unity and co-opera-tion. We must sink individuality and work towards the one great end only, the formation of a party that will give to this country the capable adniinistra-' tion of which it is in dire need. Upon the fate of this conference depends the fate of you, as candidates, and the fate of the couutry as a whole. Tho first fine threads of unity have been tied, gentlemen, as your presence indicates. Now you must complete the work. Mr. G. W. Forbes, M.P., Mr. W. A. Veitch, M.P., and Mr. Taverner (Mayor of Dunedin) briefly replied to the chairman's welcome; and Mr. J. B. Donald (Auckland) spoke on behalf of the newly selected candidates. The conference then went into committee. It is anticipated that the conference will continue in session for several days.