THE ONLY ANSWER

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 106, 7 May 1931, Page 12

THE ONLY ANSWER

The opinion is expressed by tho "Timaru Herald" (Reform) that, having regard to all tho circumstances, Mr. Coates has given the 6nly answer possible. "From the outset," the "Herald" continues, "it was plain that Mr. Forbes did" not realise the traditional status and organised stability of the Reform Party. ' The proviso that a reply should be furnished before the 15th instant, for instance, revealed an amazing lack of appreciation of the Domin-ion-wide scope of the Reform Party's political organisation. As Mr. Coates says in his reply, the Reform members of Parliament have no authority whatever to agree to the complete elimination of the party. It may bo possible for the "United Party to change its name and wholly recast its policy overnight, and having secured votes on an extravagant electioneering platform, to rest on its oars and regard its promises as mere figures of speech, but the permanence of the Reform Party as a political entity is not built on the shifting sands of unredeemed pledges or political expediency. On the contrary, the party stands four-square to the winds that may blow from all points of the political compass, but, as Mr. Coates points out, no gathering of members can consent to the absorption of. the parly and agree to permanent fusion with the United Party and the Independents."