UNDER WHICH FLAG?

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, Issue 179, 14 July 1927, Page 7

UNDER WHICH FLAG?

WANDERING LIBERALS. WILL THEY LINK UP I (Special to “ Tribune. ”) Parliament Bldgs, July 13. Up to the present, no steps have been taken by the National Party to hold a caucus of its members, and in view of the formation of the New Zealand Liberal Party, which appears tq be the name that the new organisation will take, there is some speculation whether movements for an alliance of the Liberal groups in the House of Representatives will take place.

Sir Joseph Ward, who has been laid up with a cold since returning from Australia, has not indicated that he will act in any particular direction beyond maitnaining his role as a Liberal, and it is stated in the lobbies that there is a strong disinclination on the part of some of the leading Nationalists either to link up with me Liberal Party headed by Mr. Veitch, or to revert to the old name of Liberal.

In the meanwhile, Mr. Veitch’s party is continuing its organising activities throughout the country, and is stated to be receiving support. A conference of delegates of the party will be held in Wellington on August 2nd to discuss organisation and other matters, and Mr. Veitch will preside. In the House of Representatives last night, Mr. R. W. Smith, member for Waimarino, who sits on the Nationalist benches, added some piquancy to the political situation as it affects the Nationalists and Liberals, by declaring that he was an Independent Liberal, he having an objection to the name of Nationalist. What members want to know is whether he will ally himself with Mr. Veitch’s New Zealand Liberal Party.