Manawatu Daily Times “Strengthening the Opposition”

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6884, 13 April 1929, Page 8

Manawatu Daily Times “Strengthening the Opposition”

JN VIEW cl the outcome of the Bay of Islands by-elections the explanation offered by Mr. H. Holland, the member for Christchurch North, for the defeat of the Reform Party at the recent general election falls a little fiat '‘As a matter of fact,” a telegraphed summary of an address Mr. Holland delivered to the Canterbury branch of the Junior Reform League this week runs, “the party numerically was the strongest in the House and had a majority of 43,000 votes. Many people thought that the party was too strong and evidently decided that it would be a good idea if the opposition were strengthened. This, to his mind, was the reason why the party had temporarily gone down.” Mr. H. Von Asch, in the role of candid friend, differed from Mr. Holland’s view of the situation. He attributed “the downfall of the Reform Party ” to its weak knees, its intrusion • upon business and its socialistic legislation. Needless to say, Mr. Holland’s assertion that Reform was numerically the strongest in the House and had a majority of 43,000 votes was simply a figment of a fevered imagination.