"ON FALSE PREMISES"

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 16 April 1928, Page 3

"ON FALSE PREMISES"

UNTIED PARTY CAUSE MR E. A. JAMES IN REPLY A statement in reply to that of Mr A. E. Davy. Dominion organiser l'oi the United Political Party, was made .o tlif "Post" on Saturday by .Mr E. A. James, secretary of the New Zealand I'ohtical Reform League.

"No sensibly-minded person/' he said, "reading my statement fiist could possibly have construed it into an attack upon Mr Mantnn. If, when lie has gut over his iii of ill-temper at my taking up the cudgels in defence of the organisation and party it has been as much :ny pleasure as my duty to serve for many years past. .Mr Davy takes the trouble to lead that statement over again, he will see thai my reference to ;.he 'mendacious statements' made concerning the Reform Party did net apply to Mr Manto'n. with whom 1 have had the friendliest of relationships in years gone by, when we were mutually engaged in patriotic endeavours on behalf of tin' Kmpirc. and with whose presen? political attitude I have no quarrel, as every man has a right to please himself. '1 was not, and am not, concerned to defend the Hon. A. D. McLeod, who is quite aide to take his own part, and who, by the way, is no more my 'master' in the sense .Mr Davy implies than .Mr Ma lit on and Mr Forbes tire Mr Davy's masters. My statement dealt with facts which remain facts, notwithstanding Mr Davy's long-wind-ed an! ill tempered attempt to annihilate me. My object was simply to show the public 1110 animus at the back of the new parly movement, which 1 again assert is largely the outcome of Mr Davy's personal vendetta against the Prime .M'nister and Mr McLeod. the |•resident, and chairman respectively of 'iie Reform Party Organisation. That f'lt't was sufficiently disclosed by the United Party organiser in what he terms the 'splendid' manifesto issued (■'. it his name in the .Auckland 'Sun' Jast August So Far as the public are concerned, the veil of anonymity cast over the whole business until Mr (!. W. Forbes emerged as the leader of the new party has been preserved until the announcement the other day that -Mr P. \V. Man ton was the Dominion chairman of the United Political Party. The only members of Parliament who have so far associated themselves with Mr Forbes on the public platfoim are Messrs Ransom and Sidey. .M.P's. and .Mr D-ivy remains its only other spokesman.

"It - ill-work arguing with an angry man. and I have no intention of carry - my t!ie matter further, beyond pointnig on I tii.it Mr Davy cannot expect t' conduct his self imposed crusade ;.gainst the party with winch 1 am connect eel without receiving some hard knocks in return. lam quite content to leave matters in the hands of the electors, feeling confident that a cause based on such false premises as that of the United Partv is not likely To tri umph at the polls."