REFORM'S WOMAN CANDIDATE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19377, 12 July 1926, Page 7

REFORM'S WOMAN CANDIDATE.

Sir,—ln your issue of 9th inst appears a report of a meeting of women, held on the previous day. and stated to have been convened "to consider the advisability of forming a women's branch of the New Zealand Political Reform League." Presumably, tne women present Were representative of air the women of Auckland who are supporters of the Reform Party. It would be interesting to know who convened the meeting, and why so many well-known women, who for voars have taken an active interest in Reform, were not favoured with an invitation to be present. Whv was this meeting not advertised, and why the need for such secrecy ? The absence of this public intimation suggests star chamber methods, and is calculated to arouse a feeling of suspicion in the minds of a large section of women voters as to the disinterested-' ness of those who arranged this meeting and so hurriedly selectee! a candidate to represent the party at the next election. . Bessie Bttttxe. Sir, —So Dr. Buckley Turkington has been elected as the prospective Auckland Parliamentary candidate by a newlyformed women's branch of the local Political Reform League. An outsider! An English woman by birth and an Aus- i tralian by virtue of" long residence in ! Sydney. After being the first to win the franchise for woman, we New Zea- j landers must go beyond our own land of fine women to seek a candidate for Parliament What an insult to the intelligent women of Auckland in particular, and of New Zealand in general! It would I be of interest to know who convened this selection meeting;, who were invited to it, and what notice was given of it; it certainly was not advertised. To my personal knowledge many prominent Reform women knew nothing about it. A perusal of the names of the ladies present shows marked similarity to the list of those who waited on Miss Melville as a deputation during the recent by-clec-tion. Surely the women of Auckland; will resent this further move by a small section, whb presume to speak" for the whole body of our women. Emilib M. REID,