MANUKAU SEAT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22523, 14 September 1936, Page 10

MANUKAU SEAT

MR. DOIDGE'S PARTY QUERIES,. BY MINISTER ROTORUA UTTERANCES HON. P. FRASER AT ELLERSLIE Caustic comments on the past and present political affiliations of the National Party candidate for Manukau, Mr. F. \V. Doidge, were made by the Minister of Education, tho Hon. P. Eraser, at Ellerslio on Saturday night, in an address on behalf of the Labour candidate, Mr. A. G. Osborne. Mr. H. T. Jennings presided over the meeting, which filled the hall. Mr. Eraser said he had known Mr. Doidge ever since his own arrival in the Dominion in 1910, and had much regard for him as a man and a journalist, but not as a politician. "1 ain trying to understand what ho is up to, what he stands for, what new party ho belongs to and what people belong to it," Mr. Eraser continued. "Is it the National Party, tho Democrat Party, or the Doidge Party ? I confess 1 am mystified, and I believo the electors are mystified too. " Like the Portuguese Army " "Mr. Doidge started as a Democrat, but tho Democrats no longer exist. They were like the boy who stood ! on the burning deck. The deck has disj appeared from under them, and now j they keep bobbing up under all sorts of names. What I would like to know is: Is Mr. Doidge standing as the candidate of the National Party? Is ho ! its leader or not? It seems to ine that they all want to be" leaders —Mr. Eorbcs, Mr. Coates, Mr. Poison and Mr. JJroadfoot. They are like the Portuguese Army —all officers and no rank and file. What is more, there is not' likely to be rank and file. "Is Mr. Doidge standing for the National Party? Has he tho confidence of Mr. Eorbes, tho Leader of the Opposition? Has he tho confidence of Mr. Coates? If not, who is behind him?" A Voice: Tho new National Party. Another Voice: Mussolini. Mr. Eraser: Well, Mussolini must be | a long way behind him, because Mussoi lini probably doesn't even know of his | existence, or mine either. A Reactionary Rally | The Minister went on to say that i Mr. E. M. B. Fisher, his predecessor I in Wellington Central, was about to ! join in tho campaign. Apparently ! there was a general rallying of reactionary forces behind Mr. Doidge, but he was still anxious to know what party they represented. Did Mr. Doidge support Messrs Eorbes and Coates and their attitude toward tho Labour Government's policy, or was he a Democrat masquerading under the name of Nationalist? Tho only definite fact was that his campaign organiser had been organiser for the National Party in the general election. No Avord had come from Messrs. Forbes and Coates, and it was natural to ask whether they were supporting him. If not, whom did ho represent ? A Voice: Perhaps he is representing the people, and you're not. Mr. Eraser: I represent the wideawake people of Wellington Central — A" Voice: You'll wake up. Mr. Eraser: I wish my friends would wake up. Attacks on Former Leaders Remarking that presumably Mr. Doidgo did not expect tho support of Messrs. Eorbes and Coates because of the things, he had said about them, Mr. Eraser proceeded to quote a number of Mr. Doidge's reported utterances in tho Rotorua election campaign. These included tho statement that Mr. Forbes was being treated as a political nonentity and a rubber stamp, and a reference to Mr. Coates as "a fine figure of a man," but one not mado of primeministerial timber. Another quotation expressed a wish to relegate both of them to a long retirement on the hardest back benches in tho House. On another occasion, said the Minister. Mr. Doidge was reported to have said that the country was under Soviet rule and that Mr. Coates was the head of the Soviet. Now, apparently, he-was quite prepared to join the Soviet and Mr. Coates. He had had a good deal to say about tho advantages of being an Independent in Parliament, not a party hack. Was Mr. Doidge now coming out as a party hack? " Turn the Key on Parliament " More recently, in an article in Smith's Weekly, Mr. Doidge had told Australian and New Zealand readers that Labour had got into power because the electors were determined to rid themselves of the Eorbes-Coates administration. Ho had also' declared that the countrv needed a complete legislative rest and that if Mr. Savage would follow Cromwell's example and turn the key on Parliament for three years his name would be forever blessed. " If Mr. Savage behaved liko Cromwell, Mussolini or Hitler he would get tho full support of Mr. Doidge," commented Mr. Fraser. ' 'Then why docs he want to get into Parliament? It is an insult to the intelligence of the electors to ask them to vote for something that lie does not believe in himself." The Minister proceeded to a general discussion of the Government's policy, with emphasis on the social and humanitarian measures which it had already introduced administratively and by legislation. Already, ho said, Labour had exceeded its promises and had done much more than ho had believed that it could possibly do in nine months to improve the lot of thousands who were in need of help. Yet if Mr. Doidge could have had his way the key would have been turned upon Parliament, there would have been a legislative holiday, and none of these urgently-needed reforms would have been carried out. Ihe same fate would have befallen all tho other things that Labour intended to do in the coining two years. A sniull group ot socml credit novocates had several clashes with the Minister in the course of his speech, which lasted nearlv two hours. Mr. Osborne also addressed the meeting, and a vote of confidence in tho candidate and the Government was carried without dissent. MEETINGS TO-NIGHT Tho Labour candidate, Mr. A. G. Osborne, in conjunction with the Minister of Education, tho Hon. P. I'raser, will speak in Foresters' Theatre, Ono- ! liunga, to-night. .. I Mr. F. W. Doidge, the National ! Party candidate, will address a meeting lof electors in tho Methodist Hall, ! Greenwood's Corner, to-night.