THE LEAGUE’S PART

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12116, 18 April 1925, Page 4

THE LEAGUE’S PART

SEEKING A SETTLEMENT

CONTINUOUS EFFORTS,

The continuous efforts of the Civic League since the entry of Mr C. J. B. Norwood upon the Mayoralty arena have been in the direction of semiring the withdrawal of one or other of the candidates from the triangular contest. This they sought by means of arbitration. stated Mr D. McLaren, secretary of the Civic League, to a “Times” representative yesterday, j “Since Mr Norwood announced him- ! self as a candidate for the Mayoralty, ; tlie Civic League, through its officers, has' beep making most strenuous efforts with two objects,” said Mr McLaren. “These were, first, to have only one non-party candidate in the field, and, second, to endeavour to get Mr Norwood and Mr Forsyth to settle by mutual arrangement which of them should retire from the contest. Our relations with these two gentlemen have throughout been most friendly. “As a result they have manifested considerable confidence in any suggestion made by the president, the vicepresident, or myself. The matter was brought forward to a stage when one arbitrator from each side w>as mutually agreed upon; but an acute difficulty arose with regard to the third individual. We had several talks with both Mr Norwood and Mr Forsyth, and there was submitted to them a list of names of prominent citizens, who, one „ believed, wore entirely free from partisanship, tho strong recommendation being that the two candidates should agree upon one name in such a panel. “Yesterday, between 4 and 5 p.m., we had further conversations with the candidates, and made arrangements for them to meet at 6.30 p.m., with the object of them choosing one name from the list. The two gentlemen met about that time, and later in the evening I learnt by telephone that they had decided on Mr D. G. Clark.

“The actions of the league’s officers were endorsed at a meeting of the league’s selection committee and executive on Tuesday, and at a further meeting last night. “It wns with regret that we learnt this morning that the arrangement had temporarily broken down by Mr Clark’s inability to act. It seemed at that stage as if the efforts made had been in vain; hut, knowing that the league was strongly desirous of settlement bv arbitration, we conferred further with the candidates, and wrote both of them just before lunch to recommend that the procedure he explored to the utmost, and offered the suggestion that otir president and vice-president should submit a fresh panel of three or five prominent citizens from whom selection could be made. That communication has been considered by both canand we are informed that the two gentlemen have been in consultation this afternoon, and it * would appear most likely that they may accept our suggestion and review our panel of names.

“The Civic League has probably disappointed many of its friends by its reticence,” concluded Mr McLaren. “That course, however, was purposely pursued because we were conversant all the time with the attempts being made towards settlement, and did not wish to enter on a course which might in any way impede the arrangement desired.”