REFORM PARTY

Southland Times, Issue 21420, 15 June 1931, Page 4

REFORM PARTY

TUTURAU BRANCH SUCCESSFUL FUNCTION HELD. On Wednesday evening the Tuturau Committee of the Reform Party held a social.evening, to which Mr James Hargest (the selected candidate to contest the Mataura seat at the general election) and other friends of the party were invited, Mataura and Wyndham branches being represented. Mr D. Wight (chairman) presided and with him was Mr J. J. Christie, who carried out the secretarial work of the evening. The chairman said that at last meeting it had been decided to ask Mr Hargest to visit them for a social evening. It was entirely their own affair, as they wished to become more intimately acquainted with the candidate who was to contest the seat in their interest. He welcomed Mr Hargest and other visiting friends. A few concert items were given, as follow : Messrs A. Mac Gibbon and D. Theobald, songs; Messrs H. Humphries, Rice and Marsh, recitations. Mrs H. Humphries was the accompaniste. The chairman said he was proud to introduce Mr Hargest as Reform’s prospective candidate. Like themselves, Mr Hargest was a hard-working farmer, a man of sound judgment, and one whom they could cordially accept as a friend. They were fortunate to have such a manone who had proved his mettle when contesting the .Invercargill seat —to fight, for them at the general election. — (Applause.) Mr Hargest acknowledged the chairman s introduction, and expressed gratification at the welcome given him. It was a preliminary skirmish to the campaign of 1931. He was glad to be selected as Reform candidate for Mataura, as it accorded with his personal inclinations. He had originally wanted to stand for Mataura, the district in which he had been born, and to a farmer it would be more congenial to represent a rural constituency. Such a gathering as the present enabled him to meet the people who were to judge of his fitness to represent them in Parliament. His present, home had always been in Mataura, but the change in electoral boundaries had brought it within the borders of Awarua. He had responded to the party’s call on contesting Invercargill seat because there had been a difficulty in getting an acceptable candidate in the time. Some of his friends at Invercargill were disappointed at his acceptance of Mataura's overtures, wishing him to again contest the city seat. He had been a Reformer all his life, and was so because he believed the ideals of that party best suited the people of New Zealand as a whole. Labour stood for class legislation, and that was not the general benefit. Class legislation must inevitably be a failure. In the effort to defeat the Reform Parity opponents had taken the plan of damaging the leader by an insidious campaign of defamation. Scandal stories were invented for that purpose. These were difficult to contradict, through the manner in which they were spread. The speaker pointed to the esteem in which Mr Coates was held by his own party as constituting an answer to the unworthy aspersions. The speaker knew Gordon Coates at the front, where he had twice been decorated for gallantry in action. The speaker dealt, with the question of fusion, and in the course of his remarks said that Reform, for economy, had been preparing for stringent times, and aimed at curtailing borrowing to vanishing point. Mr Forbes at that time had expressed approval of that policy. The United Party, however, had come into power on the election promise of huge borrowings. A party election manifesto should be a moral document, yet every promise made had been broken. They were impossible, and failed as they were bound to do. The obligation resting on that party was to go back to the constituencies. In September last both Messrs Forbes and Ransom had denied that the country’s finances were going back. If they did not know better, then plenty of people outside the Government did. The manner of the offer of fusion and the conditions were dealt with. All parties were to scrap their ideals. Outlines were given of the offer and Mr Coates’s reply. It was unlikely that Reform was going to obliterate itself and abandon its principles at the call of a party whose policy had completely failed. The appointment of the Railway Board was a means of hiding their failure. If unprofitable railway construction were stopped for want of funds, the blame would be attributed to the board. Unemployment was touched on, and an appeal was made for sympathetic treatment of a great many men out of work through no fault of their own. This was not a party question. The farmer had an interest in keeping the population employed, for a third of the country’s production was consumed in the country. Good wages helped the workers to buy the country’s production at. the best prices. In conclusion, he said that if the constituency returned him at the election his endeavour would be to represent it honourably and well. He hoped to make friends and to deserve to keep them. Mr W. A. Dickie proposed a vote of thanks to Mr Hargest and confidence in him as a fit and proper person to represent Mataura in Parliament.

Mr J. F. Winter seconded, and congratulated the delegates on selecting such a man. Going back over 40 years, he thought Mr Hargest had put up one of the best election fights he knew of. The district was very fortunate in having such a man to offer his services.

Mr Frank Mitchell spoke from personal knowledge in saying that Mr Hargest was one of the best—fair, square and absolutely honest.

Mr P. Campbell stated that Mr Hargest had been pressed to stand and had not pushed himself. Mr Hargest and the Tuturau people were to be congratulated on the fine reception that night.

Mr A. Mac Gibbon (Mataura) spoke, as did also Mr W. T. Parker (chairman of the Mataura branch).

Mr Hargest acknowledged the vote with gratitude.