MRS McCOMBS HONOURED

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19628, 24 October 1933, Page 10

MRS McCOMBS HONOURED

COMPLIMENTARY SOCIAL AT LYTTELTON. There was an attendance of about 200 at a complimentary social entertainment tendered by the Lyttelton branch of the New Zealand Labour Party to Mrs E. R. McCombs, M.P, in the Excelsior Hall, Lyttelton, on Saturday evening. Mr J. Sargentina, president of the branch, presided. As she entered the hall. Mrs McCombs was presented with a bouquet by Miss Marie Gillard. The chairman, in making reference to the death of the Leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party, Mr H. E. Holland, said that a great loss had been suffered by the Labour Party, and, indeed, by the whole Dominion. It had only been a few weeks since Mr Holland was leading them in the great contest, which had resulted in such an overwhelming victory for the Labour candidate. At the request of the chairman, those present stood in silence as a mark of respect to Mr Holland's memory. The chairman said that Mrs McCombs had given long and useful service on local bodies, and as a champion of the workers was rising steadily in the political field when her husband, the late member for Lyttelton and one of the ablest men in the Labour Party, died. Mrs McCombs had taken up the great fight alone. The Lyttelton electorate had always been radical, and had been a step or two in advance of the remainder of New Zealand. Now it was again to the fore with the election of the first woman member of Parliament in the Dominion. He welcomed Mrs McCombs, not merely as a successful member of the Labour Party but as the first woman to enter the New Zealand Parliament. He hoped that the time was not far distant when she would become the first woman Cabinet Minister in the Southern Hemisphere. Later the chairman presented the guest of honour with a leather travel-ling-case. Mrs McCombs, in returning thanks, said she really did not know why the people of Lyttelton should make her a present. All of them had been working together during the last six weeks, and each had done his or her part. She had only done her share. It was true that she had been almost overwhelmed by the kindness of the people of Lyttelton. Her husband knew that the Lyttelton people thought a great deal of him, but she was sure he did not know, as she had learned since his death, that they loved him. She had received hundreds of letters since her election, congratulating her upon her achievement. “I want to tell you just how much I enjoy my life in Wellington,” she contended. “I do not feel a bit personal, but seem to be a third person looking on at myself working.” She thanked all who had worked for her return at the recent election.

During supper the toast of the “New Zealand Labour Party” was proposed by the chairman and responded to by Mr J. Mathison, secretary of the Richmon branch of the Party.