“ AN S.O.S. SIGNAL FROM MR COATES ”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18546, 21 August 1928, Page 10

“ AN S.O.S. SIGNAL FROM MR COATES ”

UNITED PARTY WILL NOT JOIN REFORM. to the “ Star.”) WELLINGTON, August 21. “I have read the Prime Minister’s remarks in regard to it being the best for the United Party to join up with Reform, and I would like to say that it reminds me of a similar proposal made by the Prime Minister to the Liberal Party prior to the last election,” said Mr G. W. Forbes, Nationalist Leader, in an interview to-day. “The proposal was taken by the Liberal Party on that occasion to be an honest desire on the part of the Prime Minister for an improvement of the political position in regard to the two parties. However, it was soon found that it was only a political dodge to prejudice the Liberal Party in the eyes of the public at the general election. This was clearly apparent when the Prime Minister stated that the Liberal Party’s greed for portfolios was responsible for the breakdown of the negotiations. That statement was utterly unfounded, and savoured of political treachery. The United Party has come into existence on account of the widespread conviction that the present Prime Minister lias proved a failure in that position, and instead of guiding the affairs of the Dominion on statesmanlike lines with a definite goal in view, he has taken the line of least resistance, hoping to please everybody. Mr Coates’s policy is a weak imitation of the Labour Party’s state Socialism, and is discouraging the progress of private enterprise and initiative. His slackness of administration has allowed the public service to become the real Government of the country.

“ In view of the remarkable progress of the United Partv. which is evidenced by the large number of prominent men who are standing in its interests at the next general election, I can only regard the Prime Minister’s appeal as an S.O.S. signal. While Mr Coates would like to confine the coming election contest to the Reform and Labour parties, he will find that the United Party has to be reckoned with seriously-”