WAIKATO ELECTORATE AND DAIRYING.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1577, 22 November 1924, Page 4

WAIKATO ELECTORATE AND DAIRYING.

Sir;—As ‘U constant'supporter ;q£. the Reform Party‘l attended a conference of delegates’ at which, besides the, selection of a. candidate, pledges were given to support the. party and the candidate , so . selected. . That pledge, I understand, was given on the understanding that an early elec-,, tion was possible. Since then, however, another session has taken p.ace and during the sessionthe party has introduced certain measures. which were not anticipated when the pledge was given; 'and for oiie I feel that I cannot/-endprse a party which departs from principles which I have hitherto supported; / I refer to the introduction of the Dairy Industry. Amendment Bill introduced by the. Hon. Mr -Nosw.orthy with the assent of the prircy. That Bill departed from every known principle of British justice .and common law, and gave to a person or company a legaliignt’* that was'mot hitherto possessed and .deprived other people or individual ■ farmers "the-legal rights that tney did possess. It made wrong rignt and right wrong by Act of Par-

liament. Mr Goodfeilow makes a statement that, his company will not enforce their new found legal privileges against one section, but intend to use "a big handle” against another section, ' showing .thereby that our Party lias powers which can and are to be used to victimise individual farmers’who have done no wrong and who acted as lawful citizens. One of your correspondents has sty-rnd this bit of legislation as"’“unclean,” and I noticed how anxious our former member (on whose committee I worked for several’years), Mr J. A. Young, was to relieve his conscience by making the excusri that the law must bind co-operators more firmly together so. that, I submit, the poor devils would not be able to kick or free themselves when further 1 restrictions were imposed upon themi Also, I cannot help thinking that there was sqme truth in another correspondent’s view that" the Bill was 'unclean particularly when I read that Mr Massey was taking trie hot arid cleansing waters of Okproire. The Go’od Book tells, us that there is even a hotter place for"those that transgress from trie ’paths of justice. To my mind the party has transgressed and I am sure from my conversation with other delegates that I am not alone in this opinion. I have discussed this with a large number of strong Reform supporters, who with. me view with alarm the drift of qur party. We have always fought for real justice arid the preservation of individual rights, but now the party, in its effort ito bolster up badly xnariaged concerns who are really* slaves of the Ranking institutions, ignores .individual rights and sacrifices every: principle of justice in its recent legislation. Those who, like myself, opposed co-operation turning to white elephant schemes, are to be

made to pay for other men’s folly, and chat is neither just nor right.- • I feel that the party hasforfeited a right to my continued support, and I know others who think the same. A pledge was given in all good faith. Time and circumstance has so altered the standing of the party in my mind, and in the minds of many others, that the pledge now is equal to disfranchisment, for I canriot longer support the party. If my 'pledge means that I must not support’ any other candidate, then I cannot vote at all. In •the circumstances it is desirable that a further confererice be held so that those pledges can be re-considered.— I am, etc., • DELEGATE.