MAYORAL ELECTION.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18162, 26 April 1921, Page 3

MAYORAL ELECTION.

(To the Editor). Sir, —I observe by your issue of today that Mr Oakley Browne deprecates the introduction of religion into the contest—by the Protestant Political Association. This gentleman had no compunction about himself raising the Sectarian issue from the beginning of his campaign. He has consistently angled for the Protestant vote by declaring again and again that he was not a Homan Catholic—when nobody said he was. He has told us that his grandparents and parents were Protestants, but he observed a discreet silence as to the religion of his ' wife and family. Might he not as well tell us his whole family history while he is at it? If this unseemly haste to eschew Rome is not mere camouflage why did Im bring in the sectarian issue at all, and why are the Roman Catholics of this town working so hard to secure his return? Surely Mr Browne had his tongue in his cheek when he complained of the introduction of religion into the campaign. Mr Browne knows that the Protestant Political Association is a political association brought into being to counter the political activities of the Roman Federation. We exist to obtain “Equal Rights for All.” When we saw Mr Oakley Browne working the semtarian stunt by denying all connection with Rome, and at the same time observed the Romanists working hard for Mr Oakley Browne, who was so busy denying any connection with them, we reckoned there was a fly in the ointment somewhere. Rightly or wrongly, we have come to the conclusion that the cost to the town of returning Mr Oakley Browne and his retinue will be equal to the value of the rates on Roman Catholic properties, payment of which Rome is seeking to evade. Therefore the Protestant Political Association took a hand in the election, being forced thereto by the action of Mr Oakley Browne and his following. Apart from the fact that the town resents the “butting in” of Mr Oakley Browne in our municipal affairs as an unwarrantable impertinence, we are i satisfied that the interests of Protestants in particular and of citizens generally will be best conserved by the election of good old “T. 8. In any case, a candidate who is receiving the W’hole-hearted support of “Rome" is no good to this town while the question of rating Roman Catholic properties is still at issue, and wise citizens, whether members of the Protestant Political Association or not, will vote for the candidate who will treat all denominations alike and rate Roman Catholic properties the same as those of other denominations.—Yours, etc., PROPOLITAS.