MRS COATES ADDRESSES MEETING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 279, 25 November 1931, Page 2

MRS COATES ADDRESSES MEETING

WOMEN’S SHAKE IN ELECTION Speaking to the Women’s Committee of the Reform League in Auckland last week-end, Mrs. J. G. Coates said that the country was passing through a serious crisis and it was very necessary for each one to realise her responsibility toward its weft-are. “When we realise that the leaders of the country found it necessary to join together to meet this great emergency,” said Mrs. Coates, ”we as women ought to back them up in their work of getting the country out of its difficulties. It was a thing that each regretted doing, but tne conditions were such that if New Zealand were to be saved they had to sink party and for the time being work for the country.”

Mrs. Coates emphasised the point that this joining of forces would be only for so long as was necessary to pass the needful legislation, one also stated that arrangements had been made that where an ex-sitting member had been either Reform or United he would be considered a Coalition candidate. This joining of forces, Mrs. Coates explained, was not a fusion—merely a coming together and she regretted that Labour and the Country Party had not been able to join in. It had not been possible to wait for the election before doing anything, she added. What had to be done had to be done at once. Both parties had made sacrifices in forming the Coalition, but they had realised its necessity if the country was to prosper.

Speaking of the part that women were playing in the election, Mrs. Coates said that they had realised deeply the crisis that New Zealand was passing through and that it was more necessary now than ever before to do their share in making it safe and prosperous. Women did not spare themselves when they took up a cause, and she was sure that they would not hesitate to show' that they were determined to stand behind the Party in this present crisis.

Dr. Buckley-Turkington thanked Mrs. Coates for her illuminating talk, and said she was sure that the women were going to do their best to put the country In a safe position. She stressed the necessity for women pulling together and working for one common aim at this critical juncture of the country’s history. Britain had led the way and she hoped New Zealand would follow.