REFORM SPLIT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 228, 26 September 1928, Page 8

REFORM SPLIT.

POSITION AT ROSKILL

PETITION TO PRIME MINISTER

DEMAND FOR A BALLOT,

"A largely-signed petition will be forwarded to the Prime Minister to-night asking for a ballot of electors of Roskill," said Mr. L. A. Tozer this morning, when discussing the impasse which has arisen in connection with the selection of a Reform candidate for Roskill.

Recently Mr. V. H. Reed, a former Liberal member of Parliament, visited Roskill on behalf of the Government, and selected Miss Ellen Melville as the official Reform candidate. The other names mentioned were Mr. E. H. Potter (Mayor of Mount Eden) and Mr. R. McK. Morrison. Some of the Reform supporters of Roskill expressed disappointment at the decision, and since then there has been an insistent demand that Mr. E. H. Potter should be nominated.

"The petition has been very widely signed by all classes of the community," said Mr. Tozer, "and there is a general desire that Mr. Potter should be a candidate. The people are highly indignant at the autocratic manner in which the Reform party selected a candidate without consultation of the Roskill Reform organisation. The reply of the Prime Minister is being anxiously awaited before taking further action." Mr. Tozer mentioned that Mr. Potter had been the champion of transport in suburban Auckland, and he contrasted Mr. Potter's work with that of Miss Melville, the latter a member of the Auckland City Council and opposed to the suburban transport policy.