THE REFORM PARTY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1505, 30 July 1912, Page 6

THE REFORM PARTY.

FIRST NATIONAL CONFERENCE. SUCCESSFUL ORGANISING WORK. Delegates from branches of the Political Reform League throughout tho Dominion will meet in conference in Wellington on Saturday. The programme of . remits communicated for consideration is of formidable length, anil the conference ' will probably be the most important poli- ' tical gathering of its kind ever held in '■ New Zealand: Saturday's sitting will probably be continued in the evening, and the*delegates will meet again on ilon- : day. On that evening a public meeting will be held in the Opera House, and Mr. Massey and his colleagues will make their first appearance before the Wellington public as Ministers of the Crown, GOOD WORK IN SOUTH ISLAND. IRv Teleerapn—Special Correspondent.) Christchurch, July 29. The arrangements tor participation, in 5 the first national conference of the Re- • torm Party are now fairly complete as - fur as Uitt South Island is concerned. " Canterbury, Otago, Southland, and tho West Coast will all be fully represented, 1 and it is confidently expected that the " conference will result in a complete sys- " tern of party organisation for the whole 1 Dominion. J Mr. David Jones, organiser for the Can--1 terbury branch of the party, returned " from the south on Saturday, after a suc- " cessful meeting in Duneclin, and gave a r "Press" reporter an outline of his work during the past two or three weeks. 3 "When it was decided to hold the con--3 ference," said Mr. Jones, "branches of 3 the Reform League had not been dehnitely established in. several important centres ' in the South Island. Supporters of the Reform Party in Dunedin and lnvercargill, hqwever, immediately took steps to rectify this, and I was invited to visit these centres and assist them. During the wholo of iny visit in the south I could £ not help being struck by the change in I the attitude of the people towards tho f political situation. I found particularly ' that a number of farmers recognised that - the old Liberal party was done with, and s they are now quite prepared to give us »' their support. This is going to tell very much in our favour in the event of ant other election. Another thing that pleasII cd me was the large number of young e men that are becoming interested in the t Reform movement. This was very notice- ' able at Oamaru and Dunedin. The■meet- ■ ing arranged by supporters of the. party 0 at Timaru was very successful. It was " decided to group tho districts of Timaru, Waitaki, and Temnka, and a strong pro- ' visional committee was appointed, contayic ing representatives from each of these dis- ; - tricts. Delegates were also appointed at e these, meetings to attend the national 1 conference. A local branch of the League 2 has also been formed at Temuk'a and an- ;, other at Pleasant Point. Tho Oamaru ' meeting.was very enthusiastic, and many 1 members were enrolled. Executive offii cers were appointed, Mr. AV. Waddel i being elected president. The workers I were well represented at this meeting, Mr. Lee, the Reform member for the district, , being evidently on very good terms with b all classes in his constituency. The i Dunedin meeting -was attended by I about 100 supporters of. the Reform party 1 on a particularly bad night as far as weather was concerned, and a strong branch of the League, was established em- ! bracing the five city, and suburban elec- , 1 torates. I might mention that one .of those who took office on the executive was t until recently a member of the Trades nnd Labour Council Executive, which 3 jeenis to indicate that some of the workers recognise that they will be '.treated justly" and 'fairly b'y"Mr'."Ma'ssey's 'Administration. Supporters, of the', party are also activp in Roxburgh and Alexandra, 1 and I shall probably visit Central Otago ' after the conference to assist them in organising work. . In Southland there is a very strong feeling in favour of the Roforin party. Business men who had previously tsiken little part in politics have been encouraged by recent events, and hope for a better state of affairs as 5 far as tho Government of tho country T , is concerned, and are ready to assist in establishing a strong branch of the Reform party in Tnvercargill. This branch will comprise the districts of Awarua, \ .Tnvercargill. and Wallace. I also visited ' SVyndham and Gore and met many supporters of tho party. Tlicso centres are in Mr. Anderson's district, and will lw represented at tho conference. The Canterbury executive has done a great deal of work in n quiet way. It. is now_ Tcady to proceed with a system of organisation throughout the whole of North Canterbury. Delegates have been appointed to attend the conference from nearly every ~ Canterbury electorate." - FORMATION OF CLUBS IN AUCKLAND. a The proposed formation of a Reform Club in Auckland was approved by a genii era! meeting of prospective members on r Friday afternoon. There were about CO , present. The committee appointed by the - Auckland Reform. lieague explained that r tho club was projected as a political and social centre for the supporters of the Reform party in the Auckland province. It was intended that 500 original members should be enrolled, town members at a j subscription of =C 1 Is. per annum, and ' country members at 10s. Cd. per annum. Dobentures would be issued to raise funds for the furnishing of the club, and already about .£250 had been promised, and a large number of members enrolled. An option had been taken over suitable premises in Wyndham Street. The meeting unanimously approved the recoinmenda- ; tions of the committee, and appointed a '_ provisional committee of 11 with power to acquire premises and ar- \ range for equipment. It was also instructed to prepare a constitution and \ draft by-laws for submission to a later J general meeting. Mr. Leslie Gardner was elected provisional secretary of the club. A meeting of ladies interested in the formation of a branch of the Women's .Political Reform League in Auckland wns also held on Friday afternoon at the re- • 'sidence of Mrs. Brigham, York Street, Parnell. Mrs. Norreys von Sturmer was voted to the chair. It was unanimously , decided that a branch of the league, with objects identical with those of branches 5 in other centres, should be formed. A J snitt'll provisional-executive was set up, it being decided to leave the election ot officers to a. proposed general meeting, to ; be held in September. The follownig tenif porary officers wero elected:—President, Mrs. J. P. Campbell; vice-president, Mrs. N. von Stunner; secretary, Miss I. Campbell ; treasurer, Mrs. J. N. Brigham; executive, Mesdames B. A. James, Maxwell, J nnd Wright (with power to add to their " number).