LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1929, 11 December 1913, Page 8

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

THE LYffELTON ELECTION. Sir, —In to-day's Dominion "S<ruar6 Dear 0 takes the Inhibition Party to task for its action, or, rather, inaction, m the Lytlelton contest, and requests that » little limelight be turned wis to tlio matter. Let me try to oblige your correspondent. In doing so 1 wish to say 1 do not in any Wil y seek to disparage Air. Miller; but when it is contended that ho hirs superior claims, from a Prohibition standpoint, to Mr. M'Combs, then the contention becomes absurd, Mr. .M'Combs has been for years a prominent figure in Prohibition, work and conventions, as an opponent of the present three-fifths iniquity, and admitting tjj.it Mr. Miller has in various ways served tlio ciKise equally well, then, surely, the Prohibition Party—as a party—would have been bereft of its roasoii had it espoused the ca-nse of cither candidate. When two staunch No-License advocates arc in the hVkl, as in the present case, the Prohibition Party can give no official praiWe-iiee to either. This, however, does not, and cannot .prevent individual Prohibitionists from working for tlio man of their choice. 'Chen your correspondent's mention of Mrs. T. E. Taylor's name is most unfortunate for Mr. Masscy. On ouo occasion Mr. Massey, in Parliament, tnado a most' serious charge against Mr. Taylor's character, and though challenged several times, the charge was never proved or withdrawn during Mr. Taylor's lifetime. After Mr. Taylor's death the charge was per* tuinly withdrawn, for the reason that Mr. Taylor was dead, but not bccaiisi the charge was absolutely untrue. Littles wonder that the fiioiids and admirers of the late T. K. Taylor are not to the fore in enlisting support for Mr. Massey's Reform candidate.—l am, etc., A FAIR DEAL.

December 8, 1013, [Our correspondent is either ignorant of the facts of the Mftssey-Taylor incident, _or else _he is deliberately and maliciously misrepresenting iiiem, with a vitfw to prejudicing the Prime Ministpr. Mr. Massey withdrew. unreservedly the statement ho hail made concerning Mr. Taylor, and it had been his intention to have dealt with the matter flt the meeting in Ck'istelmrch before Mr. Taylor's death, when a disorderly mob prevented him speaking. This is what Mr. Massoy said in the House of Representatives on the- subject, four days after the meeting of Parliament in 191.1: ".During last session, in the heat of debate—the fiercest debate which probably the House lias seen during tho past twenty years—l referred to a statement which had been made to me some years previously with regard to tho late Mr. T. E. Taylor. 1 need not recount the circumstances. I intended to deal with the subject when I went to Christehurch some few weeks ago to address a political meeting, and said so at tho time. I had not Ilia opportunity there. I want to say now that 1 withdraw the statement unreservedly, and regret that it was made,"] '