WELLINGTON NORTH SEAT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 116, 2 February 1918, Page 10

WELLINGTON NORTH SEAT

MB. M, MYERS APPROACHED HIS VIEWS STATED' . A CONDITIONAL CONSENT : A deputation of electors of Wellington North, waited i on-Mr.- M. Myers .yesterday, and asked him to allow him- . self to be nominated for the vacancy .•■'shortly, .to occur in the constituency .' of Wellington North. There was sorno fifteen gentlemen in the. deputation, and apologies, were mentioned from several others. ••

Mr. J. D. Sievwright spoke for the deputation. He said that Mr. Massoy , had not yet been able to select a candidate, and. that Mr. Massey had refused to accept a candidate of their nomination. It was due to the electors of Wellington North that thev should bo; Consulted in this'matter. They had waited on Mr. Massey and told him that-the Reform electors of . Wellington North would riot! accept anyone save of their own'choice;, they would jiofc have 'a man selected by any political leader, Gentlemen' of ,the deputation who had waited on Mr. Massey 'had told Mr. Massey that they would not accept Mr.Luke, because they wanted a broadminded, tolerant man, who 1 would give the whole of his tipio and the best of bis ability to tho welfare of the State at a. time when, the p.tat'o. most lieedAl it. As electors they had'como 1 to, the' conclusion that Mr. Myers wis a man wiwmAhey could trust with, their suf-, friges". Ho jrais sure' he wag' voicing: the opinion of the : electors' of ; Wellington North when he said that Mr. Myers was a 'man who' would adequately represent the. seat in Parliament", There-, fore they had come to ask him to alk>vr '.himself,to be dominated.' > Mr. Sievwright incited other mem-, bers of the deputation to speak, but Mr. A. E. Whyte'was 'the only one to take advantage of the opportunity.

Mr. Whyte said that Mr. Myers was e supporter of the:. National Govern-: ment, and of .tho Reform Party, and that he.clid"not see why it should be necessary for Mr. Massev to put his brand;on anybody's back. ..Mr. My«ra fc&d the.ijoodwill .of .tho whole, of the electorate,; arid if*he' gave ici favourable; answer'-they should' pledged themselves to do-.their best to secure his roturis. Would Support National Government. ' Mr. Myers said that he felt -ho u-> tured that; the 1 deputation . had : approached him, arid asked him to become a candidate lor this, constituency: He knaw' that.there were,, ft great many other' gentlemen who also bad a desire that he should come for- j : ward,:for ho. had 'been approached.in-, dividually ever siiice. thera, hadbeen. talk of tho vacancy. It was due.toi the electors that before, he was asked i finally to stand he should give somo ! indication of his views on the present i position.' There was one thing-which j they, all had in common; bjir first aiwf-j and'-object' was"to unite^iri. every 'way f ■possible to help'in .bringing..the war >o ! a 1 successful conclusion, autl, in ; bring-: ing : about- a 'lastirig '-'and honourable ■ ipeace. This being, so, if he became a j candidate he wouldmost- certainly; give the National Government the full- j est possible support. But .this would,' .'nojt' •; in'esii ; "tKai -'£% .opinion was that] everything'- that the NationarGovern-! ment had done.was right,-or''th,nt,| everything they were doing- now was : right. tie did not hesitate, to say ; that in regard to the cost of living and j assistance' to returned soldiers : the , Government had not done all that it could or should have done; He thought that if When;these matters.were uuder consideration there bad ' been some-, thing like constructive, criticism something might have been done in regard ! to the reduction of the cost of living, which unfortunately had not been done up . till the present time. ■ ' And they all knew that in some directions, notably in the of moneys, by j the Defence Department, large sums j of,, money had-been'literally thrown: away. Surely these were 'matters that j could: properly be tlie subject of con- j structire criticism, not of destructive criticism; of which there had been too much-already, but; criticism, with the genuine and' honest' object of preventing this wastage in the future. Ho also thought'that'attention shonlA be given: now-to-the:problems ivhich would surely face the country after.;the war. the solution "of these, problems the v^ery.Jablest; men in the country, and, who -;would • wmply vote at leader,'. should be in''' Parliament/' He.jwas not ; so egotistical as to Mippose that be' posseseed all the qualities required in a public man, but he believed—and even in-this he might be egotistical—that he might be of some little U6e..-

A Pledge. - If ho became a candidate, and if he were elected, he would support the National Government until the end of the. war, or until, the next general elecwhichever should be first. If before next-general election there should be a severance of .parties- into the old •order of things, into the Ward party and, the Massey- party, he would say without hesitation that inasmuch as the retiring member was a supporter of the Massey Government, it would be only right, and decent that the position should .be restored to the status quo until' the next general election. If there were a severance Mr. Massey's party .would .be Entitled as a matler of right and decency to. be restored to tho position it was in—with a majority of the National Government was formed, and that the party should Ik®'!that position until the next genferal election. Tf he were elected that itvas' the: position he would take up. Beyond that, he would not be prepared to.pledge himself, because it was quite conceivable/, that by tho time the next general eieption w.is held a party of jwinger. and more energetic men might spring up, men who might be prepared to place principle above party to a greater' extent than had been the case in the Tiast, and whose members, would he -guided .-.by- business considerations rather ' than by mere political expediency, For theso reasons ho would not consider it consistent with his selfrespect to pledge himself further than this to any party. Wait,?. Little. He had spoken at sdmo length on this point because he understood that Mr. Massey had l said that if his candidate was beaten a, general election must follow. "Gentlemen," said Mr. Myers, "that is quite, incorrect, and it is mere political bluff." He went on to say that he had first, heard on December 5 that his name had been mentioned as a possible candidate at -the meeting in the Kelburn Kiosk, , He at once wrote to Mr. Sievwright to state, that he did not wish to see a contest between twp or more candidates supporting the National Government, hut he did agreo with the deputation to this extent—that he did not see ;why they should have a candidate foisted upon them a.t the dictation of any man, whoever he might be, and have it said: "I don't earo whether you like him or not,

';you have got to accept him because T say you rmis.t do it." This, he Hunder&jod, was the? attitude off the fjdftputafidti, and he'ivas'-bbund to~ : siay «|tha.t he agreed with.it. At the safno he did not. wish to cause any dif- • faulty, or any embarrassment. Tie still adhered to. the position lie had taken up in his letter t-o Mr. Sievwright. H« hoped that Mr. Massey would chopse

someone to whose tanner they could all rally in the common cause. If Mr. Massey persisted in his present' idea, and if there was still a desire that ho should stand, he would consider it his duty to accede to their request if he could possibly do so. Ho thought that even now they should wait for p. few days, and leave the matter open in the hope that it would not bo necessary to oppose tho candidate nominally of the National Government, but really of Mr. Massey. But he did not wish it to be thought that he sought the nomination of the National Government or of Mr. Massey. He had never seen Mr. Massey on the subject, and no one else had seen Mr. Massey on the subject with his consent. He never had sought, and would not seek, the Government's domination. But if Mr. Massey would riot listen to the representations of the people, and if it was shown to him that there was some general desire oil the part of the people of the constituency that he should come forward, then he thought ho had a duty in the matter. (Hear, hear.) He could mention to Mr. Massev names that had not been mentioned up till the present time—he could mention three names at a. moment's notice— and any of these gentlemen would he 'acceptable'to Wellington North, and ,<my one of whom would play the came to Mr. .Massey and the .National Government. but not 0110 of whom could be relied upon simply to obey the behest of a party leader. Ho had wishr ed to make his position quite _ clear, because if ho once made, a promise, or gave a pledge, that' pledge or promiso would never be broken. (Hear, hear.)