REFORMERS DECLARE LOYALTY.

Shannon News, 27 November 1928, Page 3

REFORMERS DECLARE LOYALTY.

MR LYSNAR ON-SIDE. ATTENDING REFORM CAUCUS ON WEDNESDAY. “There is nothing whatever in tho statement I made after the election to justify the assumption that I intend "to join up with the United Party,” said Mr W. D.-, Lysnar, Independent Reform M.P., in reference to a Christchurch message inferring that he, together with Mr W. H. Field and seven other Reformers, was likely to support Sir Joseph Ward immediately after the crucial division in the House. His statement, he added, referred solely to the advisability of a fusion of the antiSocialistie forces.

Beyond denying the inference in the Christchurch statement, Mr Lysnar refused to comment pending the Reform caucus ou Wednesday, which he is attending.

MR FIELD’S POSITION. A statement has been published in a Christchurch paper to the effect that Mr W. 11. Field was making no secret of his intention to return to his former allegiance arid join Sir Joseph Ward’s party. Mr Field has therefore made a statement as to his position. He states that during the whole of his campaign he had expressed the view that the natural division of the people of this country wns a clear-cut one between the moderates on the one side and the extremists on the other, and that it was a great pity that the two moderate parlies were not amalgamated and fighting in one camp. He said that there had been no essential difference •between the respective politics of these parlies for years past. At his final meeting in Otaki he had been asked the question whether he could under any circumstances, support Sir JosephWard, and had replied that in the very unlikely event of tho Reform Party being knocked right out he would support the United Party- as against Labour.

After the election Mr Field further expressed the view that it would bo in the interests of the country, and, he thought, the wish of the country, that the occasion should be seized for a coalition between the .Reform and United parties. He had said that if that were brought about, and Sir Joseph Ward became Prime Minister, he (Mr Field) would have no difficulty infollowing him. In the event of there being no coalition, and Sir Joseph Ward forming a Ministry from his party, Mr Field had said he believed that the Reform Party would gladly assist him and his Government in passing sound measures for the benefit of the country. Sir Joseph Ward had nVrw declared against coalition, and tlrere was therefore an end to that way out of the difficulty. With respect to the suggestion that Mr Field was likely to join the United Party, he said that he had been elected as a Reform n. ember, and that if h? had any thought of leaving the party, which he certainly had not, his first duty would be to consult his constituents.