REFORM CONFIDENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1082, 20 September 1930, Page 11

REFORM CONFIDENT

MR. TE TOMO’S CHANCE IN MAORI ELECTION MR. COATES’S PREFERENCE Throughout the Western Maori electorate, Reform supporters are confident that the official Reform Party candidate, Mr. Taite te Tomo, of the Ngati-Tuwharetoa tribe, Taupo. will take the seat in Parliament left vacant by the death of Sir Maui Pomare. The choice of Mr. Te Tomo as Reform’s candidate by the Leader of the Opposition, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, was accepted with jubilation in many parts of the constituency. Since then, Mr. Te Tomo's supporters have not been idle and they have made a particular point in tiieir electioneering of the statement by Mr. Coates that Te Rata Maliuta. the Waikato King, had exhorted his followers to vote for Mr. Te Tomo. It is also the claim of the candidate that Sir Maui once expressed a desire that Mr. Te Tomo should follow him in Parliament. Mi'. Te Tomo was one of Sir Maui’s most successful organisers. In any case. Reform is well represented and lias two unofficial candidates- —the Rev. T. P. Haddon. of New Plymouth, and Mr. H. H. Piahana, of Tauranga. The stated preference of Te Rata Mahuta for Mr. Te Tomo will conflict with the hope of the “prophet.” Tahn Wiremu Ratana, that his sect should amalgamate eventually with the King movement in the Waikato. Ratana’s advisers have chosen his son, Mr. Haami Tokouru Ratana, as candidate for what is virtually the Katana Party. The indeendent candidate, Mr. P. Te Hurinui-Jones, is continuing his campaign busily.