Absent ?

Sir,—Salient's Hedda Hopper (the journalistic eunuch who created the "Outside Left" column of April 23) obviously was not at the Political Science Society/Labour Club wine and cheese evening which he reported in such detail. The only brands of wine served were: Corbans, Penfolds, Wahiri, Vidals and McWilliams, in equal quantities. To which of these does he refer in his statement "the well-made New Zealand wine is undrinkable"?

The "round half-dozen Labour M.P.'s" he mentions in fact numbered "round twenty-one", and his inference that the Society (and the Labour Club) made a sinister profit by economising on wine, cheese, ana other items (including the cost of glasses, publicity, breakages, etc.) would be libellous if anyone took him seriously—the evening ran at a loss of about $10.

Finally, the Pol. Sci. Society was not showing any unfair bias in its association with the Labour Club. Its aim is to give students direct contact with those in power and, with this in mind, a similar function will be held in conjunction with the National Club: probably on the Tuesday before Study week.