A Clash of The Clans

THE pibrochs.are silent and the claymores sheathed m the hills' and dales of the Wairarapa. The clash of clans' is 'over, leaving the McDonalds m the flush of. victory over the McLeods. . Some of the surprised ones sniffed gently and said that Colonel "Mac." had talked himself to the head of the poll. Well, so did all the other candidates. But they also asserted that had the campaign only lasted long enough the gallant colonel would have talked himself out of the limelight. Well, so might the other candidates. . Anyhow. -T-. W. McDonald, M.P.,. can be.': expected to take a broad view of politics.. : . / ■Mac ' comes from Tasmania, that bright little island to which the shekels flow byf devious channels from hosts of poor sanguine souls. :'-,..; .'•; His 'military title is no mere care-fully-fostered appendage left over, from the' Great War. Mac rose 'from; .the ranks to the substantive rank of colonel. .' • ' . '■' As though his military job were. riot sufficient scope for his energy- m. past years, he has delved into local government. : The mayoral- chains— if ; any—

of Lower Hutt hung on his waistcoat for a couple of years, wttile he has also taken, his place with the wiseheads of the Education Board. m 1914 McDonald stepped aboard a transport with the Main Body. The burning- sands of Egypt could never shrivel his fighting spirit, but they afflicted his physical frame- with sickness, which caused his return home. / Quite natural that the dominant McDonald should have thrown his energies into the affairs of the Returned Soldiers. The fine clubhouse of the returned men m Dunedin is due m no small measure to his enthusiasm and driving -force. '■".•. He is not the sort of chap who believes m peace at any price, nor is he likely to sink modestly into the background of Parliament. , ... ;- : With a scent like a. bloodhound for anything r 'tha't bears the, faintest suggestion of "graft," he may' cause political life -to ■■.become as irreproachable as Caesar's wife. - , And iE Sir Joseph Ward is disposed to' .create a Department of Public Vigilance, he might think of the penetrative colonel aa the first minister.