HECKLING THE CANDIDATE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 258, 31 October 1928, Page 6

HECKLING THE CANDIDATE.

The word "heckle" is of Scottish origin; so, apparently, is the now familiar process named after i£ of submitting embarrassing questions to Parliamentary or other candidates for public honours. The heckle was a large-toothed comb used in treating woollen or other yarns. When a treacle pot liad fallen and broken on the head of a small boy who was poaching on the shelves above his reach and his mother subsequently used a form of heckle to comb his hair, the operation must have been somewhat reminiscent of that to which Parliamentary candidates are subjected at the polls. He is, in fact, submitted to a process somewhat resembling that of the yarn which is "teased" by the heckle. A former M.P. in the British Parliament, wellknown to the writer, was once openly referred to in a public meeting as the biggest liar in London ("champion dissembler" was the exact expression used). On that occasion he was officiating not as a Parliamentary candidate but as chairman of u company. His financial methods were well known for their recklessness. When at a new election ho was standing for his old constituency, the following question was put to him by a heckler: "Would the candidate favour legislation for the purpose of punishing company promoters who publish misleading statements which have the effect of ruining many imprudent investors!" —or something to that effect. The question provoked much laughter, as a pointed allusion to the candidate himself, who, instead of replying, simply sat down and refused to answer any further questions. But he lost the election. The fate of the heckler in Russia under Soviet regime is not a happy one, according to the account given by a British M.P. who not long ago visited that unhappy country. He mentions the case of a political meeting which he attended, where one'of the audience was bold enough to criticise or call in question some remarks made by one of the Government speakers. The interrupter was not arrested; perhaps the Soviet authorities were anxious to avoid a scene, especially in tlio presence of their distinguished visitor. But the heckler was not allowed to escape scot free; on leaving the meeting he was followed and shot down by Soviet emissaries. Sometimes the heckler finds his match. When the late Sir George Reid was Premier of New South Wales he was interrupted during a public speech by one of the audience, who twitted him with being "double faced." "Well," replied the distinguished statesman, sharply eyeing his critic." "it is very evident that you are not double faced or you would have left that face you have on at home and brought the other one with you." The retort provoked uproarious laughter, which helped to put the audience in a good humour —for the interrupter was by no means well favoured facially by Nature. Still more crushing was the retort given to a heckler by a Scottish Parliamentary candidate. Among the hecklers at a meeting was one who had a list of questions. The meeting was largely composed of strait-laced Presbyterians, while the candidate was au agnostic in his religious views. The heckler relied on this fact to play on the religious sentiments of the audience. His last question was his heaviest gun, "Will the candidate state his religious views?" The candidate seemed to be in no way disconcerted. He read the question out aloud, and in slow and deliberate tones he gave his reply: "My religious views," he stated, "can be summed up in one sentence, 'That the man who leads the best life has the best religion.'" The reply was received with applause, not unmingled with laughter, for it was taken as a thrust at the heckler, who some vears previously had been mixed up in a painful scandal, while the candidate himself was a man of blameless character. —J. D. LECKIE