"GREAT COMRADE."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 287, 4 December 1935, Page 8

"GREAT COMRADE."

RECOUNT FOR KAIPARA,

FRIEND'S TRIBUTE.

MR. SAVAGE'S PLANS. A HOME IN WELLINGTON. Through nearly 30 years of ceaseless work with a common purpose—the cause of Labour—New Zealand's future Prime Minister, Mr. M. J. Savage, and his friends of a generation, Mr. and Mrs.

A. J. French, have lived under the same roof. It is no wonder then that Mr. Savage should insist that his friends through the years of fighting for his ideal should live with him in the Molesworth Street house in Wellington, which has been the home of the retiring Prime Minister, Mr. Forbes.

Over 29 years ago Mr. Savage, who had not long arrived in New Zealand from Australia, came to know Mr. and Mrs. French, and a few months later he went to live with them in their house in O'Neill Street. Ponsonby. Ever since the three have lived as oue household. Eight years ago tliey shifted to their present home in Salisbury Road, Heme Bay, an old-fashioned house with spacious grounds, surrounded by native trees, with a delightful glimpse of the Wai tenia ta.

Through those 29 years of the closest association with Mr. Savage his friend, Mr. French, has formed the deepest admiration for his ability and for his never-ending humanitarian acts. Through those years <; oond that will never be broken has giown ever stronger. A Fait Man. "The other night when he went away to Wellington 1 could not talk while 1 was standing oil the station," said Mr. French. "1 am glad we are going to be near him in Wellington. You could not have a better comrade. I was in the British Navy for 14 years. 1 knocked about a deal all over the world in my early days, an-'. I have met all types of men, but I have never met a finer man than Mr. Savage. He will defend the absent all the time. If you speak ill of a man behind his back while Mr. Savage is about, look out for trouble.

"There has never wen one moment of friction between us in all those years," said Mr. French with pride. "He is a homely man. He loves this home, he loves pottering about. He lias his little study with his telephone on his desk and his portable typewriter. He is thoroughly domesticated and he will take his turn at anything about the hor.se."

Although for many years Mr. Savage has followed sport closely through the newspapers, he has never found time to take part in any game himself. On one occasion he bought himself a bowling rig-out, complete with bowls. He joined a club with tlie idea of playing regularly, but he has never found time to play, because always when he is at home there is a procession of callers— and Mr. Savage would turn nobody from the door without hearing his story. Kept Himself Poor. "He has kept himself poor on account of his generosity and through the demands that people have made upon him," said Mr. French. "He is always prepared to help. Never in the years that I have known him has he once deviated from the course which he is following to-day. His interest in the people who need help most has always been, and still is, paramouut in his eyes. Mr. Savage is not a Church-going man. If you ask him what his religion is, he will say, 'My religion is my duty to my neighbour.' "

Mr. Savage keeps himself fit, said Mr. French, by doing a little gardening— pushing a lawnmover over the several lawns of his home. He occasionally has a "work-out" with a pair of dumbbells. He can dance a nornplpe or a jig. For ten years Mr. Savage had been the friend of a bull terrier dog which belonged to Mr. French. But recently it attacked Mr. Savage and a few days later it attacked its owner. It has been destroyed.

"Mr. Savage is very fond of music," said Mr. French. "He likes good music —not this fox-trot business. Often we sit in the evening and listen to the radio, but if there is any jazz stuff on he turns it off. He is, of course, a great reader. He reads every piece of literature he can find dealing with the Labour movement and political economy.

"1 am certain that Mr. Savage has never made a promise that lie did not intend to carry out. His word is his bond."

When Mr. Savage takes over the house which has been used in recent years by Mr. Forbes, Mr. and Mrs. French will leave for Wellington. Mr. French said there was a possibility that Mr. Savage would be in Auckland on Saturday, but lie had had 110 definite word so far. "We would not like to be away from Mr. Savage," said Mr. French. "Live Close To The Job."

The oilicial residence of the Prime Minister is in Tinakori Road, but it is too large for a small household and has recently been converted into flats for the convenience of Ministers.

"I will live more or less permanently in Wellington," said Mr. Savage in an interview with the "Star's" Parliamentary reporter in. Wellington to-day. "I want to be close to the job. lam arranging for the good people who have looked after me to share my home in Wellington. Mir. and ill's. French will come to Wellington soon. Mr. French was one of the survivors of the Wairarapa, which was wrecked on the Great Barrier Island when he was coming over from Australia to New Zealand. One cannot live with people for all those years without a common bond being established. I should feel lost without the companionship of those friends."

Mr. and Mrs. French expect to go to Wellington as scon as Mr. Savage moves into his Molesworth Street home.

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) DARGAVILLE, this day. It is now stated that the result of the rccount of votes in the Kaipara electorate will not be available before Saturday and perhaps not before Monday.