OPEN LETTER

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXV, Issue 12298, 12 April 1937, Page 2

OPEN LETTER

TO HON. B. C. ROBBINS AND MR O. H. BURNETT, M.P. Dear Messrs Ro'bbins and Burnett, As I have known you well for over thirty-five years, you will, I know, permit me to talk to you per favour of the Bay of Plenty Times, for a little time. I congratulate you; gentlemen, on the position, which the Government *and the people of Tauranga have called you to occupy. They are both positions of honour and of trust. As of trust,' while you have a very special duty to Tauranga and this electorate, you have also a great responsibility to New Zealand. It is a great country. In fertility.and beauty I do not think it is surpassed anywhere in the world, and it is the duty of representatives In our Legislature to endeavour, in the wisest way, to raise the country, the people of the country, the institutions of the country, the laws, and the conditions of the country to a foremost position in the British Empire. There ip abundant scope for all your energies, and the study necessary is so comprehensive in history, science, education, economics, and especially in the study of democracy, and its development, that your time will he fully occupied, and with your help and care, Tauranga can be put on the map, in a manner which will arouse the admiration of the Dominion. The potentialities of New Zealand, immense as they now are, can be trebled, and with a population of It millions, in a few years, it may, and can grow to, 5,000,000. But, gentlemen, as one who has watched over Parliament for many years, you will please let me emphasise a most necessary qualification for our representatives in Parliament, and that is that they should be men of exalted humanity, and lovers of their fellow-men in the noblest and best sense. I do not need to quote from the Bible, from Shakespeare, or Burns, to tell you that what we should think of man. Man is “God’s image,” "an honest man is the noblest work of God.” A true lover of men will serve and love his fellow-men—even to death— and that we are authoritatively told—is the greatest love. Knowing you as I do, so well and so long, I have every confidence that you, will devote yourselves to your great work, and I think, speaking very respectfully, that Tauranga should be very pleased to have two such gentlemen as you are, to represent them in Parliament. I remember well, such men as Gladstone, Salisbury, Finlay, and many others. Whatever our party feelings, we honoured those men for the manner in which they conserved the be t traditions of the British people, and upheld the name of Britain. They were lovers of their country, and they loved their fellow-men, and lived and served them to the best of their ability. I know, Messrs Robbins and Burnett, you will do ycur best. I know you will both live and work to promote the best interest" of Tauranga, and that “you will leave no stone unturned” to do so. Perhaps, Mr Editor, you will let me close by saying that even we mav have a government of angels, aul unless we give it a sympathetic hearing and a generous and sympathetic opportunity, by kindly help, advice and support, we may frustrate its end and purpose. We should* all work to a common purpose the good, in every way, of the country we live in. I am. etc.. WM. THOMSON. Editor, ‘The New Zealander. 1 *