COUNT VON LUCKNER’S VISIT

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22358, 23 March 1938, Page 8

COUNT VON LUCKNER’S VISIT

90 THE EDITOR 09 THE PRESS. Sir, —From Count von Luckner’s own statement before he arrived in New Zealand he is here as an emissary of and propagandist for Hitler. He has already proved that he has not forgotten his mission by his statements in Auckland and by his declaration in Wellington that the labouring masses are behind his leader in Germany. Canards like that require little repudiation. . Let me tell Charles R. Clark that the members of the New Zealand Federation of Labour, the majority of the trade unionists in the Dominion, are just as much gentlemen and sportsmen as Count von Luckner, and rather more so than his friends in Germany, who do hot hesitate to drag into concentration camps the wives and even the babies of their political enemies when they cannot lay hands on the latter. If our trade unionists were not sportsmen, one of the sports with which Mr Clark was associated for so long would years ago have entered the limbo of forgotten things. The women trade unionists of our city and country may also have something to say about your correspondent’s derogatory comparisons.—Yours, ect., rory cu v Q R SAUNDERS. March 22, 1938.

SCO THE EDITOR 09 THE PRESS. Sir. —As a supporter of the Labour Party I feel very much ashamed of myself. Frankly. I am very much against the Hon. A. Hamilton, but I am heartily ashamed of the treatment he received ht Ximaru at the hands of Labour supporters, who, I honestly believe, were not “planted” by the Labour Party, but were mere foolish extremists who thought they were doing Mr Savage a good turn—and this applies to meetings all over New Zealand. Every man, no matter whether one agrees with him or not, should be given a fair hearing. But even worse is the scurvy treatment which the New Zealand Federation of Labour, at Wellington, have meted out to Count von Luckner. There was no harm in its challenge to the Count, but surely he had the right to refuse it without having to put up with insulting remarks! Perhaps Count von Luckner Is an opponent of the Nazi Party, and, if so, it is only natural that he would not stand up and defend it in public, although he dare not admit this, lor fear of the consequences on his return to Germany. I do not imply that the Count is a coward when I use the words “dare not” and “fear,” but merely that he may be (I am merely guessing—I do not say that such is the case) a member of the weaker party; and the weaker party must bow to the will of the stronger, or die by violence, in many European countries. We all know by his war-time exploits that Count, von Luckner is a brave man. I think the least the Labour Party can do is to apologise to the Count for the insulting behaviour of the federation.—Yours, etc., BRITISH (SO CALLED) FAIR PLAY. March 21, 1938.