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Minister Slates Mr Hanan

(New Zealand Press Association)

DUNEDIN, July 4.

By making his “fleas on a dog” speech, the Minister of Maori Affairs (Mr Hanan), had demeaned himself and brought discredit on politicians the Rev. D. W. Storkey said tonight.

Preaching at Knox Church, Dunedin, Mr Storkey told his congregation: “I don’t imagine any of you will disagree with me when I say that the power of the tongue in human affairs, the power of men’s speech and men’s conversation, can scarcely be exaggerated. “On the grand scale, it has been the tongue which has inspired crusades, generated revolutions and created war fever.” After references to some of history’s great orators from

Peter the Hermit to Hitler, Mr Storkey commented: “So it is one of the first charges on a national leader that he should be able to control his tongue. “That is why it is lamentable when a man of the stature of Mr Hanan demeans himself and brings discredit on politicians when he airily dismisses minority groups in a democracy as fleas on a dog.” “The irresponsible behaviour of several of our politicians lately in classifying any who dare to criticise their policies as ‘weirdies’ or ‘Communist sympathisers’ is equally lamentable, but, perhapis, hardly surprising in view of our general New Zealand habit of attaching defamatory labels to people who dare hold an opinion other than our own. “But one shudders to think what would happen if some of the petulant little men who sit in Parliament ever got as far as the United Nations where an irresponsible word or phrase could well trigger off the greatest war in history. “However, before we start getting self-righteous about the Mr Hanans of this world, let us remember that on the very small scale in our own private little worlds, the power of the tongue for good or evil is equally great”

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19650705.2.12

Bibliographic details

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30794, 5 July 1965, Page 1

Word Count
313

Minister Slates Mr Hanan Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30794, 5 July 1965, Page 1

Minister Slates Mr Hanan Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30794, 5 July 1965, Page 1