APPLES OF DISCORD

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 140, 11 December 1923, Page 6

APPLES OF DISCORD

According to Mr. Austin Hopkinson, M.P., speaking at Ashton-uuuer-Lyne, politicians in Great Britain have reached a depth of degradation never plumbed before in the whole history of representative Government; also political life has been' distinctly lowered in tone, the recent campaign being remarkable for its indescribable amount of lying and slander and utter lack of patriotism. Mr. Hopkinson must surely have forgotten his English history when he made that statement, for he would find therein abundant evidence that, bad as the spirit of opposition may have been in the recent election, it is not ■without parallel. At the same time there is now something like a systematic throwing of the apples of discord into all political contests, and the studied working up by those who take no more active part in the game than . to make trouble of a class bitterness which is almost diabolic in complexion. Tactics are resorted to by all parties, more or less reprehensible, and that are certain in their effects against getting anything doric ex. cept tojinake confusion worse confounded. We are not without such experience in New Zealand. Many men here, as in the Homeland, seem to be fast becoming incapable of agreeing to differ, with deplorable results on the individual no less than on the body politic. Abuse, persona] and often vile beyond words to express, has usurped the place of straightforward and honest statement of difference of opinion. The throttling of free speech in others by ..those' who demand it most for themselves is but one feature of present-day political campaigning. Russia affords one of the most striking instances of this. It is occasionally seen in .New Zealand, one of the freest lands on the globe. But it is as nothing beside the corrosive poison poured itito the ears of those who are ■ "mentally asleep, freedom is worth having; it has cost our forefathers much in blood, money, and service to obtain; but unless, its exercise in speech is treated with respect and conceded to others who may hold views different from our- own, the only alternative is despotism. What are wanted today are men with courage enough to pick up the apples of discord when thrown and to hand them back to the throwers, and so let the race be run fair for all competitors.