PERSONAL ABUSE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 46, 23 August 1938, Page 11

PERSONAL ABUSE

NOT WANTED FROM. THE HUSTINGS

MUD-SLINGING & CARTOONS

People were getting just a little ti<—" of personal abuse and mud-slinging, declared Mr. O. C. Mazengarb, National Party candidate for Wellington Suburbs, at, Khandallah last night. He expressed the view that it was a great pity that so many of the pre-election speeches of Ministers, both inside and outside the House, had been marked or marred by the introduction of personalities. People, he suggested, were also somewhat disgusted with the attempts being made by nearly all tlie Government, speakers to mix politics and religion. . Mr. Mazengarb dealt also with certain cartoons. Some of them, he said, were witty and helpful; others were; very poor . stuff. The Socialists had suddenly become critical of these cartoons. If was quite all right, however, for them to depict workers under a National Government as skeletons without flesh or skin, and it was quite all right to continue drawing Mr. Hamilton as "the man with the gamp." "They even cartoon me as a monkey," continued Mr. Mazengarb. "I suppose that's because, there's a 'z' in my name, which suggests Brazil, where the nuts come from. But in case that's too subtle for some people, they give the monkey a name, and call him 'Ossiepoff Mazengarb.' How the thoughts of the Socialists seem to centre on Russia! Mr. Nash went to Russia. Their delegate to Geneva has gone to Russia. And, as a sort of antidote for the public, they possibly hope to convey the erroneous impression that some, of my- ancestors may have come from;Jtussia.- ■:-.?•.■.••. -;-.-■■ ~.- : COMMON-SENSE BACKGROUND. "But if anyone, thinks that the momentous issues now before the country, are to be determined by personalities or by-cartoons, they fail to appreciate that behind all the fun in life, and .notwithstanding the emotions which are easily aroused, there is, a definite background of common sense. Some • people may be fooled by claptrap and sob stuff or by talk of wage reductions. But when we do a little sensible reasoning and try to understand each other's viewpoint, we find that there are comparatively few blue Tories or green-eyed Socialists living among us. The majority of the people want to proceed together where, sense and logic may dictate.

"I believe that in the long run right, reason, justice, and common sense will prevail. I hope that these are the qualities which will count for most at this election. If they don't, I am prepared to remain out of Parliament until they do. My hope is to see the politics of this country rescued from class prejudice. You will not find me making attacks on any group or class of people in the community.

"Let us therefore in our thinking face the realities of the situation, using neither the black goggles of the pessimist nor the rosy-tinted glasses of the super-optimist. Let. the Conservatives realise that we are living in a changing world. And let the Radicals understand that however they may criticise the errors and abuses of Capitalism, this c6untry has been developed, and we who are privileged to dwell in it have attained a standard, of living under private enterprise the like of which has not been bettered by any other country in the world. Of course, there is room for improvement. But in seeking to improve things, let us move carefully lest we collapse the whole structure and do irreparable damage to the very institutions which we value so greatly and which we do not want to overturn."