POLITICS AND THE PEOPLE.

Evening Star, Issue 17328, 16 April 1920, Page 8

POLITICS AND THE PEOPLE.

TO THB KKITOR. Sir, —A statement appearing in Patur- [ day's ' Star ' and made by Professor Merejdith Atkinson makes Tather lamentable J reading in these days of an ever changing ai»d complex world, at a time, too, when we want conscientious, and serious collectivo thinking in grappling tho big questions requiring solution, and when we havo 50 per oent. of the electors absolutely indifferent towards matters of national concern, and in the oldest State of Australia, too. It is, indeed, a very serious thing, because present day tendencies are portents of the future and the outlook is f;tr from satisfactory. The professor gives ns a truth in stating that it matters little whether tho machinery of government is changed, to Soviet rule if the people are callous and indifferent to the well-being of their country. All nations are apparently suffering from some malady, much of it doubtless due to tho aftermath of war, and it would bo well for ns to remember that this Dominion is not entirely free from the conditions mentioned by Professor Atkinson regarding .New South Wales. It is only quit* recently that, a poll was taken concerning the very important matter of an efficient water eupplv for Dunedin, ;uk! out of 12,000 on the rolls, only 3.000. recorded their votes. This same indiffer-i ence has likewise occurred on other occasions, so the people of New Zealand cud New Ninth Wales have a duty before l.iiein to wake up concerning problems of; civic and national welfare. " •

Australasia ;n there days seems too pleasure loving. It i* rather the nmd<. n: treixl which is helpmg to create wrong fou<vpti(.»ns in youthful and ovolvir-g in" tolligoneos. .No class is particularly" free from this unrest, and possibly w ' m e of the homely virtues of our grandmothers —not the simple life absolute'.v—miyht brino; about a truer vaiuv an<l rococ;nit'ion of rational affairs.

j Mr l'h'hip Sunwdcn, in a recent speech, i said lie that tho Labor Party 'select their candidates for parliament from a too narrow circ!e-~e.<r.. tho workshops and industrial organic! ions—<-on*cquetUly they are lacking cf a wide and comproUeasivo grip of thin;,-?. The jmrelv industv:al ,":v:tv:r.o!ii has encased them mentally and e-oVctivelv. It weakens » . i-ohd adm:'>;^.;. ; ,t;,-,t,. Havbe. suc ; ; a state of" "iTairs •-: ; pnlK-inip '{., \<, w South ; Vo!--'=. Tbir-is that natter seem ;■! a very low *>bl> The great IV Chalmers t oneo e.v;;;!!iied : " Tlie public j s j Ik .-t a tfcct baby." Should we ;ipplv (hj s iphesise tew by in the light of recent hapj peuiu.gs. —[ am, etc.. Di-mos -April 15.