POLITICAL APATHY

Evening Star, Issue 22070, 2 July 1935, Page 8

POLITICAL APATHY

N.Z. INDIFFERENCE ASTONISHES REPROACH TO YOUTH FORMER PRESS MAGNATE TO CONTEST SEAT [Per United Press Association.)

AUCKLAND,/July 2

His«intention of contesting a seat at the General Election was announced to-day by Mr F. W. -Doidge, a former director of the Beaverbrook Press. He did not indicate which party he would support, or which seat he would contest, but, in an address at the Women’s Luncheon Club, .offered some comments on the attitude of the man ip the street.

“For all his ills he blames the Government,” said Mr Doidge, “ but who put the Government where it is ? If the present administration is ineffective, the remedy is obvious. . The electors are the masters of the situa tion.”

Ho was astonished at the political apathy of the men and women he met, and the conviction was growing upon him that this apathy was born of contempt. It would be a bad lookout for New Zealand if that were true, yet there must be some reason why so many men of standing in New Zealand shunned a political career. _ To him the most astonishing thing of all was that youth played so small a part in New Zealand Hb contrasted the position in Britain, and said it was inconceivable that the youth of the dominion should refrain from active participation in politics, when the political issues of the day so intimately affected their lives and future careers.