POLITICAL PARTISANSHIP.

Grey River Argus, 9 June 1922, Page 7

POLITICAL PARTISANSHIP.

AND A SOLDIERS’ MEMORIAL. (Special to “The Argus.’’) Westport l , June 7. The drawing of the class line in conhfetion with the unveiling of tile .Soldiers’ Memorial at Westport was, to put it mildly, as unfortunate as i l . was Stupid. For the movement to commemorate the dead Was one in w-liich Socialist and anti-Soeiulist Inight have participated. It now transpires that the introduction of the class bias was the work of only one or two members of the Committee. It also transpires that the Returned Soldiers themselves were not consulted about who should or should not be excluded. However, the fact that even a section of a committee could make a ceremony to perpetuate the memory of the Dead the occasion for a display of Tory classconsciousness demonstrates the lengths to which some of the enemies of Labour are prepared to go. I' NPR E C EDI! NTE D DISCOURTESY. The discourtesy offered to the member for Buller on this occasion is probably without precedent in New Zea land. In all public matters it is usual for the bodies eomvinecl to act in conjunction with the member for the district affected; but in this case the committee does not appear to have once consulted the member. Tl’.ey seem to have feared, that, if he spoke his speech would be historically based and on anti-war lines, am! on the other hand they appear to have desired that the anti Labour press should be given lan opportunity to place the incident in the light- of a charge of ‘ ‘ disloyalty. ’ However, that may be. they deci<i?d to exclude the district member from the speakers’ list and to import some politician or other from outside for the unveiling ceremony, PARTISANSHIP RESENTED. When they found a storm of resentment arising against their drawing 01 the class line, they sought to explain that their boycott of the district member had no political signifiranrßut. as their own letter shows, they had already invited Air Massey and other anti-Labour politicians in turn to perform the ceremony. 'l’his after the Governor had declined. Dubcr on, they invited leading military men, and in the end, when the big guns wouldn’t or couldn’t come, they had fallen buck upon Mr Alituhrll, pronounced anti-La-bour “Independent”—still adhering to their clctermination to exclude the member. It goes without saving that neither the Governor nor any Cabinet Min ister woukl take jiart in a public ceremony from which the member for the district was deliberately exi-hided as a speaker. They could only jiarlicipate by committing a gross breach of the ordinary political decencies. And what applies to the Governor and the Ministers also applies to Ihe rank and file Al. P’s CLASS LINE RESULTS. The results of the committee's action i made themselves apparent on the night of Air Mitchell’s arrival, when the lantern war lecture in the local theatre was an appalling frost; and again on the following day when, instead of the 4000 people the committee announced would be present, only some 1200 (’according to the generous estimate of the local morning paper) or .1000 (according to other estimates) were there. This in spite of the fact that a most attractive programme of band music and community singing, with football’ in the morning, had been provided. Practically no one came in from the mining towns, and quite 70 per cunt of the adult people of West port failed to attend. It is true that rain in the morning may have interfered to me extent with, the attendance, but the afternoon saw a general clearing up and the sparse attendance has to be accounted for outside the weather. NO CLASS LINE. Everyone will regret the introduction of u class bias into .such a ceremony. Most people will vigorously condemn it There were no class divisions made to shut out Labour when men were wanted io die m the tienches; there were no class lines to shut out Labour contributions when mo,.vy was wanted for the memorial itself — ami noir? gave more cheerfully than the working men; there will be no class lines drawn when more money is wanted—some of it to meet the unnecessary expenditure incurred in bringing an outside politician to perform a ceremony which could have, been perf( lined equally well by the local Mayor. It may be depended upon that Labour will see to it that a similar class line is not drawn on any future occasion. WHAT MITCHELL RECOGNISED. Mitchell himself appears io have recognised to some extent the nature of the slough into which the action of the local committee landed him. At any rat?, he carefully avoided calling upon Holland while in 'Westport, although he had ample time ami was aware that Holland was ill in bed at his h-.;me.