The Hawera Star. THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 1928. THE TROUBLES OF A LABOUR COUNCIL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 14 June 1928, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 1928. THE TROUBLES OF A LABOUR COUNCIL.

Delivered every evening: b.v 5 o’olook in Hawera Manoir.. Normanby. Okeiawa. Bltharn, Mantratoki. Kaponga. Alton, Hurleyville Paten. Waverlev. Mo..oia, Whakamara, Ohaimai. Meremere. Fraser Road, and Ararata.

Ini the .southern city of Christchurch tire councillors, the R.S.A. amid sonic members of the public hatve been discussing for weeks a proposal! by the Labour members of the council, who outnumber the others by something like eleven to four .to remove front tiro public ga/.e tire captured German guns which have graced* t he well-kept tanks of the River Avon for nearly ton years. Tn the course of the controversy sentiment' and anger have been deeply stirred and a. sense of humour which would have allowed .tire controversialists to preserve something like a true idea, of values has been submerged. The sight of these guns has never been pleasing to the Labour members of the council, who recommended, .when they were first offered .to* the. city, that they be placed ini the museum. Jin those days, however, Labour was heavily outnumbered on the civic body and itis object ions were not. taken' at. aid seriously by the majority. Within recent mouths the now-powerful Labour faction revived the subject aind declared its intention of removing the pieces of artillery from the grassy plots they have

occupied since- 1918. Immediately t-h-at intent ion. was made known .there -was a public outcry. People who -had never seen the guns ,though they might have passed them daily for yeans, -wrote to the papers about it, and the returned soldiers, as representatives of the men who had toiled and suffered in the campaigns i'll which the -guns were captained, |-uttered a strong protest. The Labour council wa:s 'not to- be -moved in its decision. War was an evil and anything that -glorified war, or reminded people |of war, should be removed, it contended. Much was said on that side about the effect' the sight of the guns would have on, the -minds of the children who played about them, and l though this view was ridiculed -by -the opposition, no one thought of holding an inquiry to ascertain -whether'the few children who from time to time may be seen in. .the vicinity of the- weapons- do- not really play cojvboys and Indians 1 as often as they indulge in mimic warfare against, ain. imaginary European foe. That was a grave omission on the part of fid-1 concerned, for it might have been- the means of putting an end to a controversy which -must surely make Christehiiiirch once again a. laughing-stock, for the rest of the Dominion. Fearful that the -guns which had boon won at such -heavy cost- would be relegated to the scrap heap, a. citizen offered to find space for them, on his private property, and this offer -proved acceptable to some of the Labour councillors. At this week’s meeting, however, Cr D. G. Sullivan, M.P., sprang a surprise upon some of his- own party by suggesting that the guns be moved from- city property to I Grown .land. This was agreed to and soon the -two or three -pieces of heavy mr-tillery will be, -taken off their concrete bases and re-erected on- others on the opposite side of the -road-! There they will be equally open, to the public gaze; there- will be nothing to prevent the family man on his way to- work from seeing them, and his children-, when they come into town, will be as free as over •to swarm over the machines of war and pretend they are pirate ships, locomotives o-r anything else that appeals' to the childish fancy. Labour is satisfied that it lias made a gesture for peace and has achieved a very useful compromise. The guns have'certainly been removed from city property, but the real triumph of Labour is that they have been removed, without injuring the [feelings of the returned soldiers and I their Tol-a tives, for until the council discovered through a “legal opinion” that the grass plot on the other side, of the road was Crown land, nobody had a. notion that; it was not, as much a part, of the city as Cathedral Square. The [four non-labourites on- the council claim that, Labour has- climbed down, that it has made itself ridiculous, and that it will pay the penalty when, next it seeks the favour of the municipal electors. -Some of these assertions can be justified, but the- ridicule, if properly apportioned, will not be all heaped on- the Labour councillors-. The flag-wagging and electioneering indulged in -by some on the other side were not admirable; nor was the offer of at least 000 of the minority to resign his seat and contest it again on the “guns issue.” Still, everybody should now be happy; Labour has made its peace gesture and the city has its guns