DEBATE FIZZLES OUT

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXI, Issue 279, 9 November 1931, Page 6

DEBATE FIZZLES OUT

MR. LOWE ON CURRENCY. OPPONENT FAILS TO ARRIVE. It would seem that the people of Hastings, so long as they have a few good bank-notes to crackle in their pockets, are content to leave currency problems to those that may choose to argue about them. There was to be a debate on currency problems on Saturday evening in the Hastings Assembly Hall, when Mr. Arch Lowe had arranged to argue a case with another Hastings resident who had accepted a challenge to joust with him upon this important matter. Apparently the people were so busily occupied in the business of spending the currency of Mr. Montagu Norman and his friends that they were not interested in the currency of Mr. Lowe. The hall was set out to accommodate six hundred people, and one of the principals in the affair made some show of anxiety at the fact that the doore were not opened at 7.30, half an hour before the debate was to begin. At eight o’clock there were only Mr. Lowe and the custodian of the hall present, but before long the chairman of the evening arrived. Then one or two groups of young people came along, but, finding that the hall was not lit up for a dance, wandered away again. When Mr. Lowe was ready to begin, there were six or seven people there besides himself and the chairman, but the promised opponent was not one of them. Not to he daunted, Mr. Lowe went on with his business, and gave his audience an address upon currency problems and some suggested improvements. The address was greatly appreciated, and was certainly not devoid of interest.