Correspondence

Hutt News, Volume 17, Issue 24, 17 November 1943, Page 5

Correspondence

■j HUTT ELECTORS' ASSOCIATION. (To the Editor.) Sir, —Your columns recently reported that although th# ■ election was over there was stilv 1 , considerable activity in ,Nationip.l Party ranks, and ' Meeting caiieJ for the purpose of . forming a* National Club had been very |weli attended and the idea taiteh ut most enthusiastically. :

Evidently the same enthusiasn: does not pervade electors generally for the meetings recently called tc form an Electors' Association the Hutt have been most disappointing to the sponsors. ' . *

The meeting at Low.er Hutt on Tuesday night was attended by about 80 persons. When the meeting opened.'an elector claimed rthat it being the first public meeting, those present should elect a chairman. Mr. G. L. Gieseh was then elected to the chair.

A lively discussion ensued in which several speakers voiced the

opinion that such an association would not hope "to obtain unanimity

of opinion on most matters of importance and that there were already a multiplicity of organisations capable ol' dealing with secLional matters, such as the Unions, K.S.A., Chambers of Commerce ,etc.

The main objection seamed to be that 110 attempt had been made to secure the co-operation of the sitting member, and the powerful Labour seetioni ;_pf: the community, without whose support the Association could not hope, to succeed.

The meeting " then agreed that Mr. Hogan, who wai present by invitation of the sponsors (of whom lie seemed to be the jprincipal one), should be heard. Mr. Hogan',s speech consisted largely of a condemnation of the Party system and of Democrary in general. \ A motion that an Electors' Association be formed \|J|ifs*4tt(en put to the was lost by 4 6 votes to » ■ At a Petone on Wednesday night the motion was declared carried by 18 votes to 12, but there that amongst those who voted for tho motion were a number who had supported it at the meeting on the previous night. On Thursday evening at Moera the motion only found H'hree new supporters, and 1$ against it. :"'W. * Although less ".than J-Jiree in every thousand 'erectors"were sufficiently interested to attehed meetings to support the motion and there were two adverse divisons, Mr Hogan and his friends were apparently determined to foist an association on the electors, and a further meeting wasft,Called at Lower Hutt on Frid.ay evening to elect delegates, enrol members and consider the rules. At 8.45 there were less than 30 present, and when those who were not prepared to join the association withdrew, the attendance was Reduced to 13. There may a certain amount of merit in the suggestion to form an Electors' Association, but the result of the meetings should have made it clear to the sponsors that the do not want.it, or are not interested (at present). Some suggestion was made that there was organised opposition, but t I it is reasonably rertain that no one was advised tp §t&y away. For ihe Tuesday night ''* tf»eeting the National Party advertised asking its supporters to attend and support the proposal association was representative of all interests, After hearing the case as put by, the sponsors „ and particularly by, Mr. Hogan, ( ijs.ny o£, thepe people apparently vp|td against the motion. 1 * *

There would appear to be no objection to Mr. Hogan and his friends forming a "John Hogan or 'ai Social! p/ettit-j but if they (who In four meetings can muster less than 50 supporters) claim to represent tli<H jWoie> of the 17,000 electores ,of the they g,re certain to encounter opposition. —I am, etc., INTERESTED ELECTOR. (To the Editor). Si rj —With your permission and granting of space, I wouul like, to reply to Mr. John Hogan's comments oil my letter in this week s issue. As is usual in the young, the feather attracted most,;: attention whilst the duck" was left alone; in other words, thei ?iuost important part of my letter was side-tracked i and left tp a small sentence at the end.

I still ask who is backing John Hogan and why I I am not asking for the names of the "thousands of people who wish to I have to say in th,e pupation for which I am they must be paying him by buying his publication—mincj. you, sir, I think it's dear at 6d. per fortnight, when one can be a member of our local library for 10/- pec annum and get some good ( sttfjtfT too), but of those few who' Vel-e the "many others with bettei* "qualification" of whom Mr. John Hogft{i .wrote last week. Moreover, I do not infer and have not mit t& J)q infer red that Mr. ?s a paid servant of anyone but. it is a fact that anyone who, : i|s } tiring to get into the public' eye must have somi hacking, i.e., to support, to second

to uphold. As a fcimile, a little bi* j of grit gets into one's eye, the back- ; ing is the wind which biew at tut t time —the bit of grit isn't paid ant < to the eye only; a useless irritant 1 ; ] but the wind is important if only tc < Know from which direction il < blows. j In reading Mr. Hogan's com- i meats again, I notice what he does, not say. 'Although he says he i„ : not "paid" by 4 any persons ox; .organisations (and why the inverted ! commas), he does not say that litis not under contract, i.e., an agreement, a compact, with any person, persons or organisation. i Concluding, sir, I suppoa# one ought to be glad to have the glad- J some assurances of Mr. John Hogan that lie is and has always been expressing his own views, although I sometimes have been troubled by my memory jogging me about an engineer by the name of Douglas, and also of a State in Canada, wasn't it AlbertaJ It is a long time ago anyway, and much water has passed beneath the bridge. What tickled palates then brings nausea now to those whose feet have beaten tracks through rougher and more unknown country, whose minds have grappled in the quiet watches of the night, with the problems of the human race, and, having grappled, have raised themselves to greater heights from which a broader, grander vista comes into view. If Mr. John Hogan can throw out the frills and dreams of his social credit and by himself, but not for himself, - study the pages of life which lie open to all who care to read, then and only then will he become able to do, not the work which he believes to be right, but the work which is right and And the answer to that hymn which was written in very troublesome times indeed. It is as follows: When wilt Thou save the people? 0 God of mercy, when 2 Not Kings alone, but Nations, Not throwns and crowns, but men? Flowers of thy heart, 0 God, are ' they, ; Let them not pass, like weeds, away ; Their heritage a sunless dayGod save the people. JOHN CITIZEN.