HE KEPT HIS WORD

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 283, 3 November 1925, Page 6

HE KEPT HIS WORD

MR COATES REDEEMS PROMISE. OLD-TIMER’S TRIBUTE. AUCKLAND, Nov. 2. At tho St. Heliers construction camp to-day Mr Coates found an old friend and whole-hearted supporter in the chairman of his meeting, Mr James Costello, the camp storekeeper. Mr Costello could not refrain from high praise of what Mr Coates had done for tho construction hands of the Public Works Department. “Years ago, when the northern workers were punching through mud under awful conditions, and our protests were unheeded,” he said, “we went to Mr Coates, who was not then a member of Parliament. We were almost in despair, btu ho saw the importance of the matter and befriended us. He has looked after us ever since. Five years ago we went to him with a now set of conditions which we wanted. He said : ‘Look here, chaps, give me a few weeks to go into it, and I will see what can be done.’ He kept his word, and you have only to look round this camp to see the result. Old-timers like myself appreciate it most. Compared with the old days it is simply magnificent. In my declining years one of my happiest thoughts is "that the man who did so much for the construction workers is now Prime Minister of New Zealand. I am sure,” he concluded, turning to Mr Coates, “that what you have done for us you can do for the rest of the Dominion.” The Prime Minister thanked his chairman for his generous references to the past. “Whatever the result of Wednesday’s poll,” he added, “your remarks will make mo feel more than repaid for what I have done for tho construction workers in New Zealand. I know that everything is not perfect, but one can always go on improving. When I look back over the past few years I realise that you cannot please everybody, but there is some satisfaction as the days and tho years go on if you can shy that you have left things a little better than you found them.”