MAYOR OF CHRISTCHURCH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 3 April 1926, Page 7

MAYOR OF CHRISTCHURCH

REV. A. K. ARCHER IXTERVI KWMFIRST MINISTER OF I! KUO l()X AND MEMBER OF LABOUR PAKT\ TO BF. MAYOR IX NEW ZEALAND Bv Telegraph —Special f.o The Mail.; CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. As a member* of the Labour I’arty and Minister of the Baptist Church, Rev. J. K. Archer occu|:ies a 1111 i» 111 .j position as Mayor of Christchurch. As lie is the first Labour man and the first Minister of religion to be Mayor of any city in tlit* Dominion, his impressions of li is first year in office were given to a representative of the Lyttelton 'Times in a special interview. “'The first impression made on me as a Labour Mayor, said Mr Archer, is that flu* overwhelming majority of the people of Christchurch are exceptionally Rood sports. The number of whom the opposite can be said is so small as to be insignificant. 'The great bulk o ( ' the people do not mind whether the Mayor is a Labour man or not, so long as he does his job and to a. reasonable extent merits flieir confidence, j They treat their Mayor with absolute courtesy and give him every opportunity to make good. The reporter asked the Mayor what liis experience had boon in regard U> calls upon bis purse and whether lie managed to save anything for himself out of his honorarium of C-ltld a year. “It has been suggested to me." re plied Mr Archer, “that the Mayor's honorarium must seem somewhat luxurious to the average Labour man who, as is well-known, lias a limited income. As a matter of fart., the dumber of calls upon the Mayor's purse is so large that lie is very lucky if he comes out at the end of the year without a considerable debit balance." When asked for his impressions of the social duties a Mayor was called upon to perform, Mr Archer said that one of the most enjoyable aspects o p his position as Mayor was the close contact which he necessarily got with all classes of the community, not onlv those residing in the city but visitors from every part of the Dominion and many part's of the world. Some of the latter were very distinguishable people. He had discovered that there was a good deal of human nature in them all and that even among political opponents, • views which seemed to him to he wholly mistaken, were often held with absolute sincerity. Consequently lie remarked, the conclusion is forced upon me that in regard to economics and politics, we of the Labour Party, must go in for a policy of education along progressive lines. Undoubtedly self interest is one of the snags into which we are always running. but deeper tlian that, is the misunderstanding. Political opinions which Appear to ns to he more or less monstrous are regarded by quite a lot of our opponents as based upon absolutely sound political principles. Mr Archer has no complaints to make regarding his treatment by v.lie public since his election to the Mayoralty. It had been suggested, he said, that on two or three occasions, he hud not been invited to attend functions because be was a Labour Mayor, but lie was not quite prepared lo sum scribe to that view himself. Tic thought that, probably there were other reasons which led to him being overlooked. “On every possible occasion, so far as my actual experience goes,” lie remarked, “I have been treated with the utmost consideration and courtesy, indeed it has oil more than one occasion been a surprise to me to find how completely political differences have been ignored. The same applies to the fact, of my ) being a Minister instead of a layman This, as far as I know, has not closed anv doors against me, or reduced by the smallest amount, the cordiality with which t have been welcomed bv people who have no connection -villi the Churches. Questioned as to whether bis political views had undergone any change in consequence of his period of office ns Mayor of the City, Mr Archer made the following reply: “As a Labour Mayor. ] have, as I promised at the commencement, been absolutely ioval to by Labour convictions, and while T ha\j tried to treat all sections of the community with absolute impartiality, I have not found my enthusiasm for t u Labour cause or Labour principles weakening in the slightest degree. I still most firmly believe that in our view of things is lo be found tin- onlv possible solution of all our social and economic troubles.”