BUILDING AND DESTROYING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 13 November 1928, Page 3

BUILDING AND DESTROYING

j (To the Editor) Sir.—l have at I ended several of -Mr Atmorc's meetings and have been particularly struck with his scathing condemnation of the Coates administration. This has caused me. to do- a little research work with rather stall ling results. In 1911 Ah- Almon! delivered an election address at the Theatre Royal, and his attack was delivered even, more strongly against, the then administration which \\as headed by no less a* person than Sir Joseph Ward. It is interesting in note that to-day "'Sir Joseph Ward is the greatest statesman in Australasia, and the only man in the dominion who is capable, of handling the finances of ♦his-country." Now. Sir, many thinkers believe that the one outstanding piece of statesmanship in Sir Joseph's political life, and the. one that wjll stamp him as a- statesman in Hie eyes of posterity, was the gift to'.the nation of a fully equipped dreadnought at a very critical period in the Empire's history. Mr Atmore at the Theatre Royal in 1911 says: ''Surely the gift of the dreadnought was a'grave blunder and gives rise to an intolerable situation." Surely there is food for thought here. At the same meeting speaking of Sir Joseph's customs tariff he, says: "This is the most iniquitous form of taxation." Today Sir Joseph's finance is faultle'ss, his statesmanship supreme. Mr Atmore is surely a master at destructive criticism. If you furnish the most ill-trained workman in 1 lie i world with an axe, and a crowbar he can destroy the noblest edifice, but it takes a first-class architect and a master craftsman to build thai edifice. Has .Mr Atmore ever built anything?—] am, etc. PATHFINDER. Nelson, 12th November.