A HINT FOR POLITICIANS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11538, 24 November 1900, Page 2 (Supplement)

A HINT FOR POLITICIANS.

It seems to be no bad thing for candidates to be on familiar terms with their constituents. Just before the election Mr. Chas. Shaw, the member for Stafford, said to a fellow-member of the House of Commons, "I think I'm all right. Not long ago I was driving my horse through Stafford, and thought I would look in at a football match that was going on. A workingman came up and said, 'Hullo, Charlie, glad to see you here.' A man who is called ' Charlie,'" Mr. Shaw went on, " must be on good terms with his constituents." And so it has turned out. The Stafford people increased his majority from 12 in 1895 to 105.

The Nuneaton Division was placarded with " Vote for Frank," the gentleman thus dealt with being Mr. Francis A. Newdigate, who sat in two Parliaments. On his first appearance in the political field, a Liberal opponent paternally alluded to him as "Master Frank;" the sobriquet was accepted by the candidate himself and his supporters, and the familiar term has stood Mr. Newdigate well in his three contests. They have again returned him to the House of Commons. Perhaps there is a moral to be drawn from these cases which austere candidates would do well not to neglect.