MAN AT HEAD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23009, 9 April 1938, Page 17

MAN AT HEAD

LABOUR GOVERNMENT - !#•. $ AUSTRALIAN'S SKETCH » ' V' : IMPRESSIONS OF MR. SAVAGE "WELL PLACED AS LEADER" No. 11. : i BT SIB HABBY GULLETT, M.H.B. "Surely there is something more to be done than to produce what appears to be a favourable balance-sheet . . » It is not merely a question of pounds, shillings and pence; it is- a question,.of dealing with humanity and making the best possible use of a fertile country." —Mr. Savage, Prime Minister. "Wherever one goes in New Zealand one is told by those opposed to the Savage Administration Savage is but a figurehead and a pleasant nonenitv. He is, they declare, df little or no influence in thei Cabinet, and that one day he will step down in favour of Mr. Nash or Mr. Peter Frasor, Minister of Education. My impression of Mr. Savage, however, in the course of an hour which he generously gave me, was different. He may not be a great man; he may not have a wide range or a deep background of culture. But he certainly is an entity, and is singularly well placed as leader of the first Labour Government in New Zealand. He is so agreeable in appearance, and he outlines; revolutionary things in tones so he is calculated to frighten nobody. " Mildest Mannered Man " But the Government of which Mr. Savage is Prime Minister has already done many things which have disturbed the orthodox political and economio thinker and affrighted those associated with vested interests.- But when you sit opposite Mr. Savage and he talks to you in a gentle voice and looks at you with eyes that twinkle with good humour and benevolence, and when you observe the mouth with iig upturned corners, expressing courage and cheerfulness, you find it hard to believe that this man could be associated with a policy containing anything in the least} harmful to New Zealand and New Zealanders. Here, you think, is to a certainty the mildest-mannered man who ever upended a ship, stripped it of its barnacles, and repainted it in fanciful new colours from keel to funnel. For that is about what Mr. Savage has done to New Zealand. Whether the colours will last is another matter. Douglas Credit He will perhaps deny that he intends completely to set up a socialistic state in New Zealand, but he frankly admits

his obligation to anything in Socialism which appeals to him as proper for adoption. He is not an avowed advocate of Douglas Credit, but he asks, " What are the Douglas Credit organisations trying to do? They are trying-to get for the people the things that the people are capable of producing. Well, who has a better right to the things that the people are producing than the people themselves? . . . There can be no difference of opinion about this that, unless the buying power of the people is enough to equate the value of their production we shall never get out of the mudhole which Government created for this Country." Mr. Savage has an attractive' Simplicity and directness. He declares! in referring to the 40-hour week, that ha knows of no way in which the people can get the benefit of improved machinery and of science other than by. the shortening of hours and the raising of incomes. More Than Mere Words

These and similar statements which" fall frequently from the Prime Minister's lips in conversation, in Parlia- | ment and into the microphone, are familiar enough the world over: But the difference between Mr. Savage and -, the other reformers of modern civilisation is that he has already,; to a greater extent than elsewhere in the British Empire and over nearly all de- \ mocracies of the world, put many of - the principles underlying them\ into practice. Many of the steps taken have been crude and may be described even as violent, many have been taken too hurriedly and completely, but, coming from this genial, homely New Zealand leader who would pass for 10 years less than his age of 65, they appear almost innocent and harmless. The New Zealand Labour Government is fortunate in its Prime Minister. Compared with him our own gentle-seeming Mr. Lyons appears almost a Mephistopheles. There is, too, in Mr, Savage, I venture to say, far more astuteness and downright cunning as the manager of a great majority party, than he is generally credited with. We know how stormy and plain is the speech of many Australian Labour caucuses, but one cannot imagine that even in the wildest uproar the extremest of the extreme could be rude to Mr. Savage. The; Benalla Lad This kindly man who in the course of two years has brought into being so much machinery calculated, in his own mind and that of his parly, to distribute the country's production fairly among its producers, has come through a hard personal school. Those who are opposed to Labour in New Zealand charge Australian visitors with the fact that Mr. Savage and four of his colleagues are migrants from the Commonwealth. With unconcealed pride, Mr, Savage told me that his first job as a growing lad was in a general store at Benalla. In the collapse of .the early 'nineties he found himself carrying his swag—his sole asset —northward into Riverina, where he came to rest as a general station hand at North Yanco, which was afterward the property of Sir Samuel McCaughey. . * Here, engaged in fencing and other bush work, he remained for some years prior to setting out for New Zealand. There he filled diverse jobs until some 18 years ago, when he was elected to Parliament. His opponents repeatedly told me that he at one time worked in a brewery, but is it. a greater offence in the eyes of God to work for wages in a brewery than to draw dividends from a big parcel of brewery shares? Charity is not hred in party politics. Back to the People ;y' The Government could have had another two years to run, but has announced its decision of going to the country not later than November next. New Zealand is not, of course, made up of electors at all likely to return a Labour Government unless under very special circumstances. Secondary industries are very limited. The farmers' vote was always dominant prior to the return of Labour in 1935, and it is safely entrenched behind a. quota system which, as in Victoria, is most, partial to the country electors. The problem now before the Government is so to shape its legislation and administration within the next six or seven month?, as to hold the rural vote. v -