"BILL'S UMBRELLA"

NZ Truth, Issue 968, 18 October 1924, Page 5

"BILL'S UMBRELLA"

Is It a Safe Shelter? ."Looker-On" replies to a contributed article m last week's "Truth": The pathetic appeal from a contributor who is obviously suffering from a political deformity is not likely to meet Avith much response from the Liberal — Labor benches or the barrackers behind t,hem. The sad song to "Come Underneath Old Bill's Umbrella" will fall on deaf or derisive ears, because the Massey mushroom is m such a sorry mess and leaking so badly, that anyone who wants, to get m out of the wet is looking for safer shelter elsewhere. Some are seeking it un-der the pale pink parasol which shades the queer conglomeration of Communists >and Commercialists clustered v around Harry Holland, while others are sticking to the staunch shelter against the enemy elements held aloft by Tom Wilford. For the Reform fungus has far too many Fat men under it to allow room for the Plain People. Gazing at Bill's brolly one feels sorry for him: It's gone a million and can never be "recovered." In fact the Massey mushroom reminds •one of Swinburne's vivid lines: "Puts its foul foliage out above thee, And 'neath it feed man-eating beasts Because ; of whom we dare not love thee." And for eleven years too long the Reform umbrella has shaded and sheltered those who prey on the people's necessities and obstruct the progress of Democracy. It has always protected the monoplist, the exploiter, and the profiteer, and when Big Business invites the simple citizen to share his shelter the plain • person naturally wants to know what's gone wrong with it. . The man-in-the-street, or the struggling settler on the land, who has a home and family and creditors to think of, thinks twice before sharing a dubious cover with his natural enemies, where he is more likely to get all the drips clown the back of his neck than protection from wet feet. That's why so many who sought shelter there at the last two elections have ducked v out of it before the deluge. Wouldn't a man be a rabbit to look for cover m a hole inhabited by stoats and weasels? Because a few half^pie Liberal members rush for Reform protection to save their political skins it doesn't mean that the masses must join Massey. Such political treachery is more likely to chase decent citizens m the opposite direction. No; Bill'/) brolly may be big enough, but the crowd under 'now are too big m the girth for the common people.