"NOT TOO DUSTY"

NZ Truth, Issue 1126, 30 June 1927, Page 4

"NOT TOO DUSTY"

THE little man with the big elec *J*" ate might very -well describe Thomas William Rhodes, > VW<» member for Thames, for the &6undA»«s are extensive and many parts ;oi _alB constituency are among the loneliest and most rugged m the Dominion. "Dusty," as T.W.R. is generally called, has all the tenacity of a terrier, and though he entered the House as; a Liberal and a freeholder m 1911, bo still retains his seat — but on the overloaded benches of so-called ReformProbably he believes m that- wis® adage that it is only those who have no mind, to change who never change it. Commencing his career as a journalist, "Dusty" founded the. Coromanflel paper, locally known as the "Buster," m the more wild and woolly times "Of the eighties, when the veneer -was thinner than it is to-day and a- man was a man even if he had a few tollman weaknesses. ..■". , Prohibition's wail was then a thing unheard of m the shadow of the rocky, gold-bearing mountains of .the- Coromandel Peninsula. :''-/".'. If ever "Dusty" Rhodes does become reminiscent, it would be a safe bet that he could tell some hair-raising- stories of those hectic days -of old. One thing which can neVer be laid to his. charge is that of setting the Thames on fire with his oratory.