ART UNIONS.
FOR PUBLIC PURPOSES. MR COATES'S FIRM REFUSAL. (From Our Own - orrfspondfnt.) AUCKLAND, J—e 3. The Prime Minister has twice recently expressed his strong opposition to tho principle of raising money for public purposes by means of monster art unions. M hen suggestion of this kind was put before him by a -deputation in his own district. Mr Coates Spoke with no uncertainty. “\Vhat is New Zealand coming to that we should resort to an art union to raise funds for public purposes?” he asked. ' What are we bringing our children up to? Are we going to bring them up in an atmosphere of gambling? We shall not if I can help it. It is not worthy of us. Where is our manhood and where is that sturdy spirit of independence that we should try to get somebody else to pay for what we should pay for ourselves? That is all it is. You give a big prize in the hope that you will get a lot of money in to pay for something which you will nut pay for yourself. if is not'British. There is this to be consideied also—either the proposed works are a necessity or they are nut. If they are necessary then the money must be found in the proper way. If they are not necessary then wa should not undertake them.” The New Zealand Herald. in endorsing Air Coates’s declaration, says: The long time during which art unions, organised for anv and every type of objective, have flourished has strained t\? spirit of easy tolerance which exists in this country to the breaking-point. Now the bounds of reason have been so far passed that there will be general approval of the stand Mr Coates has taken. Somebody was due to say that this system of raising money by lotteries—usually very thinly disguised—must stop. He has said it, and in such terms that he could not go back on them if he wished to do so. Even if the absolute plethora of these gambling schemes had not condemned them, the proposal to extend their scope to roadmaking and drainage works would have made the farcical nature of the situation plain.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW19260608.2.117
Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 3769, 8 June 1926, Page 35
Word Count
365ART UNIONS. Otago Witness, Issue 3769, 8 June 1926, Page 35
Using This Item
Allied Press Ltd is the copyright owner for the Otago Witness. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons New Zealand BY-NC-SA licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Allied Press Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in