Political Broadcasts

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19455, 14 October 1937, Page 9

Political Broadcasts

Sir,—As a nom-de-plume, “Impartial” certainly is a misnomer for the writer signing himself thus. He says the speeches of the Government members come over the air uninterrupted; those of the Opposition punctuated with interruptions every second minute. It all depends on the state of mind of the listener. A biassed Opposition supporter thinks as above and a biassed Labour supporter exactly the opposite, whereas the true facts are that on both sides of the House speakers are subject to interjections. I would ask “Impartial” did he hear any more interruptions or as many in the speech of Mr. Hamilton as in that of Mr. Savage in reply? And the same of Mr. Cobbe’s speech? The other evening at times it was almost an impossibility to hear Mr. Hodgens speak and several times members were called to order. Mr. Smith’s voice was particularly noticeable and yet when he followed on he could be heard very distinctly above any interjections, although he resorted to his usual trick of complaining into the microphone. If one is conversant with the voices of members the man interjectors can usually be picked. From the National Party the most frequent interjectors are Mr. Smith and Mr. Poison, these two Dossibly holding first place in the House, then follow Messrs. Bodkin, Holland, Endean, Coates, and occasionally Mr. Hamilton and others. During the first session Sir Alfred Ransom was fairly prominent, especially with his "Bunkum.” It must be admitted by anyone who has been often to Parliamentary debates that almost always there is a good deal of interjection from all sides of the House and “Impartial" should remember that Labour members outnumber the Opposition by three to one, so if all members, irrespective of party, interjected equally the weight of numbers would not sound too well for the Labour Party. If “Impartial” would glance through the pages of Hansard he will find equally as many, if not more interjections in proportion from the Nationalists as from the Labour Party. —Yours, etc., UNBIASSED.