A VIEW OF POLITICS

Southland Times, Issue 23544, 25 June 1938, Page 9

A VIEW OF POLITICS

To the Editor Sir,—Politicians tell us we should take- a keener interest in politics. I have read all arguments from both sides of the fence, and the more I read the more I wonder just where we are heading. I have discussed politics and political aims with supporters of the different parties who claim to be well-up in the different policies and have come to the conclusion that all is not well. My sincere opinion (and I stand to be corrected) is that New Zealand is governed pretty well by three men, and this is how it comes about. We have a system of compulsory unionism; every worker must be a member of . one or more unions and all of these unions are affiliated to the Federation of Labour which is controlled by Mr McLagan, representing the miners, Mr Roberts representing the watersiders and Mr Walsh from the Seamen’s Union. These are known as the big three and I have not a single doubt in my mind that these three gentlemen are virtually the bosses of New Zealand, and our statesmen are nothing more than puppets firing the balls of a party of glorified union secretaries. You of necessity must read the various letters that appear in your columns, and you will admit that there is a very strong flavour of bolshevism creeping into these. That earthly paradise, Russia, is all too frequently quoted and held up as an example of all that is wonderful and of how a country should be run.- It surprised me to read so many letters lauding Russia coming from Hollyford. If these expressions of opinion are in accord with the ideas of the majority of the residents there, might I suggest that for purposes of attracting tourists there we rename it “Little Russia.” I had some little experience in the 1914-1918 conflict and naturally have taken more than a little interest in defence, but I can never get it out of my mind that we have controlling the affairs of the country several men who during the Great War preferred to do time in. durance vile rather than fight, and who, today, are all too fond of using such expressions as “coward.” I am not suggesting that cowardice was their reason for refusing to fight, but when we read Mr Jordan’s outbursts at Geneva, it is difficult to reconcile them with the attitude of these men when Belgium was being subjected to equally as bad treatment by the Germans. The history of the Australian section of the Cabinet would be interesting. As I remarked previously, I am still open to conviction but I would ask your correspondents who favour the Russian regime to refrain from writing, as I should not go to the trouble of reading their missives. Rather would I refer them to the books I of Bruce Lockhart or other authors on j the Russian revolution, and I would | hate to think of our county going through the same reorganization process as that unhappy country.—Yours, etc., BOY BLUE. June 24, 1938.