THOSE LIONS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 650, 30 April 1929, Page 9

THOSE LIONS

Bible Quotations and Electioneering MR. LONDON'S LIVELY MEETING “Tom Blood-worth appears to have a fondness for the title ‘Daniel. L Tom -wants to be Daniel he should remember Daniel was given to the lions and not even the lions could stand him. When Tom, metaphorically speaking, goes to all you lions on Wednesday, he will find tne lions will reject him just as they rejected that other Daniel.” Thus Mr. J. R. Lundou, who gave an address in the Town Hall Concert Chamber last evening. It was the second instalment of a stern indictment of the outgoing City Council, the first instalment of which was given on the previous Monday evening. Mr. W. H. Murray presided and the hall was packed to the doors. Mr. Lundon was in good voice, and in a stirring address, sprinkled with Biblical names and quotations, he declared war on the present administration. “Mene, mene, tekel upharsin,” quoted Mr. Lundon. “Thy kingdom is divided and is given to the Medes and Persians. The writing on the wall. Well, Belshazzar Baildons kingdom has been divided, too. “Tom Bloodworth says, ‘I am Daniel. I am the man who frightened Belshazzar.’ ’’ continued the speaker. "Personally, I enjoy a chat with Tom | —because he is such au extraordinary | man. And, of course, Tom hates a chat with me—because he's frightened of what I might get out of him.” Mr. Lundou grew confidential and told his audience he had been nursing his family, who were down with the ’flu. APATHY EVERYWHERE "Citizens of the greatest city in the Dominion,” said the candidate, warm ing up to business, "there is apathy written all over the city. It is hard to arouse public interest to a sense of responsibility—and candidates to a sense of decency.” Referring to rumouvs which he alleged had been circulated about his former-connection with the legal profession, Mr. Lundon gave them the lie direct and offered to give any man who stated otherwise "all he wanted on the platform.” Then he proceeded to produce proofs to uphold his statement, his speech drawing sympathetic applause from his listeners. “I do what I set out to do pretty effectively,” he declared later. “And

I'll do the job of cleaning up the City Council pretty effectively, too! “Can any man say anything against, me?” he demanded fiercely. “Yes,” was the prompt reply of a man in the front seats. “Well, say it now/’ said the date. who seemed somewhat taken aback. “When you were farming at Hamilton/’ said the interjector impressively, standing up and wagging his finger at Mr. Lundon, “you and your wife went away to the races for a two days’ holiday and left the cows to have a holiday, too.” The audience shrieked with jmt ajjo the candidate's reply was lost ki din. Several times the candidate referred to union secretaries as “bloodsuckers and save Labour a severe trouncing for what he alleged to be “twisting ’ methods. Strong Labour supporters gave vent to their feelings by and requesting the speaker to * shut, up.” The candidate referred to the ftev. Jasper Calder as one of his gbdd friends and the whitest man in Auckland. “Did you sleep with him iu the Do. main that night?” asked a listener* Fresh laughter followed. “Look at these!” said the candidate, waving a page of newspaper advertisements. “Vote for so and so. Here they give you their little histories and declare their intention to stand for truth and righteousness. Here is one man who gives the fact that he is a member of the Ponsonby Cruising Club as a reason why he should he elected to the council. What on earth has that to do with it?” LEGAL SERVICES FREE Later, a man objected to the speaker speaking slightingly of the P.P.A, “Here, now, I want to have a say/’ he demanded. “Sit down and behave yourself/* said Mr. Lundon. “I won’t,” said the man. Wordy warfare developed between Mr. Lundon and the interruptor. The chairman ordered the interjector to sit down, which he eventually did. The hall was in an uproar. At question time a tramwayman got up and objected to Mr. Lundon rereferring to union secretaries as “bloodsuckers.” “Isn’t it a fact that you offered yourself as secretary of the Tramwaymen’s Union a little while ago?” he wanted to know. The candidate said he had been offered the job, but would not take it. “You offered your services at £8 a week to the union,” insisted the questioner. “You said you would give all legal advice free.” “Don’t be silly,” said' Mr. Lundon, sitting down, amid an uproar. Confidence was expressed in the candidate and the meeting broke op about 11.30.