NEWS FROM CAPITAL

Taranaki Daily News, 9 December 1926, Page 11

NEWS FROM CAPITAL

PRIME MINISTER’S DOINGS CRITICS TAKE EXCEPTION TO JEST YOUNG TEACHING THE OLD. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Dec. 7. The anonymous correspondent who writes to the New Zealand -Times this morning complaining of the angle at which the Prime Minister wears his hat when he takes his walks abroad in London does not represent any great volume of public opinion. Even the gossip of the street ifi ready enough to overlook tjie idiosyncrasies of youth and to wait for the development of the dignity of age. There is a feeling, however, even among Mr. Coates’ personal friends and political admirers that the cable agents have not been particularly happy in the fragments of the Prime Minister’s speeches they have selected for transmission to the Dominion. This country’s representative was not expected to take any prominent part, in the discussions of the Imperial Conference. He went Home, as he explained himself, as a listener rather than as a speaker, and his maintenance of this role was entirely to his credit. But the Conference over and the restraints of responsibility removed he appears to have allowed his tongue to run riot around all sorts of subjects that required to be handled with the utmost diplomacy. This, at any rate, is the feeling of business men and politicians here who think the time has not yet arrived for the Dominion to be lecturing the Mother Country.

YOUTH TO AGE

The fragments of Mr. Coates’ speeches which have been cabled from London certainly do not suggest the diffidence and tact of the accomplished ambassador. Following the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth in the speechmaking associated with their reception of the freedom of Kidderminster last week, Mr. Coates took upon himsetf to lecture a body of the astutest business men to bo found in the United Kingdo in “Is your machinery as modern as it might‘be?” he asked them. “With your wealth, machinery, and knowledge extending over many generations, arc 'you getting adequate returns, or aie others getting ahead of you? Yon must have an adequate selling organisation. My advice to you is to do all you can to see the market* taking your goods. Then advising another company ot business men at Worcester the Prime Minister after telling his hosts that “Britain ought to feel very pleased that ehe had been admitted into the Empire,” proceeded to draw comparison which they easily might regard as “odious.” “New Zealanders,” he declared, “are far more British thap the people here, where I have seen ‘God Save the King’ sung with three people sitting. They would not tolerate that in New Zealand. for very good and sufficient reasons.” This, his critics say, is a com pliment to the Dominion Jlr. Coate* should have left spine one flse to frame. A TOLERANT EMPIRE. The Post, which lacks neither in dif fidenee nor in tact, thinks it necessaiy to nxke it that Mr. Coates was joking when he spoke of the Mother Country being lucky to obtain admission to the Empire. “In truth,” it says, “the speeehec of the Canadian and South African spokesmen at least would not have been out of place if Britain had been suing for admission to this union of free and self-sufficient nations. Nor would greater humility have been demanded from a suppliant for favour than was evinced in the unfailing courtesy of the British Minister. It appeared that the daughter nations had everything to offer and Britain everything to gain. Let us suppose for one moment that the negotiations had really been between free nations for an alliance. What would the younger and weaker have had to offer for the protection and favour of the stronger? What would Canada and South Africa, or even Australia and New Zealand, have offered for Britain’s naval power? What would any of them have offered for the free British market? Sir George Elliott asked recently what would tie the result if Britain adopted a protective policy. Consideration of such questions as these gives point to Mr. Coates' jocular remark. It is fortunate indeed for the Empire that Britain can see the J:,\e.” The good old Mother Country has been doing that sort of thing for many a long year. "MR COATES MAKES GOOD.”

Under this heading the Dominion this morning published extracts from a letter written by Mr. Len. McKenzie, an exmember of the Wellington City Council, in which praise is given to both the Prime Minister and the new High Commissioner. Mr. McKenzie has not been a political supporter of these gentlemen, and as a set-off against any criticism that has been levelled against them bis appreciations very well may be quoted. “We are baek in London for the New Zealand reception of Mr. Coates, which was a great success,” he writes. “Mr. Coates is making good here, and has been invited to appear at the London Rotary Club and the broadcasting station. He made a very favourable impression in his speech at the Guild Hall, which was broadcast everywhere, and met with favourable comment. Broadcasting is on a very large scale here, almost in every home throughout England. Sir Janies Parr has started well, and New Zealanders pronounce him a success. He is already making some needed improvements in the office, and the addition of some more New Zealanders to convey much sought after information would help considerably.” It was in his speech at the Guild Hall, which, as Mr. McKenzie says, was broadcast everywhere, that Mr. Coates told the world at large that New Zealand was reducing its public debt year by year, fit these improvident times, it is little wonder the statement made a very favourable iinpres-