THE SECRET OF SUCCESS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19441, 29 October 1925, Page 6

THE SECRET OF SUCCESS.

What is the secret of the wonderful success that Mr. Coates is enjoying as he tours the Dominion? He has never professed to own the gifts of the orator, and even now he cannot claim to have learned any of the tricks of rhetoric. Yet his speeches have appealed most strongly to audiences in the far North and the farthest South and his personality has impressed itself upon all who have seen and heard him. What, then, is the secret of his success? We make bold to say that it is no secret at all. Mr. Coates has something to say. and he says it clearly and effectively. Those who have listened to the Prime Minister have found that he is a man who means what he says, and who does not weigh and calculate the vote-value of hedging here and qualifying there, and evading somewhere else. He has broken most of the rules of the orthodox politician, and he has discovered that the public like it. And it would have been surprising if the public had not liked a Prime Minister clear, straightforward, earnest, and downright, and very conspicuously a representative New Zealander.

Mr. Beckett aptly remarked at Marton last evening that the railway workers say that Mr. Coates is a man and the soldiers say the same thing. His “digger” friends swear by Mr. Coates, and the man who can command their loyal support possesses qualifications which will win him friendship in the battle of polities. It is public knowledge also that all over the Dominion there are Opposition candidates who, whatever they may say of the Reform Party, are willing to risk appearing absurd and inconsistent by declaring that they are perfectly ready, anyway, to accept Mr. Coates as their leader.

In his tour Mr. Coates has addressed large meetings in the cities and small gatherings in minor towns or by the wayside. He has delivered important policy speeches at chance and Informal gatherings. The net result has been that he ha s won hosts of new friends for himself as Prime Minister and for the party he leads, has cleared away many misunderstandings, and done much for the strengthening of a public opinion already strong and healthy. Mr. Coates has had this remarkable success without the aid of anything resembling equivocation or compromise. He has not wavered in his insistence upon the fact that Reform is the only possible alternative to Labour, and he has emphasised the point that pledged Reformers, not half-hearted Nationalists, or Independents, or Fusionists, must be returned if he is to carry on the work of good government. Unquestionably the Prime Minister has done splendid work in the election campaign. He should be given his reward next Wednesday—the reward of honesty and sincerity and fair dealing. Every voter who believes in New Zealand and desires its progress and development should vote Reform. Mr. Coates, as Mr. Bignell said at Marton yesterday, can do great things for the country. The electors will do well to take Mr. Bignell’s advice and give him the opportunity.