A SIMPLE ISSUE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 281, 30 November 1935, Page 8

A SIMPLE ISSUE

LABOUR'S GREAT VICTORY JOHN CITIZEN’S OUTLOOK XTI’EAL rVH .'AXE I HOI“H i •• ••’terday like a man wbo'd been hit \er the hend. He was dazed. •‘Whew.’’ he said to himseli. *"l m pad I didn’t stand.” The scene when h»’ •ullc« ted h.s. • Chronicle ’’ on the morning just ait ■ he election was still very vivid. After getting the paper he had slipped inside •nd then peeped out to see Mrs. > Shannessy, who live* next door, cor rering the milkman. John c« uld <ee ■ er lips moving, see her hand banging down on the verandah rail, could see the mute milkman nodding. Althoug • he could not hear the actual word.-. John knew to a •omnia what she was a ing. Mr-. O*l?hanness\ wa> telling tin* milkman that she’d voted Labour, had always supported Labour, and rtlwavs would. But John knew that it would have been just the same if the Nationalists had won. She would have Hee i telling the milkman that honest “eo.ge Forbes and energetic Gordo.: < oates were her greatest friends. And if th? Democrats had won she won I-1 ba»e been telling not only the milk man, but the world: “Mr. Hislop was jut t the man. He had su«-h a nice voi -? •»ver the wireless.” Mis. O*fe»hannesv.* was always on the winning side—j i t niter the election. John heard the town • lo> k MiiL.-. I'nat. at any rale, was still workii g it the same old way. lie heard a train whistle. At least they were going all fight. A tram drove past. It mail? iust the same row as all trams make. ■ nd the motoiman va> hi> usual plea;r.g > If. The day wa> bright ami • iieerful. !•»•». John moved on down th:on n . The tire brigade «hap« were ■•inre, polishing up the bra-.- on the engines and cleaning windows. Further dnwi. the banks w ere open and people were moving along in the same »*’i normal way. True, there were little i ots of peonle throwing «»ut their bests and discussing the future of Xew Zealand as if they knew all there was to know about governing th? John heard the little -craps of conversation: •What will happen f . “How will they do that .v* -What 1 can’t understand ' Wasn't i» a great lanlH- arg the Ma • of the city, ist to see how he w:»> taking it. that von. Bill?” “You’re still Bill Roger- aren’t ▼ou?” John asked. A laugh came back ‘’ • M course. But why.’” •*F just wondered.” John proceeded. ■’You’re not Lord Rogers vet’” Another heartv laugh. '‘That might •me some day.” Mr. Rogers replied. •‘And rou "re not Nir William Rogers? • ‘ •‘Not like! ” the voice over the wire replied. ""Still the same you as before—just Bill Rogers.” John was satisfied, lie hung the .«. river up. knowing full well that Jo** • otterill would be just the same, and most of the Labour members, too. It had certainly been a great landslide, disconcerting in its sweeping effect, but perhaps not so difficult to understand. Now that it was over John wanted ! > know, like everybody else, what the result would be. He asked the propri ■ tress of his favourite lea shop. “I might have to buy taxi rides with pies.’’ she said laughingly. That John off on a new train of thought. He supposed he might use his sweet .-ms as a means of getting taxi rides, or anything he wanted. That led him to calculate just how many sweet peahis favourite publican would want for a long beer. lie shook himself out of that mood. Pies for taxi rides find sweet peas for beer were problems he could very well leave until the Government sorted itself out. He met Air. Percy Tingey, end Air. Tingev was greatly elated. It was a mandate from the people: a clear, concise mandate. Again John ’greed that the man he was talking io was right-it wa« a definite mandate. After tea John strolled along to that

Labourite “..cat o; government” beneath the Friendly windows of the Uanganui Post Office. The man with the ilaming red tie was there, so the man without a tie at all. And the tall dark man was there too. For huweeks they had been arguing as to what was going to happen. Now they knew and John wanted to be near to find out what they thought, lie got it in a nutshell. They were stunned and [pleased at the same time, and anvbodv ‘|<l that frame of mind is a bit'unre- | liable. So John moved on. the words iof the man with the flaming red iibeing the last he heard. They wer,offered in criticism of just what thi I pper House could do and what u couldn t. The opinions of the man with the flaming red tie would fill a book. It w as the tall dark chap wit!, I the glasses John took most notice of e \ e got a Labour Government ' the tall dark man had said when he got a word in edgeways. “The people wanted a Labour Government. Thee were sane when they voted for a Laliour Government. John Citizen asko I them to be sane before they voted an i what i-- there to it! The trains ,-e running, the town clock is striking, in- ' ‘ty going on just the same. If t''e ■ people want a Labour Government let tlmm have It. ami if any of us who didn t want a Labour Government find that it is governing well, isn't tint what we are all wanting?” John was cheered by’ the voice of |the tall dark man. That was the right i way or looking at things. Labour ha.l |nanted to govern, and up to now '.tadn't t..e>, allowed to. If it governed . lightly, and gave the people what thev . wanted, all would be well, provided the patety of ihe t-ouriti v was in no Vv , jeonanlLed. John strolled home on |tha thou;!,l. After all it was just j’pe torn 1,1 sane thought. If the Labjour Government suited the bulk of the , jClei-tors and never lost sight of |,o« [ n"i'h primary production counted in . the Seheme of things. Labour woti'-l remam in power and would do good. ‘Labour was on trial and it was just , |>«ueii bad sportsmanship to erv the new ..Government down before it was tried Talking of buying taxi rides with pies' ler pints of beer with sweet peas w-ic . -id- issue., compared with the sound . I• omrnoi, sense view—New Zealand had y anted a Labour Government and an -- . j thing John < ould do to see Labour . |goiern nell he would do. and that did not mean changing his alreadv sa:m . loinlook on life—and ||f e . so far as he I wa> concerned, was sometimes popu Hated with sm-h obstacles to dear phinking a- U,-. O'shannes.-i. lie studied tmm his s.., ap Book the wor Is of Gladstone in addressing a working- ; ‘ lass audience at West Calder. Mid lothiam in ISS9. Gladstone said: The true test of a man. of a class land rhe true lest of a people .is power, ill is a small thing for a man t» be good so long as he has not power. So ‘long as the temptation is kept out of Ibis way. it i< a small thing that, he . jshould be tolerably just in his judg jii.ent-. But it is when power has eomc [into his hands that the trial comes. i\ou will have temptations—you. the working people of this country—when I von have become supreme to such a degree that there is no other power to balance ami counteract the power t which you possess. . . . Ton will have then lo preserve the balance of vour . mind and character. When you have , become stronger than the capitalists, stronger than the peerage, stronger than the landed gentry, stronger th-m tn<* great nierrantjle class, when voi ■ have become in a, sense their po.'itica/l master.-, you will still have before vou one achievement tn fulfil, one glorx : to attain and appropriate to yourselves . —to .-ontinne to be just. J venture to > give that warning for the future." Wise words. John thought!