The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1911. POLITICS—AND THE DRAMA.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 21 November 1911, Page 2

The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1911. POLITICS—AND THE DRAMA.

Politics wore regarded, for many years, as a tiling apart from all others, hut in these days all that sort of tradition is being depart-ed from. The change may have been gradual, but our own cognisance of it goes back only nine years, to an evening in Wellington Choral Hall. There an .M.P. who was so lull of emotion and other things that he was unable to speak with continuous coherence finally exclaimed " Oh. hang it; I'll give you a step instead!" Thereupon he stepdanced himself across the footlights and fell among the orchestral stalls, where he sat while the audience drifted out. It was somewhere about this time, that news came from England of how a section of the Unionist Parity paraded the- country in a caravan whieli contained a party of singers and instrumentalists. When the caravan pulled up at a village the cornettist would awaken the echoes with some popular time (possibly "0. won't you come and join us!"); the singers would burst into song for entertainment of the assemblage: and finally the candidate would address words ot wisdom or something resembling them to the people who had come to be entertained. In our country we have seen no peripatetic canavan, but there have heen afternoon teas .md mothers' meetings in Wellington and places nearer home, while at Fox ton and Shannon histrionic interludes have enlivened the meetings of at least one candidate. The Foxt-on Herald, in a leading article- on Mr Byron Brown'.s recent address, puts the position concisely when it says:—

"]\v Brown leaves his opponents far behind as a platform speaker, and believes if he can gather tho people within hearing of his voice that his persuasive eloquence will win for him their support. As a means to this end he combined the art of t>he showman with the astuteness of the politician, and broke the monotony of the orthodox political address here on Tuesday night with some really firstclass elocutionary items. Tin's iw doubt attracted a larger audience than would otherwise have been present. . . . Anyhow, it would bfc ungenerous on our part, before referring to Mr Brown's political speech, to pas^j i over the very excellent Shakesperian and other recitals by the candidate and his talented t daughter. The rendering of the j "Choosing of the Casket ,, from the "Merchant of Venice" was indeed , a masterful interpreta- | tion which gave ample evidence of histrionic talent far above the amateur grade. These items— so far removed from the sphere of politics—won high encomiums ' from the audience." : To the Chronicle the position seems full of developmental posiAbilities. Why need the histrionic portion of the programme merely precede the political address? An amalgam of tho two would be novel and unusual and entertaining; possibly, oven, illuminating. J n our mind's eye we see some future Shelley Smith or Browning Black addressing a meeting of the Whitaani ■or Kereru free and independent electors something to this effect :— "Friends, Romans, citizens, bench loaders, cowpunchers, and turniphokers! lend me your lugs! The present political situation is ominthejnan to save the country is before you. Breathes there a man with soul so dead who never to himself hath said I'll Yo te for JJyron Brown! If such there be, go, mark him well, and quietly his people tell he may be smitten on the "smell" for such sad lack of common! 'Ifo© day and its delights are done^aid^like:» t oomet-taking

fright I view ill® Wardites on the run f\ncl see them more # then* leg aright! Warriors and chiefs, should W»" Moncktonian sword pierce me for mixing up Hamlet and Waid, beed not his accents of ™ou« wrath, vote for 8.8., and. VU tell it in Ga-tlil Oil. distinctly I remember it was in a hot December, and leach loud prospective member told [haw only HE .could mend; but I Jt t0 , y J£' people, I'M the apes of the | steeple: other chaps will have to creep a lot to make ME So I ask yon flaxmill fellows if Mi-never-tiring bellows, ami my voice which daily mellows will nol Mll '' your needs the best? Monk an Robin and Broadnero* are as unstable as Shakers, MINE'S the barque to 'void the breakers .hflt 'beset this voters' sea! Bo T ask the wager makers all to put new hats 011 me! Still in your service I'd abide, and still your suffrages 1 crave ; free breakfast tables I'll provide, and modestly myself behave; let those who will protest good fcvitli. many who woo speak honied lies; vrho seeks for truth pursues a wraith, and some who win aro lar from wise! "What sounds Are those that float along the vale? Methinks the crowds are gay! Ho, let me question tlieni! Wherefore rejoice? That Monckton comes triumphant 1 How does lie triumph, pray? Know ye not Byron? Many a time and oft have ye come speeding from your farms—on bil-es, on gigs, on motor ears, and e'en per hoot, to cheer MR nt the hustings or the halls! And do ye now put on your best attire? and do ye now cull out a ballot dav? and do ye cast your votes ior "Caw"—whose way is red with slaughter of your Byron's hop is ? "Run to your dairies, fall upon your knees, and pray your golden calves to 'mit the plagues that else must light on such ingratitude!!