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Hokitika Guardian, 9 April 1920, Page 2

Tn a discussion of several contemporary European Labour politicians, Mr Raymond, the well-known public interviewer. in n recent publication, makes some pertinenet observations of tbe future of tbe Labour movement. In Britain, as in Australia, lack of effective leadership seems to lie its ■ great obstacle to success; its members are suspicious of pre-eminence, and <lo not encourage it to emerge. “It is not easy to see bow Labour s to effect much politically as long as it produces merely third-rate intellects, and under its present constitution it stands to l lose any first-class minds it breeds. Ambitious and snpremelv clever men simply will not be treated as me,re binds. . . A t pre'Lnt it cannot I>o said fW. tbe nv enure .intellectual stand in" of its spokesmen .is high. Tt is true, of course, that there are man v Labour members whose natural parts compare quite favourably

with those of the usula rich Radical, and the ordinary run of county, city and suburban Conservatives. But one looks in vain for any commanding figure and, the mediocrity who has never exercised great authority cannot compare with the mediocrity who has grown old in the atmosphere of public business No sensible man ‘fears’ Labour in the sense of wishing to exclude it from its due share in the

government of this country. The nation has need of all the ability and honesty it can command, and it is to the last degree undesirable that a very inclusive electorate should. go with a very exclusive Cabinet. What is really to be feared is the full development of the voting strength of Labour without any proportionate advance in the states manship of its leaders. And it is diffi-

cult to discern much hope of increased stature while the rank and file of Labour continue to show jealousy at any superiority within its own body. ’ That criticism might be applied to the official Labour parties in Australasia without the alteration of a single word.

A gentleman who has visited eveiy nook and corner of the Dominion, has just returned from South Westlandwith a very glowing opinion of the beau- . ties of the' southern district, being specially impressed with the "Wailio Glacier which he considers one of the most re-

markable natural features in New Zealand. The visitor had been in Westland before, but never in the south, and the more he sees, of the district, the more he finds to admire in it. He regards the scenery in the south as specially fine, and deplored the fact that the communication was not better. The visitor travelled by coacli,

and the trip (including a. day on the glacier) occupied five days. He did not begrudge the five days but if a motor servicl© were, available, in the same time he could have spent three lays on the ice, and two would have sufficed for the motor journey. Our visiting friend predicts that with the Coast linked up with the East Coast by rail, there will be a surprising influx

of visitors, and the south will attract a- large percentage of all who come this way, once the novel attractions of the ice region are better known. There i is an urgent need to push on the bridging of the South Westland rivers so that motor traffic can pass too and fro un-

Interrupted toy rising streams. It seems difficult to get the Government to move regarding the south bridges, even though, their officers realise the urgency for the work. T 1 ie matter is one in which the co-operation of the Canterbury Progress League might be sought with advantage to hack up local demands for the speedy prosecution of the works required.