“GOVERNMENT STROKE.”

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3994, 7 September 1929, Page 2

“GOVERNMENT STROKE.”

FROM TWO ANGLES

A member was standing in the vicinity of Parliament Buildings watching a workman. The M.P., on his own statement, stood there for nearly twenty minutes. When he re-entered the building he had a story to tell, something like the following: “I was standing on the steps a little rvhile ago watching one of the workers in the., grounds. I call him a worker hut he wasn’t working at all. He appeared to be just standing about doing nothing. Tt was a fine instance of the ‘Government stroke,’ as it is called. Yet I suppose he will have the cheek to take his full wages at the end of the week.” Later on in the same day another M.P. had a story to tell, and it ran like this: “I was "walking round the grounds to-day and accidentally heard the following: “Bill,” said one man to a fellow-workman, “I saw a funny thing this morning. There was a bloke standing on the steps and I was watching him. He stood on the steps for nearly half an hour doing nothing but looking around. I kept my eyes on him, and bye and bye he walks into the building. It was easy to see'what he was. He was one of the M.P. blokes with nothing to do. I wonder he has the nerve to take his honorarium.”