Chafed Under Party Fetters

NZ Truth, Issue 1145, 10 November 1927, Page 6

Chafed Under Party Fetters

THE province of Taranaki is renowned for more than butterfat and delightful roads. Some 20 years ago it knew some wonderful exponents of the national game of Rugby. W. S. Glenn, now a staid member of Parliament, was one of that brilliant company. He is one of the original All Blacks of 1905. Extraordinary, of course, that m the cow province, where" the young idea is reputed merely to step from cradle to byre, there should be any surplus energy for the national game. A remarkable example, m truth, of the abounding vitality of the dweller on the land. Billie Glenn is a West Coaster by birth, but Taranaki reared him. A lanky schoolboy, he may have crept, like the proverbial schoolboy, unwillingly to school; but he was all jife and action on the village football green. From representative of his province he became a member of a New Zealand team. The dazzling heights were reached when he was selected as a real All Black m Gallagher's famous team. ' Most unkindly did he later forsake the butterfat province for a bush farm m the Wanganui district. Not exactly, however, did he lapse into obscurity m the wild reaches, for he became a member of the Wanganui County Council. A mere futility is it to try and surmise why a man should adopt politics as a hobby rather than some occult science. Perhaps, Billio Glenn's fleeting period as a stock auctioneer gave him more than a vivid insight into the mystery and power of mere talk. Fixing his eye on the goal of Parliament, he has on three occasions landed the ball fairly between the posts. The lato W. F. Massey was rather proud of the All Black acquisition to his party. He made Glenn his junior ,whip. f i The implied agreement of a whip with all Government measures has quite recently chafed his. independent spirit. From his point of view, a quite ludicrous and benumbing situation — to be m disagreement with a measure and yet be obliged to whip other reluctant ones into line. The insignia of office has been transferred to other hands, while Billie now speaks his mind. A politician of • moderate likes and dislikes, he made no secret of his intense aversion ti the passage of the enactment that is to enable city dwellers to play and bask m summer sunshine while the farmer toils on from daylight to dark. But even his athletic shoulders could not hold the position indefinitely against the Summer-time host. Broad-minded politician, man of the world and follower of sport, Billie Glenn can fairly be regarded as a representative of sound and virile outlook, with a most searching regard, nevertheless, for the welfare of the hornyhanded tiller of the soil.