“FOOLISH PEOPLE”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24424, 9 October 1940, Page 11

“FOOLISH PEOPLE”

TO ITIE EDITOR

Sir,—Under the above heading a letter appeared in your paper on October 4 over the signature of “Brain Storm.” On perusing it one is forcibly reminded cf a remark once made by a Miss Daley, who stated there were always more fools about in the times of war than in the times of peace.*.rEor thafreaso'n-'all such piffle" by correspondents of . the “Brain Storm” type should be treated with contempt. Possibly “Brain Storm” thought the twaddle which he sent to your esteemed paper would amuse his anti-Labour friends. If so, they are welcome to his jokes, and. if amused, all one can say is that they are easily entertained.; “ Brain Storm ” endeavoured to indulge in a cheap sneer by coupling the' name of Dr D. G. McMillan with the escape of several prisoners from the Auckland prison, and the name of Mr D. G. Sullivan with military conscription. He winds up, his nonsensical tirade by stating that he is negotiating for the purchase of a bicycle. One would think that the first trip he makes on the bicycle would be to a doctor to treat him for his brain storm. He must be exceedingly silly if he thinks that Dr McMillan should leave his seat in the Cabinet to assist in the recapture of the escaped prisoners when the department has its officers to attend to such work. For the enlightenment of “Brain Storm” it might be mentioned that New Zealand is a free democracy where the people wield supreme authority through the Government they elect. Under New Zealand’s Labour Government there are not large numbers of our people living in the direst need and under conditions such as prevailed prior to Labour’s el6ction. In October, 1935 and again on October 15, 1938. Labour came to the rescue of the country and the people, and it is indisputable that the courage and prescience of Mr Savage and his stalwart band of Nature's gentlemen saved New Zealand just as Mr Attlee, Mr Morrison, Mr Bevin, Mr Alexander, and 12 ether Labour stalwarts- saved our Mother Country a few weeks ago. It would be hard to say where England and our Empire would now be had the people of Great Britain not exercised their good sense by calling in the Labour Party to manage the Empire during the present crisis. New Zealand Labour won a smashing victory at the polls in 1935, and a knock-out'was administered to the so-

called Nationalist Party on October 15, 1938. At the 1941 election the Labour Government will face the electors with a splendid record of worth-while achievements. It has given the workers a Dominion-wide 40-hour week, increased wage rates, and improved working conditions. Unemployment has been completely eliminated, arbitration has been restored, there is compulsory unionism, standard wage rates and hours have been fixed for farm hands and rural workers, and an allembracing social security scheme has been placed on the Statute Book. New Zealand, under Labour rule, has known m-osperity and stability for the first time in more than a decade, and the people are sincerely appreciative of the benefits which Labour rule has brought.

I have iust read that a visitor to New Zealand stated that he had travelled the world, but had never seen better working men’s homes than those built by the New Zealand Labour Government in connection with its housing scheme. Five thousand a year are being built to very strict specifications, which provide all up-to-date conveniences, and the house occupier is guaranteed against exploitation. If “ Brain Storm ” is capable of contemplating for a brief space the outstanding phenomena of the third decade of the twentieth century, he would have no doubt that the Labour movement alone is in intimate contact with the realities of humanity. The so-called Nationalist and Capitalist Parties try to delude the people. They delude themselves. Their world of plenty is unreal, for poverty afflicts the great bulk of the people throughout the world. Their social order is unreal, for it is carried on by two classes in conflict with each other. Their finance is unreal, for it makes money more valuable than the actual wealth it is supposed merely to represent. and the manipulators of money more powerful than Kings, Presidents and Parliaments. Their industrial system, is unreal, for it condemns whole multitudes to the hell of unemployment. while masses of the population are in desperate need of the things the unemployed could produce. Labour in every country is well aware of all that. And in this country of ours it is perfectly cognisant of the fact that it had to wrest power from the hands of Messrs Coates, Forbes, Hamilton and company before security could be firmly based on the fundamental realities of human nature, for the satisfaction of human needs and aspirations. Mr J. W, Munro was quite correct when he said: “I believe.the Labour movement is the most spiritual movement in the world to-day. Our god is a god of humanity, not a god oi gold.” Surely an irrefutable fact, and one that should not be lost sight of by the workers of New Zealand.—! am, etc,. Anti-jmgo.