SOUTH SEAS LULLABY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 266, 4 July 1932, Page 4

SOUTH SEAS LULLABY

Undoubtedly the , policy o f "putting a good face on it" has a great deal to commend it, and one of the latest apostles of the gentle art appears to be the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates. In the past, the New Zealand electors haye had proofs of Mr. Coates' undoubted ability in this direction, but of late months his enthusiasm appeared to have wilted a little. Apparently, however, it required only the tang of the salt sea breezes and the exotic atmosphere of a tropic shore to restore the quicksilver of his optimism to its pristine brightness. In New Zealand, Mr. Coates was more than a little tinged with the gloom which has envelopec some other of his Ministerial colleagues, but in the balmy South Seas climate^ like many other travellers, he has expanded in the sunshine. Reading the report of his Suva interview publishec on Saturday, New Zealanders will take new heart, and perhaps show a more just appreciation of their good fortune, viewec from the perspective of an Ot-tawa-bound traveller. "Mr. ' \

Coates stated," reported the interviewer, "that when it was ■first suggested that single unemployed men should work for 10s a week, plus rations, the proposals were greeted with derision. Latterly the men eoncerned realised the facts, and the day he left Auckland 150 young men entered the working camp on these terms. Already many other camps had been working satisfactorily. This was a particularly encouraging feature, indicating that the men were showing the right spirit. In fact, the relief workers were shovelling an equal yardage of material on road-making and draining works to the ordinary conditions." And then again: "The former wages and working conditions had ne~ cessarily been modified until the Dominion returned to normal, but everywhere there was a spirit of willingness to share the sacrifices. This single-minded-ness throughout the country was the happiest augury for rehabilitation." We confess that this "single-mindedness" and con.tented enthusiasm on the part of the unemployed had not been quite so evident to us during the past few months, as it has apparently become to Mr. Coates upon landing at Suva. But it may be that this prophet in Israel, too, found no honour in his own country and that distahce lends enchantment to the view.