EMPIRE GEOGRAPHY FOR POLITICIANS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 300, 10 March 1928, Page 9

EMPIRE GEOGRAPHY FOR POLITICIANS

PUBLIC MEN SHOULD TRAVEL “N.Z. AN EYE-OPENER!” Mr. J. S. Stooke-Vaughan is a • British politician who certainly practices what he preaches. That every candidate for public office should at least make one trip around the Empire, and ascertain what it really means. In his contention. Mr. Stooke-Vaughan, who is a London solicitor and the endorsed Liberal candidate for North St. Pancras, arrived in Auckland yesterday from Wellington, and will sail by the Niagara on Tuesday for Vancouver on his return to England. The reason for Mr. Stooke-Vaughan’s visit to the Dominions is partly for health but mainly to learn for himself the advancement of these outposts of Empire during recent years. “There are men at Westminster/* he says, “who do not even know the geography of the Empire. I think that every aspirant for public honours should be compelled to make at least one tour of the Empire/* It was indeed surprising, declared Mr. Stooke-Vaughan, to find that so much had been accomplished in New Zealand within the comparatively short space of SO years. “It has been an eye-opener to me, and I am convinced that it would be an eye-opener to many in the Homeland who have not visited this part of the world/* he says. ENGLISH POLITICS As for English politics he was convinced that the Liberals would make a much better numerical showing in the next House of Commons than was now the case. Yet their strength in the House was no indication of the vote in the country. The Liberals, on a basis of proportional representation, would have been entitled to a much bigger elected representation. As for election prospects? Mr. Stooksi-Vaughan thought that Mr. Baldwin would go to the country this year. Against that, however, was the contention that it would be quite impossible to complete the Government’s legislative programme, particularly the provision of additional votes for women in the next 12 months. Mr. Stooke-Vaughan was not particularly elated with Mrs. Walter Runicman’s win in Cornwall. The seat in years gone by, he said, had always been Liberal. “And, besides, I think there are quite enough women already in the House/* he remarked.