“Personalities”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 505, 7 November 1928, Page 11

“Personalities”

T MR. LEE’S COMPARISONS VOTING FOR A PHOTOGRAPH”

flourishing examples of , Reform ianda used In the last election i ,rop af,tV, Mr j A . Le e entertained Xdience in thd Newmarket Hall r evening with some gentle satire neerninS the members of the present was the title of the first I,rated advertisement. “1925 pat--1 " added Air. Lee, Labour candidate L, Auckland East. ••This is not a Gainsborough, it isn t Rembrandt,” he continued. “It is ' .7a few strokes of the pen done by J rfadvertising agent. You didn’t vote !?r a policy at the last election—you for a photograph.’ Next came another illustrated slogan, Women, guard your homes,” with a "“ ide picture of a woman darning a promise of work for all. was followed by one of this ear’s advertisements, which displayed eow and a picture of Mount Egmont, which Mr. Leo added would be rather difficult to swallow. came another picture of the Prtme Minister and his team, with a request on the advertisement to compare the men. ...... ••I’ve been asked to do this,” commented Mr. Lee. "I’m quite entitled I” do it They have introduced personalities. TH refrain from telling !he truth about them when they refrain from telling lies about me.” He proceeded to impale the members { the Cabinet on wordy lances, much ”o the amusement of a sympathetic i ndtence. “Here is an excellent advertisement ” Mr. Lee remarked. “Talk ibout the introduction of personalities into politics. . . .This galaxy of political talent. ... I think it is a chamber of political horrors. There is Coates, the great man himself. . . . The sooner he is relegated to political ,-old Storage the better. f don’t think he has ever read a good book.” The Hon. W. Downie Stewart: “I like him. I like him very much. I nften go and sit with him and wc talk tbout a book, or we discuss a poem, tie is the most intelligent man in the team. When we talk we keep oft politics, but he increased the income Hon. A D. McLeod, Minister of hands, then received a broadside about his land policy, which Mr. Lee augmented with the criticism of an Auckland newspaper. The Hon. F. J. Rolleston was retarred to as “once a Liberal, now a rubber stamp.” The Hon. G. J. Anderson: “I’ll say nothing about him, he is a sick man.” The Hon. Sir Francis Dillon Bell: “He is among the political dead. He received £315 a year for delaying legislation.” The Hon. Sir Heaton Rhodes: “I like him. He is a gentleman to the finger-tips. . . . Worth a quarter of a million. Before the Hon. J. A. Young went Into the Ministry he described Sir Heaton as the greatest rubberstamp in politics.” The Hon. O. J. Hawken: “The first year I was in the House I described him as the apostle of stock.” The Hon. W. Nosworthy: “There’s a broad intellect for you. He is the man who once said that he would not sit in the same Cabinet with a Catholic.” The Hon. R. A. Wright: “The Minister

of Negatives. He was put in the Cabinet to retrench education expenditure. The Hon. K. S. Williams: “An amiable nonentity. He merely adds to the amiability of public life. Has anyone ever heard him make a constructive statement. When a statement is to be made in the House Mr. Williams takes a back seat and Mr. Coates makes it for him.” Before dealing with the Cabinet Mr. Lee dismissed Mr. J. B. Donald’s manifesto with a few amusing reference.

“Mr. Donald thinks he can convert you by putting this under your nose,” declared Mr. Lee as he waved his United opponent’s manifesto and pamphlets. “Donald will win,” he quoted. That is their policy, nothing more.” For nearly two hours Mr. Lee dealt fully with his party’s policy and at the conclusion was accorded a unanimous vote of thanks and confidence by a crowded audience.