The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 1929. LABOUR’S NEW CALIBRE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 680, 4 June 1929, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 1929. LABOUR’S NEW CALIBRE

TIMES have changed with political Labour in Great Britain and Time also has changed Labour’s calibre since that historic day, some thirty-seven years ago, when the first and bluntest of Scottish Socialists, James Keir Ilardie, “rode up to Westminster, from West Ilam, clothed in cloth cap, tweed suit and flannel shirt, and accompanied by a band.” The House of Commons gasped at its first sight of the uncouth apparition, but it learnt soon to respect the strength of its character. For Keir Hardie was one of the pioneers of a new force in politics, and he was a man, hard as granite, rugged as the hills of Cruachan. On entering the House of Commons one day a policeman stopped him. “Are you at work here, mate V’ “Yes,” was the laconic reply. “On the roof ?” “No, on the floor.” And the new, strange type of politician passed in, chuckling in homespun pride.

Much different now are the representatives of Labour who not only ride, motor and walk up to Westminster from all over the kingdom, but may soon fill the Treasury benches in the august House and politically rule the greatest Empire in the world. It is true that Clydeside and the industrial towns in the Black Country still send rough figures to Parliament, but their type, too, is passing rapidly, giving way to village scholars, landed gentry, and intellectuals from manse and mart. If, for some time yet, the men of the pits raise their harsh voices at St. Stephens, their sturdy sagacity and penetrating candour will do more good than harm among the suave and sleek representatives of a higher society. One has only to glanee through the list of Labour’s candidates in the British General Election to see cleaiTy and at once what a remarkable, even what a romantic, change has taken place in the calibre of Labour politicians. Perhaps the best of them were returned, hut that is open to doubt. Many of the unsuccessful candidates were men of proved ability and impressive achievement in their different vocational activities. The party had no dearth of talent with which to wage its fight in the campaign, and now that it has won the right to form the second Labour Ministry in British history, even its most irreconcilable enemies must admit that there is sufficient talent available to establish a strong and competent administration. At the moment of writing advice has come from London that Mr. Stanley Baldwin has resigned. This, as was mentioned in this column yesterday, was the right thing and the only thing to do in the circumstances. Several Liberals and Conservatives, shuddering in their fear of a Labour Government, advised Mr. Baldwin to hang on, but that was, to say the least, weak advice. It was not cricket.

Now that Mr. Ramsay MacDonald is certain to go back to Downing Street, the advantage of having opened the door of Labour to new and better types of representatives is apparent and rich in the promise of effective administrative service. The “shadow” Cabinet already thrown upon the world’s news screen shows that the Labour Leader will have no difficulty at all in forming a strong Ministerial team with more than ordinary executive ability. The experience of several of its prospective members admittedly has been thin, but it was at least sufficient five years ago to give them a clear understanding of the work involved and an appreciation of its responsibilities. It may be noted that lords as well as commoners are available for selection as his Majesty’s Ministers, and the record of the Labour peers is such as to promise performance as good as that of the Conservative aristocrats.

All that Labour needs now to carry on the Government of Great Britain is a working arrangement with the Liberals. There is not a great deal of political difference between them in respect of policy and principle. After all, the average Liberal is merely a Socialist wearing his Sunday clothes. If the Liberals should be churlish in their support of Labour they merely will exasperate the country and put farther away than ever the great day of their revival. As things are in British politics today, there is a valuable lesson for the New Zealand Labour Party, if it can but see it. This is the wisdom of attracting to Labour’s cause a different type of politician-—able students of politics, scholars, competent men of business, and hardly any soap-box orators.

CANTERBURY PILGRIMS

CANTERBURY pilgrims in a new sense are the three hundred farmers from Canterbury and Westland—-which were formerly one province—-who reached Auckland yesterday in the course of an organised tour that is taking them through the North Island. Though a large part of their interest has been centred on the Waikato Show, that great institution is less the primary object of their tour than the substantial inducement that gave them au excuse for making it. Whatever they saw in the long perspectives of the show buildings at Hamilton, and whatever impressions they formed from the remarkable displays there of cheese, butter and root crops, will take firmer shape after their investigation of the country that has yielded this harvest and of the conditions under which it is produced. Farming in Auckland and farming in the Canterbury and Westland districts are hardly the same thing. Auckland farmers in the aggregate work on a large i-ange of differing soils, but have more uniform climatic conditions than those of the South. Here the sheep country covers hills of only moderate elevation, principally those of the Raglan district, on the West Coast. In Canterbury the sheep farms run from the coastal downs to the bleak foothills,of the Alps, with scant pastures actually extending to the line of perpetual snow. But Canterbury has almost three times the number of sheep that Auckland lias, and it is in dairying that Auckland recovers the balance. The suppliers in Canterbury work usually in a small way. There are nearly 7,000 of them, almost half of the number in the Auckland Province, but together they produce scarcely a tenth of the volume of our butter and cheese. Conditions differ in the two areas, but perhaps the results achieved by the use of top-dressing in the Waikato may point the way to higher production, where fertiliser is practicable, in the South. The visit of the' southerners will help to break down the misunderstandings that may arise between widely-separated farming communities. Much of the credit for the organisation of tours of this character rests with the Railway Department. Apart from commerce trains, a number of farmers’ trains have now been run, carrying farmers to important gatherings and facilitating the free exchange of ideas. The social value of such visits, apart altogether from their value to the practical farmer, is immense. New contacts and new friendships may be formed, with benefit to both sides. The Canterbury pilgrims are enjoying traditional hospitality, and they arrive at a particularly felicitous occasion, permitting them for once to sec other horses than those that haul a plough.