Death of a Minister

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 408, 18 April 1947, Page 5

Death of a Minister

may not have surprised those who were close enough to him to know how serious his breakdown had been, but it was a shock to the rest of the community. It was also in a very real sense a death for his country, since he had probably worked 16 hours a day for 12 years. He had done that because we, his thoughtless fellowcitizens, would not accept less from him as long as he was will-| ing to give more, and it is a poor defence now to say that Ministers sacrifice themselves voluntarily. They do in the sense in which every decent citizen sacrifices himself voluntarily when he aceepts work at all. But they value, and need, rest as much as other people, and it is disgraceful to take advantage of their position, as we all do, and hold a kind of blackmail threat over their heads if they show signs of easing up. For that is what we mean when we remind them at every turn that they are there by our favour, and that is what we do to them when we pester them with all kinds of problems, that should never come near them at all. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the moment a man enters a New Zealand Cabinet he says good-bye to buoyant health. A Minister may, by reason of strength, escape the penalty for a few years, but he is physically very tough, and emotionally very calm, if he is not soon a tired man, flogging himself on when he should be resting, and finding every task twice as difficult as it would be if he were permitted to live sensibly. There are of course great compensations which it would be humbug to ignore-the excitement of power; of service, of achievement, of signing one’s mame to a page of history. It depends on each man’s make-up how exciting those experiences are; but the point is that they are stimulants and not normal excitements and may easily in themselves be a snare. oy death of Mr.. Sullivan