During an afternoon
with a visiting
New Zealand friend (ex Auckland Girls' Grammar ) , she over
here for the
warmth and with family members from Cairns , an entertaining afternoon was had discussing the state of the Kiwiland economy
and its politicians
down through the years. One politician , Mabel Howard
(1894-1972) , became famous
for flashing bloomers , see above ,
in parliament.- (Wikipedia Photograph) .
The first woman appointed a
Cabinet Minister in New Zealand , Ms Howard produced two large
bloomers in her drive to standardise the size description of underwear. Both these
bloomers were described
as OS yet there was an obvious
big difference in
the garments . Ms.
Howard , born in Adelaide, had moved to New Zealand with her father after her mother died in 1913. Her father
became a politician and Mabel, who never married , followed in his
footsteps .
At first she became the first female secretary of a predominantly male organisation, the Canterbury
General Labourers’ Union. In 1947
she was appointed Minister for
Health and Child Welfare.
Our visitor said her own
grandmother had been an outspoken activist and
was described in
a newspaper as
rasp-tongued when she
forthrightly addressed a Prime
Minister . No discussion of Kiwi politics
can be had without mentioning
the saintly first
Labour Prime Minister , Michael
"Mickey" Joseph Savage (1872-1940), a bachelor throughout his life ,
who emigrated
from Victoria in 1907 and was the architect of the
welfare state . In 1999 the New Zealand Herald declared him New Zealander of the Century .
There is an impressive Savage
memorial park / mausoleum , at
Bastion Point, Auckland . Savage
opposed conscription in the first world war , was called Everybody's Uncle , and held
in such high regard that many
people had
large photographs of him
hanging in their homes.
Cyclops introduced an uncouth note into the
jovial political debate by saying that a certain Kiwi
politician – no name mentioned- had "syphilitic " attached to his
Christian name .
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***Two of Lee's great books .
|
To add to
the discourse and laughter , an
oft repeated ( and embroidered ) story was
read from Rhetoric
At The Red Dawn , above , by the late Kiwi orator and
author, John A. Lee , who lost
an arm in WW1 and was eventually
expelled from the
Labour Party ; he
felt it did not go far enough along the
road to socialism, wanted to nationalise the Bank of
New Zealand and severely criticised
Mickey Savage who at the time was almost on his deathbed with cancer .
It
told how Lee
had heard another fiery unionist
who had spent many years on Australian gold and coalfields and became a minister of state in New Zealand , Bob Semple ( 1873-1955), tell how a strong Labour supporter , who always raised
money for a worthy cause, came home drunk, fell into a fire , and lost the
sight of an eye-Comrade one-eye . His Labour mates bought a
mail order eye for him , but when
it arrived it did not fit properly,
wobbled about, at times falling out.
During a heavy
drinking session, he got drunk , the
eye fell out into his beer , without him knowing , and he drank it
down. Days later, he developed a pain
in the stomach which went lower and
lower, causing him to groan while working in a mine . Eventually , he went to see a doctor, the pain down near the rectum, and was
told to bend over . In telling this
story, Lee wrote, Semple , bent over , shut one eye and looked along the room at buttock
level. The doctor espied
a blue mail order eye
glaring at him and told the patient he was going to have a
child !
***In the politicians depicted on the dustjacket , Prime
Minister Mickey Savage is the man with
the briefcase ; the suave looking
fellow on the right, in the
double-breasted suit, is Bob Semple who frequently told , with great animation , the mail order
eye story . Lee wrote that Semple ,
suffering from "sartorial neurosis," wore a topper and frock coat on a visit
to Australia . After the Depression , he spent
a lot of money on public
works which resulted in him
becoming popular , like Savage, his photograph also hung with pride in many houses .
During WWll, as Minister for Works, Bob Semple ordered a Kiwi tank to be built, which created as much mirth as the story about the mail order eye. Known as the Semple Tank, it consisted of a corrugated iron body bolted to an ordinary tractor to fight off Japanese invaders. With a crew of eight , armed with Bren guns, the Semple Tank was slow, heavy, high , vibrated. On top of the odd hybrid fighting machine was a man who reclined on a mattress to operate one of the Bren guns. Needless to say, it was subjected to much ridicule and rejected by the Army .The tanks were unbolted and the tractors went back to ploughing fields .
FOOTNOTE: An account of Semple's court appearance on a charge of sedition in WWl has come our way and an extract will appear later .
