Proof that politicians have been saying “Do as I say, not as I do” for at least 100 years:
A rather amusing and somewhat unusual incident occurred during Mr [future New Zealand Prime Minister William] Massey’s recent visit to the West Coast. . . The leading citizens of Greymouth decided to banquet him, and the function was duly held in one of the local hotels.
As it was a Saturday night the business people were a little late in putting in an appearance, and as a consequence the proceedings were delayed slightly beyond the hour fixed for the closing of the hotels. Afterwards, on coming out of the hotel, the guests were somewhat astonished to find a constable outside the door with a notebook in his hand, waiting to take the names of those who had assembled to do honour to the leader of the Opposition, but had overstayed the legal hour of closing.
There’s fashionably late, and then there’s illegally late.
Among those whose names were taken were his Worship the Mayor, the Mayor-elect, the chairman of the Harbour Board, the Hon. the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the leader of the Opposition. Mr Massey, however, does not come within the letter of the law, as he happened to be staying at the hotel where the banquet was given.
The local residents were inclined to look upon the matter as a joke, but a press representative who sought information from the police was assured that the matter was regarded seriously, and that proceedings would be instituted in due course.
Talk about being in good company. . . I bet the afterparty gave new meaning to “Jailhouse Rock.”
Still, taxpayers can only afford to incarcerate their elected leaders for so long. (Unless they have a canine tax collector, of course.) Hopefully, future Prime Minister Massey issued some pardons on his first day in office two years later.
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Disclaimer: The modern era is far from the first to grapple with rampant “fake news.” As I am neither a historian nor journalist, I make no claims about the accuracy or lack thereof of the above sources. I assert only that they make for a good story.
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No word on what said constable’s NEXT line of work was.
😂 Desk duty for the rest of his career…and after those high-profile arrests, that was probably a relief!