Movietone News AO146 (extract),
Fox Movietone, 1936
One of the more influential leaders (in terms of achievement) in New Zealand history, Michael Joseph Savage (1935-1940) was unusual in political terms. Opponents and supporters agreed on his mild and polite manner, with none of the grandstanding antics of so many politicians before and after. Check out the wording and syntax of this Australian newsreel piece and one of Savage's more famous pronouncements, declaring war on Germany in 1939 (no film versions available!), noting that his style of delivery rarely rose above the extract you've observed...
"Our object is to turn the Dominion of New Zealand into a nation of buyers as well as producers and to make science, machinery and money the servants, rather than the masters of the people. Through Fox Movietone News we extend our greetings. We are the first Labour Government to receive from the people of New Zealand an overwhelming mandate to give effect to an advance policy of social and economic reform. This country was once looked upon as the social laboratory of the world and we are looking forward to again taking our place in the vanguard of human progress."
"... Both with gratitude for the past, and with confidence in the future, we range ourselves without fear beside Britain. Where she goes, we go, where she stands, we stand. We are only a small and a young nation, but we are one and all a band of brothers, and we march forward with a union of hearts and wills to a common destiny..."
Discussion Points:
- Personal pronouns – "Our", "we."
- Antithesis – "… servants, rather than the masters."
- "… receive from the people an overwhelming mandate" – to emphasise the support the Labour government has from the people of New Zealand.
- Metaphor – "… social laboratory …"
- Figurative language – "… in the vanguard of human progress."
- Parallel structure – "Where she goes, we go …"
- Figurative language – "We march forward with a union of hearts and wills to a common destiny…" suggests that we will stand with our allies to the end.
