Hartley Neita
ONE OF the most fascinating politicians to have served in this country was F.L.B. Evans of Westmoreland. It was said that he campaigned by walking and riding a donkey in his constituency, although no photograph was ever published of him on this animal. I have always believed it was a rumour spread by him to dramatise the bad roads his constituents had to suffer.
At first, he represented the constituency of Eastern Westmoreland, the same constituency, more or less, now represented by Prime Minister Patterson. Interestingly, Patterson used to ride a donkey when he went to be nominated in previous years.
QUARRELLED
Evans was not a man to tie his tongue in his mouth. As a result he quarrelled with Norman Manley and resigned from the party, formed his own, and ultimately returned to the PNP. He also used to quarrel with Clifford Campbell, the then Speaker and the JLP Member for Western Westmoreland, and was suspended from the House. He also accused Campbell of enjoying special attention from the JLP Government and having roads paved and major water supplies provided in Western Westmoreland, his neighbouring constituency.
So to teach Campbell a lesson, he chose to be nominated in Campbell's constituency in the following elections and won it, street and lane.
Another fascinating politician was William Seivright. He was a gentleman. He spoke like a gentleman and dressed like an aristocrat. As Minister of Agriculture, he wanted the technical officers in his Ministry to propagate the species of frogs which could be bred for 'frogs legs' and to grow mushrooms for export to the tables of the sophisticates of the world. He was also a nationalist, and was the author of the words of the PNP's anthem, Land of my Birth. He is the only Parliamentarian who has sung in the House. That, too, was regarded as un-parliamentary, and thank God, for can you imagine Opposition Leader Edward Seaga reggaeing his Budget Speech, a la Peter Tosh, to the tune of Don't Blame de Yout'.
Sydney Pagon of St. Elizabeth also earned the wrath of the Speaker of the House when, after complaining that the speaker was gagging the Opposition of which he was a Member, he left the House and returned with a padlock pressed between his lips. The Speaker was not amused. It was un-parliamentary!
Seaga also had his fun on the hustings. In 1972 when he was challenged by journalist John Maxwell, he took a white lamb to the Nomination Centre, the symbolism being that John was the lamb being led to the slaughter.
Voters in St. James demonstrated their impartiality when the three candidates in the St. James North West constituency were chased and forced to abandon their political meetings by hostile opponents in widely separated sections of the constituency.
BEAT A HASTY RETREAT
Howard Cooke, our now revered Governor-General, had to leave Anchovy post-haste when JLP supporters brandished sticks and threatened to mash up his meeting. Then at Mt. Salem, the JLP's candidate, Herbert Eldemire, had to beat a hasty retreat from the platform and the district when PNP adherents told him, in no uncertain manner, that "labourites cannot hold any meetings there"; while independent candidate and former Minister of Communications and Works, A.G.S. Coombs, was pelted off the platform with stones while he was speaking at the district of Bogue Hill.
Then there was Bustamante. When Madame Rose Leon resigned from the JLP in 1960, her constituents instructed her to try "to patch things up with the party leader". When Busta heard, he was indignant.
"Patch things up!" he said. "My Party has no tears, so there is nothing she can patch up."
