NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1301, 2 December 1911, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The contest for the Otaki seat promises to bo a particularly closo one at tho first ballot owing to the splitting of votes which has taken place. Mr. Field, the Government nominee, has lost some of his personal popularity and is handicapped still more by his zealous regard for the Ward Administration. He has been one of the most faithful of their following and is just the sort of member a Government like tho prc•sent desires to have behind them. It is true that in his endeavour to regain lost ground Mr. Field is now asking to be allowed to go back with a greater independence than ho had previously claimed, his idea apparently being that the label of independence might induce some of those who havo been sadly disappointed at his subservience to the wishes of the Ministry to return to his banner. It is a forlorn hope. The member for Otaki has had his opportunities—great opportunities in Romo rcspecta—but ho haa missed liicm. Otaki, liia tha rest of tho

[ country, we have not (.ho taunt; doubt,, is siclc unit tired 1.0 death of unetnan government; ;ind that iH vluit the, rßl.Riit.ion in odiee of the Wand Administration really means. Mu. Fihi.d has been littli! more, tlian u vote to assist in retaining that Government in olliee. The Labour candidate in the_content, Mu. Rowiirrsox, will receive a substantial vole amongst tlie flaxmill harids and may poll very well. The Reform vote i» lialilo to he split between Messrs. Munckton and Bvuon Drown. This is a regrettable feature of the contest because the vote is ho strong that there is very little doubt, that but for it the Reform candidate would win at the first ballot. It should ho clearly understood that i\l]t. Monckton is the Reform candidate and all who support the Reform party in Parliament and wish to see it displace the Ward Administration should cast their votes in his favour on December 7. Ho is a vigorous and outspoken critic of the Government, a staunch supporter of the platform and progressive policy of the Reform party, and an be relied on to stand by his pledges.

Tiie history of the Gisbornc grazing runs episode, which we net out on Page 15 to-day under the heading "How Strings are Pulled," will strike the Palmcrston public, and indeed the public from Auckland to Bluff, as calling for an explanation by Mr. M'Nab. Wo have clearly shown that unfair discrimination was made by the Government in dealing with the grazing runs of a Mn. Black and a Mr. Hall. The things Mn. M'Nab has to explain are:

(1) Why he wm bo obstinate in rcfuningMr. Black a renewal of his loaEe, in defiance of tho Land Board's resolution nnd Mr, Kensington's recommendation.

(2) IVhy, having received a memo, on March 2, 1908, from Sir J. Carroll pleading for tho, other man, his friend Mr. Hall, Mr. M'Nab stated eight months later that ho had no recollection of having been approached by anyone on Mr. Hall', behalf. CD Why, in a minute that ho wrote on March 1, 1!)08 (tho Commissioner having recommended similar treatment for Hall's, Black'?, and another run), ho ordered tho subdivision of Black's run but gave no order about Trail's. What he _ thinks of Mr. Carroll's action in bringing his personal influenco to bear in a matter of lands administration, and of his own action in permitting it.

Mr. M'Nab declared the other day that if he had attempted to influence tho Government to issue the Mokau- Order-in-Council he would have been a "scoundrel," unfit for public office. This was a stupid thing to say. However, Mr. M'Nab said it. Now will he please describe Mr. Carroll's action 1 and also, his own connection with the grazing runs episode? Will he also explain why the inquiry asked for by tho Lj/ltelfon Times was never held? Finally, will ho tell us frankly whether that episode strengthens his claim to get back to his-old position?

The chances of Mr. Juix, who is contesting the Waipawa seat in the interests of the Government, cannot have been much improved by the extraordinary performance of tho Prime Minister on Tuesday night. It is commonly understood that the idea of contesting the seat occurred to Mr. T. Mackenzie, who abandoned it when he realised that he could not defeat Mr. Hunter. All the reports go to show that Mr. Hunter will win. Apart from the fact that the electorate has not escaped the wave of Reform feeling that is sweeping through the country, Mr. Hunter is not required to face, as he faced last time, a candidate who had represented tho district for many years. The majority to be wiped out is, moreover, an extremely small one—Mr. Hall won in 1908 by only 50 votes—and the heform candidate has been making such great headway that it will be very surprising indeed if the Government's nominee is not defeated by a handsome majority. Mr. Hunter has had, of course, to encounter tho usual amount of abuse and slander, but he has refused to deviate from his rule of e.ddressing himself to politics and avoiding personalities. Ho has an asset which has enormously increased in value with the revulsion of public feeling against the shallow, shabby, hand-to-mouth politics that represent the tlregs of Liberal policy—the asset of wi SU f 0 , P°lifcical principles. What will perhaps weigh more in his favour, however, than any other personal fact is his wide reputation for uprightness and honesty, or, as the average man calls it, "'straightness. Mr. Hunter is above all things a 'straight" man.