The Hawera Star. THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1926. THE GOODWILL OF TARANAKI.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 11 March 1926, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1926. THE GOODWILL OF TARANAKI.

Printed and published by Robert Forbes Page, of Glover Road, and Percy Bond, of 58 Collins Street, for AY. A. Parkinson and Co., Ltd., at the registered office of the Company, Regent Street. Hawera

In time, no doubt, Ministers of the Crown grow accustomed to public adulation, just as they must steel themselves to withstand the pointed shafts of unfair criticism. But even the most seasoned statesman would be impressed and secretly pleased by such an outburst of popular goodwill as marked' proceedings at Eltham last evening on the occasion of the complimentary banquet, to the Hon. O. J. Hawken, M.P. for Egmont, and recently appointed Minister of Agriculture. There is a. world of difference between flattery and sincere recognition of a man’s qualities. The one is cheap and frothy; the other is from the heart, deep-seated, enduring. It is the accepted thing to congratulate a new Minister, and because it is the accepted thing, mere congratulation counts for nothing. In the staggering succession of speeches last evening the note of congratulation was present; but it was backed by something much more substantial —van admission of. the sterling qualities of courage and honest purpose which have marked the public life of the guest to date, and unanimous approval of an appointment which has (Lone honour to the- high traditions of New Zealand political life. Not all who extended good wishes to tho Minister were his political supporters. The Mayor of Hawera, with his usual scrupulous honesty in this matter, made that quite clear; yet Mr Pacev’s remarks carried possibly greater weight than did those of members of Mr Hawken’s own, party, for Mr Pacey saw the guest in the broader light of the nation’s need. A Minister of the Crown who is a stalwart of his party, but who fails to rise above that, will never command the respect and confidence of the country. Party is not government; it is at most a clumsy, though necessary, means to the end of government. It was because Taranaki sees in the new Minister of Agriculture a representative of the province and a worker for New Zealand, that its representatives gathered in such force to do him honour last night.