THE NATIVE MINISTER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXII, Issue 15581, 3 April 1911, Page 6

THE NATIVE MINISTER.

The Acting-Prime Minister is not the sort of person to bo at all exercised by the pin pricks of party criticism, and ho has a reputation for receiving the advice of his opponents with easy complacency, knowing that a good deal of it is due to political diplomacy and not to conviction. He has been taken to task lately for his attendance at various Native gatherings, but in his capacity as Native Minister these meetings are just where he ought to bo. At the big gathering at Groytown last week he gavo his countrymen seme excellent advice and if he impressed them as much as they appear to havo impressed him his words are not likely to have fallen upon barren ground. It is gratifying to hear from Mr Carroll that tho Natives are displaying an inclination to Cultivate their holdings in preference to disposing of thom, and to learn, further, that they are becoming excellent farmers. Both in dairying and sheopfarming they are showing an aptitude that is making them worthy competitors with their white neighbours. Thero is no other country in tho world where the native race lives so amicably upon equal terms with a new people as it does here and much of this is due, to tho fact that tho Governments of successive years—quite away from party politics—have always realised that the Maoris are a dependable race who have unquestion-

able rights to sharo in the prosperity of tho country. For many years Mr Carroll has striven in an unassuming manner to impress upon them a sense of their responsibilities, and ho has been literally " guide, philosopher and friend" to them, both in their own homes ajid as a member of tho Cabinet. It is tho custom in some circles to decry the Native Minister as an advocato of what is facetiously characterised as tho " taihoa " policy, Lut as a matter of fact he adds to a winning personality a strong fund of political enthusiasm and a very comprehensive grasp of all affairs pertaining to tho Native raco. He is a public ir.an who should bo better known, and it is to be hoped that in his capacity as Acting-Prime 'Minister he will iind time to give tho people of Canterbury an opportunity of becoming better acquainted with him.