THE MEMBER FOR RICCARTON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16551, 15 May 1914, Page 6

THE MEMBER FOR RICCARTON.

A few years ago tho Reform newspapers—they used to bo called Conservative in thoso days—had quite a friendly feeling for the member for Iticcarton. They applauded his practical commonsen.se and said nice, things about the value- of his experience, his sound judgment of men and affairs, and so forth. The fact of the matter was that they knew him only as a prominent member of the Farmers' Union, and somehow they had persuaded themselves that ho was sure to fall into lino behind Mr Massey. Of course, they changed their opinion when they discovered that Mr »\ T itty had a mind of his own, and was not to be tempted away from his Liberal convictions, and nowadays there are few public men more persistently abused by tho Government organs. Happily Mr "Witty is a man of very equable temper and modest disposition, and we suspect that ho is extracting his full share of enjoyment out of politics. He was speaking to his own constituents last night and in the ordinary course of events he would have occupied the greater part of his time with an-account of his own work in Parliament. But Mr Witty tooK ir, for granted, as he was justified in doing, that his constituents were satisfied with his work for the district and lie settled down to enjoy an hour with the Government of tho day. He hit hard, dealing with only a few of tho multitudinous promises made by tho Reformers before they got into office and afterwards and showing that promise after promise had been forgotten. He compared the professions of the Reformers in opposition with the performances of tho Reformers in office, .1 long record of inconsistency to which a speaker could not hope to do justice in a single evening, and he told the story in so straightforward and convincing a way that it must have carried conviction. Mr Witty does his duty as ho sees it and seeks no reward, but it is duo to him to acknowledge th© great service he has been rendering to the Liberal cause during the past few months, and the unremitting attention ho has been giving to the best interests of his constituents.