SOUTHERN PRESS OPINIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13396, 26 January 1907, Page 6

SOUTHERN PRESS OPINIONS.

WELLINGTON i'IMES.

[BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN' CORRESPOND KXT.]

Wellington*, Friday

This morning's Times says:—"On the whole it may be said that Sir Joseph Ward and his Ministers have fairly well acquitted themselves of the manifestly difficult task of making so large a number of appointments. It is not to he expected that any possible selection the Government might make, on any possible principle of choice, could carry with it anything like universal approval, but though exception may be taken by this or that critic to this or that appointment, according to his point of view and the extent to wnieh he finds his special interests affected, we believe that on the whole the 1-1 new members will lit- pronounced a very respectable selection. There is not. it is, true, a. single man amongst them that can be pronounced brilliant, but if they put their heads together we believe they can make as strong a muster of common sense and practical knowledge as any other 14 it was open to the Government to choose, and, after all, these dray-horse virtues are tho essential qualities for a Chamber wnose duty it is to prevent the Parliamentary machine from riving out of its orbit through the perfervid, and sometimes unbridled, political forces at work in the Lower House. The Government, any Government, in making appointments to the Upper House, would probably not be ashamed to admit that, it- was chietly a cut a lei; bytwo considerations, lirst, and chief, by the expediency of securing a Chamber which would assist in carrying Government measures, and next by the necessity of standing staunchly by its own parly, and showing that it was not a matter of indifference to a politician whether he aided or obstructed the Government policy. We admit the cogency of both these considerations. Of the second, however, only to <i certain extent. Other things being equal it is, of course, right as a homely Seidell proverb has it, to 'Keep your ain fishguts for your ain s&unaws, but v« confess that we' should ourselves have" more pride and satisfaction in belonging to a party with sufficient breadth and .strength to lecognise public- men to some extent, even in the camp of its opponents. We cannot find any particularly marked indication of this generosity of spirit in tlio appointments just made by the present Government. We are well sitislied with the appointments as .1 whole, and they arc sufficiently numerous to permit of our considering them only as a whole. We could easily, if we 'hose, pick hole- in this appointment, or that, bin we do not chooseto undertake this invidious task. In the case of <-;»rue of (lie gentlemen appointed we ask ourselves, without receiving any very conclusive answer, what the public services have been which entitle them to this promotion? We recognise, however, that perfectly legitimate considerations may have weighed with the Government, which are not necessarily clear to an uninitiated pubuc from merely scanning the public! career of the individual concerned. The appointments represent interests as well as political and party expediencies. It is. for instance, of great moment that the Upper Chamber should be recruited by the appointment of one or two lawyers of good standing, and the Attorney-Gene-ral should find his hands very considerably strengthened by the three able and experienced lawyers who will take their seats for the first time next session. The farming interest has three representatives, certainly not too many, whilst commerce and industries, journalism, labour, and the medical profession ate each represented by one or more members. On the whole, as we have said, the list is a. good one, and we look to see this now somewhat decrepit Assembly take a new lease of life from the new blood that has been infused into its venerable body."

THE EVENING POST

j The Post remarks: —" As computed with j the nonentities whom Mr. Sneddon delighted to appoint, the average of the 14 gentlemen now selected stands very high, but it certainly does not reach the level of the 14 whom we mentioned yesterday as designated by nubile opinion for the vacancies. In six cases, those of Dr. Collins and Messrs. K. .\. Loughnari and C. M. Luke, of Wellington. .sir. J. T. Paul, of Dunedin, Captain i Tucker, of Gisborne, and Mr. Oliver | Samuel, of New Plymouth, our anticipation | has been verified. Four or five of these appointments, at least, are beyond cavil, but the* men who were on our list but are missing from Sir Joseph Ward's include the Hon. Mr. Mitchelson. Mr. G. G. Stead, Mr. -John Roberts, Sir Win. Passed!, and Mr. A. P. Seymour, and one looks in vain. among the new names for men of the experience and high colonial standing of these. Of course it does not follow that tin.- Government is to blame for the non-appoint-ment of all these gentlemen, for it is not everybody who can afford to leave his home and his business for four or fivo months in the year on a salary that will just about pay for board and lodging while he. is away, but wo cannot help thinking that in some of these cases the key is supplied by the statement of the Premier to our morning contemporary, viz. that it was the duty of the Government to see that the gentlemen who were recommended for appointment were not uncompromising or opposed to their legislation. What consideration but this would account for the exclusion of .Sir William Russell, whose high character and long years of faithful service in the lower House gave him claims which on all other grounds were second to none. An opponent of the Government he certainly is, but an exceedingly candid and chivalrous one. and the Government would have gained far more than it could have lost if it had reciprocated his chivalry by giving him a welldeserved honour. Of the Wellington nominees, Mr. C. M. Luke, at any rate, will be conceded to have done more than enough to justify hie appointment. As the head of a large industrial concern, ho has long played a leading part in the business life of the city, and cough the citizens declined to elect him to Parliament, ho has served with success in the highest municipal offices. Dr. Collins has no such record of public service to show. He has been assiduous in his devotion to the party now in power ever since Mr. Seddon's policy took on its strong Imperial colour, but his real claim rests upon ms eminence in his own profession, and upon the desirableness of .dving that profession some representation, . pwially 11 these days, when the pub 1 ■-■ . tilth occupies so large a share of the at :■.: n of legislators. Mr. Loughnar.'s -up;, ;■-.merit is, perhaps, best regarded as pavi';_; ~ similar honour to the profession of"join -.■■■< a profession widen is, however, lar b.-tter qualified to lrrjico its influence felt an -vi the turmoil of politics than any other. As an educated gentleman, with a wide knowledge of colonial affairs and a. verv facile pen, Mr. Loughiian has long he!. a, high place in \.. w Zealand "journalism, and, though his Parliamentary capacity has yet to be proved, the public will have no ; occasion to complain if he serves them as 1 well on the floor of the House as he has : for years served them from the gallery. Of i the. fourth of the Wellington nominations, the less said the better. It comes as a general surprise and disappointment, and ' is only to be explained as the result of some ! political exigencies which made the public ' interests a secondary consideration. The I general average of the appointments from I other parts of the colony seems to us a high I one-, and in some cases" they are excellent-. . Captain Tucker and Mr. Anstey, who are ) supposed to represent farming, are un- ' known quantities in Wellington, but Mr. I W. W. McCardle, who has been a member j of the Wellington Land Board and of the Lands Commission, and who fought a forlorn hope against. Mr. Massey at the last j election, has exceptional claims on party grounds, as well as higher and broader ones. A curious feature of the Dunedin appointments is that, while the representatives of the Southern city in the Lower House are two Labour members and onelawyer, it is now given two lawyers and a Labour member to represent it in' the Council. The special representation given both to labour and to law bv these,'and other appointments seems to us' excellent. Messis. Parr and Paul could hardly he improved upon as representatives of" labour, while lawyers of such standing as Messrs. Calkin, .Samuel, and Sinclair should add much to the effectiveness of what is still supposed to bo a revising chamber. Altogether the j ,Jiifusio.u of new blood reuiesenttd by the

addition of 14 members to a chamber, which previously included only 34. should give it vigour enough to keep it going till the day arrives in the near future for putting it on a frank! democratic basis."

Till: CHIHSTCHURCH PRESS.

Ciiiustchtjrch, Friday.

The Press, commenting on the appointments, remarks: "It lias been said that when the appointments were announced the list would be more or less a .surprise. This prediction has. been verified, and mingled with the .surprise will lie a certain amount of disappointment on the part of the public. We admit at once that the list is superior to the general average of the late Mr. Sneddon's appointments, but Mr. Seddoti's standard, with few exceptions, was so low that the public at length came to the conclusion that he had 'formed a deliberate policy of lowering the Council in the estimation of the public, and consequently lessening its influence. What we particularly regret is that the Government has apparently attached so little importance to political experience on the part of the nominees. The bulk of them are little known outside their own particular localities. We are glad, however, to see that the Government has- strengthened the legal element ill the Council, a course we urged very strongly upon them some time ago. Mr? G. J. Smith's appointment will give general satisfaction in Christchunh. Mr. Wi Pore is. the only other ,-x member of the House of Representative, whose name appears in the official announcement, and we have no hesitation in saying at once thai we regard this selection as the worst blot on the list. Neither his career in the House, nor his: connection with land transactions on the Fast Coast, have been such as to inspire either natives or Euro] miis with confidence in him as a legislator, and it is difficult to. imagine on what grounds the Cabinet can justify Ids appointment. It will certainly not tend to .rjve the Maoris confidence regarding the native land legislation of the Government. The selection of Dr. Collins, of Wellington, wo suppose, is intended largely as a compliment to the medical profession, since the gentleman in question has never shown any special aptitude for public affairs, or even any particular interest in them, being always verv much wrapped up in his profession. Mi. Gilmer will be a derided acquisition to the House Committee, but he has vet to prove his capacity as regaids the 'science of politics. . . . We are not sure that the custom of acknowledging the services of journalists by conferring on them titular distinctions is conducive to the best interests of the press, although so high an authority a.* Mr. Gladstone was. We believe. the first to introduce it into England, and it has since become very general. Mr. Loughnan's brethren of the pen will, we fee! sine, be the first to congratulate him on a distinction which they would hardly nave ventured to predict was in store lor him. The selection of Mr. Paul, of Dunedin. and Mr. Hair, of Chrisichurch. is justified. They are genera!!'- accepted by the Labour pandas the exponents. . . . Speaking of the appointments as a whole, we think they might have been worse, ami at the ■same time might very well have been better."

THE LYTTELTON TIMES. The Times deals very briefly with the new lairds, and confines itself practically to the three; Canterbury appointments. ( hi the whole, it says, the new appointments promise to be well received. The Council was certainly in need of new members, seeing thai its effective strength last session was only about twenty, and some of the members who wire in their places contributed very little to the discussion of the session's business. The numbers of the Council last, year were lower than thev had been for forty years previously, and it' the session had* been a severe one the work of the Chamber would necessarily have been but scantily considered. The Canterbury appointments, which will seem to the people of this province of the first consequence, .should command general approval. They should be cordially welcomed by the rank and file of the Liberals for party reasons, and. what is of greater importance, they should bring a new force of vigorous intellect and sound commonseiise to the consideration of the colony's affairs.

OTAGO DAILY TIMES. Df.xKDiN, Friday. Commenting on the appointments to the Legislative Council, the Otago Daily 'limes ivs :—" Looking dispassionately at the selection that has hern made, we must candidly confess to a. feeling of disappointment with respect to the calibre and probable usefulness of several of tin- appointees: and, as to others, they ale, so far as we are concerned, unknown quantities. It will be difficult to many to account for the inclusion of nun who. however estimable they are in private life, cannot by any stretch of the imagination be said to possess qualifications that entitle them to be appointed as legislators.'' The Tina's congratulate; the Government on the selection of the three Otago representatives, and expresses the opinion that the appointment of Mr. J. 1!. Sinclair is a particularly happy one. regarding him as -a distinct accession of strength to the Council, both as an able lawyer and sound business man. In commenting on the appointment of Mr. J. T. Paul, the Times- says he has in him the making of a useful member of Parliament, whose lack of years will quickly cease to be considered a disqualification, if it actually be such.

DUNEDIN STAR. The Dunedin livening Star says:—"Neither enthusiasm nor strong disapproval is likely to be excited in any quarter. On the whole, we legard the selection as satisfactory, and calculated to bring the Council to a .state oi adequate strength in respect to ability and representation. We regret the absence of Mr. Lee Smith's name, and it could be wished that the Government had given a representative to the mining interests in Outgo anu Auckland, as the councillors connected with mining all belong to tho West Coast. The Duiiedm appointments are unexceptionable. With his legal knowledge and experience as a draughtsman, his shrewd intellect and essential fairness of disposition, and with plenty of leisure, Mr. J. Sinclair should make an excellent, member of a revising Chamber. Mr. Gal will reinforce the Council's none too ample stock of eloquence and wit, and he, too, will be able to give invaluable help to the Statutes. Revision Committees. A student- and philosophic observer, Mr. J. Paul does not allow bis advanc d views on social and industrial matters to prevent him appreciating other points of view, and he mates genuine moderation. and resolute progressiveness without any difficulty or lis., of inconsistency. Moreover, he takes a. keen interest in Imperial affairs, and is fully alive to the urgency of national defence. Of the other appointments, Mr. Oliver Samuel, Dr. Collies, aud Mr. G. J. Smith, are probably the- best. Mr. Anstoy and Mr. Mi: Cur die are successful farmers and land reformers, whose co-operation will be valuable when the Government's Lund Bill finds its way to '.he Council."