NEW YEAR HONOURS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17979, 3 January 1922, Page 4

NEW YEAR HONOURS.

The feature of the unexceptionable list of New Year honours published this morning is the neglect of politicians. If the King is ever made an unconscious party to political patronage he escapes even the breath of suspicion on this occasion. The recipients of honours are drawn to an unusual extent from the arts, literature and journalism, and there are worthy representatives of the worlds of finance and business. Of the names cabled, only one, that of the Premier of Tasmania, raises direct political associations. The New Zealand awards are apparently typical of the whole selection. A banker, a business man, and a very successful Mayor are chosen for preferment, and each is in his own sphere representative and meritorious. In knighting Mr. J. H. B. Coates and Mr. J. Ross, the King has chosen New Zealanders who have very faithfully and ably served the public in the economic sphere. The part played by bankers and leading business men in securing the stability of the State and the soundness of the economic structure is perhaps not as generally recognised as it deserves to be. The distinctions now conferred are pleasing evidence that in New Zealand, as in other parts of the Empire, there are recognised spheres of public service outside politics. The precedent established some years ago of honouring the conspicuous figures in local government is perpetuated in the happiest manner in the C.M.G. conferred on Mr. Gunson. The Mayor of Auckland now has a long and distinguished record in municipal service, service which in a city the size of Auckland monopolises time and energy. There are few rewards in such service, yet it is of the most vital public importance. As a zealous and talented Mayor directing the destinies of the largest city of the Dominion, Mr. Gunson thoroughly deserves the distinction. The city may legitimately be proud of the circumstance that two successive Mayors have been so honoured.