THE BIRTHDAY HONOURS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20271, 3 June 1929, Page 8

THE BIRTHDAY HONOURS.

Those chosen in New Zealand for the bestowal of distinction in the Birthday Honours list of this year have all been conspicuous in public service. Mr. Justice Herdman's knighthood follows the custom of honouring the senior member of the Supreme Court bench, but it has added appropriateness as a recognition of many years of activity in Parliament, including responsibility as a Minister of the Crown. In all the offices to which he has been called, ho has given proof of a high sense of public duty as well as a very capable grasp of affairs. The honour now conferred is richly merited. The other Knight Bachelor has been less prominent, for it is not given to bankers to know tho fierce light that beats upon politicians and judges. In his long association with the Bank of New Zealand, extending over half a century, Mr. Buckleton has not only reached eminence in the realm of commercial finance, but has also given service to the community of great public value, and there will be general approval of this recognition of its worth. During his years in Auckland he won general esteem, and his selection for this social distinction will be particularly gratifying to his wide circle of friends here. It is well, too, that science has so worthy a representative in the list. Dr. Cockayne is the outstanding botanist of this country, and has a reputation reach ing far beyond it. He has been an enthusiast in research work, and it is eminently fitting that, already the recipient of many honours at the hands of fellow-scientists, he should receive a token of national regard. Mr. Hayes and Mr. Rowley complete the list, their selection bein# in accordance with the practice of conferring distinction on responsible heads of departments in the civil service. The former, by his long and varied service in several departments, is particularly well entitled to the additional honour now given him Congratulations to all five can be very cordially offered. Their selection covers a fairly wide field, ancl the favours they receive can bo reasonably said to reflect honour upon the spheres of public service in which they have acquitted themselves so well. This aspect of the recurring choice of recipients of such favours ought always to be borne in mind when the list :is made known. What once were decorations bestowed on purely personal grounds have tended, in modern times, to become more than this, and their social significance has increased accordingly.