The Daily News. FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 1913. THE MINISTERIAL TOUR

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 268, 4 April 1913, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 1913. THE MINISTERIAL TOUR

The Prime Minister is at present engaged in making a more or less triumphal tour of Taranaki, accompanied by his faithful henchman, the Hon. \V. Fraser, Minister of Public Works. His ' mission is to gather at lirst hand some idea of the requirements, resources and possibilities of the Taranaki district, and as we have nothing to hide from him and his colleagues, and everything to disclose to them, they arc unreservedly welcome in our midst. We can. of course, remember the time, not very far distant, when Mr. Massev would have been virtuously indignant upon the Hour of the House at the very idea that it 'was part of the Ministry's business to make itself personally acquainted with the requirements of the Dominion, and we are unqualifiedly pleased that he has done what every honest politician must at times do —changed his opinion. What the result of that change of opinion will be lies, of course, in the lap of the

gods. At Stratford.oJi Wednesday night, he was entertained at a banquet and social, and incidentally made a speech. It was not a policy speech tlnjt he made, but. purely a politic one. lie had no fewer than five of his Parliamentary associates to hold up his arms while lie "stayed the sun," anil this, they did ad-

mirably. The old Scotch proverb, "Claw me and I'll claw thee," was admirably exemplified, and there was a graceful and polite' recognition of everybody's virtues that was really most enthusiastic'.' Everybody knows that at a political banquet there never yet was'a Government that .was not ill) epitome of all the virtues, and a misapprci'iatibrt 1 of the philosophy of hospitality forbids criticism at such gritheiuligs. I'iit ,one, thing must'have struck those who were in any way observant at the Stratford banquet, and that is the universally apologetic note that was adopted by the members of Mr t Massey's Party in the House who had assembled to assist in saying "Hail to the Chief!" in a loud tone of voice. They apologised for the state of the money market, for the curtailment of loans to local bodies, for tho pessation

of railway construction, for a reserved and cautions land settlement policy, and practically for everything from Dan to Beorshebu, in the poliaieal and social position. But there was no suggestion of policy in Mr. Massey's speech or in the speeches of those who were'assembled to do'him honor. The Government, of course, in its administrative capacity, has a;very tiny past. It is hardly vet out of long clothes. For this reason we should have been pleased had the party at this public function been less apologetic. . We should have wele'omed a more definite statement of the Government's intentions in the future, in place of a rigmarole of nebulous generalities and the very obvious charge that any failings in the administration were due to the sins of omission and commission of previous administrations. This is really all that Mr. Massev has so far given us, whilst his colleague, the Minister for' Public Works, with inherited Scotch instinct, lias been even more discreet by keeping his mouth religiously closed. But, these' matters apart, the province has given a whole-hearted and courteous welcome to the members of the Cabinet, and we have no doubt that when they arrive in New Plymouth to-day the same hearty hospitality will he extended to them. Polities are not everything in this best of all possible worlds, and Mr. Massev and Mr. Fraser may rest assured that even from those who differ from them in politics they will receive a generous and warm welcome. We are all unreservedly glad to have the Prime Minister and his colleagues with us, in the hope that even if they do not return to Wellington chastened in some of their political convictions, they will go away with some comprehensive conception of the needs and possibilities of a district which we are pro ml to'recal has been '.christened the "Garden of New Zealand."