A SMALL MAN AND A BIG HAD

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13337, 13 July 1907, Page 4

A SMALL MAN AND A BIG HAD

It .-was, (if course, a foregon.3 conclu.voi • that the. Premier would command a s»b stantial majority in favour of the prdpoiil • to change the designation of New Zealanl from " colony "to " dominion. - ' Evidently lie attaches a great deal of importance to the change himself, though, a/s Mr Mass, y quite correctly reminded him yesterd.i/ afternoon, he has failed! to infect the community with Iris enthusiasm for the alte: ition. It would probably be rude to s.iy that amused disgust was the predominant feeling in the public mind when tho Governor's Speech at. the opening of ]\".'- liamfiit revealed the nature of the gre .(• secret to which Sir Joseph Ward! refe?:-'d in responding to the welcome which Hie ( citizens of Wellington tendered to him on his neturn from London. That secret was the momentous change to which J lie House of Representatives gave its a.ssen* yesterday afternoon. We must confers ithafc whil.a we see no serious objection to the change, wo are equally unable to much to commend it, and we must sat' fy ourselves with Sir Joseph's assurance tL-ifc it will give New Zealand a higher .status among people who make a business of estimating the relative importance* of d>minionx and commonwealths and colonics, ,-i.nd also that it will do something to Uispe.l tlr,\ ignorance., respecting this enunlrv which vexed 1 the soul of our'genial Pr'nia Minister during his recent, visit to t'.o United Kingdom. We arc sadly afrn.-l, however, that those indifferent geographers who have been labouring under the delusion that the colony of New Zealand ispart of the Commonwealth of Australia, will not be very much the wiser now i.h'it w.j aiv to call ourselves a "dominion." If ten contingents in South Africa, and a victorious football team, have not dispel'i; 1 thrir illusion, we liavo not much cunlidcncj that a new label will prove more suet•» ;;■• ful. If the change ha.s any effect, it v. II probably cause outsiders to repeat Mr A. W. Rutherford's witticism about a sma'i man under a big hat. The one ;i:i! danger to be apprehended from the change —apart from a general attack of " swe'il-'l head "•—is the probability, mentioned d:i ing yesterday's debate, that' members will expect bigger salaries for their services to tli« dominion. They havo been 1 a venous enough as it is, and we hope that ',.' ie new dignity will be esteemed suffici v*t reward without any additional rcmuiv ■;■- (ion.