MINISTERIAL TOURS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 408, 18 January 1909, Page 4

MINISTERIAL TOURS.

. Just as he cannot understand 'that there : is. any middle course reckless optimism and hopeless, despair—that thorois any other kind of: person than Mr. :: Mioawbee and 'Mrs, Gummidqe—so Sir Joseph Ward seems'to iielicve that the; only alternative, to Emotionlessness is perpetual motion. By way of reply to the occasional suggestion .-that Ministers shouldattend to business at headquarters now and then, he has been telling the people of; Fairlie, who ■ beheld him for the first time on Friday last, that "the Opposition-professed a belief that Ministers should remain steadfastly in Wellington, leaving the field; free to the politicians of the other side to flit over the country and.ventilate their views." Before his hearers could' quake' at the thought: of such' a dreadful situation, ho ■■reassured;, them yt'ifk a firm statement that "members of the Cabinet would continue to travel the length and breadth of the; country' and make. . themselves acquainted with the wants of all sections of the community." By way of. giving a practical oxamplo of tho virtues'of peripatetic statesmanship, he promised that he would give his. consideration to certain local wants in the shape of an extra train to Timaru on Saturdays, a of £100 for a rifle range, and a new Courthouse. And no doubt the good poo- j pie of Fairlie'are;firmly convinced that Sir Joseph would not have been able to give consideration to their needs'unless he heard them with his own ears on the spot. The demand of Fairlie for £100 is not a ..thing to bo'. treated lightly even by so capable a statesman as the Prime Minister;; proporly the grasp in all its bearings the problem of ■ Fairlic's Courthouse,' he must get the local colour. In deed, it is all a matter of colour, in the political sense. This, we take it, is the theory of government in which is 'rooted the fondness of Ministers for using tho public money in their..search for localities that require tho odds and ends, in the shape of pillar-boxes and roads and bridges and grants of various sorts, which "nearly every locality does want. Should a Minister, in his simple passion for inquiry, chance to arrive in some rudo and savago hamlet that had ho "wants," we make no doubt that ho would find plenty of' wants for them, and >ow

a judicious harvest of. promise and pledge. Mr. Hogg, we may note in this connection, is. happy in the possession of a berth which,ho hopes will enable him to dot whole countrysides with memorials in tho shape of roads and bridges. Gazing upon these the wayfarer of the future is expected to revero the name of Hogg. Ho is moro likely to think of the bill that His forefathers have left.him. The whole question of Ministerial tours may with advantage bo discussed in Parliament next session. Nobody is so..simple as to believe that Ministers really requiro to travel round the . country, •in order ".-■.•to. transact, the nations business .effectively.. -Everybody ;' , knows that, a Minister „on '■'■ tour - is .simply an electioneering agent, making all ho can for his party out of the flattery of, his. prcsence : in little townships, and further assisting his ,party by. encouraging the idea that a word in the ■' Ministerial tar is more effective than justice in a claim. An exception to the ordinary Ministerial tour which should be noted is the projected personal investigation by Me. Millar of the railways system. That, is the kind of Ministerial tour that the country, can approve. ' It is impracticable, of course, to fix rules to govern Ministerial tours. But a Parliamentary discussion :'of: the subject, and,, inquiry into the : cost of. these tours since Sir Joseph Wabd . became .Peimb Minis-., tee,; will assist; in the awakening of public opinion to the political, indecency of the brazen electioneering . methods that are practised by Ministers. , ' >'.-\