THE STATE BANQUET.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 754, 1 March 1910, Page 4

THE STATE BANQUET.

Sir,—Many j>eonlo .|6es|dpsii.'niyself. -have wondered upon what , principle the'list'of , invitations to. the State banauet to .Lord Kitchener was drawn'up; A"great many of the names, as printed by you and your evening .contemporary, are those of people, familiar, to .the public as' inexplicable, but adjuncts of 'most of tho entertainments given by the present Government. .1 don't,, think anyone will deny that'W'gnests at a , -State banquet to a Field-Marshol of the Empire should be selected strictly-according to the rule followed :in (i Great Britain..-. Of course, if 1 am to}d that official etiquette ill Now Zealand is as great an , advance" on official etiquette in England as Mr. Buddo, say, is upon Lord Morley, then I have nothing to say. ■ ;' ' , Up to a certain point the list was very well, but when I came to the M.P.'s, I wondered why only ous of the 70 extraWellimrton members -was deemed fit to break bread in a company distinguished as much in one direction by the presence , of the Governor as in another direction by the presence of a cert<-rfn-civil servant.' The legnl .and 'medical' professions''wererepresented in the - most" extraordinary; manner. -It. never .strnck -. the' : 'Prime Minister, I suppose, that in England these professions would be recognised by tho issue of invitations, to th-B officers, of. the local law and.. medical . societies.', Still more, remarkable is the crowd that was there, I .suppose, as "representative citizens." Who'is.SirJoseoh Ward that he shonld-'decido who are the represontatiyo citizens—the citizens whom I am willing to'have represent me? Ho thinks, apparently, that the prominent persons who are noted for nothing in particular except that they are "pushers" and friends of his are the flower of the community.- Yet I missed the names of several citizens who in their services to tho State and to tho city are 'more worthy than any one of those nondescripts, to receive a "bidding t0,,, meet ' Lord Kitchener. Only,one Denartmental chief clerk was invited. And there is.one name that I can't find any explanation of, at all, and which would .nd.t'll'o'justified .'evenif the function had^peen: ■:."intended--:itip,' include some .merry-musjc^'V-W;;Vff.;.O\; Altogether, sir, L am :disgusted.; 'I-am : an obscure member, of the mob-that,, is quite content to stand round and cheer. I did stand on'the pavement and'-cheer after the dinner was over, but when .1 saw who some of. the State diners, were, my cheering froze ; up very promptly. I only hopo that .the friries wero. a little better than tho.Government's.idea of. the correct thing.'f It is a pity' that'.thePrime Minister/! before drawing .up his list, did not consult".tho.Governor. Thero would then-;haye been a very different; list, and one' which /would not, by commission and: omission-,: insult the ■ people' of the country of-VhioK'.-th'e Field-Marshal , is the