The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1911. CORONATION HONOURS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1159, 21 June 1911, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1911. CORONATION HONOURS.

The public will read with mixed feelings the news which we publish this morning respecting the bestowal of Coronation honours. When they consider the procedure preceding the allotment of those honours they will recognise how completely in harmony with the selfish and grasping policy of the Ward Administration the present awards are, and they will appreciate perhaps more convincingly 1 than has ever been the case before, 0 the fact that the chief end and pur--1 pose of the Ministry is to promote e the personal interests of the Ministry s itself. Three members of the Govcrna ment, and one life-long supporter of the Government, have been singled out above all others in the Dominion ' for personal distinction. Four out s of the five persons honoured are ' r politicians belonging to the party [.' ir. power—the party which possesses Is the privilege of bringing the recom- • mendations for the allotment,of such . honours before the Home authorities. Only one person outside of politics i. has been singled out for distinction and we venture to think that his " case, and his alone, will meet with ,' the unanimous approbation of the public. We have on a previous ocj casion discussed the practice usually pursued in New Zealand of recommending practically only politicians for such distinctions as rest for be- \. sfcowal with His Majesty the King, .i and have voiced the opinion that it i is a wrong one. There are other 1 branches of public service which call • for recognition quite as much as political achievements, but it is " rarely indeed that the Government of j Hew Zealand has gone outside it 3 . own ranks or those of its supporters 1 when conveying to the Home author- . itics its views as to who are most deserving of the King's favour. Leaving that aspect of the ques- » tion, however, we must unreservedly 1 compliment his Honour, Mit. Justice • Williams, upon the well-deserved P honour which has rather haltingly r come to him. It has been a matter , for public comment that his long , and distinguished public service has not been sooner recognised, and even now it is somewhat disappointing to find that he has not been chosen for higher honours. In the performance of his judicial duties it fell to the lot of Mr. Justice Williams many years ago to pass severe strictures upon Sir Joseph Ward in connection with the conduct of the business of the Ward Farmers' Association, and this may have been prejudicial to his claims. On the occasion of the last distribution of Royal favours, at least one Government, and several other journals commented on the fact that this distinguished member of the Supreme Court Bench had been so persistently passed over by the Ward Administration, and there will probably be quite as much adverso comment to-day on the fact that, , though now honoured, he should have been done so in a lesser degree than a member of the Cabinet, such as Dk.Finhlay, whose claims to public service are comparatively insignificant if not contemptibly trivial. Mr. Carroll has at least a long] , period of service to account for his inclusion in the list of honours. We cannot fairly say that we can recall any material public service that he has rendered, although he may have been useful to his party, but he has at any rate been able to win public support and presumably public approval for over 20 years as a member of the House of Representatives, and for a little less time as a member of the Ministry. But Dr. Findlay has no such record to show. The people at the polls rejected him. He was forced on the country as a member of the Upper House a few years ago, and has since proved himself again and again out of touch with public opinion. Ho has shown himself a shallow imitator, with a superficial polish that passes with the ignorant as evidence of deep learning; he has no record of public service to warrant him being singled out for distinction; there are scores, nay hundreds, of people in the country, there are even members of tb: Cabinet, infinitely more entitled to bo honoured than this political posturcr. Yet we find him —a reject at the polls; a man who has foist himself on the. Legislature of the country to suit his own ambitions; a party politician of no achievements, distrusted by members of his own party in the popular Ohamber—chosen above so many other public men with infinitely greater claims to recognition. If these honours arc to be bestowed with so little regard for public service or personal achievements of any kind, then they cannot fail to sink in popular esteem. Naturally, the Home authorities can know little of the merits of the recipients—the blame must rest entirely with the Government here. | Taking precedent as a guide, Me. Guinness must be considered as entitled to the honour which ha-s fallen to fas lot. He has a long record of political life behind him, and has filled the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives for three terms. Sir Joseph Ward has been created a Baronet, an hereditary title, the first, we believe, that has ever been bestowed for public service in the Dominion. Looking back over the brief history of New Zealand one cannot fail to bo struck with the inequitable nature of the recognition made of public service unselfishly rendered. It is in its way shocking to think that the record of Sir Joseph Ward should bo held up as the bright and shining example for the youth of the country to strive to emulate when one considers the records of the men who unselfishly, and_ inspired only by a high public spirit, wrestled in the earlier years of the country's existence with the problems of statesmanship and strove only with the single purpose of their country's good. What was their reward—what recognition was made of their services—their achievements 1 What, in Sir Joseph Ward's past, has warranted him being singled out for a greater distinction than has over before been bestowed on any public man in New Zealand? The public will find it no easy task to answer this question to their satisfaction. It is difficult to recall any occasion on which Royal favours bestowed on New Zealand were so little likely to arouse public enthusiaem as is tlie case on tho present occa-sioa.