ONE OF THE FAITHFUL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1201, 9 August 1911, Page 4

ONE OF THE FAITHFUL.

The member for Otaki deserves to be complimented upon the value which the Acting-Prime Minister at any rate appears to set upon his unquestioning devotion to the party in power. Of Mn. Field as a "Liberal" unit it may bo truly said: "His not to reason why; his but to do and die." His fidelity fully deserved the rally of "Liberal ,, M.IVs to his support. We dare say he is quite compensated by this impressive tribute to his docility, to the genuineness of his "Liberalism," for the painfulness of requiring tho aid and the local encouragement of the actinghead of the Government and ten members of "the party" to assist him in his campaign, It will not be doubted that Mr. .Field is grateful, both for the relief force organised in his behalf and for the implied testimony that his whole-heart-ed obedience to the nod of his political chief and his quivering anxiety to become a pattern of mute fidelity have made him a very acceptable person to the powers that be. Although it had become very evident that' Tie was very anxious about his seat, we did not'know he was quite as anxious as all that. Although Mn. Field is not*in anyway a prominent member of his party, the public of this province have nev-?r ceased to take an interest in him since he made his famous apology to Sir Joseph Wakd on August 9, 1910, for daring to be so independent as actually to adhere, with groanings and sclf-scourgings, it is true, to the pledge he gave to the electors of Otaki.

.It will be remembered that he voted against the Government on a motion aflirming the freehold principle which the Government accepted as a no-confidence motion, and that subsequently he staggered even the most hardened of the old Parliamentary hands by publicly delivering an object apology to the Prime MinisTuii. He had never, ho said, felt so mean in his life, and he suggested that in the. future lie might not give a pledge that would bring him into conflict with his party leaders. At. Levin on Monday he repeated tho substance of this statement, and said (we quote from our evening contemporary's report) thot "his supporters roust give him a free hand to do what

ha thought proper under any circumstances." He let us fill know pretty plainly in the remarkable apology referred to that what ho "thinks proper under any circumstances'' is to vote just exactly as the party Whip orders. 'What he is asking, therefore, so far as the land question is concerned, is that he shall be allowed to vote for the leasehold, for the principles of the 1910 Land Bill, for land nationalisation, or anything else that the Government may be terrified by its Socialistic section into proposing. The general political matter of his address would seem to indicate that the member for Otaki, despite the years he has been in Parliament, has made little study of political questions, but it is worth noting for the clear light that it throws upon the/outlook and attitude of Ministerialist politicians generally. Briefly, it is this attitude: to support the Government on every point of general policy and administration, to pay not the least attention to facts, to scorn mere accuracy, and to make shift with crude irrelevancies where another man would think analysis was necessary. He referred to'the "Secret Case" only to ask the public to "suspend judgment" and to add, without a notion as to what he was saying, that "a good deal more yet remained to be disclosed." As to the Cook Islands Administration, he. is confident that Sir Robert Stout's report will be a "whitewashing" report, and thinks that settles the matter. He is quite satisfied with the progress of Native land settlement! It was quite natural in the circumstances that he should defend the Prime Minister s acceptance of a baronetcy. He even suggested that the Bcform party intended if they got the chance to do away with adult suffrage, a suggestion for which he not only is unable to offer a shadow of foundation, but which is made still more ridiculous from the fact that it was the Governments of Sir John Hall and Sin Harry Atkinson which extended the, franchise, and Sir John Hall who was the staunchest advocate of all ot woman's suffrage, and who was mainly instrumental, in forcing t-nc Seddon Government to take up the question. Mr. Field-is no better and no worse, we suppose, than the average Ministerialist candidate., He has made it clear that his only idea is to support the Government through thick anil thin, as unhampered by pledges as by ideas of his own. Otaki, we think, will not have much difficulty in deciding that that is not just exactly the sort of man it wants as its representative. •