The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY, FEB. 21, 1907.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2011, 21 February 1907, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY, FEB. 21, 1907.

The idea is entertained from one end of the colony to the other by those who exercise the privilege of the franchise that it is highly advantageous to he represented in Parliament by a Cabinet Alinister. It is argued that a Cabinet Alinister possesses the advantages of a private member and in addition enjoys tho greater influence in the House which liis position gives him, together with the immense opportunities afforded of serving his constituents in tho Cabinet Councils from which the ordinary members are excluded. Ordinarily speaking, this seems feasible; but somehow we have never entertained tho opinion ourselves without qualification. That is, wo admit its truth in certain cases where constituencies have had the good fortune to bo represented by a Premier or a Treasurer; but with many of the lower grade Ministers their elevation to Cabinet rank has been at the expense of their constituencies for the very reason that their appointment lias boon regarded as full compensation to tlie constituencies they represented, for many other favors to which those constituencies have been entitled, but have never received. AA T e could quote instances of this in AYairau, Oamaru, and other places that have in the past while represented in the Cabinet by third grade Alinisters not received that attention that was their due, except when election contests were approaching, and then to save the Cabinet the disgrace of having a Alinister defeated, they got something. Instances could bo quoted also where energetic private members, who “battled” for tlieir constituents and sometimes showed their teeth if their demands were not satisfied, were more successful than the third rate Alinisters. The principle (if principle it can be called) that lias actuated the Government in these matters and brought about these results is summed up in the fact that it is not necessary to purchase what you have already got, and when support is secured by a Cabinet Alinister’s salary it is not necessary to buy that support over again by spending in the Alinister’s constituencies any more than can possibly be helped to keep a smooth face on things. Indeed our own locality is an example of this, and everyone knows that in the matter of public expenditure on necessary works we are and have been treated in the most niggardly manner; and yet few will recognise the extent to which we suffer in comparison to other places that have chosen more energetic representatives. AA r ill it be believed, for instance, that in the matter of public conveniences such as tlie telephone service this town is more heavily taxed than other places. It seems incredible, hut it is nevertheless true, and our Alinister-mcm-ber is apparently oblivions of the fact, or is so careless as to whether it is so or not that he has never taken tlie trouble to put us on the same footing ns those places, and the local Chamber of Commerce has not thought of reminding liim of it either. Yet it is a fact that if a business man in Gisborne wants to talk with a farmer at AA’airoa for ten minutes ho must pay fivo shillings for the use of the telephone, whereas a Napier mail can talk to the same man at the same place for tho same length of time for one shilling, and yet AA’airoa is two miles nearer to Gisborne by wire route than it is to Napier. Possibly the honor of -being represented by a Alinister of the

Crown will lie considered to make up for tho disadvantage, though matter-of-fact people will hardly think -o, and those who want to havo tho advantage of being able to do business through tho telephone on the same terms as others will not think so either. Napier happens to ho represented by an energetic member who novel- fails to look after the interests of his constituents, and even in this small matter of telephone communication has secured the advantage over his more favored colleague, bo most poople it may seem a small matter; hut it is in reality a veryimportant one, for cheap communication always lends to increase of business, and Gisborne can never hope fo do business whero a. communication costs five shillings, while the same business can bo done with a neighbor for a shilling. This matter has boon brought boforo the PostmastorGenornl by a victimised business man, and the only satisfaction he oould get was to be told that tho charge was correct, and that to speak with AVniroa he must ho switched on through Napier although tho message had to pass through AVniroa on route, and that “in this instance AA’airoa is not in direct communication with Gisborne.” The complainant is 10forred by the Accountant of tho General Post Office, AA’ollington, to the “Postal Guido, page 282, Long Distance Communications,” lor an explanation of this charge; but so accurate are those officials, and so well acquainted are they with the details of their work that “page 282” does not contain a solitary reference to the matter, and the paragraph under “Long Distance Communications” in anothor part of tho book provides for tho charge being made on Sundays or between tlio hours of midnight and 8 a.m., which has no application whatever to the complaint submitted, for the “long distances are specifically named and tho route in question is not ono of them. However, that does not matter much except to show tho muddling of the Department, for the charge is provided for in page 290 if tho route distance by way of AVairoa to Napier and then hack to AA’airoa is reckoned, and that was evidently what tlio Postmaster-General’s factotum intended to say in explanation, but did not say it. The incident is hut another instance of Gisborne’s unnecessary isolation, and tho disadvantages wo labor under because of our tolerance of a laeadaisical representation in tlio Parliament of tho country.