The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, August 17, 1911. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 1031, 17 August 1911, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, August 17, 1911. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The Representation Commissioners’ report re the re-arranging o£ electoral boundaries throughout the Dominion appears to give general satisfaction. The Commissioners have carried out their difficult task in accordance with a system which requires amending. Community of interest should be considered in preference to geographical grouping. Manawatu will now lose Foxtoa and Oroua Downs, which area will be included in the Otaki electorate. It will be somewhat of a wrench to be cut off from the north because Foxton’s commercial interests are more bound up in the Manawatn than in Otaki. Still, we shall soon get into touch with Otaki and Foxton will play no unimportant part in the future destinies of the electorate in which it is now included. Politically, we are loth to part with our representative, Mr Edward Newman, and although we do not see eye to eye with him in politics or with the party he represents, he has, nevertheless, represented us faithfully and well. He is a cut above the village pump politician and party politics have not prejudiced his actions in any move which had for its object the advancement of the district. We admire him because he is not a vote buyer, and has a broader outlook than a number of the Government’s sycophants. We say all this because Mr Newman has set a standard for honesty of purpose which will be looked for by the electors in aspirants for Parliamentary honours at this end of the electorate.

A Shannon resident has been airing his views to our contemporary in respect to the inclusion ot Foxton in the Otaki electorate. The wiseacre in question is reported to have said; “that he

thought a large number of Foxtou votes would be cast for Mr Robertson, and that both Mr Field and Mr Moncktou would suffer. The flax hands, were determined to vote for a Labour man this time.” He expressed satisfaction that Foxtou was to be included in the electorate in so far as No-license was concerned. Seventy-five per cent, of the electors, he averred, would vote for continuance, and he concluded with what he apparently considered was a compliment to Foxton by saying, ‘‘lt’s a fine little town, and its the most drunken one on the coast.” That the man is basing these latter opinions upon sheer ignorance is self-evident and we are surprised that our respected contemporary should publish such balderdash.

According to Mr Massey, the Opposition prospects in Masterton at the forthcoming election are very bright. He says; ‘‘l last spoke in Masterton some five years ago. The electors then were somewhat cold in regard to the Opposition, but at the meeting the other evening the warmth of feeling from start to finish was undoubted.”

Palmerston Borough Council does not have a hard-and-fast rule in respect to letting its hall. At its last meeting it was decided to let the Municipal Hall free for the Old People’s Home Fund Ball, excepting that the gas and caretaker had to be paid. This reminds us that up to the present our local Council has not yet adopted its scale of charges for hire purposes. It is hoped in this respect that church money-raising functions will not receive any favoured treatment. While on the hall question, it is a matter for surprise that the Council should have been so precipitate in its action in connection with the application for a call wire from the hall to the Mauawatu Hotel. We commend the proprietor of the hotel for his enterprise, but in granting his request the Council has set up a precedent which they may have cause to regret. It would have been better had the Council held this matter over for further consideration.

ThekK came before his Honour the Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout), at Palmerston, on Tuesday, a Dannevirke case, in which Francis Haselden sued Andrew Johnson for the return of ,£IOO deposit on an exchange which was not completed. Norman Gurr, a commission agent, stated that he had expected to receive 2 per cent, commission from both parties in accordance with the Chamber of Commerce Rules. Sir Robert Stout said that he had never heard of 2js per cent, from each party in the South Island, but counsel said it had been legally recovered in these Courts. The judge has reserved his decision, which will be awaited by commission agents with considerable interest. The double commission has been in vogue among agents in this province for many years, and has not been questioned. The morality of such dealing, however, is questionable.