MR E. NEWMAN HONOURED.

Otaki Mail, 23 August 1922, Page 4

MR E. NEWMAN HONOURED.

I I3Y ELECTORS OF MANAWATU. lON RETIRING I'KOM POLITICS. a coinplimenturay banquet in recognition of years of faithful service, as representative of the district, was tendered Mr. Edward Newman, M.P., who is retiring from politics this year, by the electors of tlie Manawatu district in Foxton. last night. The Masonic Hall was tilled to the doors i Mr. C. Eliott presided. The Prime §j Minister (Mr. W. F. Massey) was pre--4 sent and among others were Sir Thoi. i Mackenzie, .Sir John Luke, the Minis--8 ter oi' Agriculture (Hon. W. Nos--1 worthy), Mr. J. A. Nasli, M.P., and I several other members of Parliament. ■•< Ml: GUEST." I Tlic toast in the evening, "< btr 5 Guest," was proposed by Mr. B. P. | LethbWdge, who had. he said, been a g personal friend and. admirer of Mr. | Newman ever since that gentleman I cam.' lo the district and took up resi- | dense in Turakina in 18S2. Two I years later, he became a member of 1 the Bangitikei Council and served on 6 that bodv tor 20 years. He was also a a member or the Education Board, § and a prominent member of the ,! Farmers' Union. in his many years I of .Parliamentary service, Mr. Newman |l had served for a lengthy period as i chairman of tilt! UtndM committee. P and iuul invariably shown the utmost 'i courtesy to electors requiring inforrnai ia.i.i). or making any demands at all a on Uis time, Mr, Newman had fur--4 thermore distinguished himself by in■j augurating the scheme for giving Hie J sin").lns wool profits during the war 1 period Cor the benefit of the person'i nel of the mercantile marine, ] Mr, T. K. Brice (Marton) bore evit dence to I he sincere and earnest rep- " resentation Mr. Newman gave his : decorate. He was also alive to mat- I : ters of national importance such as; deviation of the mam trunk line from Levin to Gieatford. He realised! what a great saviag and economy that i would be (applause). He kept that work steadily in view, and did his best 10 bring it 10 fruition, if air, Newman had not treated politics in such it sincere May, he would have have grown sleek and robust, as ins',,,- "politicians did. (Laughter). The lion. W. Nosworthy said Mr. Newman cane' into Parliament in Vc.s' •',! the same lime as the speaker. IP could assure everyone that Mr. Newman had been a stalwart of the "pui'ty and his services would be keenlv missed. lie hoped that Mr. New.',,„n', i-rvices would not be altogether I,,h| to i he Dominion. Si'' John I.nice said if Here was any member of the Reform Party who deserved Cabinet rank it was Air. New- „,;,„ (J, could never have carried out t:,.. „orl; he cad done if he had run to [ ,;.! (Laughter), as one speaker had suggested. He was ;i live wire and he i ,'...'.' ,'., ,'' • c U ■■ Vii ' !•. • ! been oi -.- . .';,'.'.■'■, voirdupois. Mr Newman had been one of the strongest and most faithful men who had ever sat ill l',rii in (applause). II took a good deal of genius to discern anion**! the multiplicity of patriotic funds the one i;, ,i w ' - being oV( rlooked, and in Unit ~,, una : ion the fund that had been iuau-'iiralt'd In' Jlr Newman for tin mercantile sailors had done a great tuounl oi good, and his constituents i, ,u!d be proud of his efforts in thai direction. "There will be another cohere in usefulness reserved lor Mr Newman thai will enable him to centime- his good work in the inter,...;s 0 f the I'•.•minion," said the speaker. i Mr ,i. H. Hunt (R.ongOtca) said tiicv were very proud of Mr .Newman a-: their representative. He had been . ■ i-v keen to see that his constituents wie satislied. ttongotea had always been satisfied with the attention he had given them. As a member of the Manawatu County Council, and on lie'n-.Jf of the I tongotea Horticultural Society, the speaker bore testimony lo ! ;: co, d work done for t hem. ■ Mr 11. V. I.ethbridgc spoke in warm ; appreciation of the personal good dualities of Mr Newman, which he had tested in many years of friendship. Although it was so much to be i.--rotted thai Mr Newman was derided on retiring, it was compensation that a man of Air .1. Linklater's duality had been selectei! 10 stand for Mr W. Ch on. M.P.. sa.nl Mr .Newman novei missed, an opportunity for ■ doing anything for his electorate, lie ■,-,'. 5 a keen, broad-minded man. How much his services were appreciated by Parliament, as apart from the electorate, wtts indicated by the fact that the Prime Minister, the Minister for Agriculture, and so many members were present. His own experience was that Mr Newman had always been pleased to give him (the speaker) the benefit of ids advice as from an older I member of the House. ! mi: nlyvman'S reply. ' t»n rising to reply. Mr Newman was received with prolonged applause. lie assured tin gathering he could lind no words In express the gratitude • he f'eit for the 'lithe unexpected do- ! mon.nration that had greeted him. ■ He feared ids services were much | over-rated (No. no). Beyond giving i careful attention to the wants of his constituents, he certainly had not iion, more 'hail Hie majority of mem- ; tiers had done, it had been his good j fortune to have been treated with extraordinary kindness and considera- ! linn. "it is i specially pleasing to i nie." continued .Mr Newman, "to see j my beloved chief. Air Massey, here ' 10-nighi (applause),-and also to ses j Mr N'o.-woitliy and so man> member.s of Parliament present." He could not i lose Hit opportunity of expressing 1 what he had so long felt of Mr MasI See. Hi had occupied for over ten years the high posi'-ion ol Prime Miaister. ami from the very commence- . iiu-ni he had beet: confronted by ' pr.an- ms that had never fallen lo the lot of a Prime Minister in New Zea- ■ land before. At the outset lie was ; faced bj a great industrial strike, such as no other Prime Minister had •'vcr h;id to face. He carried that through as lie had since carried out 1 many similar tilings, and all the time lie had retained the confidence of the ■ workers. The speaker had worked ■with Mr Massey in opposition and in office, and there had never been any 1 serious rift in the party. At the pre- ! sent tiim the party stood absolutely ! behind the Crime Minister. He was \ recognised as standing in front of till i the Overseas statesmen. His war-time j services had been recognised by all classes from the !j-Cing down to the j humblest citizen of the Empire. He was a. great imperialist, a true statesman.. ,-,!],. who always stood for law id order. Tin people of .New Zeai iaiid w- i-.- to hi congratulated because 'aey hue a strong man who would •'■' '•'-' stand for what was right. (Apause.) Tlie Hens. Guthrie and Nos"th> o'e:,t into the House with the '•' ■■■>'■■•■ 'ad it had been a great plea- ■'■': ■■• '■'■'■' to sec i.ow they had carout their work. In Mr Gutfa-soldic-r settlers had a sym- j J ' : ;'' ,cr "' -riend, md the Government's j ' ™" 0 , 01 ' ""lciaent had been an tini -' '•• : ; ■ --,. The speaker also ' :.C-';''- \° S'r James Allen's war; --on.. Continuing, Mr Newman said j : i> constituents v.-e,v entitled to I I - l '""• reason for retiring. I , V J ' ! ™' "** »hai he was advised ! I.j his doctors that it was not wise J for him to continue the long and j strenuous hours borne by a member i of Parliameilf. .He had long ago i j niaue up his mind that he would pull i i out of politics when he was no longer { I able to do the work to the satisfaclion of his constituency and himself. I He had no intention, however, or set- ! tliug down to cut firewood. He hoped , still to be- able to take part in ou'oiic I work for many years. ! [ MR LINKLATER'S CANDIDATURE. It was with very great pleasure tiat

he heard that Mr Linklater had been " selected as the candidate upon his retirement. He was chairman of the Kairanga County Council and the Poxton Harbour Board. He did a great, deal of patriotic work and he hoped he would be returned to Parliament. Finally Mr Newman thanked them for their kindness. He had ■ made friends in Parliament and pubI lie service who had enriched his life, I and whose friendship he valued as aI possession he hoped to retain as long 'as he lived. (Loud applause.) "THE GOVERNMENT." The toast of "The Government" was proposed by -Mr L>. W. Maiheson, Mayor of Levin. He stressed the difficulties of the limes, and the way the Government had conducted its affairs under such conditions. To him it seemed that the strength of the Government lay largely in its leader. Times like the present were not for the theorist, but for the constructive more important at the present time worker and thinker. in reply, the Hon. Mr Nosworthy •aid what had been sac. of the Prime Minister was perfectly true. Cabinet and, Liu House loved and : .-:p> cted Mr ! . Massey and lie felt Cue great majority . : of the people of New Zealand did so I too. Even after the shock of the i Croat War the Dominion's credit j stood as high as that of England. No Government, he hoped, would ever, have such a troublous time as that which afflicted this Government in the financial slump that marked the con- ' elusion of the commandeer. ■ Mr J. K, Hornblow proposed the I toast, of the "Reform Candidate" J r.\ir Joseph Linklater). He stated. that it had been said somewhere that] a candidate,had been foisted on to the { constituency. It was no such, thing, i Representatives of all parts of the j district, with Mr Newman, had dis- i cussed the selection and Mr Linklater '- had been decided on. Manawatu was j one of the wealthiest constituencies, ' principally concerned with agricul- j tural and pastoral pursuits, and its! selected candidate was not only a j farmer but had taken an interest in; public affairs to the extent of having been chairman of the- Foxton Harbour Beard and the Kairanga County Council. During the Boer War, he was ; a member of the 6th Contingent and I fought under General Plumer in i I South Africa. Mr Linklater was a) I Palmerstonian, but there was no fear that Paiuierston was getting two ' j members. Mr Nash, one of the best j men in Parliament to-day, could look I after its interests- very well. I In reply. Mr Linklater said that in I whatever positions he iiud occupied he had tried to do his best, it was with a great deal of diffdence that he had accepted Hi" candidature for the Manawatu. but sine.' in all parts of the district he had had such an excellent reception he felt sure of his re- j lorn. He would ivy hard to be a worthy successor to Mr Newman.