THE Pukekohe and Waiuku Times PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1917 SIR JAMES ALLEN, K.C.B.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 252, 20 February 1917, Page 2

THE Pukekohe and Waiuku Times PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1917 SIR JAMES ALLEN, K.C.B.

"We nothing extenuate, nor let down auoht in malice

In offering our congratulations to the Minister for Defence upon the signal honour conferred on him, and through him upon the whole Dominion, by his admission to the much-coveted Order of the Bath, we feel safe in saying that very seldom has a colonial politician more richly deserved recognition for services rendered than he has. For he has, ever since the declaration of war, displayed to a marked extent a fine capacity for dealing with the most difficult problem that has ever beset a New Zealand administrator with prudence, courage and the constancy that must always win through in the end.

We are fully aware that during the iirst year of the war Sir James Allen came in for at least his share of hostile criticism. The people of New Zealand, accustomed for twenty years to conducting all their business with Departments of State through the influence of what is known as a " political pull," in the Defence Department came in contact with an administration that had no more respect for the man with a host of friends in Parliament than for the man who had none, and the shock, though disturbing for the public temper, was no doubt good for tli9 public health. Badgered in Parliament, belittled by the press, and worried almost beyond endurance by the great little men whose ono idea of military efficiency was the establishment of local camps so that the hucksters of the Dominion might have a " squaro deal," Sir James Allen never faltered in the task ho had undertaken.

How great a task it was it is difficult for the civilian mind to grasp. When once New Zealand had decided to send her men overseas to aid in the defence of the Empire, which is her all in all, a vast and practically new department had to be created in the shortest possible time out of the most meagre materials. That there were mistakes is no wonder, —the marvel is that there were so few. That friction should occur was inevitable when so many inharmonious parta were forced to work together,—that the machine should now run so smoothly and

effectively is little less than miracu lous.

That New Zealand has stood head and shoulders above the rest of the Dominions in bearing her share of the burden of Empire no one will deny. She has never lcoked back since she put her hand to the plough, and we are confident she never will, i When her history comes to be written its brightest page will be that which tells of the serene courage with which she took her part in the defence of all that civilisation and enlightenment hold sacred. And the most prominent figure on that page will be that of the man who enabled her to translate her quality and energy into terms of action.