Rangitikei Advocate. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXI, Issue 8777, 3 April 1907, Page 2

Rangitikei Advocate. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES

THERE will at first bo a fooling of regret throughout the district at the decision of Mr R. E. Beckett not to accept any manifestation of goodwill at the hands of Marton and Raugitikoi residents on the occasion of the impending departure of Airs Beckett and himself for a tour in Europe. The courteous but firm manner!in which Mr Beckett expresses his feelings and those of Mrs Beckett on .the subject will, however, servo to convince cvcryoao that as the object of the proposed social would ho to give pleasure ro those in whoso honour it was arranged, such regrets would be out of place. Mr and Mrs Beckett fully appreciate the kindly sentiment which lias led their friends to seek to testify in a public way appreciation of valued and long continued services rendered to the district, but they prefer that work which was given freely and as a pleasure should remain uurequitted by any formal recognition. The public will not bo slow to appreciate and respect the motive which has inspired the re'fusal. We may feel proud that we have among us men and women who are willing to devote their 'energies to the promotion of the public welfare without any desire for reward or recognition. Mr and Mrs Beckett have, done good work for the district in many capacities, and the inhabitants of Marten and the surrounding country who would enthusiastically have joined in the proposed 'farewell will gladly remain indebted to them for willing service in the past, and even hope in the future still further to increase the indebtedness.

THE letter we publish fo-day from Mr Edward Newman exposes one of the misrepresentations to which some of the leading Ministerial journals are rial need'in their efforts to recommend the Hand Bill. The Now Zealand Times talks with great assurance about rural misconceptions of the Bill, hut it takes no care to remove the beam out of its own eye before complaining of tbe mote that exists in the eye of the Farmers’ Union. Tbe clause from tbc amended Bill, as pointed out by our cwrospoudeafc, tow for ita Vfcfoot tbo

maintenance of existing contracts only. The man who has lent money on mortgage before the passing of the Bill will, as at present, have the (right of foreclosure. This amendment explains the fact, put forward by some supporters of the Bill tb: show that it will not affect tliO rate of interest, that Inigo money lending institrutidns fire renewing mortgages : at, : thfc old rate?. It is after the passing of the Bill that difficulties as to borrowing are likely to arise, and the New Zealand Times is either grossly ignorant or wilfully misleading in its attempts to prove otherwise.

DESCRIBING- one of the Roman Bmj perors, a historian, in terse Latin which cannot ba Well rendered into English, said that he would have been considered likely to prove a splendid ruler if ho had never ruled. Similarly wo may say of Lord Rosebery that he appears to have all the qualities necessary for a loader of the Liberal party had not his tenure of that position in 1894-5 proved that he we,- unable to secure fhb lasting allegiance of his followers. It must i bo admitted that it is -arliho'sb impossible for a member ht ‘the House of Lords to make a Satisfactory head of the Liberal party, hut had Lord Rosebery been a sufficiently great loader this dlfficuly might have been over- 1 come. The explanation of Lord Rosebery’s failure as a leader appears ' B to i ho that ho does not possess the enor-! moufi vitality and physical Vigour ■Which are the drat requisite of a sue- : ccssful s'tßtfesinau. Men like Glad- i stone, Bismarck, Chamberlain; audj oven Mr SeddOn, in Iris smaller Sphere, i have all been remarkable for their; great energy'and persistence, which j enabled them to do'two days' work ! in one day and yet to appear tile next | day as fresh and active as if they had: newly returned from a holiday. Lord; Rosebery is an able writer and an \ eloquent orator, but above all ho! seems to have a species of level hcadoduoss whl'ch renders lus opinions always worthy of respectable consideration. The views ho; expressed the other day as to the pro- ■ spects of the British Ministry are interesting, because ho can hardly he very favourably disposed to a Cabinet which passed over his undoubted claims to office. His warning to the Government not to overload their programme by attempting to deal at the same time with such difficult questions as reform of the House of Lords, temperance reform, the laud question, army reorganisation, and Inland, is well worthy of notice by the British Ministry. His second apprehension was lest the party, through the action of some of its members, would he permanently connected with a spirit of hostility to property in all its forms. If so, the party would, lie feared, ere long ho squeezed out botwon Socialism and Conservatism. It is to bo regretted that a man of such eminently sane views as these has been unable to find a position more effective than that of candid critic, ami that his fate, to use his own words, is to plough his lonely furrow.