WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 6 February 1917, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

I 1 THE HON. DR. McNAL. I A LIFE OF SERVICE. WELLINGTON, hVb A i His intimate friends were not unprepared for the sad ending of the illness with which Dr. McNab was stricken three weeks ago. On his ad- . mission to the private hospital iu : which he died on Saturday night no ! serious complications were app: shendj ed, but when pleurisy followed upon a j slight cold a week later and heart trouble was discovered -his friends were not kept in ignorance of the gravity of his condition. Unhappily the worst fears of the doctors have been realised. Only those very closely associated with Dr. McNab in his work can understand the magnitude of the loss the public life of the country has suffered by his death. Diffident to an extreme, conscientious almost to a fault, and perhaps a little distrustful of his own powers, he was easily discouraged and too ready to make way for less sensitive and more assertive men in the battle ci politics. The very qualities that endeared him to his friends —his high ideals, his scrupulous loyalty, his generous forbearance—were often the occasion of offence to some of his smaller critics, but to-day they will be remembered by all those whose opinion he would have valued to the lasting honour of a man who gave himself ungrudgingly to the service of his fellows and to posterity. THE VACANT SEAT. . Of course the death of Dr. McNab will entail the election of a new member to represent Hawke’s Bay in Parliament and probably the appointment of a new Minister to fill his place in the Cabinet. There was a tacit understanding between the party leaders when the National Cabinet was formed that during its continuance any vacancy occurring in the House of Representatives would he filled by a member of the same political colour. This understanding was scrupulously observed so far as the party leaders were concerned at the Pahiatua byelection last year, and there is no son to suppose it will be disturbed! on the present occasion. The rumour that Mi. H. M. Campbell, the former member, so narrowly defeated by Dr. McEab at the last general election, will contest the seat, may be attributed to people who are not acquainted with that gentleman’s nice sense of propriety. The names of several members have been mentioned in connection with the vacant seat in the Cabinet, but if the choice has to be confined to North Island representatives, in order to preserve the geographical balance, it will be narrowed down to a very small number, and to-day Mr. Veltch is most in favour.

IHL NORTH AUCKLAND TOUR. The southern guests of the North Auckland Development Board who have returned from the great advertising tour, speak in highly appreciative terms of the hospitality they received and of much of the country thev traversed. The commercial side cf the enterprise was now and again, some of them say, a little too conspicuous, but the object of the promoters was frankly utilitarian, and there is no ground for serious complaint on this score. North Auckland wanted to be better known and it adopted a very delightful way of achieving its purpose. The southerners, among whom must bo included visitors from Manawatu, Taranaki, and Wellington, are enthusiastic o\ei the country they saw. “A second laianaki in the making” Is the verdict of a visitor from the butter province. A let of the land is as good as any we have in Canterbury and all of it has a better climate” is the opinion of another of the tourists, and without exception the travellers express surprise that the country should have remained practically unknown so long. Ihe Development Board at least, has got the advertisement it sought, and it will be disappointed if its efforts do not further accelerate the drift northward.