COMPLIMENTARY DINNER.

Taihape Daily Times, 28 June 1918, Page 4

COMPLIMENTARY DINNER.

A complimentary dinner was tender* «d to the Hon. W. D. S. MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture, at Era's Hotel last night to commemorate his first visit to Taihape. *kere were about fifty present, thoroughly repre-. sentative of the commercial and agricultural life of the district. His Worship the Mayor (A. L. Arrovrsmith, Esq.) presided, having on his right the guest of the evening, and on his left Mr. R. W. Smith, M.P. for Waimarino. After dinner had ibeen partaken of the function took the form of a so-i cial evening. The toast of "The King" was pro. posed by the chairman; and •honoured.

The Chairman proposed the toast of "The Guest of the Evening," Hon. W. D. S. MacDonald, and in doing sosaid he wished to express on behalf of the community the pleasure offmeeting him that evening. He pointed out the advantage of travelling to. get out of insular ruts and to acquire; a knowledge first-hand of the work of: public men. Mr. MacDonafiTs speech; that afternon was the most able onedelivered in Taihape by any Minister of the Crown. The speech did not: lose any of its interest from absence •- of politics, but it was admirable as a. plain talk from a man to men, and! pointed out their plain duty in thepresent crisis. He could not help cori«gratulating him on the honest, straightforward manner in which he-? had spoken to them that ■bii'fl£ would accuse him (the speaker) '''Ah'©.ing a toady, but" after listening HoTSlrv MacDonald's speech he felt a g!o\f-

an& aa inclination to follow him. New I Zealand had for the present done .: »way with party politics, which only

•egered friendship and did damage in , VtA&er ways.' They had lately an example of non-party government, and T lie ..ventured to say that every think- ■•* Jingman in the community would be a • supporter of the National Government. y: If they turned that Government out h to-day they could not get a Government to do as well. We have at the • present time the ablest men in the country -controlling' its destinies.

There has'been no error of any magnitude made by the Government. He : thanked Mr. MacDonald ,for having nil stopped by the i way to .'spend .a day in and he hoped he would find • time to do so again. (Loud applause). ■■>■■■ Song,-Mr. Arthur James. • W «--The tfon. Mr. -MacDonald, on rising to respond, received an ovation. He thanked the Mayor for his kindly remarks on himself and colleagues, and those present for the cordial manner in which they had drank his health. During his public life he had sunk all individual interests, and gave of his best to the people. He had been told that no matter how hard a public man worked he got no thanks. But he had been 28 years in local and national *' public life, and had never been defeated; surely no man could expect «eater thanks than that. Unlike some ne felt he could ney€r d ° en * bugh. After paying a glowing tribute to Sir James Carroll, whom he never heard disparage an opponent, he said he first took a part in national politics when the electorafe in. the Bay of Plenty was created, which *ne promised to hold only for three years if elected; however, he was still representing it. He was leader of the Liberal party to-day, having been left that position by his chief on his de-

parture for England. Stressing the •- : duty of a public man, he said immediately a man gives his consent to do anything, whether in national or local politics he should kelp every individual his constituency. When he failed to do that he had nc Tight to be there. Articles often appeared in the papers asking why tbe National Government did not do certain things, particularly ". in the first stages of the war; hut the National Government was not in existence until twelve months after In© '■' beginning of the war. One query was why had not the National Government introduced compulsory military - service at the stirt of the war. There 3ls not a possible chance of it. being rried then, and he doubted it .seven. now. He was r re p a red. to say that »the National Government had not made mistakes', but" he did not . say they had done 'everything they could have dotieT They had a strong party now, • Which hal vrystallised into one • -whole in the interests of liberty and 5 mankind. Immediately he found he ; m could not agree with that party -he sm would say, "Well, gentlemen, I am out ■< Referring to the sacrifices of . parents and the young men who hr.a

sacrificed all thea- prospects in life in

I fighting for their. country, he said no '<-..■■ one would be mean enough to injure ';or take away one iota of what thoy ■ were entitled to. (Applause). Nothing impressed him so much as when ten transports were sailing from the harbour with 8000 young men on board, who with a smile on their faces and a song on their lips were going out to take their part In the darkest tragedy on the face of the earth, and who to the battlefield to pour out Wk red wine of youth. It ; was the most inspiring circumstance in the history of mankind. They went . forth to do what was right for their country and nobly they did it. Those who pass through the gates of silence in France and Gallipoli will never De jAkotten. We will try to do our best foWthem, as far as the National Government is concerned. The speaker quoted the familiar lines of Bracken's "Not Understood." (Applause). Mr. MacDonald gave a graphic word picture of the scene when the British Ambassador in Berlin was leaving on the outbreak of war, who, when questioned by the German Chancellor as to whether England had counted the

\ cost, replied: "When the honour of i is concerned England neveT counts and cost!" After describing the Samoan expedition, in which the first German flag was torn down, Mr. MacDonald paid a glowing tribute to our boys, of whom 105,000 had been mobilised in this country, over 12,000 of whom sleep the long, last sleep. • Our boys, said the speaker with pride, have fought bravely and fought unto the death. Adverting to the present war position, be said the critical situation was caused by the defection of Russia; now America had come In, but could we hold out until America's r force told? The speaker paid a trib- ; lite to the Americans, who, in spite of her heterogeneous population, was putting in fighters of the very best

material in men.. Britain had made blunders, but not nearly so many as France had held up the *prch to lead, the way of every nation

, no man or -woman in this country yironlis l raise the white flag to the Hun,

but that was what we should be. doing if we reduced our efforts. Coming near home, Mr. MacDonald emphasised the necessity of increasing our production'in this ' country. The Imperial Government is offering the same price for wool as for the past two years, to be current for two years after the war. He read telegrams from the North Canterbury Woolgrowers' Association, the Palmerston North Association (including Taihape) and the Wellington Farmers' Union, advocating strongly the acceptance of the offer. Our leaders at Home were doing all that was humanly possible to cope with the shipping problem and get our produce away. This question was the cause of the greatest anxiety to him and his colleagues. The country is crying out for immigration and settlement, and who could be better for this purpose than our own boys? They did not want to be parasites or a drag on the country. He could assure them the Government would do its duty by them. He hop-d this year would see the darkest page of history turned over, that the close of 1918 would see the end of the great struggle, and that as the years roll by it will bo only a sad and dark memory. But for the present the crisis calls for the best that every man and woman is capable of.. Mr. MacDonald concluded an eloquent and impressive address amidst great applause. Song, Mr. Powell

Toast. —"Army and Navy," proposed by Mr. Haybittle, responded to by Mr. Wrightson.

Song, Mr. T. Smith

Mr. Nathan proposed the toast of "The Parliament of New Zealand," saying if he had any doubt about the National Government it was completely removed by Mr. MacDonald's address.

Mr. R. W. Smith responded. "The A. and P. Association" was proposed by Mr. Dymock and responded to by Mr. Aldridge. Mr. H. O'Callaghan proposed "The Judges,' 'to which Mr. Lonsdale responded/ - H ~:.,,.t nofh :•! •: ~

The toasts of "The- Ladies,", the "Press," the "Chair," and "Our Host" were duly proposed and responded to in felicitous •terms. : .:/ ,'t .■;;, ; : .•,

• The singing of the National;Anthem brought the proceedings to a close.