The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 1912. THE COUNTRY'S REQUIREMENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 273, 15 May 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 1912. THE COUNTRY'S REQUIREMENTS.

Objection is often taken to members of the Ministry travelling about the country. Probably no Ministry has covered so much ground in so short a time as the Mackenzie Ministry, and probably none has cope in for so much blame on | that account. , We have no fault to find .with Ministers flitting about the country, so long as they attend to their work. A jaunt to Taranaki or any other place, it must be remembered, is no holiday for them, as they are kept hard at it whilst in train, steamer or .hotel. If they take an hour or two off for speechifying or "electioneering," they have to make up the lost time in the "we sma' 'oors." In our view, it is desirable that Ministers should travel, see the country, study the conditions' of all parts and obtain a first-hand knowledge of tlie people's requirements. This is necessary in order to govern wisely. We go further and say that it would be in the best interests of the country were members of Parliament to travel more and get into closer touch with matters outside their own electorates. . We would even go as far as suggesting they should receive another fifty pounds a year with which to travel during the reaess on State service. The return to the country would be a hundredfold. For instance, costly works sucli as the Otago central railway and the Otira tunnel would never have been undertaken, and the money saved could have been devoted to more urgent and profitable works. If members of the Cabinet and other members of Parliament had a more intimate knowledge of the conditions in inland Taranaki, for example, they would take a greater interest in the lot of and show a greater regard for the welfare of the pioneers engaged in doing the nation's best and greatest work. The visit of the Hon. W. D. MaeDonald, Minister for Public Works, and Hon. Geo. Laurenson, Minister for Labor, to Whangamomona last week should bear good fruit. The former knows and appreciates the disabilities under which the back-Mockers live and work, because he has beeii in their place for over twenty years, and he can be depended upon to do the right thing by his fellow sufferers. Mr. Laurenson's lot, on the other hand, has been cast in the towns, all about which he doubt knows, but he admitted during hi& brief sojourn in the' backblocks that he had little idea of the severe handicaps of the settlers and the great work they were doing. la addressing the Whangamomona people he gave utterance to some worthy sentiments, which we trust will be translated into action. He assured his hearers that if ever a Ministry had been returnI ed to power whose interest and desire it .was to help the "under dog," to help the man who was endeavoring to carve out a home for himself in the backblocks of

1 the country and thus to raise his oocial position, the present Ministry was that one. The Government, he said, was not going to devote its attention to the requirements of the big centres, but in attending to the needs and requirements of the men and women making their homes in the hamlets and obscure and lonely places in the Dominion. If they would watch the policy of the Government they would find it included opening up by roads and railways the remote places, and as a result might be expected a prosperity hitherto unequalled anywhere. He considered the men and women who were doing the noble pioneering work in this and similar districts were deserving of all the help that could be given them, and, speaking on behalf of the Government, he assured them that the Government was going to extend them that help. The new Ministry, if it survive its first session, will have ample opportunity by the end of 1914 of giving effect to these commendable sentiments. If it succeed, it will deserve the continued support of the country; if it fail, it should be : deposed from the Treasury benches and j replaced by another Ministry that will do its duty by the country.