The Daily News. TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1912. MR. MACKENZIE'S RETIREMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 85, 27 August 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1912. MR. MACKENZIE'S RETIREMENT.

If our contemporaries have ertecuvelv i guaged public feeling in the Egmont dis- : trict, the retirement of the Hon. T. ! Mackenzie from active politics has cans- ; ed some degree of soreness, which is. being more or less picturesquely expressed in various parts of his late constituj eney. It is contended, according to the*; Manaia paper, that in the first place Mr. j Mackenzie should not have accepted office j without consulting his constituents; that I in not having done so he committed not J only an act of discourtesy, but was '] guilty of a distinct breach of faith' in breaking the terms of his election—these unwritten terms being that he was to oppose the principles and policy of the Government, instead of which lie took paid service under it. This is-, indeed, a terrible indictment, but it opens up quite a new phase of political philosophy. We cannot see why the Liberal electors of Egmont should imagine that in returning Mr. Mackenzie to Parliament , they were purchasing, as the' price of their votes, the right to dictate to him as to what he should do in private life for a term of three years. If Mr. Mackenzie chose to retire from politics he had a perfect right to do so without consulting anything save his own inclination. He gave no pledge to remain in the House for a definite period, and while he represented the Egmont constituency he represented it faithfully and well. There is no suggestion that he has in any sense "ratted" to the other party, or that he has fallen short in the responsibilities which he undertook. On the contrary, in his assiduity and fidelity to the principles which he ennunciated from the public platform he has brought nothing but honor to his constituency. The suggestion that he has been false to his pledges because he lias taken office is the merest quibbling with words. It presupposes at onee that appointments to the public service in New Zealand are based upon the American system of distributing the spoils among the victors. It might just as well be urged that the appointment of a Supreme Court judge of Conservative tendencies by a Liberal Government indicates that the judge has sacrificed his principles to his pocket. The High Comniissionersliip is not in any sense a political appointment, and if the Liueral party came into power again tomorrow nothing is more certain than that the appointment would not be interfered with. To follow the attitude adopted bv this section of the electors, Mr. Masyov, on his acquisition to office, should have at once dismissed the public servants appointed by the Liberal Administration during its long tenure of power, and replaced them with his own Conservative nominees. Fortunately we fcaye not yet reached this narrowness of political vision in N T ew Zealand, and the public service is kept comparatively free from the bitterness of party politics. There has been a general opinion ex-

pressed throughout the Dominion that j the Government has selected an ideal J man to represent this country in London, and instead of being sore and sorry the electors of Egmont should be proud to ■bask in the reflected honor of the appointment. Mr. Mackenzie has placed thein under no disabilities by his resignation, for if the.electorate is desirous of being represented by a Liberal member it will be given an untrammelled opportunity of giving practical effect to its desire at the election next month. The constituency is exactly where it was, and its destinies He in its own hands. Mr. Mackenzie has returned the trust reposed in liim honorably and unsmirched, and it is the idlest of puerility to talk of his I having ''committed a gross breach of faith." We do not believe that any material proportion of his late constituents hold 'this view, but, of course, it is proverbial that empty vessels make the greatest sound, and a few loud-voiced protestants can easily make their objections so clamorous as to confer upon them the importance of being an expres-. sion of the many, rather than the thoughtlessness of the few. We do not believe thai the majority of Mr. Mackenzie's supporters have any sympathy with the idle views expressed.