THE MEMBER FOR WAITOMO.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 December 1922, Page 4

THE MEMBER FOR WAITOMO.

There was a tinge of disappointment, if not of bitterness, in Mr. Jennings’ speech at Waitara the other night when he charged the Press with not doing justice to the members of the House who had faithfully served the country. •’Well done, thou good and faithful servant,” he said, should be the sentiment of electors towards their public men. In a general way there is little gratitude shown by the public towards its representatives, and the man who goes into public life expecting it must be disappointed sooner or later. He should serve as a duty and not with the idea of receiving appreciation or gratitude. When they are forthcoming, they go a long way towards compensating -for the sacrifices that may be made, and certainly tend towards assuaging the asperities of life. II Mr. Jennings’ case we are sure his constituents and the outside public recognise and appreciate his public services. He has had a very long innings as a member, and has never spared or studied himself in carrying out his duties. He has had a very big and difficult constituency to serve—perhaps the biggest and most difficult in the Dominion—and the surprise is that he has been able to bear the strain for so long. That he can again enter the political lists with his whilom enthusiasm, when he might reasonably look to spend the autumn of his life in the ease and retirement from the hurlj- burly of public life that his long and honorable public life justly merit, is a tribute to his sense of ipublic spirit and public service, yet it is only in keeping with what one could expect from a man who has always been prepared to put the public’s interests before his own. In making these observations we, of course, do not touch upon his poltical predilections, which, of course, is another matter, but we think even his greatest political opponents will be the first to acknowledge their appreciation of what he has done over a. considerable number of years, not only for bis own district, but for the country as a whole.