The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1888. SIR HARRY ATKINSON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2811, 31 January 1888, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1888. SIR HARRY ATKINSON.

It is with unalloyed pleasure that we, in. common with most journalists of the Colony, write " Sir Harry Atkinson" in place of the old familiar " Major." Sir Harry—may he live long!—lias deserved his promotion twice over, Like Jacob, he has served a double term for the reward which, no doubt, has been nearest .his heart, and now.it has come after many years, and few people will grudge it to him, It is said that he has accepted the honor, and we can quite believe the assurance so gravely given, Colonial politicians never do refuse titles ; they are only too eager for them. We may produce a man in New Zealand some day who will decline knighthood, hut we are not likely to do so in a hurry. Sir Harry does not pretend to the heroic. He is simply an honost man, who has done good work for his country, and who takes as a matter of course such tangible rewards as are usually assigned to such services, No man in the Colony has earned his promotion more fairly, and some of our K.C.M.G.s have not had a tithe of his claim for the distinction. He is about as good a knight as they make nowadays, and now, possibly, he has but one more world to conquer. After a Colonial politician has passed the Chair, and become, as the Oddfellows have it, " a noble grand," he looks forward to being an Agent General. To be an Agent General and then die is possibly the final aspiration of colonial statesmen. We hope when Sir Harry has finished the work he has now in hand, that circumstances will permit him to air his title in London for the benefit of the colony and for his own delectation, The knighthood will improve our old friend the Major. Look what a lot of good it did to Mr Stout, the once dangerous radical when it changed him into a safe philosophical radical. Now there has been a radical strain in the Major which we venture to affirm, will be obliterated by his new honor. • Sir Harry lias been admittedly a professional politician who has had to fight his way up to his present position. Now that he has won the prize he will be able to hold his own, and possibly in the future fight more for the colony and less for himself, However he may fight we know that he will always do battle fairly, squarely and undauntedly and that the colony will never have to blush for Sir Harry.