END OF THE TRUCE.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 199, 22 August 1919, Page 5

END OF THE TRUCE.

COALITION DISSOLVED. SIR J. G. WARD'S RESIGNATION CONCURRENCE OF COLLEAGUES. PURPOSES ACHIEVED. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. Sir Joseph Ward, Leader of the Liberal party, tendered to-day to his Excellency the Governor-General his resignation as a member of tilie Executive Council, and as Minister of Finance, Postmaster-General, and Minister-in-Charge of Post and Telegraphs in the National Government. Subsequently Sir Joseph made an important statement in reference to his political position and outlined his policy for the fiuVttiy. He had come to the conclusion, he said, that now the peace treaty was signed and "the object for which the National Government was formed had been achieved the truce between the two principal parties in New Zealand was no longer necessary, and he could not now .remain in a Government that had been formed for war purposes only. He had, after much thought and with the full concurrence of his Liberal colleagues in the Cabinet, come to the decision tiiat a continuance of an Administration having naturally no real cohesion or any fixed principle save the winning of the war was not in the best interests of the country. In retiring, he had a duty to discharge to the people ot Xew Zealand in his position as Leader of the Liberal*party.

'"The world is passing through a new era," said -Sir Joseph, "and all the dangers and difficulties besetting the older countries as a result of four and a-half years of war are more or less in evidence in New Zealand. I desire therefore to let the people know my views, and it is for those who regard the well-being of the Dominion as paramount to individual interests to give theni careful consideration.

'"It is necessary for mc to say at the outset that I was unanimously re-elected by the Liberal party as its leader in | 1913, and my position has since been three times confirmed by my partyAfter the general election of 1914 the| parties were so close numerically that neither of -them wa.s strong enough to i carry on the government of the country satisfactorily during the war period. The Liberal part}', from the political point of view, had everything to gain by remaining out of the National Government, but after full consideration, although there were differences of opinion at the time, the party finally agreed unanimously to sink party and help to form a National Government, with an equal number of Ministers representing each side of politics in the Cabinet, and with the leaders of the two parties retaining their positions as leaders in the Cabinet. A great majority of the public and the Press throughout the country were favourable to and strongly supported the formation of the National Government, and I and my colleagues 'have, in spite of many difticultier;, been loyal to the party truce. Throughout I have abstained, both here and abroad, from taking any part in party polities, either by organisation, public speeches, interviews, or otherwise.

"Peace has been signed, and tllie arrangements made between the two parties for the war period must now be brought to a conclusion, and it is only fair to those to whom I am responsible that I should relieve them by my resignation from a position that I feel it is, in the best interests of the country, desirable to terminate."