THE PRIME MINISTER.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13905, 2 December 1910, Page 7

THE PRIME MINISTER.

• ADDRESS PRESENTED- BY THE LIBERAL PARTY. (PRKS3 ASSOCIATION- TELEGRAM.) WELLINGTON, December 1. An address, signed by all the members of tho Liberal Party, was presented to Sir Joseph Ward (Prime Minister) in the Whips' room at Parliament Buildings to-night. The Hon. A. R. Guinness, Speaker of the Houso of Representatives, said although the idea was only suggested an hour before, the response had been so spontaneous that the whole of the matter was completed in that hour. The address is as follows: —"W r c, the undersigned members of tho Liberal Party, desire to tender to you our respectful sympathy with you, Lady Ward, and your family in the attacks made upon you in connection with your personal affairs. We also congratulate you upon the able and convincing statement made by you in the House yesterday, which clearly proved that you had, by sheer plucK, ability, and perseverance, satisfied all the claims of your English, Australian, and New Zealand creditors, and built up a position in the commercial life of the Dominion of which both yourself and your party may be justly proud. We recognise fully the statesmanlike manner in which "you have led the country since tho Prime Ministership devolved upon you, and while assuring you of our complete and unabated confidence, beg, in conclusion, to wish you many further years of successful work for tho Empire and this Dominion." The Primo Minister, before he replied, waa cheered with enthusiasm. He expressed his warmest acknowledgments for so fine a mark of goodwill. He was deeply grateful for the references i» his personal affairs, and he would try to warrant the sentiments of goodwill conveyed in the address. He trusted the future public life of Now Zealand would be such that those responsible for its affairs might be able to devote themselves solely to tho public interests. He deeply appreciated their allusions to Lady Ward.