A BIRTHDAY GREETING.

Evening Post, Volume LXVII, Issue 148, 23 June 1904, Page 4

A BIRTHDAY GREETING.

With more than ordinary pleasure we. join in the cordial congratulations tendered to (ho Right lion, R. J. Seddon on the celebration of his fifty-ninth birthday. The occasion was of unusual interest, as tho Premier is just omerging from the shadow of illness so serious as to have cniucd naive anxiety, not only to peisonal

friends and political supporters, but to ull who are acquainted with his vigorous personality and with the unquestioned service he has rendered to the. colony and to the Empire Although last night'b gathering was one of friends and 6uppjrt-ei-s, the paity not? was not by;tny meam pit-dominant ; and the sentiments of congratulation mid appreciation were )"or the mofit part such as might be heartily echoed by those who, like ouiselres, have had occasion to oppose Mr. Seddou'a policy and methods many times in the y>i\h\, and will probably do likewise in the fuluro. j Tho speech of the light honourable gen tleman himself was creditable alike lo his j heart and his head. Thine was a notable nosence of tlu» dictatorial tone with which | «c have become familiar — the exaggerated and histrionic sentiment which has characterised so many of his public nddu.%e» in iUc pa-t. The severe discipline through which he has had to pass has apparently had a good effect in widening his ay in patlnes and leading him to a better under (standing of friends and opponents aliki Theie \>as un unwonted touch of hunu lity in the speech which wns infinitth moto dignified than columns of self-ad-vertisement. Should this, attitude become pcinmneul, it woud add tc his personal prestige no lew» than to the powei for good which he has such unique oppor tunities to exercise. But we fear one danger — his irrepi edible dcsiie not only to work but to overwork. Far batter would it be for the colony, for himself, and for his subordinate 1 -, if Iw would be content to trust those Miboidinatcs better. Surely, for the most part, they would not abuse the privilege of wider power 5 of initiative and more complete j executive authority, while tho business of j the country would not be deadlocked in all directions as it so often is at present. This over-intense activity of mind has been to a large extent the cause of his compulsory temporary retirement from the field — ''should he yield again to the old temptation he might) have to abandon his public work wh?n he could least be upaicd. We trust that such a contingency may not arise, and again congratulate him on his rplurn to health and on his entry upon his sixtieth year.*'