AU REVOIR.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 76, 29 March 1912, Page 3

AU REVOIR.

GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS SIR JOSEPH WAED'S FAREWELL. Heads of all the Government Departments assembled, by invitation, in the Cabinet room yesterday afternoon, to bid farewell to Sir Joeeph Ward on th© eve of his retirement from the position of Prim© Minister. Sir Joseph Ward, who spoke under the influence of deep emotion, Raid: — "Gentlemen, I wanted to take the opportunity, as in the course of an hour or so I will have presented my resignation to the Governor, of saying goodbye to you all, and of thanking you all for the valuable services you have rendered throughout the long time I have had the houour of being a Minister of the Crpwn. There have been a great number of difficulties and many trying times, and they have always been softened and made easy by the heads of all the Government Departments. I can only tell you I am parting with regret, though I feel the course I am taking is the right one. I want to assure you all of the fact that in the future I will always feel cloaely attached to the great public service of this country. I can only" — Sir Joßeph was so evidently overcome by emotion that his. audience relieved the situation by round after round of applause. TRIBUTES FROM THE SERVICE.. Mr. W. C. Kensington, Under-Secro-tary for Lauds, eaid that as one of the oldest members of the Civil Service, and one who was about to i;etire, he had had a great privilege conferred upon him of being asked by the heads of the Departments to say a. few words expressing, on behalf of the whole Civil Service, their . gratitude and thankfulness for all the kindness and court«6y /that Sir Joseph Ward had shown to all of them and to the whole of the Service, and the interest he had taken, and the kindness he had shown during the whole of the time he had held Ministerial office. (ApplauHe.) The passing of the Superannuation Act in 1907 brought relief to and removed a load of anxiety from hundreds of officers who did not know how they could pas 6 out of the Service and live in their old age. That act alone entitled Sir Joseph Ward to a debt of gratitude from the whole of the Service. Those who had had the honour of serving under Sir Joseph Ward ac their immediate Ministerial chief had received nothing but the greatest kindness and courtesy from him during the whole of the timo they had been associated with him. They parted from him, not only with feelings of the deepest regret at the severance of ties, but with the deepest affection owing to the kindness they had always met at Sir Joseph Ward's hands. Whenever they had placed before him any matters for the welfare of the public, he had always agreed to them. On behaif of the whole of the Public Service, he wished Sir Joseph and Lady Ward and his family every prosperity and every happiness. (Applause.) Colonel Collins, Controller and AuditofGeneral, said that as a very old Civil servant, he would like to say a few words. He had been officially connected with Sir Joseph Ward for over twenty years, and as Secretary to the Treasury ne did not think that any other officer in the Service could have been brought more frequently into contact with Sir Joseph than he was. Throughout that time he had received at Sir Joseph's hands every kindness and every courtesy. (Applause.) To him Sir Joseph had been more a friend than a Minister, and he had also seen the kindness which he had shown to other members of the Service. No one regretted more than he did the fact that Sir Jc«eph was about to leave them. (Applause.) Mr. A. M. Smith also referred to the consideration that the. Civil Service had received during the time that Sir Joseph Ward had been Prime Minibter. They had, ho said, only to laok at the Estimates for the past few years to see how general the increases had been. In addition, there was the Public Service Superannuation Acl, already referred to, and he mentioned with pleasure the fact that the number of contributors to iho Superannuation t'und now totals 9200. With such an enormous number who would- benefit by Sir Joseph Ward's action in introducing that measure, they could gauge how many there were who would remember in the future what he hati done for them in. the past. Professor Salmond, head of the Law Drafting Department, saJd that, apart from the distinguished services Sir Joseph had rendered to the country at large, he thought all present \vould agree with him that he had been the best friend to the service that they had over had. (Appia-use.) WbaL had always impressed him in Sic Joseph Ward wa« his uniform cou-tesy and pleasantness of manner. (Applause.) He had come in contact with him on many occasions, and had never found him in anything but a serene and pleasant temper. Ho thought he was speaking for all present when he said they all deeply regretted the fact that, they would be no longer associated with the conduct of public affairs m New Zealand. (Applause.) Dr. F. Fitchett, Public Trustee, while fully endowing everything that had been said by previous speakers, said he declined to accept the position that, they were parting with Sir Joseph Ward for ever. He emphatically declined to believe that a man of his eminent abih tics was going to be permanently lost to New Zealand. "Though we may uot be here to see it," he added, "I am certain you . will occupy again the position you leave to-day." (Applause.) Mr. G. Hogben, Inspector-General, also spoke of Sir Joseph Ward's unfailing courtesy and consideration. Mr. T. ■Rotiayiie, General Manager of Railways, remarked that Sir Joseph Ward hiid been a most capable administrator of railway affaire. The railway staff and the men throughout New Zealand owed an everlasting debt o£ gratitude to Sir Jcßeph Ward, iMasmuch as he introduced the Superannuation Art. Many railway men, especially in the Second Division^ would be in a sorry condition now ii it wiw not for tbe passing of that very valuable measure-. Men who had. done good service in tho railway system would, on reaching the age of sixty or sixty-five years, havo been turned adrift with very little savings, and in many cases thoy would have been thrown on charitable aid. Sir £2§?PJi'£ yeiatione with tbg gtgg geg«£- ,

ally had been of the most cordial char- I acter, and he had been of the 'utmost assistance to himself (Mr. Ronaync) in many ways. (Applause.) ', Mr. D. Robertson, Secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department, said | he had learned the feeling of deep regret, almost amounting to consternation, with which tho officers of the Department contemplated Sir Joseph Ward's retirement. In fact, they had been wondering very much how they were going to get along. The Poet and Telegraph Department was the first to have classification, and they fully appreciated ' all the benefits that it conferred. The present was hardly the time to speak of the many benefits that Sir Joseph Ward, us Postmaster-Gen eral, had given to the public. He hoped to get an opportunity later on to deal very fully with that subject. On behalf ot^ tho officers of the Department, he desired to express their very deep regret that they should be parting with Sir Joseph Ward, if only for a short time, as Postmaster-General. (Applause.) SIR JOSEPH IN REPLY. Sir Joseph Ward, in replying, expressed his pleasure at hearing from the responsible heads of departments their kindly appreciation of himself and liis official position. Looking over the whole of the Public Service he found that there was only one permanent head who was the permanent head of a department when he took office as a Minister of the Crown-—Mr. Richardson, of the Government Life Insurance Department. Next to him came Mr. Blow, Under-Secretary for Public Works, who was appointed by the Seddon Administration. Sir Joseph Ward said that he had never known a public servant holding a. responsible position do anything that could not be exposed to the light of day from the point of view of strictly honourable conduct on the part of those responsible for carrying on the great services of the country, and it was a source of very great satisfaction to realise that the Public Service was very much better than it was when he had the honour of becoming a Minister of the Crown. (Applause.) He was speaking as one who had had the pleasure at times of administering every branch of the Public Service, and when one was able to say that throughout that long period he had never had an improper proposal made by the responsible officers carrying on the affairs of the country — and the people of the country did not realise the value and integrity pi those officers — it was a grand thirig > on his retirement that the Public Service all round had been devoted to the general interests of the country, and always anxious to do what they considered right and best for the people as a .whole. He wanted to take that opportunity of saying that he had never asked a man what his - politics were since he had been in office, though the idea existed outside that extraordinary pressure was brought to bear by the men in, office. He repeated that he had never asked a man what his politics were, or suggested he should try and influence anybody in any particular respect. (Applause.) NO DESIRE TO GO BACK. No one, he went on to say, could tell what the future held for him, and in retiring from the high and honourable, and particularly difficult position that he held, he felt it was almost impossible to venture on a prediction. He had no personal desire to go back into active political life. In going out of it he recognised, as every man must, that they had to take the rough with the smooth, and every man who was worth his salt must expect the rough in connection with a 'difficult position, and if he could agree with the methods by which he went out his cup of happineas would be full to tho extreme. PRIVATE SECRETARIES. H* desired to acknowledge the good work done by the private secretaries — (applause) — who did an enormous amount of work. That was inevitable. The only men in the' country who could not conform to anything like an eight hours' day were a. Minister of the Crown and his private secretaries, and he thought upon tho whole that the private secretaries had .the worst of it. His experience of the private secretaries who had been associated, with him was that they- had been anxious to do their duty carefully and zeaJousty, and he desired to acknowledge his indebtedness to them.. THE POST OFFICE. With regard to the Post Office, he mentioned that he was the ''record Postmaster-General," but he wanted to cay that, but for the active co-operation and loyal services of the officers, among whom Mr. Robertson was conspicuous, he could not have brought about anything like such successful results. To have established penny postage for the first time in the history of the world would always be to him a vm-y sweet remembrance. (Applause.) TREASURY OFFICIALS. As to the Treasury, it was not very much known , in the ordinary sense to the people of a country, but it was very much known to tho heads of departments and Ministers. It wus about the most difficult that any inau could have the administration of: it was a department where the judgment of the executive officer was relied upon very often in difficult matters. Throughout the time he hud been associated with the Finance Department he had found the heads anxious in every possible way to give impartial advice, and valuable assistance to enable the country's financial business to be carried on in a successful manner, and he wanted to compliment Colonel Collins, who now held the blue ribbon of the service, on tho able and conscientious manner, in which he had carried out his duties as secretory of that department. He could also say tho same of Mr. Poynton. He was pleased to be able to announce on his retirement that ways and means were provided for until the end of October next, and as it was not opportune to go on the London money market, it would be a source of satisfaction to everyone to know that our finances are provided for for the period he had mentioned. (Applause.) He acknowledged the valuable assistance he had always received from the General Manager aud officers of the Railways Department, and went on to say that naturally the parting from heads of the service whom he had known for many j years was a matter for very great regret. This was a world of changes. He went- out of the service with the belief, at all events, that he had tried to do what he believed was right, that he had tried iv his Ministerial capacity to help the service as a whole, and to see that the opportunities for the younger men were better and greater than when he became a Minister. "For the present," he added, "I only want to say au revoir. (Applause.) lam not going to say good-bye, because, as a private member in the House of Representatives, I may be from time to time able to be of some assistance to the service, and I can only assure you that it has my best wishes for its future success." (Applause.) The proceedings concluded with loud cheers for Sir Joseph and Lady Ward.