Evening Post. FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 1915. RICHARD SEDDON

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 149, 25 June 1915, Page 6

Evening Post. FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 1915. RICHARD SEDDON

To-morrow will witness the unveiling of the statue of the man who ruled this country for more than thirteen years without interruption, and almost without serious challenge. It is a little more than nine years since the death of Richard Seddon, and already it has become difficult to realise the lengths to which he had carried the one-man power in one of the most radical democracies in the world, the ease with which he had gradually asserted his sway o^er all the institutions of this country, the skill which enabled him with something like the inevitable precision of fate to convert obstacles into stepping-stones and snatch victory out of defeat. Few men have entered the House of Representatives with poorer prospects of a great success than the rough miner in whom the men of the West Coast first found a, congenial representative in 1879. He had no advantages of birth or education, of wealth or social position, and he had to face an assembly which was far more sensitive on these points than the advancing tide of democracy has since mad© it. In those early days he could hardly raise his voice in the House without raising a titter. But he soon lived that down, and before many years had passed, and without any help but that of his own genius, he held the assembly which was once disposed to jeer at him in the hollow of his hand. And he ao held it for a consecutive period almost twice as long as that for which any Prime Minister in England has, since the Reform Bill, succeeded in holding office without a break. The contrast between the early difficulties and the subsequent mastery presents a general analogy to the case of Disraeli. Like him, we may imagine Seddon saying under the sting of initial failure, " The time will come when you shall hear me ! " As a Parliamentary orator, of course, Seddon had no touch of the incomparable genius of Disraeli, but, weighted at first by a heavier handicap, he far surpassed that singular man in the arts of Parliamentary management. To the last Disraeli's position in the House of Commons was rather like that of an alien. He could dazzle it on occasion, but Seddon's mastery seemed like a hypnotic power that kept it under uniform and complete control from day to day and year to year. There was nothing dazzling about his eloquence, but he exercised a personal ascendency which was perhaps even more strongly felt in the lobby than on the floor of the House. A magnificent physique, an iron will, boundless industry, endless resource, a keen eye for the weaknesses of human nature and for the drift of public opinion, wonderful suppleness of adaptation to changes of circumstance, a, courage that shrank from no responsibility, and a conscience^that sometimes took strange liberties with political conventions and ethical rules — these were among' the qualities that contributed to Seddon's unique success as a popular leader. He was the centre and rally-ing-point of all the political passions of the country throughout his long term of power, the best-loved and the besthated man in the land. But during the last six or seven years of that Jterm there was one aspect of his multifarious service which the bitterest of political opponents combined with his supporters to acknowledge and admire, and that is the aspect of his work upon which everybody will be glad to dwell to-day. Even when he first held the portfolio of Defence, Mr. Seddon professed no sympathy with the Imperial spirit; but who can assess the value of the Imperial service that he rendered when he thrilled the Empire by the despatch of New Zealand's first contingent to South Africa to help the troops of Great Britain in their campaign against tho Boers? That was a great day for New Zealand and for the Empire. New Zealand's readiness, both in spirit and in organisation, to play her part worthily in the infinitely greater struggle that is now shaking the Empire and the world may be traced in large part to the bold initiative which, with characteristic foresight and courage, Mr. Scddor took on that memorable occasion. If party passions were stilled even during his lifetime in the contemplation of the record of Imperial

point, they certainly will not raise their voice to-day to mar the harmony of to-morrow's ceremony. The evil thfct men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones, says the poet. The reverse is certainly just as often true. It is certainly too early to assess in exact proportion of good and evil the public career of this extraordinary man. But as to the magnificent character of his Imperial service the verdict of history is already assured. By his statue to-morrow, as by hiß graveside nine years ago, gratitude for this great achievement will -be in everybody's mind.