SIR JOSEPH WARD

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 115, 17 May 1930, Page 8

SIR JOSEPH WARD

THE POLITICIAN

FOUR DECADES OF SERVICE

(Written by S. Saunders.)

His surrender of the high offioo of Prime Minister at the command of his medical advisers does not necessarily mean Sir Joseph Ward "will vacato his seat in Parliament. There is good ground for hoping that, relieved of the heavy burden ho has been bearing during the last eighteen months, he may in tho House of continue to render valuable service to his constituents and to the community at large without over-taxing his physical resources. His forty-three years of close association with the politics of the country, and with its development and expansion, have left him with such an intimate acquaintance with the needs and potentialities of the Dominion that his complete retirement from public life at this particular time would be no less than a calamity. Happily there is no need just now to contemplate such a development, and for the present the briefest indication of Sir Joseph's Parliamentary career will suffice. The election of 1887 which brought tho retiring Prime Minister into tho House of was fruitful in the production, of other young men that were destined to make their mark in the Legislature of the country. Among these, untitled at the time, were Sir James Allen, Sir Thomas' MacKenzie, ,Sir Westby Percival, Sir James Carroll, and the Hon. W. P. Beeves., All these, Mr. BeeveSj -wrote of his companions and himself nearly forty years later, became more or less well known in the Dominion, but Ward, though the youngest, attracted notice at once. Bright looking' and with a pleasant manner, a merchant in a large way in the South Island, he could, talk •with, knowledge about commerce and finance,. and since his business brought vhim. in touch with working farmers, he understood the wants and difficulties of that important class. This was a sufficiently life-like picture of the young man to associate him with his subsequent achievements and to establish his identity to-day. It /is perhaps superfluous to mention that Sir Joseph was not tho youngest of the group of budding Senators. . For the sake of accuracy, however, it may be well to state that this distinction was shared between Sir James Carroll and Mr. Beeves himself, who had just entered upon their thirty-second year. \ HIS FIRST SESSION. ,If only for the guidance of tho historian of the future, it may be well to mention that the first volume of "Hansard," to which Sir Joseph Ward's speeches had access, that covering the first two months of the.first Session of the Tenth Parliament, over which I pored for the best part of half an hour, contains a ludicrous blunder which until now seems to have remained undetected by the confiding explorer. In the list of members of the House of Bepresentatives appearing in the front, pages of this v"blume figures the name of "Ward, Joseph George, Awarua" plainly enough, but turning over the pages further on purporting to be "Index to Parliamentary Debates, volume 58" I could1 find no trace ■■'of "Ward, Joseph George." There was mention of "Ward, Mr. A. G., Oamaru," however, and this gentleman appeared to have talked quite a lot during the opportunities he had enjoyed. But at that time the Oamaru seat was occupied by tho Hon. T. W. Hislop, a member of the Ministry of the day, and there was no trace of any person named A. G-. Ward having made his way into the House or having been given the privilege of speech there. In the succeeding volume of "Hansard" which was at hand, Mr. "A. G. Ward" still held sway, but his constituency, doubtless in deference to Mr. Hislop, had beea changed to Awarua. It was not until a third^volume was unearthed that Mr. J. G. Ward came into his own and was given credit for a njam'/jr of very excellent brief! speeches. The first of these, to be pre-1 cisc, was delivered on 13th October, 1887, and was a spirited protest against the action of some of the members on his own side of the House in seeking to embarrass the Government of the day, -before the Prime Minister, Sir Harry Atkinson, had been given an opportunity to mature hist proposals for the session.. This' was characteristic of the man. )vho during' the last forty odd years has stood in the very forefront of party strife without casting aside any of .his high ideals and without uttering a word an opponent.could" not readily forgive. IK OFFICE. When Mr. John Ballanee succeeded Sir Harry Atkinson on the Treasury benches in 1891, he had no hesitation in calling to his assistance young men who had proved themselves during the previous three years of party strife. Mr. W. P. Beeves was entrusted with the portfolios of Education, Justioe, and Labourj while Sir Joseph Ward was appointed Postmaster-General and Telegraph Commissioner, and Sir James Carroll was given a place in the Executive Council as the representative' of the Native race. When Mr. Seddon succeeded Mr. Ballanee in 1893 the status of these three young men was very materially revised; Mr. Beeves remained Minister of Education, Minister of Justice, and Minister of Labour, while Sir Joseph Ward became Colonial Treasurer (Minister of Finance as we style the position to-day), Post-master-General, Telegraph Commissioner, Commissioner of Customs, Minister of Marine, and Minister of Industries and Commerce. It was not until S,ir Joseph Ward took office in 1906 that Sir James Carroll, meanwhile having assumed the representation of a European constituency, was loaded with the responsibilities attaching to the offices of the Native Minister and the Minister of Stamp Duties. Sir Joseph Ward inherited from his predecessor in office, Mr. Seddon, the largest majority that ever had been recorded in the Parliamentary history of the Dominion, and-when he lost half this big battalion in 1908, and what remained'of it in 1911, the public, not unnaturally, were disposed' to attribute, its disappearance to . the change of leaders. It is quite true that Sir Joseph Ward was a less spectacular leader than his great predecessor had been; that he could not readily adapt himself to the cordiality to which Mr. Seddon so readily responded and that he often seemed cold and unresponsive to a crowd that- would gladly have absorbed him in their harmless conviviality. Mr. Seddon was a man of the people; Sir Joseph, strange as it may seem' to those who know him well, was often regarded as reticent and exclusive. It was this delusion associated with a clumsy system of election, which one benighted authority describes as a "modified form of proportional representation,"1 that brought about the Liberal debacle of nineteen years ago. SWING OF THE PENDULUM. Mr.' Boeves's collaborator in the production, of the third edition of the "Long White Cloud," who apparently has kepjj as close abreast of New Zea-

land affairs as Mr. Beeves himself has done, tells the story of 1911 very "happily. . ' When Seddon died, ho writes, the first symptoms that denote : a desire for change were beginning to lie apparent. Sentimental enthusiasm had been maintained at so high a level for so many years' that there was bound to be a relapse^ Moreover, the Liberal-Labour com* bination, which had held together!, for so long, began to sjiow signs otf disruption, whilst the Opposition had; improved their organisation. Sir; Joseph Ward was not less skilled in! statesmanship than his late chief;1 but he was sensitive of the personal . criticism levelled against him from' time to time, and when he eventually accepted an hereditary title.he greatly offended the susceptibilities of his democratic supporters. When. ' the people went to the polls in 1911, therefore, there was a distinct feeling.that the power of the Government was waning. But this was not the whole story* "When Sir Joseph Ward assumed the leadership of the Liberal Party iri 1906 the Ballance and Seddon policies had propitiated the working man and the small farmer, "and the whole position had materially changed. The, struggling farmer, as one authority put' it, was now a man of standing with,', a real stake in the country, with leanings towards Conservatism which seenw ed- at the time \to be offering the; greater share of the good things that were going. It was not that Sir Joseph!' "Ward had failed; it was that the im«. proved conditions brought about in! a largo measure by his own hand had-, allayed the prevalent discontent of tha' early 'nineties and placed the whole, community on its feet again. Something of the same kind occurred at the, General Election eighteen months ago. Eightly or wrongly a large proportion.',' of the electors persuaded themselvesthey would be better served by a now Government than they had been, by, the existing one. They tried the ex- : periment and now they probably hays; another eighteen months ■ for,- : reflection. To-day Sir Joseph Ward can looK. back upon these happenings with, phil-, osophic content. The Dominion's warm, acknowledgment of four decides of, faithful service to his.country should! salve every wound. ; .