OUR PREMIER'S REMINISCENCES.

Evening Star, Issue 14224, 25 November 1909, Page 3

OUR PREMIER'S REMINISCENCES.

HIS FIRST AMBITION. [From Our Special Correspondent.] LONDON. October 15. Sir Joseph Ward tells the story of his e.'irly days in this week's issue of ' M.A.P.' All through life, apparently, his has been u s'.tenuous career. His earliest recollections ;ire concerned with the delights and dangers of boat-sailing in the harbor of Campbelltown. in the South Island, where the future Premier was nearly drowned at the age of five. His firft ambition, he says, wa.s to work for himself, to be his own " boss." and he left school at the age of twelve with this idea firmly in his head. He was at)!'.' to realise "this aim at tlif early age of twenty-one. Before that he worked as a telegraph, boy. a clerk in a general stole, and .afterwards in the railway service. "All this points to'the conclusion that I was more than a bit of a. rolling stone in the days of my youth. Perhaps I was. but there was method in my various metamorphoses from telegraph boy. [ wanted to grab all the knowledge 1 could, and. young as I was. I think T perceived the danger of getting into a groove. Please don't think, however, that I was :i young p'\:;. scorning all natural delights, and living only for some sordid ideal of so-called success. To this day I carry the honorable fears of many a ha-d----lought game ai football, and 'whatever s;ioit there was going I took my full share in. hiving, and still continuing to love. spnit and games of all lands. —His Maiden Speech.—

"Do I remember my maiden speech? Quite well. The first speech I ever made in my life was on the subject of cricket. wh"u. as captain of our cricket team. 1 had to propose the health,of an opposing '•l»yen. The second speech in my oratoric.il career was on skiff-boat sailing, and my-time! delivery dealt with the debghtv; of horticulture. I have made a great many speeches since then on far less interesting and congenial topics. A.s a publir man. however, I suppose my ' maiden spi e:-h ' was made when I stood fur tiie District Harbor Board at the age of twenty-two, while as a politician uiy first effort in the House was a two and a half hours' oration on the subject of the | mails to and from New Zealand. After all these years, twenty-three in all, the subject of the mails is'still being debated in our Parliament, and I frequently speak on it. —Parliamentary Scenes.— "Any exciting scenes in our House? Well, our Parliament, I am glad to say, has always been singularly free from personal animosities, and personal 'scenes' are practically unknown. Still, I remember a dramatic moment, when a member of the Government, finding himself in disagreement with his Chief, there and then tendered his resignation, and ceased to belong to the Ministry. Then there, was a sensation when Sir George Grey attempted to speak from the floor of the House, only to be called to order by the. Speaker as soon as he opened his mouth. For fully half an hour Sir George stood silent while the question was debated whether he had any right to speak, it eventually being declared that he had not."