NEW NATIONAL PARTY LEADER

Evening Star, Issue 19019, 14 August 1925, Page 4

NEW NATIONAL PARTY LEADER

REFERENCES IN HOUSE REGRET AT MR WILFORD'S ILLNESS NEWSPAPER EULOGY. [From Oue Parmamestary Reporter.] WELLINGTON, August 13. Sincere expressions of regret at tlie illness of Air Wilford came from all sides of the House when this afternoon Air Ransomo (Pahiatna) moved that Air Wilford be given leave of absence for the remainder of the session owing to ill-health. The Prime Minister remarked that he regretted very much the necessity for the motion, and he was sure everyone would be sorry that so well known a figure found it necessary to -ask for leave of absence. They hoped that Alt Wilford would he speedily restored to his normal health and bo hack with thorn again. Ho was the oldest member of the House, and most of hishearers would have pleasant recollections of the help and advice he had given to them in their parliamentary duties. He sincerely hoped that Mr Wilford would be soon hack in Parliament to carry out his work in the interests of the country. Mr Holland, as Loader of the Labor Party, endorsed the Prime Afinistcr’s observations. Every member associated with him, he said, regretted Air AVilford’s illness, and hoped that the journey he proposed to take would bring him hack restored in health. Air Forbes, who had taken Air Wolford’s place facing the Prime Minister on the front Opposition benches, thanked the speakers on behalf of tho National Party for their kind expressions. “Tho public,” he added, “do not realise, perhaps, tho very great strain there is on men who have to take a prominent part in the work of Parliament, and this breakdown is entirely duo to the work which Air Wilford has put in for tho country. I am sure he will be pleased to hear of these expressions of good-will, and on his behalf I thank you.” During subsequent discussion, when Air Forbes interjected while Sir Heaton Rhodes was speaking, the Minister smilingly congratulated the member for Hurumn on tho honor which had boon thrust upon him. (General “ Hoar, hears,” which Air Forbes acknowledged with a smile.)

THE HEW LEADER CAREER OF MR FOSSES A clear thinker, a hard fighter, and recognised as a Fair opponent, George William, Forbes, the, nowly-olocted leader of the National Party, is one of the host known and most respected members of the Legislature, of which he has been a member continuously lor seventeen years as the representative of Hurumn. Born at Lyttelton fifty-seven years ago, Mr Forbes was educated at Christchurch Boys’ High School, and in his younger days was a prominent sportsman, achieving distinction as a Rugby footballer and rowing man. He captained the East Christchurch Football Chib when it won the Christchurch Rugby championship, and ended his football career as captain of the Canterbury representative team. In the political field, as well as in the field of sport, Mr Forbes has always been regarded as a “ sport ” in the true sense of the term. Frank, straightforward, and possessing sound judgment* he is a strong, resolute man of practical common sense and all-round ability, and is an able debater. Up to the time ho was twenty-five years of ago ho followed commercial ' pursuits, but then decided to take up fanning. Ho drew a section in a ballot, for the well-known Cheviot Estate, and was one of the original settlors on that settlement. When ho entered the House seventeen years ago Mr Forbes belonged to the radical and more advanced section of the Liberal Party, and throughout his political career has at all times championed tiro interests of the small farmer, the worker, the man of small moans, and the producer generally. Few in the House have closer knowledge of the requirements of the rountry in dealing with land and settlement and he is a strong advocate of intensive cultivation and agricultural education. A close student of political and industrial questiousj Mr Forbes took a prominent part in placing op the Statute Book much of the humanitarian and progressive advanced legislation that characterised the regime of the Liberal Government.. Mr Forbes is a man who has never sought the limelight, but during the ten years in which ho was Whip of the Liberal Party he gave clear indication that he had in him those qualities that would one day mark him out as a successful leader if the necessity ever arose. Ready in debate, a forcible speaker, and a man who is widely read, Mr Forbes is noted for his honesty of purpose, and he has a profound contempt for anything in the nature of tergiversation and equivocation. A _ member of the Anglican Church, be is a man of tolerant and broadminded views and of the highest principles. He is well acquainted with the forms of the House and the various details of parliamentary procedure. He has served on many of the committees of the House, and at the present time is a member of the Lands Couiinittee and tlie Agricultural and Stock Committee. He lias performed well in local body work, and was a member of the first Cheviot County Council. He was also a member of the Lauds Commission set pip by the Liberal Government to inquire into various matters connected with land settlement in the dominion.

Tn Mr Forbes the returned soldiers have had a .strong advocate for every justice being done to their claims. Ho was leader of tlio Liberal delegation which recently conferred with representatives of the Reform Party on the subject of fusion, and bis speech in the House on that issue showed that he is a man of high political principles and national ideals.

“Twenty-six years of continuous membership of the House of Representatives constitute a record of which any man might ho proud, and it is not the least tribute to his worth,” remarks the Wellington ‘ Post,’ “ that for twenty-three of those years be has represented the same electorate. In all that time Mr Wilford lias been a fighter and a keen critic. His services have been marked by two special features—the careful attention he has given to his own electorate and his whole-hearted devotion to the Imperial cause. Though apt at times to take a restricted view in domestic politics, Mr Wilford has shown himself in all Empire affairs a man who could rise above small things and see a greater aim. Whether Mr Wilford’s retirement now is temporary or permanent, we believe that the public in later years will find nothing finer in his long career than Hie way in which ho, with many of the qualities for High office, with long experience and service, voluntarily effaced himself and put aside his own unsatisfied ambitions in an effort to attain the unity which he believed to be for the good of the country. That effort, wo arc convinced, was entirely sincere.”