FURTHER “AUDACITY."

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 8 November 1928, Page 4

FURTHER “AUDACITY."

In view of the! statements which. have bean made in this district regarding the “audacity” of those who, have ventured, to criticise the political utterances of the, leader of the "United Party, the following editorial comment i,m yeslterday's “Dominion’ ’ upon Sir Joseph Ward’s Christchurch speech ishould have a special interest for our readers: “On his arrival in Christ-' church, yesterday the leader of the United Party unburdened himself of a , speech to, his supporters from the railway platform (says the ‘Dominion’), i It was quite a proper occasion for an | •electioneering address, and the speech ] ■in most respects was quite l what would | be expected. Unfortunately there was an extravagance .of language indulged in which calls for comment. Sir Joseph Ward for one thing regarded it as ‘consummate audacity’ to, question his views as to raising money in Loudon for his £70,000,000 .plunge into; borrowing. To accuse his critics of ’consummate audacity’ suggests that lack of perspective which in the past so often laid Sir Josep'hh Ward open to adverse comment. It implies something more than an intolerance of opposing opinion—at suggests a belief in his own .sublime superiority to criticism. In a lesser man and in less polite circles it would probably be described as exaggerated ego. No doubt the leader of the United Party would resent the suggestion, that he places himself ou a pedestal as a ‘wizard of finance,’ to quote an old title bestowed on him by his admirers. But his words and his actions certainly suggest that he holds the view that since he was displaced from the control of the country s finances they have been, badly muddled. Yet, what are the facts? Laist session •and the session before Sir Joseph Ward, on the few occasions in which he took au active part in the debates’ in Parliament, girded at the Minister of Finance for alleged extravagance and over-borrowing, and depicted disaster ahead. It is not necessary to repeat ■again, his extreme language ou the I subject. In one case a few weeks and in the other some mouths . had hardly elapsed before he himself came forward a® leader of the United Party with his extraordinary proposal to / borrow £70,000,000. The inconsistency of his attitude, of course, has been apparent to all, but presumably it is ‘consummate audacity' to venture to direct attention to. the fact. . . . Are the shrewdest and ablest and most experienced financiers in London wrong? Is the confidence they have shown in the handling of the country’s finances by the Reform Government justified or is it merely f consummate audacity ’ on their party to differ from Sir Joseph Ward?”