THE LIBERAL LEADERSHIP

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 17 November 1922, Page 2

THE LIBERAL LEADERSHIP

CURIOUS INCIDENT AT AUCKLAND

MR WILFORD AND SIR JOWCRH WARD AUCKLAND. Nov. 10 The Reader of the Opposition (Mr T. M. _ Wilford) was guilty of an amazing omission when be appeared in support of .Mr \V. Noton, who is the Opposition candidate for Parnell, last night, and was subjected to some pointed questions, which lie hardly disposed of sntisfac torilv.

In the course of a the Oposition Leader said the Liberal Party stood for Hie old flag planted by Sir Geo. Grey, carried on by Balia nee and iSeddon, and held, perhaps feebly, by himself.

At a later stage in the meeting y member of the andlmce. having evidently digested Air Wilford’s remarks regarding Sir George Grey, Ballance, Seddon, and himself, asked Air Noton why the Liberal Party was silent when (her was talk of Sir ijoseph Ward contesting a seal. Mr Noton said ho considered that was a matter for the Leader of Hie party. The questioner then asked Mr Wilford to answer the question. Air Wilford : We do not shriek if he wants to stand. If he wants to stand he stands.

The questioner: Why was the Liberal Party silent?

Air Wilford: .A man has a right to stand if he wants to. We do not shriek if he .wants to stand.

Todays Herald, in referring lo this little episode, says: “The questioner who asked at Green Lane last night why the Liberal Pkrty was silent 'when Bu' Joseph Ward was asked to stand for a South Island constituency, achieved as his only result a stimulation of the curiosity which had existed in the minds of many people on that point. It is common talk that Mr Wilford claims to be the successor of past leaders, from .Sir George Grey to Richard John Seddon. After the name of Seddon is mentioned he stops short. There may he a blank space in his memory, blotting out the history of his party from 1906 to the time yv'hen the mantle of leadership fell upon his own shoulders. Medical men recognise such curious ■freaks of memory. When, in addressing his own constituents a few days ago the Leader of the Opposition dilated upon the glories of the party and any mention of Sir Joseph Ward was seemed an oversight. The answer he gave to the question last night at Gren Lane, and his declaration at Devonport that “Back to Seddon” mustbe the motto for the future, combine to show that the loss of a page of his notes or any such incidental mishap M Potone could not have been the cause of the omission. When Leader and party can adopt such a carelessly detached attitude toward the man who, whatever his faults, served the cause faithfully in the past, New Zealand many times abroad with dignity and distinction, 5 and still enjoys a reputation for ability of a high order, how can it- expect, tile country to discern in i* the homogeneity and accord requisite to undertake the control of the affairs of the country? Mr Wilford should remember that an exceptional memory for names and faces is necessary in a Prime Minister. IVlv Seddon hud it-, Sir Joseph Ward had it, Mr Massey lias it, Mr Wilford apparently lacks it. Lacking that, he probably lacks all other impalpable but necessary attributes ol office. Apart from such speculations, the question he was asked at Green Lane was quite a fair one. It was a question “be should certainly answer more definitely before he leaves the province.