THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1899.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11231, 28 November 1899, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1899.

The Premier announced at Tauranga the other day that Mr. J. G. Ward was about to join the Ministry again as Colonial Treasurer. There is evidently not expected to be any controversy or discussion upon the subject. The Premier simply makes the announcement to the world, and that having been done, not another word need be said. The party need not be consulted. If indeed they were si party they would expect to be taken into confidence and the leader of the party would have to show his supporters some deference. But they are not a party now—they are simply "followers of Mr. Seddon." They have neither principles ' nor programme. But the statement made by the Premier is an important one. It was quite clear all last session that things could not go on as they had been proceeding. The Premier was doing all the work in the House, and the most of what was being clone in departmental work outside of the House. That prcbably did not amount to much. The administration has again fallen into the hands of under-sccretaries. There is abundant evidence that administrative work is being neglected, and all the many "scandals" that have come to light are evidences of this. Take the Wrigg scandal, for instance. We are inclined to be charitable, and to say that this was a case in which a request was complied with because Ministers had not time to consider whether it was right or wrong. One Minister, no doubt, was greatly to blam.i, but the | others had no time to trouble with the matter. Mr. Seddon, it may be i assumed, has looked carefully over j his party to see who he could get I to assist him and to strengthen his Government. The conclusion he must I have come to ere he consented to ; take back Mr. Ward was that the' : rest of his party were utterly in-

[ capable of rendering him any assistance as Ministers, tlia amongst the new candidates in the field there were none who gave any premise of being of use to him. 0 the Seddonian candidates now appealing to the electors, there are some who look to Ministerial office as their future career, and it would be curious to know how they feel at having the door thus shut in their. faces. At all events, this is a subject which should be discussed bj all candidates, and especially by Ministerialists. They have been pledged to follow Mr. Scddon, and now also they find themselves pledged to follow Mr. Ward. It can scarcely be said that the announcement has come upon the country as a surprise. Beyond the fact that Mr. Seddon must have some help, especially since Mr. Cadman and Mr. Thompson are going, i:. has all along been understood that Mr. John McKenzie litis been urging Mr. Ward upon the Premier. Mr. Seddon held out against the proposal, and he was able to do so last session the more easily because Mr. John McKenzie was in England. Now, pressure and circumstances have forced Mr. Ward upon him, and he attempts with great courage to make a virtue of necessity, and to laud Mr. Ward, not only as a heaven-born financier, but as a man of integrity in every character he has assumed before the public of New Zealand. More than that. The Premier knows that occasionally it is good tactics to perform the manoeuvre of carrying' the war into the enemy's camp, and he actually has the audacity to represent that all the financial troubles that have fallen upon Mr. Ward have been caused by a malevolent political Opposition that had no concern in the welfare of the colony. The history of the Ward affair can only be indicated at present in outline. Mr. Ward was at the head ef a large business when he became a figure in politics. He used occasionally in the House to boast oi his phenomenal success as a business man, claiming that indeed as a reason why he should be trusted in a somewhat "plunging" and risky finance. Mr. Ward was active and influential in securing the purchase of the Colonial Bank by the Bank of New Zealand. At last there was an awful smash. It came as a surprise upon most people, even upon those who all along had a suspicion of Mr. Ward's capacities as a financier. Mr. Ward, in our opinion, was treated with more forbearance than any public man who had ever by commercial speculation got into such a mess as he did. This was wonderful considering' that he himself was always somewhat aggressive and disagreeable as a politician. Mr. Ward's affairs came before the Supreme Court in the ordinary course of such proceedings, and by far the most severe things ever said of him and of his transactions were said by -Mr. Justice Williams, who presided at the hearing of the case. What took place on that occasion is not likely to be forgotten, and it will certainly be recalled if Mr. Ward ever faces the House as Colonial Treasurer. There is not the shadow of proof that Mr. Ward's failure, with such disastrous consequences as attended it to many, was caused by his political opponents, and yet, in his speech at Tauranga, the Premier said:—"Mr. Ward had been a victim of one of the most outrageous attacks privately for the purpose of injuring the Liberal party politically. To-day it was admitted that Mr. Ward had been wrongly judged, and his actions had proved him to be an honourable and upright man, and Mr. Ward would be reinstated in the Ministry." We say this is one of the most impudent pieces of nonsense ever uttered. Where is there the proof that Mi'. Ward's company was ruined by political action 1 There is none, and Mr. Seddon knows that quite well. Mr. Ward is to be taken back again because of the pressure put upon Mr. Seddon which we have already referred to, and because in all the Premier's following, and among all those who are now candidates in his interest, there is not a man whose appearance on the Treasury benches would not be considered somewhat of a farce. The announcement made by Mr. Seddon ij of much interest to his candidates. They are not now followers of Mr. Seddon only, but of a Sed-don-Ward Ministry. They will have to defend Mr. Ward's past when he it attacked in the douse, and they will have to become disciples of his financial policy.