THE OPPOSITION LEADER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17254, 2 September 1919, Page 8

THE OPPOSITION LEADER

WELCOME IN WELLINGTON. WHY HE LEFT CABINET. "NOT ASKED TO REMAIN." / [BT TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON. Monday. A public reception to Sir Joseph Ward, Leader of the Opposition, wag tendered in the Town Hall to-night. Long before the function began the hall was crowded. Among those on the platform were the Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald, the Hon. A. M. Myers. Sir John Findlay, and Mr. T. M. Wilford. In introducing Sir Joseph Ward, the chairman, Mr. Norwood, said the Government would be faced with grave responsibilities, and it behoved all classes to study the problems of the hour' as they had been studied before. Sir Joseph Ward, who was received with cheers and applause, said it was a great pleasure to receive, with members of his party in the House, a welcome from Wellington citizens. For the first time in four years he was a free man. His obligations connected with the war had been discharged, and with the end of the war had come the end of the National Government. He referred to New Zea- j land's soldiers, ariS said they deserved to be wel] treated by the- Government. Criticisms directed at his withdrawal from the National Government had been a little" ungenerous. " Bo Quarrel With Mr. Massey. "Mr. Massey, the Prime Minister, did not ask me to continue in the National Government," said Sir Joseph Ward. " That is a pretty good answer to some of those people who are asking why I did not stay there. I want to take the Opportunity of saying that I had no quarrel with him." The agreement made between the parlies .in August, 1916, he continued, had provided that the National Government should continue in existence until the- end of the war, or until it was ended, bj' the withdrawal of one of the parties, or some other cause. When . the : Peace Treaty was signed two months ago the National Government's -agreement lapsed. If he had been asked to stay and had refused he could understand the complaints of some of his opponents. "I want to tell yon," added Sir Joseph Ward, "that there were very important matters on which I was not consulted, and on which I should have been consulted. This absence of consultation after the conclusion of the war would have been enough to induce me to withdraw from the National Government. I think everybody on careful consideration will see the force of what I 6&y in that respect."

Need for an Opposition. ] Continuing; Sir Joseph said that if he and his colleagues had not left the Government before the session, then clearly they could not have left it during the session, and after the session there # would have been a protest against the Liberals withdrawing before the election. 'Che Liberals had simply exercised their right under the agreement of, 1915. They had been loyal to every duty and every pledge. He thought it a very good thing that the parties had not remained together. Communications he had received led him to believe that very many people were relieved at the separation, and realised that the lack of an Opposition was not conducive to good government. An attempt had been made to create "spurious sympathy" for the Reform' Ministers by suggesting that they had been left with heavy burdens. As a matter of fact, the Liberal Ministers had left their work up to date in every respect. Bills that had. been prepared by Liberal M'nisters had been left in the hands of the Government. ' Departmental reports were ready and the Budget and Estimates were, complete,-, except for the new proposals of the year. If ha had known the Government's .proposals he . could have completed . the Budget in half an hour. He considered the Liberal Party had done its full duty, and the other «ide had not played the game in suggesting that the Liberal Ministers had left the Reform Ministers in the lurch, or placed Reform Ministers in a difficulty. The real cause of the soreness was that the Prime Minister could not find suitable substitutes for Liberal Ministers.

The Dominion's Finances. Sir Joseph Ward said there would never be a good and.sound Government in the country until the people put into power a party with a substantial working majority. -The source of weakness ,was to have* a Government dependent for its continual existence on the votes of two or three men.

The financial position of New Zealand when the Liberals retired from the National Government was stronger and more secure than that of anv other country engaged in the war. The Dominion had accumulated the sum of £16 000,000, invested in war bonds, and used daring the war to help the Mother Country. Any public men who sought to weaken that position ought to be kept out of life. That accumulated money, With sinking fund monev now in hand to the amount of £1,500,000, ought to go into a sinking fund for the extinguishing of the war debt. The public debt of New Zealand after the war accounts were closed, would stand at £200,000 000, and, with pensions, the annual charge to be met would be aboafc £12.000,000. Sir Joseph Ward proceeded to deal with his policy, as recently announced. He had been charged, he said, with insincerity. His reply to that was his parliamentary record. He was prepared to put into operation in one Parliament, and the greater part in one session, all the imDortant proposals he had made. The meeting carried a resolution roco-. ding_ appreciation of Sir Joseph Ward's services to the Empire and the Dominion.