THE EX-COLONIAL TREASURER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2210, 9 July 1896, Page 21

THE EX-COLONIAL TREASURER.

A PUBLIC MEETING. (Bx Oub Special Reporter.)- - Invercabqiix, July 6. The pnblio interest in the present position of the ez-Colonlal Tressarer and the J. G. Ward Farmers' Association was forcibly manifested to-night, when there was ft orowded attendance, 'inoluding a large number of ladies, at Sloan's Theatre to hear addresses by Messrs J. G. Ward and A. Lee Smith upon the recent developments. The Mayor (Mr Sinclair) occupiid the chair. Mr Ward, who was reoeived with a cordiality that was the prevailing tone of the meeting throughout, commenced by thanking those present for tbe reception accorded to him, and by expressing regret that by the unfortunate floods m*nj enterprising and struggling settlers were detained from coming to the meeting. What he atked was the reason for tlut meeting. It ttas because a section of the press of the colony whioh was said to voice the opinions of those who represented all that was good and the financial classes of New Zealand had recently, and for a considerable period pait, been denouncing him, in many cases unfairly and too oft*n with murks of untruth written over artioles in order that those tvho had been attempting for years to ousb from power the party behind the Government might be enabled bo grasp powor or uwrp the Treasury benches they had so selfishly coveted for so long. Those who were fair-minded people would agree •with him that what was usually regarded as British f airplay was not to be fonnd in the course some of the Tory papers in the colony had pursued.— (Applause.) He vehemently denounced what ho termed the contemptible and abominable methods adopted by the Southland Times in order to attack a foe, particuUrly when ib was thought that foe was down, and he ask<d who were the directors of that paper. Who were theße men, that they presumed to dictate to the public and to him and to the intelligent body of eettlers who met at Wtnton a few days ago in order to give expression to • their independent feelings and indepndent judgment? One of the direotors of the paper to which he referred was only a short time ago in financial difficulties, and to whom did he and his friends go iv order to release him from that position p They Trent to the speaker.— (Loud applause.) And what was more, without a moment's hesitation, at in all such oases he had done, whether persons were favourable to him or to the Government, when he was asked by a friend of that director he (Mr Ward) interceded for> him in a quarter where intercession was necessary, and he obtained relief that enabled I him to continue as a director of tbe paper. That j was one of the high-toned moralists who were j prepared to stand by end see the unfair, nn-British, ungentlemanly, find contemptible tactic? adopted l«sb Saturday morning to try and sway numbers of men who had come there for the epectal purpose of <u-s : sMng in the | resuscitation of the association, which, whatever his faults might have been, whatever hia j misdeeds might have been, had conferred an j immense Amount of good upon the whole of Southland and npdn Invfro»rgil', aud upon those very men.— (Applause.) Another of th»e direotors was a gentlemen who occupied a . tcmi-pnblic poaibion and was highly esteemed by people in town, and againsb whom he had nothing to say. He was a solicitor, who Sit behind the soenes and to whom several of the articles were said to bs submitted before being published in order that he might see if (hey were libellous.— (Laughter.) The speaker had for a considerable period filled a position in which if he bad been disposed to take a knife and st*b a msn behind' hU back nothing was eauier than for him to do it. He could have dona it to the gentleman to whom be referred, bub he bad ntver on any ocoasion attempted to injure him or (aid nuything that would interfere with his butinees in any way whatever. That was another of the men who professed to be the high-toned moralists of the town, and who were prepared to stand by and allow the paper to do what they were afraid to do in their own names, and that was to write him (Mr Ward) down for the purpose of injuring him politically, and to try and damage a number of farmers ..merely in order to resuscitate a number of old political fossils— (laughter)— who had been trying for half a lifetime to do what Nature never fitted them for.— (Laughter.) And because Nature had been unkind to them, and because they wore unable to accomplish their objects by the free will and votes and the independent support of the people of the town in which they lived, they descended to what he referred to and took a d*gger and stabbed him behind his bock.— (Applause.) Nothing in the' whole of his political career had been more I ditt*steful to him than when he found some of his opponents were trying to geb him, not only out of politics, but to geb him out of the country or into a place in the country where he would not have freedom — (laughter.) —he felt it was necessary to fight there people with their own weapons. If they looked back during the time he had been a representative of the people, they would find in the records in Hansard that until within the last month I there w*s not a single word uttered by him I which could be, said by a political foe to be something attacking him privately or intended to injure him in his private capacity, while his foe? had attempted to knife him behind bin back, and occasionally come from beneath the hedge to knife him. He bad fought fairly so far es he oould, but the first time he adopted their taotics they whined like whipped curs, because they gob a first taste of what they had been giving him for the last four or five years. — (Applause.) If the system which had been adopted by some of the party lenders on the other side of attacking political opponents through their private affairs was to be introduced into political life in tho colony, they raigUt depend on it that tbe torrent of the flood would sweep some of these men away before they knew where they were.— (Applause.) Was ib to be supposed that those who were associated with him, so long as they had tbe courtge of tbeir opinions, and so lorg as they posoeaoed their manhood were going to stand by and permit a few people, because they ohose to dub themselves the superior classes, to go into their private affairs or attack them in the way they had been doing, and then allow tho private affairs of those people to escape attack P Certainly not ; and if ho chose bo do it he oould with force, at tbe proper time, attack the private affairs of some of those people in a manree they would not care about. — (Applause.) That meeting was pertly political, for the reason that the politics of the country for the time were in the minds of a few people tho Ward Farmers' Association and J. G. Ward — (laughter), — but he was there for the purpoEe of refuting some of the a3per»ions cast upon him, and, as far as possible, confuting some of the attempts made to discredit him. He h»d told them that the j Press Association would belittle as much as j possible the teitimony of esteem, goodwill, and j confidence from the thousands of people who

met him on arrival from the north ; and he deolared that an effort was made by those connected with tho association all along the line to dhoounb as much as possible . the value of that testimony from people' who said they would stand by a man who was not being treated fairly, and whom some p°oplo were prepared to hound down. They had heard a good deal about freezing works— (laughter),— and he was going to give them A LITTLE ABOUT FHKEZINO WORKS He considered it exceedingly bad taste of the Southland Times to allow a correspondent to refer to a case- which was sub judice, but, as they had elected to refer to ib, ha was bound as a matter of self-defence to refer to it as well. They had never been told by eomo of tho3e who were going about the country trying to build up a business by puttiug their feeb on his shoulders — or. on his neck, if necessary — what caused the coming into existences of the Ocean Beach Freezing Works, bub he would tell them, and when the removal of the ca'e by the Southland Frozen Meat Company ftgaiosb Nelson Bros, from the Supreme Court; gave him liberty to speak he would deliver a couple of hours' speech on the subject. 'I he cmie of the establishment of the Ocsan Beach Works was that { less than half a dozen men associated with the Southland Frozen Most Company originally had j the whole of the space in the works given to \ them, and if the small sheepfarmers in South- \ land wanted to ship their sheep they had to sell to onß of the men "who secured the tight of space at the beginning of the season. The result . was that in five cases out of six farmers had to take less than the value of the sheep, and the profit? went to those who had the space allotted to them by the directors of the company,— (Applause.) What was more, at the time to which he referred they would find that nearly half the sheep in Southland were beiDg railed or driven to Dunedin, because the works at the Bluff were not sufficient for those who desired to avail them- ! selves of that port for shipment.— (Applause.) The Epeaker and another director repeatedly tri«d to geb the directors to extend the works, but they didn't think it desirable, and ho got tired, and made up his mind to give relief to the settlers who wi*hed an outlet at the Bluff, and j the result was the enterprise which cost him ' many thousands of pounds. A good deal had , been mtde by the other side about the proposals for amalgamation batwetn the companies, and he desired to direct: attention to what took plaoe in the case between the Southland Company and kelson Bros, before the court. Where was the manager of the Southland Company — the man who had said in train?, in the streets, and in clubs that he was going to hound Ward out of political life P He went up there knocking hiskneea, as whits as a ghost— (langhter),— shivering and shaking like an aspen leaf, and his tide were afraid to put bim in the box to give evidence.— (Applause.) Why were they afraid? Because he was afraid to produce his letters. — (Applause.) If they want? d proof of that let them look up the report in the Ota go Daily Time?, whioh had been circulated in pamphlet form at a cost of £65, and let the shareholders of the Southland Froz9n Meat Company asoertain who paid for the printing and circulation of that pamphlet. When before tho court and asked by the judge, the manager of the com- j pamy admitted that he could not produce his ! letter took because it contained libellous letters, and nob one on the other side produced private and 'confidential letters between them and the heads of certain shipping companies. Why had not the shareholders of the Southland Frozen Meat Company the right to demand to know the contents of those letters, as they had seen the whole of (he private and confidential letters between the ' speaker and private gentlemen through privet* j channels at the time referred to. He challenged the production of letters on the other side, claiming that they would show that even those sanctimonious men who professed to be distributers of new* in the morning paper oould twist statements to suit their own views. The speaker next referred to a quotation from a letter of his dated April 20, 1893, which had been published in the Southland Times, wherein, after referring to the acceptance of an offer from Nelson, he had written :— " I have since j been atked twice if it is tiue that Nelson had bought the works. I, of course, emphatically denied ib, and said it was not true. It may not suit Mr Nelson to have it known." This was an attempt to make the readers of the papers believe he had been stating what was not true ; but the fact was the works were not sold at that j date at all. The agreement entered into between Mr Nelson and myself was that on a certain date far ahead he would sell the works. He put it to the meeting whether, if he was carrying on business negotiations with a gentleman, he would be doing bis duty to himself or ; to the gentleman wi'h whom be was doing business if he told everything they might havo done to any busybody. If a man had an overdraft at a bank, and the manager of that bank told outside, what would the customer do ? He would go and take the account s'raight away to a bank whose manager would not disclose his business. Another statement which had been published speciously and ingeniously was an extract from the speech delivered by Sir Robert Stout when addressing the jury in Dunedin on behalf of clients to this effect :— " On the 20th December 1892 there was a long letter from Ward to Nelson about the amalgamation, and showing him that if amalgamation were carried out they would have practically the whole control and management of sheep in Southland, absolute control of the Southland frozen meat market, and that would mean that Nelson j Bros, could fix almott any price they pleased." What did this .meeting think was one of the conditions of the agreement for amalgamation P The condition which was suggeated by himself was that under the amalgamation scheme the Southland farmers and Southland shareholders of the frozen meat company were to have a majority on the directorate of the combined company. — (Applause.) Whyhad they not to!d the eettlers that? Moreover, why were they nob told that at the time to which he referred he had in bh possession a telegram fcom Mr Nelson undertaking, under the amalgamation scheme, that farmers cculd ship sheep to whomsoever they liked, and nob to Nelton Bros, if they chose not ? He believed that since the amalgamation had arisen between the two companies neither the settlers nor the freezing companies would do any good, and they would fiod sooner or later that before they were done the settlers themselves wou'.d rise up and take control of the works from f ome of those who had been throwing dust in tbeir eyes to get at him.— (Applause.) Mtny of the settlers knew he Lad been accused by a circular, afterwards altered by those who had issued it, of , having used his position to injure the finance of the Southland Frozen Meat Company with the Bank of New Zeahnd. He had never attempted at any time to use his position to injure the finance of anyone opposed to him, but, on the contrary — and fortunately for bim it was on record— he bad, instead of trying to injure the finance of the Southland Frozen Meat Company, telegraphed to tfce directors of the Bank e£ New

Zealand &nd urged them not to cripple the company in its finance— (applause) ;— booause if one tried to destroy any financial irntibution in any part of bhe colony and brought it down, one might briog ruin to many others and do injury to the colony itself, and on the broad principle that so long as an institution oarried on its business legitimately and was doing good to- a number of people who supported ib it ought to bs assisted in ite financial arrangements.— (Applause.) Passing on to THE WARD FABMBRS' ASSOCIATION he aaid lest there should be any misconception on the subjeot he would never, even if disposed to do ib, dream of attempting to refleob on the integrity, or honesty of purpose, or exercise of judgment of any gentleman occupying the high judicial position of a judge of the Supreme Court, even if he did nob agree with his judgment so far as it effected [ himself. Bat he said to them that while ! the Tory wolves and Tory press throughoat ths country had been denouncing htm he was not on hie trial when the o&se of the proposed purchase of the adsets c*rae on before the judge a short time ago. Neither he nor tbo Ward Farmers' Association nor Mr Fi<her (the manager 'of the association) was on trial yet. Mr F.sher and he had both bo9n condemned without trial. He said that was not f&ir, and be had a right to bo tried, bub nob wben it pleaded a few of his political opponents who wanted to put them into the gutter. He wan on the occasion of the oaso in the Supreme Court, not called as a witness, and thus he hid no right to, have a lawyer. He took no exception to the judgment so far as ib refused sanction to the sale of the assets ; but the Ward Farmers' Association, Mr Fi«her, and himself h*d a right to ba tried before being candoroued— (applause),— and he said more : upon that occAsion the judge did not have the whole of the facts before him. He said it wai a fact that Mr Fisher (manager of the association) did not, a» was arsert-ed, issue a false warrant — (applause),— and when he gob an opportunity he would be able to prove it, and they would yet be able to thow the men who had been condemning them that they had no right to condemn them until they were granted that opportunity which was granted to every man in the smallest walk in life — of being heard in defence before being condemned. — (Applause.) Then they had heard a great deal from the hijh-toned, virtuous, sanctimonious crew— (laughter)— about the fraud committed by the Ward Farmers' Association in connection with the £30,000 draft. He said now, and was prepared to* prove it, that no fraud was committed in connection with the £30,000 draft.— (Applause.) What was more, although the evidence was not and could not be before the court, because he did not know they were going to be pub on their trial, the judge did not koow that the £30,000 draft, which he believed had come buck for the purpose of swelling the liabilities of the W»rd Assocution after the balance sheeb was made up *nd before the meeting of shareholders was held, had never came back as a direct debit to the Ward Farmers' Association .— (Applauie.) He wa« not a man who tried to shelter biraselt bshind anyone if he had done wrong. But he was not in the country when (hat transaction took place, and when he came to the oolony and knew the • whole of tbe position he did two thißgs for which he ought to be upheld instead of oonderaned. In the firab place, if any balance sheet was made up on the 30th Jane the balance at that date could nob be altarod boforo the meetiDg of shareholders unless something improper took place in the interval ; but as a matter of fact lie nob only refused to allow tho £30,000 draft to go forward to London, but also reFused to allow it to oome back as a debit to the Ward Farmers' Association ; and finally it was paid ] off in cash, so tb.at ib never went back as a debit to the Farmers' Association.— (Applause.) Referring to another aspect of the balance sheet of the association, he denied that the balance sheet was a fraud or false, and he cared nob who said ib was. If it was, he would ask anyone to go through the balance sheets of eight important local companies which he produced, and the balance sheet of a large company carrying on business I in the colony bub with its balance made oub in England, nob one of which separately showed bills under discount, and yet for that he had been denounced by the Tory press and Tory j wolves. Of the three matters for which he had been condemned in connection with the association—the warrant, the £30,000 draft, and tbe bills under discount, — he was prepared to prove that the first two statements were untrue. Some people talked about putting him in gaol, but if he went to gaol he was certain of this. — (A Voice: "We'll scon take you out," loud applause.) He was very glad to hear it.— (Laughter and applaune.) He told them that if he went in he would go in most respectable company.— (Laughter and applause.) They knew tbat there were some people pursuing him, and that there were circulars going about the country inviting subscriptions to enable prosecutions to be instituted, and he presumed he was likely to be one amongst the number it was proposed to prosecute, arid when he knew that people wore doiog th»t they could nob expect him to sive them the whole, details of his proposed offence and defence, for- he was going to be on the offensive againsb som9 people as well as on the defensive on bis own behalf.— (Apphuue.) If one wanted to win it was one-half of the battle not to allow the other side to know what one proposed to do, and under the circumstances he was not going to tell the meeting of all his details, of which he had a good many. Ib hnd gone forth that some people were prepared to spend £25,000 to get Ward out of the road before next general election— (laughter),— but he told them that he had a firm belief in the sense of British fair play of the average c'asse? of the community, and he would sooner place himself in their hands than in that of tho selfish few who not only would down him but would down others if they could do it. He said that 1750 of the besb settlers in that part were carrying on busi»6bs with it at the date of the stoppage of the Ward Farmers' Association, which was at that time directly concerned in the welfare of notfewer than 6000 of the settlers and their wives and children in Southland, and yet there were to be found some people in Invercurgill who, in order to gebathim politically— for they conldnotfind a flaw in his publin acbions or in his administration as a Minister of the Crown,— would ruin nob only those farmers, bub their wives and children. That was nob a time to give particulars of what had been circulated through the medium of the association, bub he said thit tha amount of business which it caused to filter through Invercargill should— even if they were opposed to him politically and to ib commercially—cause them to say, "If I can't do the concern any good, I won't do it any harm." He had received from all parts of the colony .and from Australia letters in hundreds— • running even into thousands— of sympathy with him in the tronbles in whioh he had been placed, and he took it that sympathy of that sort showed that the goodwill of ths people was with him in his trouble, despite the attempts of a few who had tried to pE^adfce him and had aspersed him. Mr

Ward went on to say that they had heard a great deal about what the Government had done and had not done about the Bank of New Zealand and about the PROPOSED BANK INVESTIGATIONS. They had seen telegrams from Wellington indicating that what he v had predicted would occur on the eeoond last day when he ipoke in tha House had occurred— namely, that th« forms of the Houie hud-beep used, the propoied composition of the committee had bsen need, and the order of reference had been used in oppoilbion to the proposed investigation, and finally, at » red herring drawn acrocs the scunfc, a Royal Commissiou was demanded. What w^uld they next find P If he was a true prophet they would find that the Upper House would nofj accept the order of reference made by the Lower* House, and would endeavour by all means in their power to prevent an investigation, and would do that in the interest of some of the men who, though pursuing him, were Afraid to have their own affairs Investigated so f»r no the Bauk of Now Zealand was concerned. What would i\ Boyal Commission have xne»nt? It ■ would have meant it would Uk« 12 or 18 months to investigate the affairs, and in the interval the general election would have taken plaoe, and the electors would have the Wwd Farmers' Association and J. G. Ward held up as ipeci* mens during tho elections, and when the report caoie from the Rjyal Commission in 12 or 18 -months ib would show that .member on the Opposition side of the House had had £100,0QO writt-en off for something which was not to be expla'ned.— (Apphufe) They were told that the investigation would injure the Bank of New Zealand, but that was perfect nonsenw, for there was no stronger financial institution in the Australian colonie*. If ib had besn in the state it was in before tho Government made it stable an investigation oould not hive been risked ; but the people of the country had ft right to know who rece'.ved the benefits of the enormous losses which were represented by the £2,700,000 transferred to the Assets Realisation Board— (applause),— and if that was no! done in Wellington at present it would be done by the colony before long.— (Applauat.) With regard to the ac v ion of the Government of whioh he was then a member, in ooming to the rescue of the Bank o( Nf,w Zealand in 1634, he said he had 'received hundreds of telegrams applauding what had been done, and to show what their nature was he would give the testimony <<f oomo not on the same side of politics. He then read the following messages, dated June 30, 189* :— Hon. J. G. Ward, Colonial Treasurer, Wellington.—Congratulate ycu and other members of Government on prompt and effective measures takon to avert greatest disaster that ever threatened New Zealand. Consider you are only colonial Government that have proved oompetont to grapple with sudden gigantic emergency. Your achievemont deserves gratitude whole colony. Similar action might have saved Victoria from falling into present hopeless condition.— Signed,. George C. Tothill, James Ersklne Watson, Invec* cargill. Hon. J. G. Ward, Colonial Treasurer, Welling ton,— Congratulate you on the masterly action of the Government re Bank of Now Zealand.— Signed, G. W. Kicbol, Invercargill. Hon. Colonial Treasurer, Wellington.— Accept thanks and congratuktions'on last night's work. — Signed, D. L. Matheson, Invercargill. Hon. J. G. Ward, Wellington,— Your prompt and decided action will be appreciated by all colonists. Congratulate you on results, which, should infuse increased confidence to all concerned.—Signed, John Kdmond, Invercargill. Hon. J. G. Ward, Wellington,— As eye-witness in Australia of effects late crisis, and sufferer thereby, congratulate you most heartily on prompt: action preventing repetition catastrophe here. — Sigued, Richard Allen, Invercargill. From different parts of the colony, and from there also, ho received .numerous telegrams, bearing testimony to what was looked upon as a great achievement, and thanking the Government for their fearless detetmin&tion. But bow soon were their good deeds forgotten by the people in New Zealand, whom they prevented from going under. Notwithstanding this, every imputation, every bad motive, every a-persiou that it was possible to heap on them had been levtlled at the Government by the people, who might at anyrate say-rif they spoke the truth— that had the. party now ia Opposition been in power they could no*, even if they desired, have oarried through tbe legifllation that the present Government pub through. So.many people who were associated with the present Opposition party were unfortunately' ia ci position that they had been involved in the Bank of New Zealand, and bad caused enormous Jcssei to be made by the Bank of New Zealand, and so many suppressed scandals of the pa&t existed, that they oould not have come before the House of Representatives with any prospect of sucoees. Though the present Government extricated some of that party who would otherwise have been in considerable trouble, they were now pursuing tbe speaker like sleuth houndi. The same people who had been receiving large amounts from that institution for years past wore prepared to dog his heels and the hwls of those who associated with htm and try and run him out of the place. But they were not going to do it.— (Applause.) This hostility had commenced from the date he first advocated lowering the rate of interest and bringing about * system by which relief would be glten to settlers. Private mortgages in Now Zealand amounted to £30,000,000, and tbe fall of interest— which those who new said the Government were not responsible for had people opposed with determined hostility— was over 2 per cent, on the average ; so that upon £30,000,000 of private mortgages the people of the country would save £600.000 a year as the result of the change.— (Applause.) If be had done nothing else during tbe time he held & public position than secure the raising of the 3 pei> cent, loan and force down the price of money in the country, he would, if he chose to forsake politics, leave a lasting record behind him of which any man should feel proud.— (Applause.) Before conoluding, Mr. Ward said he had received a letter from one of the leading men in Auckland suggesting that if he went there he would make a fortune, and also a lebber from Eugland, in which he was already offered a seat m tho House of Commons. He then expressed to the public his heartfelt thanks for tho very greats kindness they had in the. past conferred on him, and for the sympathy now extended to him, which would inspire him with hope. So long ai he could he should stick to Southland, and so long as Southland stuck to him he intended before he waß done to wipe out any reminiscence of the past.— (Applause.) And the time would oome when some of those who were now snarling at him and crawling behind his baok would be glad to come to his face and shake hands with him.— (Loud applause). He bespoke for his friend Mr Lee Smith, who had been a trna friend in every sense of the word, the cordial hearing and enthusiastic reception which time and agate they had shqwn to him (Mr Ward) whether he was at the top of the tree or the bottom, and for whioh he moat sincerely thanked them.— (Prolonged applause, daring whioh Mr Ward resumed his seat.)

MR A. LEE SMITH'S SPEECH.

Mr A. Lee Smith said he was obliged to tho chairman for having explained that ha was

labouring under a slight indisposition ; still it afforded him very much satisfaot'on to be present aud bear evideucs in support of much that had been said bj his friend Mr Ward. He bore testimony to the superior abilities, eDterprifie, and business tact of that gentleman, but i unfortunately, like very many good ms-n, he had, as they were aware, got into difficulties. He (Mr Smith), during th« past few months, devoted j himself to assist in extrnoting him from these difficulties, snd although he bad not been so far successful, he had no iutention of sbundoningnim.—(Applause.) On the contrary, hemeant to prosecute these ondeavou-s, and before he sat down he would put before them a proposal in that direction which he had no doubt would be , received with graat satisfaction. — (Applause.) A great deal had been said about Mr Ward in connection with this transaction. The Tory press had misrepresented ms-tters in every pcsible way so as to operate to Mr Ward's prejudice, and he was rather forry to see tlut Mr Ward aeemtdto take these misrepreFenbations rather sorely. He looked upon that ss a mistake on his part, and, if he (Mr Ward) would ' permit him he would tuggest that he should allow himself to be lets influenced by remarks of th*t kind. In the city from which he c-ims there was a rank Tory journal— the Otago Daily Times— that was in the habit of aay»Dg all manner of bad things of this kind. | It had been s&id tbat, acting in Mr Ward's , interest out of pure sympathy, aa he aud his ■ friend Mr Reid had done, thab they were . simply doing what they could to gtt things covered, over and save Mr Ward from appearing in the Bankruptcy Court. That was not the oa c c, but, as he would be able to sbow before ' litting down, that yshile ha sympathised with i Mr Ward in the position . in which he found, himself situated, the object aimed at was in bhe besb intere»rsof all concorne d.— (AppUuse.) However, as he had already said, be paid very little attention to what these papers thought fit to say, and probtbly when Mr Ward had lived »s many years as he had done he would tfcke a similar view of the matter. The object he had in view in visiting Invercargill ' on thi» particular occasion was one of pure sympathy for Mr Ward in the unfortunate position in which he found himself placed. Wh»t more than any other thing perhaps excited that sympathy was tho eflorb made by these paper* to blacken Mr Ward's character «nd crush, him if possible out of public life. He had mentioned the Otago Daily Times as being one of the chief offenders in tb>t w*y. Now wbut was the true history of that paper P Six years ago it represented Socialism purs and simple. Then it" took to veering round, and now they found it red hot Toryism. He inBtsnoed an occasion upon which some Cabinet question was under diicussion, and in reference thereto the Times gbnted that as a minister it was quite possible that Mr Ward might not continue to be a Minister a week. The' reference mk.de was to the fact that he (Mr Ward) was in commM-cinl difficultief, and his probable withdrawal from politics wat heralded in that way. He gave that as ens of many inetinces that could be stated of the unfair treatment he had received, at the bands of tbe Tory press, of the colony. Conduct of that kind could not be too etrongly reprobated. Fairplay was the spirit of the nge, but Mr Ward h»d not bad fnirpUy by any mean?, so far as these papers were' concerned. ' Nob only in Invercargill' but throughout the colony at large Mr Ward h»d very many friends. The people of Dunedin/ Wellington, and Auckland v were fill more or itiß friendly disposed towards biro, and' if he visited either of these centres he (Mr Smith) cou'd assure him of not only a good, bub likewise a most enthusiastic reception.— (Applatwe.) On the occasion of bit coming fouth a few days ago a striking example of tbis kind occurred. The people met him voluntarily, rolled up in theuBands, and accorded htm s reception fib for a prince. So pleesed win he with the feeling manifested in Dunedin that he (Mr Smith) Accompanied Mr Ward to Invercargill, and they had not to be told that on his arrival he v?as' received right loyally. He was hemmed in by thousands, who testified their feeling towards him in a most enthueissbic demonstration'. — (Applause.) Altogether there was good and' valid reason for assuming that he bad the appreciation and good feeling of the community at s whole, and under these circumstances it* did nob greatly matter what the Tory papers said to the contrary. — (Applauße. ) He would now proceed to business, *nd tell them something aboub tbe J. G. Ward Association, and his recent appearance in connection with certain proposals thcreanent. Ho would like to give them a detailed sketch of the rise and progress of that institution, but neither his health nor their time would permit of his doing so. As a proposed purchaser of the concern he bad gone into the matter fully, and, having done so, ho waff in a ponbion to assure them that 99 of the statements made by the press relative to its affairs were utterly false and unfounded, and luch would yet be proved to be the facts of the case. A« a proposed purchaser, he was not alone in the proposal. His friend' Mr J. B. Reid was along with him in it. Now Mr Reid was no politician, so tbat his leanings to Mr Ward could not be interpreted on that scorce. He saw Mr Ward had been unfottunst?, undeservedly BOj'andhis goodwill to Mr Ward arose out of that fact. There were obhers, many others, who were drawn to, Mr Ward on precisely the same princ'ple. During the time their negotiation were in progress they received letters from all over the colony offering pecuniary »B»ifitance to carry out the transaction. He alluded to these things in ccrrohoratiou of ihe statement that>Mr Ward had sympathisers all over the place. He would make no imputation whatever against the judge before whom the proposal for the purchase was tried. He quite believed he acted to the very best of his judgment, and wss influenced neither one way nor another by improper motives. Still? hebelieved the. decision arrived at was a great misfortune for all cosc'arned. It wss a surprise to everyone. At least nice-tenths of the legal profession were of opinion the judge's acquieicenco to the sale would have been given. The opinion was that he was bound to look at it as a business transaction, and not be swayed by any side issues that might arise in the course of tha inquiry. It was the greatest possible surprise that the judge djd not endorse, the offer, and while he (Mr Smith) made no imputation s gainst the judge, he had no hesitation in repeating that it was a very great mistake in the interest of all concerned. The judge could not understand and expressed his ftfitonißbment that they should have taken the matter in hand without any hope of reward to themselves, and he desfgna'ed it as a transaction of no ordinary character. That was precisely irhab it was. Mr Ward was no ordinary man, »nd people would do for him what they were not at all likely to do for any other man in the colony. If the judge had seen his way to endorse the offer as made it would, as he had already said^have effected a great saving to all ooncerned. The- liabilities of bhe concern would' have been.- paid in three and mx months wibhoub the necessity of calling up' a single ~ shilling of the unpaid capital. Then, again, the business would have gone on aa before, nud bj- that means a great saving would have bsea

effected, and a boon secured to the district. 1 As official liquidator he believed Mr Cook would exercise wise discriminabion in carrying out the work set before him. Even then hardships would be cut ailed, and in the best of hands the work of realisation under judicial procedure was always an expensive undertaking. Instead o? the debtors being nursed by a private company, as would have been tho case had the sale taken place, forced realisation will have to be resorted to, and under the most cautious procedure that involves hardship and sacrifice. Alluding to the association's balance sheet, regarding which- to many adverse coaimonta had been made, the speaker wenb on to state thab the judge commented very severely thereon, more particularly on the bills discounted. Mr Ward had already dealt with that part of the subject, and he (Mr Smith) fully endorsed what had been said. He had been in business in the colony for a peiiod extending over 27 years, and h»d to do with tbe affairs of a great many similar companies. The manner in which the bills were dealt with in the balance sheet complained of was precisely tho way in which they were dealt with in the balance sheets of each of these companies, so thab if the practice was wrong it was nevertheless the practice generally observed. In ouly one case, within his experience, did the auditor insist on a footaobe being added to the balance sheet setting Forth thab they were a contingent liability. The late Mr Lcry was perhaps the most experienced accountant iv the oolony. That gentleman bad audited bhe acoounbs of a company with which he was connected, and his practice invariably was to allow those bills to be set forth as stated, so tact if the Ward Association balance sheet was in error it bad erred in good company. — (Applause.) Respecting tho £30.000 draft of which so mnph bad been said by the Tory press, he endorsed the remarks made thereon by Mr Ward. He (Mr Smith) had gone into the matter fully, and, recognising tbe responsibility of the statement be made, he had nob the leaet hesitation in sajing that wbeu Messrs Ward and Fisber were pub on their trial, and the proper time came for making the dis-, closure, they would be able to explain away thab transaction eatisfac'orily. He was not at liberty to forestall that explanation, and he fully endorsed bhe policy of those gentleman, reserving, bhab explanation for bhe proper time. Regarding the list of accounts scheduled by the bank, the reprrsentabii n was that Mr Ward had taken advantage of his position and gob the bfcDk to write off a sum of £55,000. No such sura had befn wribben off. If Mr Ward bad been so indited nothing would bave been easier than foe him to Ime got his account as it tfcoGd transferred over to another bank, and then nothing wculd have been known of it. As a matter of fact he never approaohed bhe directors of either bank on bhe subject. He knew nothing whatever as to the list under whioh.it was scheduled. There were, as. they knew, "A" "B " and "C " lists. Now Mr Ward's account was put in the •' C" list, and it was tbe only account in that list. The "C " litt accounts required to bo wound up within three months, or be otherwise repudiab-d by ths Bank of New Zealand. Under the " B 'Mist; two years were allowed. He prophesied there would be a large break up in the " B " lkb, and he estimated there would be a. loss of £50,000 to £60,000 to tho Colonial Bank consequtni upon tbe refusal of his offer for the purchase. When tho action. he hsd taken in the Ward sffiir became known a Lumber of the bsnlc debtors had grouped together &nd made him an offer of £1000 if he would fix up a uyndicabe to take similar action on their behalf. Finding that the judge would cot entertain his offer he would have nothing to do witb thab proposal. He, therefore, concluded thab before they had done with bbit matter they would find a very seiious los 3 involved to all concerned, more especially to the shareholders of tha bank. He would now proceed to make a more satisfactory statement to them. He had that afternoon called together a few settlers to discuss .the quettion of finding some assistance for Mr Ward in his difficulties. On mooting the question be found ib nob only well received, bub tbat steps in the direction had been already t»ken. A subscription list had been opened at Winbon - with the view of providing a testimonial that exactly fell in with his views. As much as 200 gnineas h*d been subscribed on the spot. — (Applause.) The idea was to make it a national testimonial, and with that view donations h?d been promised all over the colony. — (Applaure.) It would be given to Mrs Ward and the family, and he had lo doubt a handsome sum would be subscribed. (Applause.) In concluding the speaker counselled them that there was more than ever a necessity to harden up on the. Liberal side in poliHca, otherwise Liberalism would retrograde, as it was doing in tho politic < of bhe Homo country. If able, ho would assist Mr Ward and his party in the forthcoming election light. (AppUuse ) Mr Wurd would bB reburned by any constituency ia the oolouy, and now, with the extra experience these troubles had given him, they might reironably expecb tbab when he g^t h : s privn.be difficulties disposed of he would be more than" ever a prominent feature in New Zealand politics. — (Applauee.)

A vote expressive of sympathy with Mr Ward in his pn sent d ffioultiea and an assurance of nnabated confidence in him and condemnation of the unfair attacks to which he had' been subjected was proposed on the motion of Mr J. T. Jameson, seconded by Mr R. Millar, and carried with acclamation.

A vote of thanks was also accorded bo Mr Smith for his addresc Bath compliments were duly acknowledge by their respeebive recipients, after which, the large assemblage dispersed, hiving accorded a similar vote to the ch&irmsn.