SIR JOSEPH WARD AT WINTON

Otago Witness, Issue 3442, 2 March 1920, Page 7

SIR JOSEPH WARD AT WINTON

REPLY TO RECENT CRITICISMS. HOW THE ELECTIONS WERE LOST. Last week Sir Joseph Word addressed a Jarge publio meeting at Winton, and touched on many phases of the recent election campaign. He made a spirited attack on his political opponents, and responded in detail particularly to criticisms and accusations, emanating from the Loyal Orange Institutions and the Protestant Political Association. NOT DISCUSSING POLITICS. At the outset of his address Sir Joseph stated that he did not propose to discuss the general politics of the country,' but ■wished to refer to the wretched tactics adopted both in Awarua and elsewhere to bring about his own and his party's defeat at the polls. It was, he regretted to say, largely by. bringing- into the political_ arena sectarianism of the most bitter and in' this country, unprecedented kind. Since the election an effort had been made in certain quarters to make out that sectarianism -was not a real factor in bringing about the residt. He would state a few incontrovertible facts upon which decent and fairminded people must judge for themselves. He had received from electors 97 separate documents that were circulated in various districts from Auckland to Awarua. Frequent meetings' were held in various electorates representative of the Loyal Orange Institutions and of the Protestant Political Association, of which, it was said., tnere were some 250 separate organisations throughout the country. He was neither questioning their right to attend nor finding fault with their doing so. He was stating the fact as agains the assertion now being made that sectarianism had nothing or little to do with the election results. Let any fair-minded person look at "the official organ of the Loyal Orange Institution of New Zealand and the Protestant Political Association," of which several issues were made, and he would find its columns teeming with appeals to prejudice and passion, and full of > the grossest and wildest misrepresentations. Thny declared- he was a disloyalist and a Bolshevist. ) SOME DELIBERATE MISSTATEMENTS. Mr Elliott was reported in the press to have said at a meeting addressed by him at the Bluff on December 12 that his (Sir Joseph's) influence in the halls of ing and the Legislature of New Zealand had resulted in the predominance of Catholicism. He was one member out of 80. The statement was certainly a compliment to the alleged influence exercised by him. He agreed that in every position he had occupied, privately and publicly it had been his privilege to have considerable influence. That bad been largely due to hard work and industry, and he hoped and believed now that he had freedom he would continue to have more influence than ever. Wild, and untruthful attacks on him would not deter him, but there was not a member of either branch of the Legislature who could say that at any time -he" had ever discussed with him the question of religion, or spoken to him in the. interestsof the Catholic Church o r any other, or attempted to exercise any influence m regard to religious matters. Mr Elliott publicly stated at Bluff that he had boasted he was a true son of the Church. That was a deliberate untruth, and he had never made any such statement in his life. Mr Elliott also said at Bluff that it had cost between £15.000 and £16,000 to carry Catholic children past State schools. As ■ a matter of fact. it cost nothing, but he allowed it to be believed that Sir Joseph Ward was responsible for the expenditure of this amount. Anyone referring to Hansard (Vol. 133, pages 545-6-7, of the 19th August, 1905, would find a statement over the signature of Mr Buxton, for the general manager of railways, that during that year there were carried on the railways 4562 children attending Government schools for primary education, 4419 • attending Government schools for secondary education, 1100 attending classes for manual and technical instruction, 100 attending private schools, other than Catholic, for primary education, and 2055 attending Catholic schools for primary education. The report stated that the facilities granted to the children of Catholic parents in respect to primary education were governed by regulations which were applied impartially to the children of all members of the community. There- never had been anything secret and confidential in regard to this matter. The regulations of the Railway Department all had been duly published in the Gazette and submitted from time to time to Parliament. It was worthy of note that those matters in which it had been implied that he, when Minister of Railways, gave favours to Catholic children were not under the administration of the Minister of Railways, but under the administration of the Minister of Education. The cost between £15,000 and £16,000 referred to by Mr Elliott was a book entry by which the Railway Department got credit from the Education Department for the carriage of children of all denominations under the regulations. But the fact that it was established before he was in Parliament, and upon the motion of a Protestant Prime Minister, was not mentioned by the section of people who, not only in Awarua,. but also in a number of other electorates throughout New Zealand, had been indulging in deliberate misrepresentations in orclor to gain votes. CATHOLICS AND THE PUBLIC SERVICE. In various electorates throughout the country the statement was made .that " in the year 1911, when Sir Joseph Ward was Prime Minister, 6000 civil servants were appointed and out of that number 4000 were Roman. Catholics." Mr Elliott was publicly reported in the press to have made that • statement at the Bluff on the night of December 12. How untrue that l,vas might be realised from the fact that in the year 1911 the number of appointments made to the Railway Department was 730, and to the Postal Department 189. He could ascertain definitely how many were made to all of the other branches of the public service, but at the outside they would not exceed 250. The total number' was under 1200. The utter untruthfulness of the assertion, widely distributed in the majority of electorate throughout tho country, that lie (the speaker) appointed 4000 Roman Catholics would be at once seen. Exactly the same system of appointment ap-

plied in Sir William Herries'a time and to his own. No > person's religion was stated upon the application-forms. The appointments did not go from the Minister to the department,., but they cam e from the general manager to tho Minister. The Railways Act made it compulsory for the general manager to certify that there was a vacancy, that the regulations had been complied with, and that the appointment was necessary. It was impossible for a Minister of the Crown carrying out his multifarious duties in Wellington to stop his ordinary work for tho purpose of investigating the religion of any applicant. Ha seldom or never saw an applicant personally, and it was past his comprehension that anyone of ordinary intelligence could conjure up such extraordinary ideas in connection with these appointments as had been circulated for political purposes throughout this country. It was quite evident to him that what these, general accusations meant was that if the people making them had their way they would not allow any Catholic to be appointed to the civil service in any circumstances. They would, of course, allow them to pay taxation and help to support the country in every way, but would deny them what were their undoubted rights as well as those of any other denomination in the country. UNTRUE ACCUSATION. The organ of the Orange Society and the P.P.A. had accused him of getting Mr Isitt, M.P., to attack the P.P.A. in the Houae. This was another of the statements that was absolutely untrue. He had not at any time made such a request to Mr Isitt. In the same issue they made a charge indirectly, bat at the same time, emphatically, that tho letters of Protestants passing through the Post Office were not safe with him as Postmaster-general. That, again, was a deliberate untruth. In the particular instance that they cited to base this unwarrantable and indefensible charge upon, he was not in New Zealand, and had nothing to do directly or indirectly with the administration of the law in the case. Tnere had never been a case during tho 26 years he was Postmaster-general of even any suggestion in any instance of interference by him in this respect in his official capacity. He was accused all over the country of moving a motion to exempt the Marist Brothers. His motion was as follows: "Who is a teacher in a public school within the meaning of the Education Act, 1914, or a teacher, lecturer, or professor in any secondary school, technical school, technical high school, college or vrniversity established under' the Act or any other Act, or a teacher in any private school which is not conducted for pecuniary profit." That was, it exempted all teachers', including university professors, and there had been strong- representations that this, in the interests of the youths of the country, owing to the depletion of men killed in the war, should be done. His motion was carried by a majority of four. The then Minister of Education (Mr Hanan) voted for it. There -were some 30 odd Marist Brothers in the whole country, and because of that he was represented as moving for the exemption of them only. He had not at any time had any communication with anyone in Pome, either directly or through anybody else. It was widely stated in different parts that, as Finance Minister, he gave financial assistance to the Pope. No such thing at any time had occurred, nor could he, even if he were disposed to do so, make any such payment without the authority and knowledge of Parliament.