The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET. AUCKLAND SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1928 THE ORDER CHANGETH

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 532, 8 December 1928, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET. AUCKLAND SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1928 THE ORDER CHANGETH

MOMENTS of such felicity as Sir Joseph Ward is now enjoying are rare in a man’s life. Seventeen years ago a General Election completed the attrition of years, and it was clear that Sir Joseph could no longer hold office as Prime Minister. He was then 56 years old. After his period of service in the National Ministry—from which party rivalry was by no means completely absent—he was defeated in Awarua, and defeated again in a bitter contest at the Tauranga by-election. Advancing years, uncertain health, and these salutary reverses seemed to spell the end of his career ; but he has triumphed over his handicaps. Instead of ending his political life on an inconspicuous bench, a lonely figure, bereft of his former power, be has returned as Prime Minister of his country. The absence of men younger in years, and at least equal in ability, perhaps reflects the political mediocrity of the day; but Sir Joseph’s success at the elections, and its culmination yesterday, are nevertheless a wonderful tribute to his intellectual ability, and to the glamour which still surrounds his personality. The oscillations in New Zealand politics, tend to be long and slow. The success of Ballance in 1890 terminated a long Conservative reign. It was another 22 years before the failure of the patchwork Mackenzie Ministry ended the Liberal rule. Now another 16 years have passed, and Reform is overthrown. The feature of the changes effected in the past has been the extremely narrow margins by which the incoming parties first reached office. But never has the margin been so thin or the balance so delicately adjusted as it is at the present time. The United Government is on a narrow edge. To improve its position—even to maintain it—it will have to win converts here and there, merge bodily with some other group, or pursue such a negative course as will keep it away from danger until the next General Election gives it a chance to increase its strength. The success to he achieved by any of these methods is problematical, hut it has a bearing on the position of Mr. Coates. The retiring Prime Minister goes out of office at the zenith of his powers. He is 50 years of age, and a strong and vigorous man. Viewing his position from a commonsense angle, he should he glad that he is out of it all while his vigour and strength are still unimpaired. Prime Ministers who have remained long at their posts have usually been worn out by the stress of office. Seddon died in harness, aged 61. Atkinson died barely a year after the fall of his Government, with the words, “I have had my marching orders,” on his lips. Not even his bitterest political enemies have ever questioned the diligence of Mr. Coates. The energy he applied to his work would in the long run have been costly to his health. His first thoughts naturally turn to a holiday. He has visions of deep-sea fishing off Cape Brett. But the long view rarely appeals to politicians, whether because the zest for power is irrepressible, or because there is a fascination in the House and its precincts, and after his holiday Mr. Coates will be hack as Leader of the Opposition, probably with many years of political life aheatd of him. In the present state of the parties there are not many grounds for reliable speculation concerning the future: but there is a distinct parallel between the case of Sir Joseph Ward in 1911, and Mr. Coates in 1928. What is actually written in history books of Sir Joseph, that he failed as leader of his party, and dissipated the great heritage to which he succeeded, has been whispered of Mr. Coates, perhaps maliciously, to-day. Contemporary judgments may he false, however, and if Mr. Coates should come back within five years, or ten, he will still be at a vigorous and useful age—politically speaking. The passing of his Government, in the crucial division recorded at noon yesterday, marks the close of one of those epochs oh which thoughts of the future will dwell. Such occasions cannot be dismissed with either unalloyed exultation or unalloyed sorrow. The gratifying feature about yesterday’s historic sitting is that when the great moment came, it was met with a dignity that should be a firm buttress to Parliamentary tradition. On the part of Mr. Coates, there was calm sportsmanship in defeat. On the part of Sir Joseph there was modesty in the final hour of victory. True, an over-exuberant political novice had to he rebuked by the retiring Prime Minister, but there was no riot like that which marked the sitting at Auckland in 1855, when there were scuffles on the floor of the House, and strangers in the gallery sought to intervene. There was none of the illsuppressed rancour which marked the great change-over of 1890; and there was less, at any rate, of the over-stressed gossip and intrigue which surrounded the fall of the Mackenzie Ministry in 1912. In the readjusted scheme of things, Sir Joseph Ward and Mr. Coates may each do useful work. Uncertain elements cloud the form that the sequel to this change will take, but the firm hand-clasps of congratulation and sympathy have made the change itself a dignified rearrangement, _ and the utterances of the party leaders give emphasis to their affirmation that the welfare of New Zealand is the ideal to be pursued.

THE QUIET CORNER.