SIR JOSEPH WARD.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1853, 22 January 1920, Page 8

SIR JOSEPH WARD.

GOES OUT OF POLITICS.! ANNOUNCEMENT TO LIBERAL MEMBERS. ATTRIBUTES DEFEAT TO SECTARIANISM. [Special to The Sun.] WELLINGTON, January 22. j A complimentary luncheon was; tendered to the Bt. Hon Sir Joseph Ward in the Grand Hotel yesterday,! bv the members of the Liberal Party; in Parliament. The Hon. W. J). S. j Mac Donald. acting-leader of Ihc; party, presided. The other members j of the partv present were:—Hon A.j M. Mvers, Hon J. A, Hanan, Hon A.; T. Xgala. Messrs T. M. Wilford. G.j With, \V. T. Jennings, L. M. Isitt,] R. W. Smith. T. K. Sidey, T. E. Y. Seddon, B. Masters, and James Horn.! Apologies were received from Messrs! J. V. Brown. H. Poland, H. Atmore,; B. McCallum and I)r It. T. J. Thacker.j Mr J. Craigie and Mr S. G. Smith were in town, but were not present.] Mr Mac Donald proposed the health, of Sir Joseph Ward. He referred to the record of the Liberal Party as a force in New Zealand politics, dwel-| ling for the most part on the days of j old, when measures of importance, were put on the New Zealand Statute Book under Liberal Governments, lie spoke of the reverse suffered by the party at the recent elections,; making a special point of the defeat: of Sir Joseph Ward, and expressing] the regret of members of the party j at the loss of their leader. He said! that the absence of Sir Joseph \Vard| from Parliament would be a loss to, the Dominion and to the Empire. Inj regard to the record of Sir Joseph Ward, he spoke of the cheap money i schemes, saying that they had becn| of immense benefit in making for; the prosperity of the country, and ofj the gift of the Dreadnought as having had a most important effect inj stimulating the patriotism and loyalty of the people of this country.! and of other overseas Dominions of the Empire. Mr Mac Donald was followed bv the Hon. Arthur Mvers and Mr T. M. Wilford .both of whom offered their tribute of praise to their late leader. Mr Mvers said that Sir Joseph Ward was the greatest Imperialist in the Empire, outside of Great Britain, and he was also the greatest financier the New Zealand Parliament had known in recent years. Mr Hanan said that of late he had not been, and was not now, so closely associated with the Liberal Party as he had been in former years, but he thought that any person with a proper recognition of the facts must acknowledge that Sir Josenh Ward had rendered services to the country -which had been largely responsible for the progress of the country during the nast 25 years. Good men on both sides had ironc down in the fight, and he attributed this to the existence of the party system of government. He was one of those "out to destroy party government." Every other member of the party present including the new Members of Parliament, snoke to the toast. Most of them referred to the losses the party bad suffered at the elections, but all of them expressed hope for better things in the future, and all of them expressed a hope that one dav Sir Joseph might re-enter public life. The toast was honoured enthusiastically. SIR JOSEPH WARD'S REPLY. Sir Joseph Ward said it was a great pleasure to him to hear the! observations of bis former associates, at this his farewell as leader of the. Liberal Party. Since the General Election he had received invitations from every electorate in New Zealand, except one, to visit those districts for the. purpose of accepting the hospitality of the people and their recognition of what they thought he hail tried to do as a Member of Parliament. The elections had taken place immediately before the Christmas holidays, and he had decided that it would not be a proper thing-to do to visit those districts at that time, and he had had to decline all the invitations since then. His chief occupation bad been the signing of thousands of communications in reply to letters received from people of this country, the great majority of them asking him to stand again as a candidate for Parliament. He had replied to this suggestion always in the negative. "I made up my mind on the evening of the election," said Sir Joseph, "that, as far as I am concerned, I accept the position as a sportsman ought to accept it. I am fully cognisant of the very bitter personal, attacks concentrated on me as headi of the Liberal Party in practically every electorate in New Zealand. I want to be perfectly frank, and to speak plainly, and I intend to do so in my own electorate, where I have to farewell my constituents. I want to say that I have, since the election, gathered information in the shape of literature which would be a shame and disgrace to the most barbaric people in any part of the world. I have been accused of doing things I have never done, and the reflex of that has been circulated in the electorates of other people, to induce them to return the other party to power, I may add that the other party is quite welcome to be in power under such conditions, as far as I am concerned, and I may say that I would not represent anyj constituency in New Zealand in Par-. liament—with all my natural de-j sire to help the country, to which ! owe everything—l would not represent any constituency in New Zealand on the score of bigotry. I have never been consulted by. the head of any religious organisation, either my own or any other, to have my position used for the purpose ofj promoting the interests of any church or any section of church people in New Zealand." Sir Joseph Ward characterised those people who had said thai he bail appointed Catholics to the Public Service as "the most infamous set of liars that ever traduced a public man," and be said that he was not going to allow the people of the country whom he had served for 33 years lo remain under the impression thai he deserved the reproaches that had been made against him by "so-called Christians who visited my electorate, some of them working for two and a half years, and working not on public questions, but on lying statements with the idea of pulling me out." He said thai he did not regret being oid of politics. He could enjoy the rest and freedom as well as any man living. He said that he would

remain a friend of the Liberal Party, and he urged the members left in the House not to despair. The party had suffered a reverse, but the parly had suffered a similar reverse iin 1887, when it lost its leader, but, at the next election the party was 'returned with a majority, and it held loflice for 21 years. Beferring to what Mr Hanan bad said, Sir Joseph Ward declared that he was not one of those who favoured the abolition of the party system. The years of the National Government had satisfied him that! this would not he possible, for there! could be no doubt that both Mem-, hers of Parliament, and the people; i outside of Parliament, were very' j tired of the National Government be-1 |fore it was broken up. He urged! the party to carry on. It was true! I that some of their friends had gone [down, hut regarding their loss he I ■said, "II is a mighty'good man that, j cannot he done without." I He resented the attempt that had I been made to class him with the; ! Bolsheviks, pointing out that be had \ always been opposed to the doctrines! j of Bolshevism, and to the sowing ofj the seeds of Bolshevism in this 'country,-find be said also, "it was (put on record, in a most black-' jguardly way, by a man who is now, a member of the Reform Party in j the House of Bepresentatives, that Ii I was a Bolshevik." I j "I have been offered seat-:, as most! |of you know." he went on, "in I different portions of this country, land I have had many representations 'made lome by those opposed to me, | as well as by those who support me. and I have had them from rejected j l Labour candidates also, urging me; to stand again, but I think I am right in my judgment. I have been beaten, and I accept defeat as I think a man (should take it. and I accept it with- ■ out whining. I have made up my mind not to stand for any of the seats -offered. T am not doing this out of pique of any sort or kind, but as the result of full consideration. I intend to take a good rest." He offered the party good wishes, and bade the members to be of good cheer and to fight well, assuring them that there was no reason why the party should not be again restored to its former proud position. PARTY LEADERSHIP. MR MacDONALD ELECTED. Vvpss Association. WELLINGTON, January 21. At a meeting of the Liberal Party held this evening, the following resolution was passed:—"That the Liberal members of the House ofj Bepresentatives wish to express i their deep regret at the absence of Sir Joseph Ward from the new Parliament, and wish to assure him of their warm appreciation of his personal worth and political achievements, and to thank him for his eminent services to the Dominion and the Empire." At the same meeting, on the motion of Mr T. M. Wilford, seconded bv the Hon A. M. Myers, the Hon W. D. S. Mac Donald was elected Leader of the Liberal Party. No other member was proposed.