A STURDY IMPERIALIST

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 6598, 12 May 1925, Page 5

A STURDY IMPERIALIST

DEVOTION TO PARTY

WELLINGTON, Sunday.

Mr T. M. Wilford, Leader of the Opposition, said:— “For 25 years I have been in Opposition to him, and what a sturdy fighter he was. He hit hard and gave no quarter, and took anything quietly which was given in return. “His sturdy Imperialism was a joy to me, and I always saw eye to eye with him in those feelings of common loyalty and obligation which knit together and alone can maintain the integrity of our Empire. He stood fairly and squarely for the King of Great Britain, who is also the King of Hearts. His backing of his party, even when to our view they had clearly erred and faltered, was an inspiration to leadership. ‘My party right or wrong,’ was to my mind his, practice. ' His devotion to his party bred quite naturally loyalty by his party. “If I may be permitted to sum up his character as it appeared to me, an Oppositionist, I would say he was resolute, determined and fearless to his King, the Empire and his party.”