The Daily News FRIDAY, MAY 16, 1930. SIR JOSEPH WARD.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 May 1930, Page 8

The Daily News FRIDAY, MAY 16, 1930. SIR JOSEPH WARD.

The announcement of Sir Joseph Ward’s intention to resign the office of Prime Minister of Nev/ Zealand has assuredly been received with very sincere regret throughout the length and breadth of the Dominion. It is in its personal aspect that the news of this momentous decision must appeal immediately to everyone, no matter what his attitude in politics. It is necessary to go back only eighteen months to recall the circumstances under which Sir Joseph for the second time became Prime Minister. During the Parliament preceding the general election of 1928 he had been a lonely member, apparently divorced from his old party and navigating his own course. Then came Ihe dramatic announcement of his appointment to the leadership of the reconstituted party, his participation in a vigorous, campaign, and a result which indicated the possibility of his return after many years to the highest office in the gift of the people. When the short session of Parliament was held and the turn of events brought about the installation of a new Government headed by Sir Joseph Ward the whole country united to offer him the warmest congratulations and to express the

heartiest good wishes for the success of his administration. This was no new leader who had suddenly appeared, but one who had had long experience in the conduct of the country’s affairs, and it was with the highest hopes that the people of New Zealand entrusted the responsibilities of government to his hands. Sore disappointment was in store, for in less than twelve months the strain of office proved too great for Sir Joseph’s health. At first it was hoped that his recovery would be rapid, and when the rest following the close of the session failed to restore him to he sought treatment at Rotorua. There for some months he has remained, hoping, as his friends have been, that he might again be fit to take his place in Wellington next month. Now, however, Sir Joseph has been constrained by his medical advisers to admit his physical inability to carry on, and his resignation is the result. The least ambitious of us cannot fail to realise the voluntary retirement from the office of Prime Minister means personal sacrifice, but this is not the first occasion during a long life of public service that Sir Joseph Ward has subordinated his personal feelings and aspirations to what he deemed to be the public interest. After the 1911 election he refused to remain in office because he felt that much of the opposition encountered by his -party had been directed against himself and he believed that the party’s prospects of success, and therefore the maintenance of the policy that he considered best for the country, could be assured under a new leader- Those who have watched Sir Joseph’s career for any length of time will not be surprised at' his resignation, however deeply they may deplore the circumstances that have made it necessary, for it, is characteristic of the man’ who now looks back, as he says in his message, upon practically a lifetime spent in the country’s service. Few men enter public life as early as Sir Joseph Ward did, and far fewer fill administrative offices for such a period as he has done. Nor is it the lot of many to go out of office with such 'a record of achievement as his. Sir Joseph Ward’s name will always be associated with the Treasury and the Post Office, for it was in these departments that his ability found scope for its most ambitious undertakings, and it will never bo forgotten that this Dominion and the whole Empire owe a great debt to his vision as an Imperialist. . If ever a man could lay down the cares of office feeling that he had served his day and his generation Sir Joseph Ward can. He has earned his rest by service such as few men have been privileged to give. It will be the earnest wish of all his fellowcitizens that freedom from the burden of administration may prove to be the tonic needed to restore him to health and that in the peaceful evening of his life' he may find much happiness.