HIS TRIUMPHS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8833, 21 January 1907, Page 4

HIS TRIUMPHS.

A UNITED EMPIRE. Mr Bowen proposed " The Prime Minister." He said that gatherings of that character, "to- spewed the parting guest/ were quite as interesting as those held to receive a guest, as they knew that the departing guest- would soon return. They all knew why Sir Joseph Ward was going to England. It was because of the death of a man who had made a reputation at Home had placed him in the position of men who were well known in countries far greater than New Zealand. Sir Joseph

. Ward must feel that his mission was a matter of madness for him, as 1 well as feeling satisfaction iat the fact that he had to succeed such a man . The people had confidence in Sir Joseph Ward, and felt wiat he would fulfil the conditions which were expected from him in the work ho had undertaken. (Applause.) The people knew what Sir Joseph Ward had done in the great Postal Conference he had attended. He had succeeded in obtaining for New Zealand a position independent of the States of Australia, and New Zealand had been recognised as an entity in itself. That was a very great triumph, for which New Zealand should be very thankful. He hoped that at the. next Foetal Conference Sir Joseph would succeed in carrying the j motion, which he placed before the recent Conference, in favour of bringing in the penny postage throughout the world, intercommunication between nations and between individuals was one of the greatest civilising elements known. From the time when Sir Joseph Ward first interested, himself in the introduction of the penny postage in New Zealand, about fifteen years ago, the speaker had also taken an interest in the movement, because he believed that it would have a great civilising influence. Ever since that time, Sir Joseph had tried to improve the postal service of the colony, and he had added greatly to the benefits of the people generallj r . Judging by his success in the past, there was reason to feel that he would succeed in representing New Zealand satisfactorily and in a businesslike manner at the Conference that would be; held 6ooni That Conference was only a beginning. It was an initiatory step and a very remarkable one, towards bringing before the world a new power, a Council of the Empire. It would be viewed, perhaps, not specially with satisfaction, but certainly with grave consideration, by every Power in the world. There may be a- concentrated Empire with possibilities as to its powers, but no one would realise those powers until its leadership was seen. He hoped that the Empire might look forward to seeing that great Council sitting in London, and representing the genius of the English race, and men from all parts of the Empire bringing their experience to" bear in the interests of the Empire and at the same time recognising that leadership which must be recognised in every confederacy, a leadership which strengthened every portion of it. It was a wise statesman and historian in ancient times who pointed out the weakness of a confederacy where there was not one great main power. There should be an organised Council to deal with the questions of iae Empire, and other nations should be made to understand that if the Empire was forced into war, England would . be supported by a large part of the world, he might say; and the nations might then hesitate before they drove the British into a war which the Empire would avoid if it could. He was quite sure that the greatest advantage the British could possibly gain was by showing to the world that the Empire was united not only in sentiment, but also in action, and was prepared to work under one leadership. (Applause.) He hoped that the Council would be the result of the Conference that Sir Joseph Ward would attend. He did not wish to detain those present. The question was a very large one, and he would not say any more except that' he wished Sir Joseph Ward health, prosperity and success in the work he had before him. He would also express the feeling, held by all, that so far as they had learnt from what Sir Joseph Ward had done already, they had every confidence that he would be successful at the Conference, and would come back' after having placed New Zealand in a position which it ought to occupy in the councils of the world. (Applause.) As soon as the toast was drunk, three hearty cheers were given for Sir Joseph Ward and Lady Ward. SIR JOSEPH'S SPEECH. Sir Joseph had to wait for some time before the applause that greeted him had subsided. In the first place, he I said, he desired to say how much lie appreciated the kindly sentiment, expressed so well by the veteran statesman and distinguished head of the Legislative Council of New Zealand. He thanked Mr Bowen very warmly for those high sentiments, so ably uttered. It was with deep regret that- he learnt again that this city's esteemed citizen, Sir John Hall, was prevented by illness from doing, him the honour of being present on a\very happy and very great occasion. He sincerely hoped that good health might yet be his, and that he would again take an active interest in the proceedings of the country, THE TWO GATHERINGS. On the previous evening, the Premier continued, it was his pleasure to be the guest of the citizens of Dunedin. In that city, a representative gathering which would have been, to any man in the world, a matter of very great pride, was held. Representatives of all classes assembled to do hondur to the representative of the colony who was going to try to do that which he hoped would be in the best interests of the people. Coming to this important city of Christchurch, he was again honoured. He thanked those who were responsible for the gathering. It was not so large as the Dunedin gathering, it was true, but it represented various classes in the city, and he regarded it as being of equal importance, because those present had come to give him their goodwill, to show their esteem for the man who held the position he held, and to wish him "God-speed" on an important mission. He therefore expressed his warm appreciation to those who had come to meet Him in Christ-, church. He felt that the speakers who had preceded him had been sitting on the edge of a volcano for a short time in dealing with politics, and trying to balance them, as Mr Booth had done. When he found Mr Wigram and Mr Laurensou displaying their balancing powers, each for his own branch of the Legislative, he felt at a loss to know what ground to take up. THE GREAT CONFERENCE. ■ In the first place, he was impressed with the great importance of the Conference to which he was going. He recognised that he would have to. do his best there for all classes of his feliow- ; colonists. He would represent not any

particular class, but all classes of the ' people, and every section of the community, and it would be for them to express their opinions after his work had been done. He sincerely hoped that he would be able to discharge his important duties in a way that would not be discreditable to the colony. That would be his aim and object. There were come matters which, on an. occasion of that kind, he could ask the people of this colony to think over. They were not included in the category of active politics in this happy country of ours. They should recognise tliat the silken thread which bound the people of the Old Land to the people of- the younger lands was the strongest Mnk and the most effective way of promoting those traditions of which the Empire was so proud. That day, through his Excellency the Governor, and on behalf of the people of New Zealand, he had cabled to the Secretary of State for the Colonies hie desire to send £1000 as New Zealand's first contribution in aid of the unfortunate people who suffered by the disaster at Kingston. (Applause.) It, was not done for the purpose of advertising —far from it— but to assist those who, through no fault of their own, had met with misfortune. IN TIME OF TROUBLE. To New Zealanders, one of the most important matters at present was the defence of their own country. Changes had been made by the Government in the interests of the mass of the people, in regard to the Volunteering system. It had to be looked at from a jractieal standpoint. It was necessary for employers of those who belonged to Volunteer corps to assist them by (giving them leave of absence. The young people of the colony in that respect should have the goodwill and assistance of the old people. That was one of the sub;ects wliich would claim the attention of the Conference of Premiers in London. The land forces should maintain a strong position here. It was to the Old Land— to the "dogs of war," to the British seamen — that this colony would look for support in. time of stress, strife and trouble. The colony recognised that it must show the Old Land that it was prepared at every point to have its young men, and older ones as well, so equipped that they would deal with' difficulties that .might meet the Empire here. People in this colony, who were not disposed to put their hands in their pockets to a larger extent than they had done, but who wanted to have a system of defence in time of trouble, ought not to expect that they would receive protection, from an outside system of defence. He did not advocate 'anything in the shape of a jingoistic doctrine, but he thought that the colony, with its enormous public aiid private assets, was bound to take" a greater share in defence than it had done in the past. He wanted to see that old flag, of which the people were so proud, never placed in the position of being pulled down or stained. A NATIONAL CLEARING-HOUSE WANTED. He asked practical business men. how they would expect to get their business done if they did not have clear-ing-houses. The clearing-house system was necessary in all large businesses. Yet in the set of the Empire enormous operations were carried on without a clearing-house of any kind. The only thing of that nature which could be done in the interests of the people was to do what ought to have been done years ago. That was, to get -a •clearing-house in the shape of an Empire Council, to see that the outside machinery was carried on in conformity and conjunction with the central machinery in. the Old World. It was impossible fox Great Britain, with its outside possessions, to compete under the ■existing system with other countries, whose business was more concentrated, and who did not have an enormous population extending over these vast oceans. Five ot ten years ago the old conditions were regarded ac sufficient to meet the requirements of this country, and of the Old Land. There should be a properly constituted Council, with representatives of the people upon it possessing a knowledge of the interests of the Empire. With the utmost- of his ability, he would endeavour to induce the representatives of the Old Land and of other portions of the Empire to co-operate in • recommending that such a Council should be established as the people would have confidence in. It would be an organisation in which the people here, at any rate, would have implicit reliance. It might not be* | perfect for a year or two, but the j men who attended the Conference I wouldi have to agree to some scheme jto deal with the matter. There would ! be a limited number of members of the Conference, but each had an enormous responsibility, and all would i bring into the councils of the Confer- ' enoe a desire to agree upon a foundation upon which the structure would be based. He hoped that they would be able to suggest some system which would recommend itself to the commercial and industrial classes and to the workers. A MARITIME CONFERENCE. """There would be a Maritime Conference in the Old Land. It was not desirable that there should be different laws to. Vegulate shipping and deal with the work of officers and seamen in different parts- of the Empire. That Conference would endeavour to sweep away the chaotic conditions that existed. He had received information from Mr Deakin. the Federal Premier, (stating that it was proposed to send | four representatives to that Confer- j ence. Originally New Zealand w-as to have three, but he would ask that it should have an additional member, and that the officers and engineers also be represented. j TRADE WITHIN THE EMPIRE. ! The work of the Imperial Conference would be of the greatest consequence for all time to the people of New Zealand He again eulogised the services given by Mr Seddon at the previous Premiers Conference, and referred to his commanding figure, his powerful intellect, and his dominant will, and the manner in which he had made a great mark for himself and for this colony. No one, unhappily, could alter" the fact that Mr Seddon had been removed by death all top soon, and the tremendous responsibilit". must

I pass on to those who succeeded him. Without any attempt at bombast, he ; could say that he would leave nothing undone to see that New Zealand received fair a,nd just consideration, in regard to everything done at the Conference. It was the desire for territory, he continued, that would create trouble for the British Empire and other nations. If the Russians a,nd the Japanese had had some system by which their differences could have been submitted to come kind of conciliation and arbitration, by which they could have com© to some decision in, regard to the territory to be annexed 1 , there would have been no 'Russo-Japanese war. The real troubles of the future would be the troubles of commerce. Some of the older countries were producing a great deal more than they could locally consume.. They were semiing subsidised steamers to -New Zealand, for instance, atid were entering into competition with other portions of I the British Empire. It was necessary : to see in the future that our. own Old • Land and the newer parts of the Era- ! pire had an equal opportunity of promoting trade within the Empire's bounds, and that they were not kept out of a share of the trade by the enormous subsidies given to other steamers. The British people, if they did not want to lag behind, must see that they did not allow the opportunity for trading to be wrested from those portions of the Empire which had been wont to stand side by 6ide with France, Germany and America. The people here were anxious for the Empire to trade under its own flag. He did nop say that they wanted to prevent other nations with other flags from trading with them, but he did say that the trading »hould be done on even terms. THE MAIL SERVICES. He wanted to point out how earnest the. Governuient was in its desire, to see the mail service 'systems cari"9d out. He hoped in th© ! course of a lew days to have completed arrangements by which those who wanted to use the Suez service could use it fortnightly or perhaps weekly. He looked forward with special pleasure to meeting Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who, he was sure, was anxious to extend the hand of commercial and national friendship to the representative of this colony in London. He knew that the great and distin r fuished representative of Canada would c prepared to do that which, while in the interests of his own country, would not be inimical to the interests of a great self-governing country like New Zealand. He looked forward to an opportunity of being able to secure a practical solution of the difficulty in regard to the Vancouver mail service between Canada and New Zealand. (Applause.) With a very considerable knowledge of the subject, a much greater knowledge than could be possessed by anyone who had not followed it in its progress over a period of years, he could say that the Vancouver service would not and could not be established under the existing conditions until the man at the head of the Dominion of Canada and the man at the head of affairs in New Zealand met together and went into some practical proposal. If that could have been done, it would have been done long ago. The difficulty had been in respect to calling at an important port in Australia. He alluded to that subject only for the purpose' of showing that the. opportunity of attending, the Empire's Conference would give New Zealand's j representative a chance of improving matters outside of the conference itself. If trade relations that would be mutually beneficial could be brought about between New Zealand and Canada, it ought to be done. New Zealand was prepared to meet her friends in Canada on fair and equitable terms, realising that Canada was the same kith and kin. living under the same flag, and the" same trade conditions, f Annlaiisfi-^