JOHN BALLANCE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIXI, Issue 12288, 4 February 1898, Page 2

JOHN BALLANCE.

-■ ■ ♦ ■ ■ - Unveiling of his Statue in Queen's Gardens. Ceremony Performed by Sir Robert Stout. Sir Robert Announces his Resignation Th 9 ceremony of tho unvoilini; of the statue of tha 1 ite Hon John Ballance, erected to hid memory iv Queen's Garden?, was peiforinad yesterday afternoon by Sir Robert Stout in the presence of a Urge assemblage of townspeople, Anions* those present we noticed Mra Ballance, aad the late aod present member for the district. Shortly afto*: 3 o'clock Mr John Notman (Chairman), Mr J. H, Keesing, Mr J lines Tawse, and otber members of the Committee took up their place 3at the foot of the statue, and Mr Notman, in a feeling and appropriate speech, introduced air Robert Stout. Sir Robert, who waß cordially received, spoke as follows : — I have first to thank the committee who havb b*aen instrumental in erecting this memorial to the memory of my late friend John Balance for the great honour that has beBU done ma iv inviting totakepirtin the careirony to-day. No higher honour could have been conferred on me thai t> ask me to take part in a proceeding t*han to honour one who was my dearest friend. T have said that he was my friend. I knew him for 20 years. I had corresponded with him for two or three years before I met him I first met him in 1876 whon he and I entered tie Housa of Representatives during the same session, and though we wera then on opposite sides of tlie House a warm friendship sprung up between ua, and until the day of his death that friendship was never disturbed by the slightest variance or disagreement. I do not mean to say that on a fow subjects we had not differences of opinion, but Buch differences of opinion did not in the slightest degree disturb our friendship. _nd before I proceed to speak of what I believe to bo the lesson of his life, I may be pardoned if I make a further personal reference. I have said that we wera ia the House in 1875 and on opposite sides so far as the main o,uestion then befor. Parliament was concerned.namely.the question of fhe abolition of the Provincial form of Parliament. He was an Abolitionis,t I a Pro vincialist, but in after years when the noise of the contest had ceased, he often stated to me that he thoußhl the Abolitionuts had been wrong, and that instead of abolishing the provinces they ought to have tried to have modifiad the system soaßtohaveimprovedit. Thegood that the provincial system did in training the people to right views on politics, I do not think we have ever appreciated. He saw this and often spoke of it. Though we wera opposed to eaoh other on thie, wh.ch was then a vital question, on otber subjects we wero mostly agreed, and when the land questions and local government were being considered he and I

wars generally founl voting tigether, 1 and S5 oa other nmsuros. He joined tho < Ministry in 1877, and it was at my utgent i rrq.ipet to Mr Micludraw that he should i be it,v tid to join thit led t> his being 1 askod by Sir Qaorg > Or ij 1 1 t\ke a posi- i t : on in t : i(. Gi7cr uiniit. As you am I cwars, I j linid tin M nutry, later on — i early in 1878. nnd M- lU'Unce ani I ra- t mtinetl cille*igt'.o3 di.vn to the middle of ( 1879. Whei 1 ro-entired Parliament 1 a.Tiiin in 1881 ha a»ain b icama my col- ' league, and remained with ma >n tWa Uin- 1 istry until it wa9 defeated in 1887. After i (he general election in 1899, at wh'n4 ihe i Ministry then in power wera defeated, I when Mr Ballaooa waa culled upon t > form aGjvernmenthe urgedmo to joinhim,and offered mo a seat in the Legislative i Council if I would und -rtitke tD conduct i thn business of tha Mini.-try in the Council. I, however, had no desire to reenter i political 1 fe, and I declined hia kind off ar. I met him here in February, 1893. He was then in weak health nnd ontemplated retiring from pol.tics in order to sue if he could regain hi* stranath. Oi that oc* ca3iou v Jie etrou^ly urged that if he shonld retire, I should cjiii i forward as a candidate for the Houii, nnd he hoped that I would tiki hia pjsit'on in ths Minn-try. I. had great hopns that his health would b 9 restored, aid saw him again in tne month of March when this question again camo up, and he thoujrhi, whether rightly or wrougly, it is n»t fov tne to say — that I could ail the Liberal Party in keeping on the linos which ho and I had often talked over and making it a party that would bs respect id by all whether they were agreed with or not for its principles and for its performances. Before* he operation which unfortunately ended in his death, 1 was ■lominissioned to Wellington to see and be with him on the Sunday-rthe day ofthe opsration. He reminded me then of our former conversations, and askod me to take a pledge that if anything happened co him I should come forward as a candidate for tbe House and help that Liberal Part}, for whicb he hal dine to much. I consented. I know, and ho would havo b-ien the first to acknowledge, that his opinions had no right to sway the membais ofthe liberal Party. They wora free to elect ,vhom they pleased to be their leader, bu 1 ; it is cor. tainly fair to state that he desired tbat I shonld tike up that position, and anyone who Bays anything to the contrary is : stating what is inaccurate and incorrect. 1 lam not going to refer, however, to this ! personal matter further ; bll that I desire to say is to express whit, his visws were. I am not finding fault with the Liberal Party for choosiog another leader, but • nm only -.tating what occurred, so that • what Mr B'llance thought and what he • said may not hereafter ba misrepresented ; and I, standing here to-day, can only repeat that had it not besn for John Bal- • lancs'-i urgent solicitations I would not ' have re-entered pilitical life, and had it not besn that I bslioved the fc-ue interests of Liberalism demanded that I , should remain one in the Housa to advoc ate thoie L ! beral princ pies and puro government so dear to Mr Ballance's heart I should l»rg ere this have retired , from political life, , I n:>w pass away f «.m any personal J reierence to mysßlf Ido not think it is necessary for me to epeak of Mr B illauce's life. Ec lived amongst you, and sacri- [ iiced himself and his life for his country j and for you. Hia.love for Wanganui was j intense, and he was always delighted to hear of any progress in ihe town — the starting of a new industry or the proI gross of any of your industries was. i always of intense interest to him. His 1 utmost desire was to see Wanganui a thriving town, with noble educational institutions and with the people living on a high plain, in comfort and happiness. It is, however, not for me to dwell on what he did fot the town, nor is it necesI* sary for me to refer to the life he Ic d amongst yon. Happily, there are those , present to-day who knew how he lived • and what he did better than I c:*.n tell J you. I would rather to-day say something of his p:sitiou as a statesman, of his policy, and of what inspired his poli- , ticai life. 1 believe his political position j has many lesEons for us. Longfellow J draws a comparison between a star quenched and a nobleman who has livad a noble life and who has died, lie says :— I iVere a star quenched on high, I For ag--a would its light, Still travelling downwards from the sky, Shine on our mortal sight, j So when a great man die 1 !, | For yeara beyond our ken, The light he leaves behind him lies Upon tbe patli3 of men. ; I would like to say first that be h»d an ' intense love for the colony of New Zealand and an intense belief in its future. He be'ievad that Ne<v Zaaland. i ought to becom°, and would become, a j great natioD, and he pictured to himself j New Zsalsnd self-reliant and self contained, not indebted 1 1 foreign oountrios for aid, and abe to maintain har ou*n L position. I shall show you how this idea coloured all hia politicsl actions. I will view it from two or throe points of view. Let me show you waa'* his vie vs wore upon defence. He believed that, so fir ub the land forces were concerned, New Zsaland should be self-reliant, and if he t had had his way every male person chould hava baen trvned to arms. He knew that he conld not carry out such an , idea as that of conscription, bat he J thought that all men should belong either to the Volunteers or ta a Militia. > He thought that everyone should be drilled. The provision in the Education Act, providing that our youths Bhould be drilled, he fully approved of, and he also wished to provide, and did provide, that no one could obtain a position in tbe Police Force except he had been drilled for some timo in the Permanent Artillery, and th it the. young men wbo were promoted to tbe permanent force should first ; belong to a Volunteer corps. In this way he would have had the nucleus of a trained force that would have been able to drill whit we might term our citizen 1 soldiers. He also believed that uo paraou should be admitted into the Civil servhe 1 who had nofc recsivid some military ' training. He encouraged volunteering ' bj that we might have instead cf what is called a standing army or a parmanent 1 force, all our men drilled so thit wo : could rely upon citizin soldiers. He ' also felt it was absolutely necessary that ' we should hava th 9 best possible arm 3of pracision, becuse if an enemy attacked ] our country they could do little harm if our man were well trained and wore ' skilled shots. Taking up this position, ' he did nob desire to see any permanent ' force of any vory large extant, but only wished to see a small force of parmanent artillery stationed at our ports to use 1 'torpedoes, mines, and big guns — aud he said ne must look to (he Empire with such aid a*?' we could give her in the shape of monetary contributions to maintain the first line of defence, namely — a navy— about our shore?. That i 3 why he supported Admiral Tryon's suggestion that thore should be a contribution from the colonies for naval defence, for he bad no desire to see the British Empira split up, and though ho opposed federation with Australia, he desired to 639 the Empire remain as one. This feeling of nationalism led him to support protect.on to our native industries, as he desired to sco our people baying variety of employment. He desired to see manufactories established in New Zealand ao that we should be to a large extent independent of foreign toilers. The same idea led him to support the small farm settlements. He belie red that no country could be great unless it had a large yfloman population. Therefore he was ever in favour— and perhaps upon this point he may have carried his idea 100 far — of having small lots of land for our settlers and for aid and encouragement given to them to settle and to subdue the wilderness He also felt that no nation could be great if she were goiug continually to a foreign creiitor for loans. Thia is what made him to emphatic in some of his financial stateinsnts against foreign borrowing. He believed the lineß should bs laid down by which New Zsaland should not rtquire to go to any country for loans either for her public worfea or for her internal developments. Even so far as lending money to farmers was concerned, he laid down the lines on whioh be believed that we could lend onr own money to our farmers without going to a foieign market for the purpose, and I think that recent events have shown he was right. He was exceedingly anxious to see our education system developed and extended, and Ice desired to sea an Astronomical Observatory started so that the people might have an education of the highest scientific training and that students might even begin research* H-i

hid a greet deal to do with the starting of our prajent education ayst-jin n 1877, for ho wai the Minister far Educ ition who brought tho Act into op*>r ition, aad I know hia intense auxi*ty to sea a • national systam establish -d that would ba a crad.t to the colony and a boon to it* paoplo. Ha wisai Mnisfcar, in fc ! io stilting of thi colonial >>y<tam, no'daubi greatly aidad by Dr Hislop und Mr Habeas, who wero hath davoted to their work. In dealing with v a tiva affiira he had tho same ldaa, namoly, that of removing tho ayateai of treating tha Maoria aa if thay wara foreigner* and patting them under martial law. His idea was what was snosringly called tha " One Policeman Policy." If the nativoa offended against our laws he said they should ba trented j ist the sama as Europeans, and da&lt with in tho ordin.ry course and by our ordinary missions of the law wkhout any military force, aud you know how s-.icoasßful he was in carrying out thit policy, Then there was one other thing ha thought was necessary co make tho nation a (Treat one, and that waa that oil paopla thcu'd take an interest iv our politics and in our Governmeut. This 13 what made him advocate female franchise in tne House. Ha advocated it strongly in 1879. He had voted for it in 1878 on tha amendment to the Electoral Bill. In fact ha naver ceased to advocate it. Iv advocating any change in our law he was always sincere, and acted on real convictions. This fading of maliingNew Zaalaud a greafcnation dominated his whr.la polioy. He, however, recognised thai no policy could be carried out without organisation, and he was what iB called a strong party man. Ha accapted Burkes definition of party—" Party is a bod/ of men united for promoting by their joint endeavors the national iatera3t upon Borne particular prinaipil ia wlrch thay are agread." He would have repudiated with all tha pow=*r of which he waa capable tbe idea of a party organisation fighting for auy particular class, or for the benefit of any cliqua or section of the community. He believed tho puty organisation should be swayed by g'eafc principles, and that their ideal should ever be the progress cf the nation as a whol9. Ho would hava been shocked had he baen told that the Liberal Party, which he helped to build up, should be dominated by any saction of the com munby. Ifc was to ba a party whi ch waa to have within ita ran l ?? people of all clasnes who had agrabd upm some cardinal political principles, which they beliaved to be for the benefit of the nation as a whole, and he would have ceaßed to belong to the Liberal Party, if he taought ie was to be controlled by any one section of the community for tbeir own Balfish ends or purpasas. Whilst he was ever for progress, he recognised that progress must he slow if it were to he sure, aud that if we wished to get a truly progressive -state we mu3t have the people throughly educated, not only in every branch of Kenoral knowlidge, but alao in political knowledge, and that until you get the paople to thin'-t and to act without any selfish end in view, you can never have a great or a true democracy. He knew the dangers that had beret democracies in the past. He was well acquainad with their history, aud I need not tell you that he w aa a great stadaut e?er trjing to discover what other i nations bad done, why other nations i having a democratic form of Government i had failed, and what wera the highest . minds of the bast men on the social problems of tho age. 1 have said that he knew tha d fficaltiea that basefc democracies, and he knew that watchful eire bad to ba exercised so thafc democrats government would not become another natna for selfish ambition carried on for selfi _ ends, or to benefit a particular cla33 of the community. Another thing he knew wjs that public extravagance oft-vi killed democracies. The utmost care had to be exercised in the pnblic finances, and the struggle should ever be to get taxation down to the lowest possible point. Another evil that had beset democracies in the past, wa3 that when democratic leaders got p .war they tended ta become autocratic, and to disobey the laws they themselves had made, and he knew from reading history that in democracies corruption followe.l euoh autirocracy.and had to be carefully guarded | against He wonld, lam sure, have been in accord with Professor Jamas, of Harvard Uaivorsity, who says :— " The deadliest enemies of nations are not their foreign foes.Theyalways dwallwithm their boarders, and from thasa internal enemies civilisation is always in nead of being saved. The nation blessed above all nations is she in whom th 9 civic geniu; of the people does the saving day by day — by acts without external piccuresqueness, by speaking, writing, voting reasonably, by smiting corruption swiftly, by good tenip*>r between putiea, by the people knowing true man whan thay sea them, and preterm* them as lsadsrs to raMd partisans or empty quicks." What democracies have to guard against is thai) their citizans shall not usa names for the purpose of clothing their misdeeds. Sir Ballance knew that tke spirit of evil may masquerade in the garment of an angel of light, and that it is not by mere nam9s that we are to jadge the acts and deeds of our fellow eit zsns. We need not care what names they call themselves in pol'iics or in anything else, Liberals, Conservative?, Autocrats or Damocrats. Taa question is— What do they do? In all his pilifcical carosr Mr Ballanca evor aimed to make the name of the party with whioh ha was allied, respscfcid. He desire X that we should not have in onr democratic system of New Zealand those things that marred the fair namo of democracy in the United States, In erecting this memorial to him you are honouring his memory, but I hope this memorial wili have another effect as well. Io will, I ara sura, recall to you, the citizana of Wanganui, and also to tho»-e who visit your town, Mr John Ballance's name and his policy, and it may urge all of us to follow in the lines ha laid down, namely, that of a true national policy, and one that wiltredound to the credit of tho colony. Thera ia no use for us to pretand to respset his nama or revere his memory if we do nofc hava an equally high ideal of what he thought our nation should be, and it ia our duty to sac that the democracy in thia new country of ours shall not bo destroyed by that which ruined not only democracies oE Greece aad Roue, bufc has also .seriously injured that of the crß3t Bepablic3 of America aad Fiance, Mr J. H. Keesin***, i_ a neat speech, moved a vote of thanks to Sir Bobert Stout for his services, which having bseu heartily accordod, Sir Robert said ha had bean asked by Mrs Ballanca to express her grateful acknowledgment to those who attendad there that day*, -also to the coaimittea who had been instrumental in erecting the memorial and tn the many frionda who hid cont ibntsd to it. Ho had to make a public announcement. He intended to place his resignation as a member of the Houae ot representatives in tbe hands of tha Speaker. He was resigning purel/ for private reasons and in the interests of his family. He would not havo retired for this personal matter had ho not seen that his motivo in resigning had been Misrepresented, He made no bargain with anyona. Ha recognised, and he hoped the people of the colony would ever recognise, that no one would enter politics to make money. That would set up a dry rot iv democracy if it over became tha rnl9. His duty to hi 3 family demanded his resignat'on. He remained, as he had b3en for soma yeara, an opponent of the Ministry. It had baen said he would now, or his putner would now, obtain Government work So far as that was concerned, the obtaining of Government work would be no gain to him, as he had exacutedadeeddißßntitlinghimself to anything that could or might come from thit source. And, as to a bargain, that be waa to get payment from anyone, the whole thing wai a fabrica'ion. He thanked the audience for the vote, and would assure them that if at any time he could, as a private citizsn, help the town or institutions of Wanganui, his services would be at their disposal.