The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1925. THE OLD LIBERAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19434, 21 October 1925, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1925. THE OLD LIBERAL

At last an old Liberal has entered the election campaign. The National Party, which threw away the familiar name, has been trying, with ill success, to persuade the electors that it represents the policy of Ballance and Seddon. The Labour Party outrages the memory of those loyal and patriotic leaders by declaring that it is their natural successor. The protestations of both parties are altogether unconvincing, for they oppose the Reform Party, which obviously has carried on under the legislation framed by the Liberal Prime Ministers, liberalising and humanising still further the best of it and rejecting the rest.

If proof of these statements be asked for, it is to be found in the reappearance in the political arena of an old Liberal, Sir Joseph Ward. The former Prime Minister emerges from his retirement to contest the Invercargill seat, and his advent naturally arouses interest. What is his policy, and where does he stand? He tells us himself that he stands as a Liberal, not as a member of the National Party. It is hard indeed for the National Party to be turned down so bluntly by the former leader of the Liberals—all the harder since Sir Joseph places in the forefront of his platform the announcement that in his opinion the best brains of the country should be in the Government. The Nationalists also tell us that their aim is a Government comprising the best brains in the country. Sir Joseph Ward, held up to us by the Nationalists as one of their three great sources of inspiration, says he is not a Nationalist. The only possible inference is that in the opinion of Sir Joseph Mr. Forbes, Mr. Veitch and the rest are not wanted in a Government containing the best brains in the country. It is hard for the Nationalists, but we fancy the country will agree with Sir Joseph. < It is evident from his speech that at 69 years of age Sir Joseph Ward has mellowed. He criticises the-Government, but not in the way the Nationalists do. He analyses the country’s finances and suggests that care and caution are necessary, but he does not say for a moment that the only way to save the country from disaster is to turn the Government out and put in the nondescripts who masquerade as the National Party. What does suggest itself to anyone who reads the report of his speech carefully is that Sir Joseph believes in fusion—a fusion of Sir Joseph Ward with the Reform Party.