THE PRIME MINISTER.

Waikato Times, Volume 98, Issue 16035, 11 July 1924, Page 5

THE PRIME MINISTER.

TWELVE YEARS IN OFFICE. DISTINGUISHED CAREER. LAST OF PRE-WAR PREMIERS. (By Telegraph—Special to Times.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. "I hope we shall drop our party differences, cerlainly our personal differences, and that whatever our record may he In the future we shall do something that will tend to promote the welfare of the people we represent." The Prime Minister, on the occasion of the announcement of his Ministry in the House of Representatives on July 10, 1912, made this statement in reply to congratulations he received from all parties of the House. Telegrams of congratulations were pouring in at the rate of a hundred an hour, and Mr Massey had 3000 of them at the time he was talking. Today was his twelfth anniversary as Prime Minister, and although telegrams did not come, perhaps, at that rate, there were so many, and from so varied sources and sections of the community as to convince Mr Massey that he enjoyed the confidence of the people of the Dominion, as he did in 1912. The first Ministry of Mr Massey V was: Mr W. F .Massey, Prime Minister, Minister of Lands, Agriculture, and Labour; Mr J. Allen, Minister, of Finance, Defence, and Education; Mr W. H. Herrics, Minister of Railways and Native Affairs; Mr A. L. Herdman, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice; Mr W. Fraser, Minister of Works and Mines; Mr F. M. B. Fisher, Minister of Customs and Marine; Mr R. H. Rhodes, PostmasterGeneral; Mr 11. D. Bell, Minister of Internal Affairs; Dr. M. Pomare, Minister representing the Native Race. Among the members still in the House who congratulated Mr Massey on the floor of the House on that occasion are Mr Veitch (Wanganui), the Hon. J. A. Hanan (Invercargill), the Hon. W. Nosworthy, Mr Harris (Waitemata), and Mr Atmore (Nelson). "Much water has run under the bridge since then," to use a quotation often used by the Prime Minister, and hundreds of measures on the Statute Book bear testimony to the activities of the Prime Minister. He is looked up to, honoured, and respected wherever he goes. There is no part of the British Empire in which he would not be an honoured guest. He is deservedly regarded as one of the most trusty statesmen of the Empire—a man of wide experience, "who walks with kings, nor loses the common touch." He sat often at the Council Board of the Empire, where his opinions have been received with marked respect. He gained great honours and appreciation for his work at the Peace Conference, the King and the French President both bestowing honours on him to mark their gratitude for the part he played in the war as the leader of the New Zealand people. It may truly be said of him that be has never spared himself, but was throughout, and remains to-day, an example to his fellow citizens of New Zealand of the truth of his slogan, "The royal road to success lies through hard work." His ripened judgment and sound common sense have made him New Zealand's greatest public asset to-day.