LOSSES AND CHANGES.

New Zealand Graphic, 27 June 1906, Page 32

LOSSES AND CHANGES.

It would be impossible within any reasonable limits of space to follow the course of Mr. Seddon’s long career as Premier in all its various details. It must be sufficient for us to refer briefly to the more salient features of his legislation, and to give within a narrow compass an adequate conception of the means that he employed to achieve his ends, and the measure of success that he attained. When the new Premier met his first Parliament, the late Hon. W. Rolleston, the Leader of the Opposition, expressed his goodwill toward the new Cabinet, and assured him that he would receive every possible assistance from the Conservatives in conducting the business of the House. Replying to these amicable sentiments, Mr. Seddon made at least one remark worthy of more than passing notice. “In the past,” he said, “I have had a considerable amount of the fighting to do. That must now be left to my able lieutenants. It will be now my duty to direct and to guide; at the same time to remain steadfast, and to endeavour to carry out that which I believe to be in the best interests of the country.” But a very few days made it clear that the Premier had altogether miscalculated both his own capacity for avoiding a fight, and the ability of his subordinates to do without his assistance in the active work of a Parliamentary campaign. Throughout his career as Premier, Mr. Seddon has always been the protagonist, the leading champion in the front ranks of the Liberals. At the same time he has endeavoured to support not only the militant duties, but the greater part of the administrative responsibilities of government; and no one can read the amazing record of his Premiership without feeling sadly convinced that he undertook a task that it was beyond the power of human endurance to support unaided. Shortly after Mr. Seddon’s accession to power, the Cadman-Rees case led to tire resignation of Mr. Cadman; and the Premier then took over the portfolio of Native Affairs, though he was assisted in the departmental work by Mr. Carroll. This was the first step he took in the way of accumulating administrative responsibility in his own hands; and the recital of the transformations through which the Cabinet passed during his thirteen eventful years of office may help us to understand

how the end which we all deplore came unexpectedly an* prematurely. ’Hia Hon. W. Montgomery was added to the Executive without portfolio; and next year Mr. Cadman, after re-eleetion, took over the Department of Mines from his chief. Till 1890, this arangement held, and then the Cabinet was reconstructed. Sir Patrick Buckley had been made a judge of the Supreme Court, Mr. Reyves had sought the distinguished retirement of the Agent-General’s office in London, Sir Joseph Ward had temporarily withdrawn into private life. The new Ministers whom Mr. Seddon chose to take the vacant places were the late Mr. W. C. Walker, Mr. Hall-Jones, and Mr. T. Thompson. This time Mr. Seddon arranged to combine the duties of Colonial Treasurer, Postmaster-General, Commissioner of Trade and Customs, Minister for Labour, and" Minister for Native Affairs—a truly monstrous heaping-up of Ministerial functions. Mr. Reeves, it must be remembered, who had been one of his most valuable coadjutors, and Sir Joseph Ward, were no longer at his side; and the necessity for depending on less experienced and less able men threw an even larger share of public work upon Mr. Seddon than this disproportionate allocation of portfolios would indicate. In 1899, there was another reconstruction. Sir Joseph Ward came back to the Ministerial benches, and relieved the Premier by taking over the duties of Postmaster-General. But Mr. Thompson now resigned 1 , and Mr. Seddon, always insatiable for work, at once made himself Minister of Defence, while Mr. McGowan now appeared in the Cabinet as Minister of Justice. In 1900, however, the Premier sustained an irreparable loss through the resignation of Sir John McKenzie, the only one of his colleagues who had been with him throughout his •even years’ tenure of the Premiership, and the only other survivor of the little group of legislative enthusiasts who had gathered round Mr. Ballance. Mr. T. Duncad took the vacant portfolio of Lands, but the loss of Sir John McKenzie threw a yet heavier burden on the Premier’s shoulders. He was thus constrained to enlarge the Cabinet still further, and allowed Mr. Carroll to relieve him of the charge of Native Affairs; while the superintendence of the Customs Department was undertaken by, Mi’. C. H. Mills. All that Mr. Seddon had to do now was to look after the bu-iness of the Treasury, and the Labour and Defence Departments—in addition to organising his party, developing his policy, and performing the countless minor duties necessarily associated with the Premiership. But even this was not enough for him, and he added to his others the control of the Public Trust Office and of the Government Insurance Department. After 1902 he also managed the Immigration Department, and as a climax to all his other responsibilitiesi assumed the immensely laborious office of Minister of Education. We need not elaborate this simple list; Without comment, it is sufficient to suggest even to the most superficial reader the cause of Mr. Seddon’s failure in health and the secret source of that tragedy which we all deplore.