SIR JOSEPH WARD.

Hokitika Guardian, 1 March 1920, Page 3

SIR JOSEPH WARD.

VALEDICTORY SPEECH

THIRTY-TWO YEARS OF SERVICE,

j In concluding his valedictory speech at Winton when making his political 1 good-bye to his former constituents, Sir J oseph Ward went on to say : lb was on the twenty-sixth day*of Sep T tember, 1887, that I was first elected your representative in Parliament, and during the period of over thirty-two years that have elapsed since that distant date I served the interests of this electorate faithfully and fairly, and as actively as I could. I always have esteemed it a high honour to represent Awarua, and the efforts I have made to promote the welfare of the constituency and its people have been truly a labour of love. This part of New Zealand, though not my actual birthplace, has been the scene of my childhood, my youth, my manhood, and my middle age. All the most treasured memories of my life as hoy and mail, husband and father, are associated With scenes and places within the limits of this elector-

ate. I have been here a witness, in large measure, of one generation passing to its rest, and another generation arising and moving forward through the years to take its place. It is hut natural ,therefore, that the length and intimacy of my association with the people of Awarua have produced between myself and them something closer than a political or a merely commercial relationship—something rather

of a personal kinship. Over the long period of years during which I have been your member I have witnessed with growing pride the progress and development of this district, the dauntless courage and energy with which its people met, endured and' mastered bad times and built up by the sterling work of their manhood and womanhood the magnificent prosperity the district now enjoys. Not less has my pride been stirred by the splendid response the flower if the young manhood of the electorate made to the Empire’s call in its

freedom, and existence, i A POLITICAL GOOD-BYE. Now I have come among you to wish you a political good-bye. No man with all these dear and crowded memories behind him could go through such a leave-taking without mixed feelings of joy and sorrow, and I confess that while my heart is filled with pride and thankfulness for the past, I am saddened by .the reflection that I am to he your member no longer. It would not be fitting on an occasion of this kind to give apy-account qf my stewardship, and I have np yisli to do so. But I should like to say if I have failed to obtain for this electorate all it deemed

its due, it has never been for want of loyalty to my constituents or for lack of vigilance, eagerness, and effort on their behalf. I make no claim to have been an ideal representative, hut I feel ,| that even those who cast their votes against me will acknowledge I have consistently striven to do my best. Politically I have achieved success and I have suffered failures. These I have always felt Awarua shared with me, and it was through the loyalty of you and of those wlui have gone before you . that I was permitted to obtain such place and honours ,in public life as my record discloses. I have always re- | garded these distinctions as much

Awarua’s as my own. As your member, I was sonic twenty-six years a ' Minister of the Crown, and as the re- ■ presentative of this electorate six years Prime Minister of New Zealand. I This leave-taking marks the termination of my political connection with [ -this constituency, which has been so i rich to me in undying friendship ' .and affectionate association. Hbw time and mortality have thinned the ranks of that brave band of Liberals I was privileged to join on my first being returned as your member in 1887. I recall with a pathetic pride my early comradeship with Grey, Ballance, Sed- , don, McKenzie, Cadnian, Pitt, and ; others of that band of strong progr.es- | sive men ffho have passed into the eternal silence, but whose names will : long live honoured in the hearts and | memories of the people of this coun- | try. I recall scenes, struggles, suci cesses, apd failures in which 1 was * associated in years long gone by, and j since, with men l was privileged to | count not merely as political allies but I as close personal friends, and I feel that if public life had brought me no : other reward than the memories f have amassed, I should have been richly rpj pompensed for all my labours in the ! field of politics. These memories no ' reverse in an election contest can take from me, nor lessen their value and their charm, but they do not lessen the sense of sadness a man must feel on leaving jin arena in which he has spent the best years of Ins life and played his part to the very best of bis ability. ' PRECARIOUSNESS OF POLITICAL , jjiFE. 1 Political lift: in all forms of popular government is of precarious term and nature. Uncertainty is its only con- ! stunt characteristic, and he is a poor soldier in that field who, having done his best and fought honourably, does ! not accept defeat with a manly and uncomplaining submission. So fur then as my defeat was due to the fair and recognised cnanees, changes and ' rules of the fight I make no complaint. The struggle itself implies that one side must be beaten. But if my defeat was secured by methods and by misrepresentations that were the re--1 verse of fair-plav, that baselessly aspersed my character as a public man, 1 then I' owe it to myself and to my ' friends on leaving the field to place my protest on record. It Is the unquestioned right of every electorate to re- ' jeet any candidate, whether a political leader or a private member, whose policy or political creeds it dislikes, whose qualifications it deems inadequate or whose industry and vigour 1 it thinks insufficient. It is fair fight--1 ing to get or attempt to get a constitu, eney to reject a man on any or all of these grounds. That is strictly in ae- * eordance with the rules of the game. ' But it was not in this way that I was defeated. I was defeated by a sectarian crusade as bitter, active and ' .veil organised as it was unscrupulous. As British freedom has broadened down from age to ago a man’s religion has been increasingly regarded as a matter of bis own private conscience, * an intimate affair of the individual 3 life with which the State has no right to interfere. It took centuries to pro-

duo? that spirit of religious toleration which permits a man in England today to enter Parliament whatever his faith may he, and any reversion to the old domination of religious bigotry in . our social and especially in our public • life would he the saddest calamity that i could befall our free Democracy. l We in New Zealand claim that our ■ ‘ people are in the van of progress and enlightenment, and that here, at least, no hitter and aggressive religious intolerance poisons our social life or acts as a bar to that unity anl harmony between aljL,classes and sects which is the

first -essential of true and permanent liberty and progress. CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN PERIL. No man in public life is indispensable, and rejection, taken by itself, . does not count tor much to the public weal, but the influences to which my defeat was due .nave the profoundest and most pernicious significance. It means that true civil and religious liberty, guaranteed to the people by the Constitution given to New Zealand, is in peril, that the days have returned when a man may he punished and banished from the service of the

e State because of his faith, and that a r> precedent has been established for l bigoted and unscrupulous people to s follow. Toleration is the essence of true liberty, and once that vital prini ciple is impaired or destroyed, the true i civic freedom and liberty must wither - and decay. As I have said, my disap- ! pearance from public life is in itself a • matter of small importance, but that there has arisen and prevails in this ! young country such a widespread and organised spirit of sectarian intolerance as may drive a man from its service, is a fact which must give to every true lover of freedom and social progress the gravest and most anxious concern, .1 regret it is necessary that I should have to tell you of the hitter and systematic crusade which lias been carried i on against me not only in this electorate but in every electorate in New Zealand in which my supporters have stood for election. That crusade has

been flagrant, notorious, and unashamed. It has been directed with something akin to fury, even against men of a faith which is not mine, 1 have here a large bundle of circulars, special newspapers, and leaflets of which copies were circulated broadcast, both in Awarua and in other parts of New Zealand. If you have perused or care to peruse them, you have found qr wi|l find that no mean, contemptible, and deliberate falsehood was too base to employ as <i means of bringing about my defeat. My private character has not been assailed, my capacity as a public man has not been attacked in these publications*. It was my faith, and what it was alleged I had done for it, that were urged as reasons for driving me from public life. Mv loyalty to my King and country has in these communications been impugned; I have been charged with being a traitor to the people I represented in Parliament, and to the land in which all my domestic, social and commercial interests lie! I have been accused of spending public moneys in conferring privileges on those of my own denomination; of us'ing the publicservice for religious nepotism; of entering into an unholy and nefarious alliance with what is called Romanism and Bolshevism, and for these reasons, so falsely and maliciously urged against me, I must he banished from the arena of politics! Money flowed like water for the promotion of this nefarious campaign, and when it had achieved its purpose a gentleman professing to he an upholder of our common Christian faith claimed mv defeat as a victory for such methods,* PARTING WORDS. ’ But 1 do not want to make this a personal matter for myself ov against my detractors. I am content to. leave them to the judgment of my fellow countrymen and to the awakening of their own conscience. It is for t]ip country I api concerned, for opr children and our children’s children.. In the land of our forefathers men of iny persuasion hare held some of the highest offices of the State and their religion lias not been regarded a bar to their elevation; but in New Zealand, where our ideals have been declared to be the Brotherhood of Mail, the harmonious co-operation of all for the good of the State we have condition of affairs I have attempted to depict* in the most moderate language I can command. [ have not spoken in anger, and l trust with no uncharitableness, but I would beg you all, not for my sake, but for the sake of the country, for its credit and well-being, and lor its place among the progressive nations, to set your faces resolutely against the introduction of religious bigotry into our public life and to strive increasingly to free our political differences from the bitterness and personal rancour tlwit can make only for djssension, inefficiency and failure. 1 have long enjoyed tile hearty .confidence of the Liberals of this Dominion. They have in the past sup- i ported us with an allegiance I have greatly prized aim warmly reciprocated. Tp them, and to both those loyal Liberals who have been elected, and those who have been defeated, I want to offer my most affectionate thanks and sympathy. Tnough out of Parliament I will always retain in my heart for them personally the warmest feelings of sincere regard. I leave public n.e without bitterness —without the least abatement in tbo love of my country, and with a resolve as firm and willing tq serve it as a private citizen as 1 ever hail as a member of its councils, m this spirit I speak my parting word, and after a long and strenuous life spent in the public service of my country look with cheerful resignation to a well-earned rest. I thank from my heart all in Awarua who in the past have given ‘me their support, and I shall, so long as life I lasts, have the most happy reinenij brances of the trust and confidence that for over tldrty-two years they reposed ill me. May Awarua and the ; beautiful country of which we are all so proud, prosper in every way. Farewell, and may Goil lie with you all! (Loud applause). No good housewife can afford to be R-ithont SIIARLAND’S Baking I’owjer—the most economical compound on the market WOLFE’S SCHNAPPS gives life and vigor to the weary.