LATE RICHARD SEDDON

Hokitika Guardian, 23 January 1925, Page 4

LATE RICHARD SEDDON

A MODERN I'EX PICTURE. “KIND DICK.” BY T HE HON. AY. V. REEVES. LONDON. Dec. 12. One chapter in the revised edition of “The Lon" White Cloud,” which has now been jnihilislied by Messrs George Ailon and Unwin. will ho ol very gcueiirl interest to the people of New Zealand. The Hon W. Pom her Reeves has contributed, among other things, an entirely new chapter on the late Richard Sodden. Now that twenty years have elapsed since the popular Premier’s death. Mr Reeves evidently feels justi'jed in giving a perfectly frank estimate of the personality of one who occupied the political stage in Now Zealand for so many years. The author speaks of his old chief in the kindest way. hut at the same time lie sweeps aside many of the sentimentn inaccura-

cies that have persisted even to the present day. “Most things about him appeared lag. vigorous. restless.” Mr Reeves writes. “You thought him a man made for drums and trampling*. Only the skull was small. It was dolichocephalic, and held one of the most sleepless brains in New Zealand. Ihe owner had an instinctive understanding of tactics, and a glorious disregard of hard knocks. He sometimes winced

a bit under sarcasm, for to meet that be was unable: but to ucrsonal abuse, or the angriest denunciation, lie was, or what is just as useful, seemed to he. indifferent. . . Of his speeches, enough say that their number, hulk, and lack of quality wore a serious obstacle

to bis rise in politeial life. It is something of an enigma that a man of Lis shrewdness, industry, and lively appreciation of political realities should have managed for eleven years to talk so much and .sav so little. It should be noted, though, "that he avoided aeiditv and insult, lie was no swordsman, and. it lie sometimes laid about him with a cluh, the hearty fashion m which be swung bis weapon caused more smiles than resentment, lie went his way. emptying the House and filling Hansard, just as the humour took him. , . lie went doggedly on, and in the .scuffles of the years that followed drey’s eclipse it began to be understood that this athletic talker, though not a condensing engine, might be a considerable motive power. UNDERSTOOD EVERY MOVE. “It is usually said that he shouldered his way to the I rout. It was net all mere shouldering, however; even in bis early years in the House lie know bis wav about. 'When you came to talk confidently with him about the political position, you found, perhaps to your surprise, that lie understood every move on the board. He grasped the relative importance 1 ol things, could come to the paint, quickly, and kept a cool head. When action was called tor lie could tell you what to do. U may be added that when a Liberal principle a.as in question lie was scarcely cvoi ’round in the wrong lobby.”

In passing the Old Age Pensions Rill the author attributes to Mr Seddon real wisdom. “In 1896.” lie writes, “he lost both Kir Joseph Ward and Mr Reeves, and his side was lelt terribL weak in debate. Against him lie had Sir Robert Stout, the best debater and platform speaker at that time in the country, a well-read Liberal with a. grasp of principles, the leading advocate in New Zealand, an experienced, clean-handed politician, and a ‘bonny lighter.’ The Opposition were otherwise well supplied wiih speaking power while outside were the I’rohibitionisl orators. Seddon’s big majority shrank, and at one time, in 1807. it looked as though Ins opponents would get him down. The ground was moving under bis feet: it was time to do something big. With acuteness, indeed, real wisdom. lie decided la pass the Old Age Pensions Rill. The measure was his own. and was his greatest feat. lie gradually shaped it until lie made ii what it was. and long remained, the best nf its kind in the world. I hen he took care that il was well administered and its success was complete.” AYTSE DOT NOS, FOOLISH WORDS. “Seddon was not. until his latest years.” savs Mr Reeves, “a Uulliver among Lilliputians. Ilis dictatorship, such as it was, begun at the earliest in 1890; bis. special and important legislative work began in 18911. The l.iheral-l.a’-oiir policy submit ted by tbc I'aluuce lim'eni nieiit to I’arliunienl in 1891. would have been thought out and submitted almost precisely as it was il Mr Seddon bail never been born. l''or bis speeches on Imperial matters in England there is not much to be said. The Imperial policy that be supported was patriotic and arguably reasonable. It, was that of .Mr Joseph Chamberlain. Tf Afr Chamberlain was wrong about fiscal reform and other matters, then Seddon was wrong. Most colonists, however, do not flunk that Afr Chamberlain was wrong. Kir Starr Jameson once commented to the writer on the great superiority of Seddon’s doings and proposals at Imperial Conferences to his speeches outside. To some extent, that was true generally of what bo said and did. Ho was almost the converse of the merry, witty king who never said a foolish ihiug and never did a wise thing. SEDDON AT IHS REST.

“To sco Seddon at his best you had to sit oppn.ite to him in a small room and talk with him openly about some matter that he thought important. Then, it’ it wore at all intricate, it was a pleasure to mark how quickly he could conic* to the point, and scpniato the essential from the unessential. I nder such circumstances lie could be brief, plain, one could almost say incisive. lie was particularly worth watching; in some moment of pressure and confusion in Parliament. I hen amid the small welter of lobby intrigues, grumblings from supporters, Opposition attacks, and newspaper ‘rumours’ and prophecies, he remained perfectly collected, and usually took the right course. 'Jo the writer he sometimes seemed to manoeuvre overmuch, and to give himsclt more trouble than he needed by ‘tactics. Still, it must be admitted that the tactics usuallv worked.’ 1 INKER[OHITY OF STYGIAN SCENERY.

Mr Hooves pictures the shade o! Iticlmrd Seddon in the hlvsian holds, and sketches the voyage across the Stvx. “In the days of old,” he writes, “it was written of the Kings of Judah and Israel that when dead they slept with their fathers.’ To those of us who knew ‘King Dick’ it does not seem possible to imagine him asleep, inert, or passive in any world, however vast and remote. Wo cannot picture him .submitting to immobility. The shade of Richard Seddon. one may ho sure, wasted no time over regrets for a vanished earth. Could the swiftest journey beneath the stars surprise that undaunted ghost? I trow not. Arrived on the hanks of the Styx he at once found plenty to do. One can hear him commenting promptly on the inferiority of Stygian river scenery to that of the sunlit streams of romantic New Zealand. Noting Charon’s leisurely methods of transport, did he suggest, good-naturedly, to the aged ferryman the proprietary of retirement on a suitable old age pension? Did lie take the helm when crossing the river? One likes to think of him 's happy—not-in the enjoyment of vest, tor rest ho could not enjoy—hut energetically happy, smilingly haranguing Elysian mass meetings in fields ot amatatuh and asphodel, where there is no limelimit for speeches.”