NEW ZEALAND'S LAST FOLLY.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 20, 21 July 1911, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND'S LAST FOLLY.

The other day, at Glasgow, Lady Ward (wife of Sir Joseph Ward, the baronet-Premier !of democratic. New Zealand) performed the ceremony of christening the Dreadnought "presented" by the Dominion to the British Navy. Her Ladyship's remarks and instructions to the Deity were very entertaining. " God protect her," she said; "may she never be called noon to engage in battle; but. if .otherwise, I pray that victory be hers." No doubt that utterance covers every possible emergency. The good Sir Joseph made some pleasing remarks about "kith and kin/ and all that sort of thing, and humorously added that the people of N.Z- had "found the money unmurmingly." The process of "finding," if one remembers rightly, consisted in borrowLn.g another million from Great The presentation wias altogether in a pair with the small boy's request for a shilling from papa to "buy him a birthday present. And, in spite of Sir Joseph, the business was not carried out so "unmurmingly/* What kap~ pened was that, at the height of the "Daily Mail" war scare of a couple of years ago, Sir Joseph Ward, on his own responsibility, cabled to England making the offer of «a Dreadnought. Hia action was sharply criticised in New Zealand. Now he Is • toaronet. —"Melb. Socialist."