THE RECORD SESSION. Sir Joseph Wins His Spurs.

Free Lance, Volume III, Issue 119, 11 October 1902, Page 8

THE RECORD SESSION. Sir Joseph Wins His Spurs.

IN the Parliamentary history of New Zealand the session of 1902 deserves to be marked with a white stone. If it did not achieve the maximum of work, it certainly established the minimum of wasted time, spoilt tempers, and Donnybrook scenes. As compared with the sessions which preceded it, it was as mild as a mothers' meeting, as pleasant as a picnic, and as devoted to its business as a choir practice. And yet this record was put up in the last session of Parliament, ■when members are prone to talk to the gallery and give themselves over to unbridled loquacity. • • » It was also coincident with the absence of our King of men — Richard the Second to None — in England. Never again let it be said as a reproach against the present occupants of the Treasury benches that it is a one-man Government. That taunt has been worn threadbare in the past. It must be utterly discredited now. Sir Joseph Ward has completely and convincingly demonstrated the fact that he is a born leader of men, and that when King Richard chooses to lay down the sceptre he has a colleague thoroughly qualified to step into his place and both lead his party and rule the country with tact and judgment. • • ♦ Sir Joseph Ward's methods are rather different from Mr. Seddon's. He is the finest exponent in the House of the miavitei xn modo. But while he is studiously polite and conciliatory to ..both friend and adversary alike, he ls^jiot the man to weakly make surrender on points of principle for the sake of peace. On the contrary, he has afforded abundant proof of his fighting qualities and his steadfastness of purpose when political warfare is threatened or has actually set u. Still, if the other side are at all reasonable, Sir Joseph Ward is the very man to make generous advances towards a friendly understanding. • * ♦ It is this happy disposition of his, linked to an all-pervading spirit of conciliation and a willingness to take things in their Pickwickian sense, that makes Sir Joseph Ward so exceedingly popular in the House and enables him to score the tricks so neatly in the Parliamentary game. His first session as Acting-Premier is a memorial to his tact, his address, his bonhomie and his excellent judgment as a statesman. He held his party together in solid unity. He gave hib opponents no opportunity of charging him with unfairness. It wayS impossible for them to make any political capital at his expense and for the all- sufficing reason they did not attempt the impossible. The business of the country was despatched in a workmanlike style that beats all records. And, as for legislation—well, the tally of 93 public bills placed on the Statute Book within the compass of three months tells its own story.

The last session of the fourteenth Parliament passes on to the page of history with many happy recollections and no bit er regret? to dim its features. More than that, Sir Joseph Ward has been trusted to rule in place of his chief and has proved beyond a doubt that he is endowed with every needed qualification for responsible leadership. It is no light task to step into the No. 14 shoes of King Dick and successfully carry on the work he has been discharging for years. It is not light because he never provided for an understudy. But Sir Joseph Ward rose as naturally to the emergency and fulfilled its obligations with as complete a success as if he had been Premier these ten years. The Liberal party can await the future without misgivings. Its present Premier is still at the wickets and scoring briskly. But whenever he retires from the game there is a successor ready and fit to emulate his record.