The Putaruru Press. PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY 'Phone 28 P.O. Box 44 Office Oxford Place THURSDAY, JULY 10, 1930. SIR JOSEPH WARD.

Putaruru Press, Volume VIII, Issue 346, 10 July 1930, Page 4

The Putaruru Press. PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY 'Phone 28 P.O. Box 44 Office Oxford Place THURSDAY, JULY 10, 1930. SIR JOSEPH WARD.

SIR Joseph Ward must be ranked as cue of the great figures of the political life of the last forty years in New Zealand. His death removes another of the political giants who constituted the leaders of the Liberal Party that first gained power under Ballance and then ruled under Seddon and which inaugurated the policy the principles of which remain to-day. It may be said that he was “ the last’ of the Liberals,” for Sir William Hall-Jones has for many years been a member of the Legislative Council. - To few men has it been destined to have such an adventurous career. Buffeted by fortune, the victim'of many political ups and downs, it remained for Sir Joseph, at an age when most men would have sought retirement, to regain his political prestige, lead a party to the Government benches and again become Prime Minister. It was a wonderful achievement, unique in the history of the country and rarely equalled in any part of the world. But the whole of. Sir Joseph Ward’s life was extraordinary. From a post office messenger, commencing work when he was thirteen, to Prime Minister, is in itself well away from the beaten track of the average life story of men.

Sir Joseph Ward’s claim upon the memory of posterity will be chiefly as a financier rather than as a great party leader. It was as first lieutenant to that great party leader,-the Hon. R. J. Seddon, that Sir Joseph Ward came so prominently into the public gaze. It was during that period that he brought about penny postage for New Zealand and erected what is probably the most lasting monument to his political fame——the Advances to Settlers Office.