Forty Years a Liberal

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 622, 26 March 1929, Page 2

Forty Years a Liberal

LIFE STORY OF SIR JOSEPH WARD

From Telegraph Messenger to Prime Minister

By ii. A. LOUGHNAN (Copyright—Sun Feature Service) ENTERING Parliament in ISS7, Sir Joseph Ward is a veteran among contemporary statesmen and liis career is traced and described in this series of articles by R. A. Loughnan for readers of The Sun. No. 111.

At the outset there was a doubt in the little town at the foot of the big Bluff Hill, on the side of the big lagoon in commanding view of the entrance from Foveaux Strait. The latest councillor was under age. Vhat would be the position? The doubt remained a whisper till the youth’s 21st birthday. That event dispelled the doubt, and young Ward was free to gratify the ambition of service to his fellow citizens. The use he made of that freedom amazed the fellow citizens aforesaid —and building on that use the busy young burgess quickly established a solid reputation. Grasping all details of rating, lighting, paving, street formation and dedication, watersupply, he threw great energy into the direction of all the details of municipal government. Money was wanted. The want gave him a chance to show his financial ability, of which he had already given token, young as he was, in the establishment and progressive conduct of his own safelyestablished business.

POLITICS AND PASTIMES

Popularity attended these early strivings in the world of municipal usefulness. To his striking exhibition of public spirit he added prowess in the athletic pastimes of the place. In these he showed all-round skill and strength, and the good old sporting instinct. Cricket, football, rowing—he found time for these —winning his way to captaincy in each. Volunteering appealed to him too, and before long behold him captain in the Naval Corps, marching at their head in martial style. Before the public in every capacity, he had listeners and barrackers and admirers, and cups of all kinds came tumbling into his hands, each representing a fine record. Mayor of the borough, chairman of the Bluff Harbour Board, the holder of every possible captaincy—was there ever a finer record? Out of doors, summer and winter, the observed of all on sea and land; indoor, tributes always to his municipal and business capacity. He could not stop them. His popularity thus completed, the local service became a road for steady advancement in work. With the growing confidence of his fellow citizens, at the age of 25, the reward of his practical leadership and financial ability in municipal affairs came in his election to the Mayoralty of the Campbelltown Borough, and kept him in that high position for five years. Energy and ambition not being yet satisfied, he entered the circle of the Harbour Board, and scon reached the chairmanship of that important body. And for ten years—we are anticipating, unavoidably —he was, as chairman, associated with the great work of harbour improvement, which has done so much for the Southern port. The experience proved useful to him later on as Postmaster-General, Minister of Commerce and Minister of Railways.

URGE OF AMBITION

When ambition still urged, with considerable experience of public affairs added to his equipment for public life, he determined to seek admission to Parliament. It was the fateful year 1887, fateful for him, for he easily obtained election, winning the Awarua seat. His principal opponent was Mr. I. W. Bain, a prominent and clever journalist, proprietor of the Southland “Times,” with large and honourable experience of public, affairs. But the issue was never in doubt. Mr. Ward’s municipal career, his business success, his popularity and financial ability, carried him through the election at the top of the poll.

All this came to light in Wellington in answer to the question of “Who is this brisk, fluent young speaker, so neat, so jaunty, so genial?” When he took his seat, the political atmosphere had cleared completely. It had been cleared to some extent by the work of the Grey Ministry, and the clearance had continued through the subsequent Ministries of Hall, Whitaker and Atkinson,* which had followed with some desired Liberal reforms which, after the Grey pressure, could no longer be delayed. Yet grave disturbance by materialism had come—with the Stout-Vogel administration and the West Coast railway. That disturbance subsided with the final settlement of the railway question, and after that the work of the Stout-Vogel Government had cleared the atmosphere to a fair division between Liberal principles and Conservatism.

The Parliament which was elected in 1887 kept the last Atkinson Government in office, and was destined to still further clear the party issue. It made the difference well defined, and wmie this was going on in the Legislature, the country came to realise the restored atmosphere, even more clearly than was the case in Parliament. BIG MARITIME STRIKE It was in this condition of things that both parties faced the General Election of 1890. The great maritime strike that year a few months before that appeal to the constituencies had cleared up whatever was left of the political fog. Moreover the times "w ere bad, marked by some unemployment and considerable stagnation. It was really the first great check on its prosperity which the country had suffered since the inauguration 20

years before of the great immi gration and public works policy. A DECISIVE ELECTION Tiie result of the General Electi™ proved that the time had come for separating the corn from the tares t use the phrase in no spirit of hostim-, to any political personality or partv * feeling was abroad that' this senara tion involved the doing of things or mark, the pressing forward from speech to action. Practical politics, i> began to be realised, meant th« prompt application or programmes the first opportunity. That this was the general feeling throughout the constituencies, a remarkable incident of the election’s contest made verr clear to every kind of comprehension. The- Liberals had backed their programme with great force, culminating in promised immediate effect for the programme the moment power came into Liberal hands. There was not, and there could not be any other wav for a Liberal Government established by vote of the constituencies. One of the planks of the Liberal platform was the abolition of the property tax. much hated, and the sub. stitution of a system of taxation with combination of income and land tax. The advocacy of this on every plan form throughout the Dominion supplied the chief note of the Liberal campaign. But in the thick of the propaganda there fell a cold douche. An ambassador from the party headquarters appeared one day in Napier, addressed the Liberal elements of that picturesque city, and strongly advised it of the necessity of waiting for a favourable opportunity before inaugurating the taxation plank of the Liberal programme. It was a difficult plank, said the ambassador, though, of course, quite indispensable. Therefore, Liberals must be prepared after the election victory for some considerable delay in the establishment of this system of taxation on the ruins of the hated and unprincipled property tax. The ambassador quoted Abraham Lincoln's famous warning against “swopping horses when crossing the stream." The surprise of the Napier Liberals on receiving this address was very great, and all the greater because the ambassador was that staunch Liberal, Sir Robert Stout, who was not standing for election. And he had quoted Mr. Ballance, the Leader of the Opposition, ar.d head of the Liberal Party in Parliament, as of that very opinion.

HABIT OF PROMPT ACTION

This warning of the leader’s was natural enough. Mr. Ballance had, in his study of the subject, come up against; the Property Tax Commissioner, Mr. Sperry, who was a great admirer of that part of Sir Harry Atkinson’s policy. Mr. Sperry had assured his anxious inquirers that he had no data such as the discussion of the proposed momentous change of taxation required. That proposal appeared, therefore, to take on a shape something like a leap In the dark. Hence the dispatch of the warning to Napier—in fact to the whole body of the Liberals throughout New Zealand —of the certainty of considerable delay. But the Liberals in the constituencies wanted no statistics, no data. They wanted the change of taxation. They laughed uproariously at the analogy of the stream and the swopping horses, even condemned the authority on such a subject of Abraham Lincoln, the greatest Liberal who ever got his hands to the reins of power.

That was a great election fact. After the change of Government it was used in the Cabinet with overpowering force by Mr. Ballance’s colleagues. The Ward habit—for Ward was then a colleague—of prompt action pulled its weight in that boat. Thus the Liberal Party faced the election of 1890, which came immediately after the settlement of the maritime strike —a thing greatly to the satisfaction of the party, for it had cleai'ed away the last element of confusion in the political atmosphere. GREAT CAREER BEGINS

The result of the election took the country by surprise. The best poli* tical tipsters had predicted an Atkinson victory. The result was a veritable landslide, by wbicb the Atkinson party was practically obliterated. The short session, early in 1891, of Parliament placed the Liberal Party m power under the Premiership of Mr. Ballance. That sagacious leader had recognised the ability of his supporter, Joseph Ward, and acknowledged his proved claim to rank among the staunchest of the Liberals, standing through thick and thin for Liberal principles. Therefore the name of Ward appeared in the gazetted list of the Ballance Cabinet as PostmasterGeneral and Commissioner of Electric Telegraphs. His handling of tne ocean mail services had given him his particular position, in the Cabinet. Thus was the ex-messenger-boy launched, after three years of Parliamentary service, on a Ministerial career. The promotion represented » very rapid rise, and eventual!, proved to be the foreshadow of gt’’ 3 public service, and many vicissitudes. During his threej years of Parliamentary service the young member i°. Awarua had spoken often, and generally briefly, on many subjects, acquiring a good reputation for ability boui as speaker, debater and (SE thinker, and experience ct pubn affairs. His handling of the mail services has been mention* above. Another question involving: W outer relations of the colony—as b Zealand was then denominated * touched was the question of co-op***-' tion with Australia in establishing lighthouse on one of the Auckl * fslands for the safer navigation of t“ Cape Horn route used by both co tries. To his question about this * ject, he received a very sympatce answer from the then Minister Marine. But the Australian Government—it was before the estaDlishm of the Commonwealth —could not ag. to anything, and the matter droPP®” The question, however, marked grasp of higher things taken by new member. (To be continued daily-1