Forty Years a Liberal

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 643, 20 April 1929, Page 2

Forty Years a Liberal

LIFE STORY OF SIR JOSEPH WARD

| From Telegraph Messenger to Prime Minister

By I

R. A. LOUGHNAN

I Copyright — Sun Feature Service) ENTERING Parliament In ISS7, Sir Joseph Ward is a veteran among contemporary statesmen and his career is traced and described in this seriee of articles by E. A. Loughnan for readers of The Sun. » No. XXIV.

i The majority of the British Press (was vehemently against the DeclaraI tion of London. Therefore the acj ceptance by the Imperial Conference incurred rather severe condemnations. This was also the view of the ma- ! jority of the British commercial world, j as it was, of course, the view of most I of the officers of the British Navy. ! In that view the rights of Great Britain at sea were largely surrendered by the Declaration of London. [ It was widely held that in war the security of all British oversea supplies would be very gravely endangered. [ Mr. Fisher, the Premier of the Aus--1 tralian Commonwealth, had strongly condemned the declaration, siding with the majority of the British Press and the commercial interests, as voiced by the British Chambers of Commerce and the naval officers, who stood to a man for the old system, which gave them paramount power. When the matter was discussed in the Imperial Conference it was made very clear that the British Government favoured the declaration. Mr. Fisher, for this reason, abstained, from voting on the resolution to ratify the declaration. That resolution Was, as we have seen, moved in the conference by Sir Joseph Ward. And for that he came in for some public criticism at the hands of the majority side of the Press of Great Britain. STOOD TO HIS GUNS Sir Joseph, in an interview with a representative of the “Evening Standard,” stood to his guns manfully. “The declaration,” he remarked, “has received a great deal of consideration from people, both within and beyond the shores of the British Isles. It presents many difficulties, and there is room for wide differences of opinion upon some of the details. The representatives of the overseat Dominions, approaching the matter with absolutely independent minds, arrived at a decision which they believe to be best in the interest of the Empire generally. “If Great Britain could, without force, have improved certain of the articles, naturally the declaration would have been more acceptable; but as the result of close examination and careful consideration of the declaration as a whole, before I left New Zealand and after my arrival here, I have arrived at the conclusion that the good which it contains, and the distinctly improved protection it gives to neutral ships conveying foodstuffs from the great producing oversea Dominions, called for confirmation by the conference. I also take the view that the International Prize Court to be set up is a great advance upon the present position of affairs, which gives a belligerent country the final decision as to compensation for the destruction of ships or cargo. "It is a plausible argument to suggest that there should be ■ a larger number of British representatives in the composition of the International Prize Court, but the view I take is that there are eight great Powers, and, if the smaller Powers that have representatives on this Court did not exist at all. Great Britain could not expect to be in any other position than a minority; and as the Court is to consist of not less than nine, and not more than 13, the eight great Powers will still have the determining voice. “It is not possible on any International Prize Court for Great Britain, or any other country, to have such representation as would give it the power which some people’ desire Great Britain to have. On the whole it is infinitely better to accept the declaration with all the good it contains, and the advance it represents, than to reject it, which was the alternative. In any case the decision of the conference was arrived at from honest conviction.” SPLENDID PREPARATION The work of this conference was reviewed by Sir Joseph in his last speech thereat. It was a speech seconding Sir Wilfred Laurier’s resolution of thanks to the Imperial Government for its kindly reception of the oversea Premiers, for the courtesy and understanding of the Prime Minister’s presiding, for the extensive and splendid preparation which had so greatly helped the work of the conference by supplying all the information necessary for the discussions which travelled over such a vast variety of subjects. How necessary that preparation was Sir Joseph Ward had said in speaking to Mr. Andrew Fisher s motion regarding the visiting of the Dominions by British Ministers and for the holding of a conference at some date in the future in one of the oversea capitals. To the second part Sir Joseph objected that, without the machinery for the conference provided in London, no conference would be possible, and that to transport that machinery overseas would be impossible. Later, Mr. Asquith took the same view about holding a conference at some place overseas and gave a brief sketch of what Sir Joseph had called the machinery necessarv for the effectiveness of Imperial Conferences In London,” he said, “all the trained staffs and accumulated records were at their disposal. With‘the best will in the world, that could not be the case if the conference met elsewhere and the usefulness might consequently t eXtent be lm Paired.” Sir Wilfred Laurier, in his later speech moving the last resolution of the cos ference, gave the credit for th?s machinery” to the Rt. Hon L Har court. Secretary for the Colonies who i ,rovlde 'i the documentary in formation each day and arranged the ?ion nd s- th 7 >ughout - To this appreciates one i°h SeP n added c °nsiderabiv. as one who has attended ten im ln Sp a c D ondi > ecTh nCeS ° f various kinds,” in seconding the motion of the veteran Canadian statesman. For the portant duty of seconding The Cotton

Sir Wilfred said he had Selected his friend Sir Joseph Ward as. like himself, he was one of the oldest members in conference service; a fact, the mention of which recalled Sir Josephs services at previous Imperial Conferences. to which there had been many references in the proceedings of the conference of 1911. In his selection of Sir Joseph for the seconding of the final resolution Sir Wilfred had recognised the right of seniority, to which everyone present agreed that Sir Joseph had added the claim of outstanding ability of initiative in debate. “EXHAUSTIVE SUMMARY 1 ’ To this claim can be added the fact that it was left to Sir Joseph Ward to review the proceedings of the 19U conference, which he did in his seconding speech. The review was described -by Mr. Asquith, the British Prime Minister, in his reply, as "an exhaustive summary.” This summary it will be interesting to quote, and. moreover, it is necessary, as We are not attempting to describe the conference proceedings in detail. “May I also say,” Sir Joseph began his review, “in supporting this motion, that it is desirable of recognition what a vast amount of good the conference has done. When we remember the questions that we have dealt with, it will be seen how important the work has been, and how valuable it is and will be to all parts of the Empire. . . . On the all-important question of defence the information which has been furnished to us has probably never been of greater value to the overseas representatives than upon this occasion. It w'ill be most valuable to our countries. To ourselves the difficulties of the Home Government in connection with Empire Defence are more clearly understood. “Then the discussion of the machinery of government on purely Imperial matters has been very interesting. The views of the members of the conference on record here —differing as they do on many points—are to my mind very valuable in regard to the work w’e have done in reference to this important question, and even though it be of a negative character so far as a decision is concerned, the discussion was a most valuable one. “The matter of consultation with the Dominions regarding treaties is a very important one, and marks a great step forward. The Declaration of London has been considered with the Home Government as affecting the oversea Dominions very fully and carefully by the representatives present, and the decision arrived at was come to without bias, as also without any pressure.” EMPIRE COURT OF APPEAL This was evidently said to meet the declarations of some newspapers that the Home Government had not only pressed very hard at the conference, with all the w-eight of its position, but had actually bribed the conference by opening the secrets of the Foreign Office to get the Declaratk ratified. The review proceeded. “The great work in connection with the Imperial Court of Appeal is, I think, an important one and I hail with supreme satisfaction the action of the British Government w r ith regard to it. “Then we have had a discussion on naturalisation, which to my mind is extremely valuable to all parts of the Empire and to many people who will be affected. “As the outcome of the efforts to obtain uniformity in that respect, the Imperial operation of judpnents and aw ards of our courts, which has been decided upon by this Conference, is also of very great value. “The matter of Shipping and Navigation laws which we have discussed is of infinite importance to the respective countries who are so much concerned regarding it, and who require to see that the product of their countries are carried under proper conditions, and the valuable expression of opinions coming from the members of the conference on this point adds, in my view, to the w'eight of the work which this conference has done.” THE COLOUR PROBLEM In this matter of the shipping la*» the discussion embraced the employment on British ships both of foreigners and lascars, and dwelt long and sometimes rather painfully on the admission of Indians to the Empire or their exclusion. So much was there to say on this subject —Lof® Crewe, the Secretary for India, who was exceedingly well posted upon it, going so far as to say plainly that the unity of the Empire depended on the manner of its handling—that much of the conference’s time was given to it Discussion was facilitated by the tect i that Lord Crewe, who had served as i Secretary for the Colonies before going to the India Office, had intimat® know-ledge of the view’s of both the | coloured and white races. Moreover, the discussion w r as distinguished W the great frankness with which the overseas Premiers expressed th ' strong determination of their peop jto adhere to the white ideal. At tn • same time the utmost respect to posing opinions was paid through and every proof of sympathetic standing was given. Readers of ' full report issued, supplementing to precis—a remarkably good one lished all over the Empire daring ! conference, w-ill readily see that ! this great colour problem is e J solved, it will only be through., cussions of the sort that was earn on during this conference. Sir did not stress the matter in his re* l ' but he took his part during the cussions with the adequate the sympathetic understanding ; characterised the conferences tre»* ment of the matter. (To be Continued on Monday

of T&* Copies of previous editions w SUX containing “The Life StuW a p Joseph Ward" may be stained plication to the Publisher, Tao P.O. Box 630. Auckland.