THE PRIME MINISTER

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 973, 16 May 1930, Page 8

THE PRIME MINISTER

AFTER the sun is down and the west faded, the heavens begin to fill with shining stars.” So it may be said in truth of Sir Joseph Ward in the twilight of his public life. 111-health, his only enemy, has forced him into convalescent retreat, but he still will be able to take an interest in national politics and exert a patriarchal influence.

If there is anything in the theory as to an etheric flow of the best thoughts of people at their best to others, the veteran Prime Minister today should be comforted in his decision to surrender an arduous task beyond his physical strength, and even be recompensed for this sad termination to activity in a famous career. From all over the Empire, from other lands as well, a wave of sympathy will flow gently to an administrator held everywhere in great esteem and sustain him in a brave philosophy. The wide heavens of friendship already are filled with shining stars. Except to those who put a simple trust in the optimistic words of politiciajjs, there was no surprise in the regrettable announcement from Rotorua yesterday that the Prime Minister, acting on medical advice, had decided to place Pig resignation in the hands of the Governor-General. It was appropriate to a serious occasion that the first expression of regret should have been made by his Excellency, Lord Bledisloe, who, though relatively a stranger, said precisely and said well all that the whole country, with a complete knowledge of Sir Joseph Ward’s notable record of splendid service, also would express. For six months past the Prime Minister lias suffered with some severity from a serious indisposition almost wholly attributable to the strenuous political work he has done for New Zealand throughout a long lifetime and the worry associated with and inseparable from it. And the spirited manner in which he has fought against had health should serve as a lesson not only for invalids, hut for everyone confronted with difficulties and hard tasks.

There also was a fine courage in the philosophic way Sir Joseph marked the impending close of a distinguished career as the Dominion’s foremost administrator and most genial citizen. “The time has now arrived for me to lay down the reins of office.” This most regrettably means the end of administrative activity for the Leader of the Government, but it also is the beginning of his party’s worst political troubles. Within a few days the keystone of the Ministerial arch is to fall out. Will the remaining structure, then so badly stricken from within, stand a stronger pressure from without? It cannot even he pretended that the United Party will find a first-class competent successor to its retiring leader. Sir Joseph Ward has been from the beginning of the party and the Government’s term of office not only the keystone, hut also the corner-stone and the foundation of the whole administrative edifice. He it was who gave the extraordinarily weak party the vigour of political life and the promise of useful achievement. Without him the Government will be as sheep without a shepherd. That is the unassailable truth in perhaps a jarring candour. But whoever falls by the wayside the Government must march on with the best available leader in command. Who is the ablest man in sight? This question will have to be answered soon by the United Party.

Almost definitely it has been announced hv a newspaper favourite of the Government that the Hon. G. W. Forbes will succeed Sir Joseph Ward as Prime Minister. Even though that journal has, as it were, one ear at the keyhole of the Cabinet door, there is no guarantee that its prediction will be fulfilled. There are keen rivals for the administrative throne, and the party which has the choice of a new leader may have an opinion rather different from several members of the Ministry and its journalistic megaphone. It is true that Mr. Forbes has been-accepted in the period of the Prime Minister’s indisposition as ActingLeader, but is he strong enough to lead a fractious House in more adverse political circumstances? That must be made the supreme test of leadership, and it must be the core of the battered party’s purpose. In view of these needs consideration will have to be given to the claims of both Mr. Ransom and Mr. Atrnore. And the door has been opened wider to the possibility of fusion.

In the meantime the first and best thoughts of the whole country will be at Rotorua with Sir Joseph Ward who, soon to be free of administrative anxieties, will be helped toward better health by sincere sympathy and perfect goodwill.

HARBOUR BRIDGE DELAYED

THE fifty pages of typewritten foolscap prepared by the Auckland Harbour Bridge Commission in summing up against the proposal placed before it six months ago can be condensed into four words: Twenty years too soon. The experts who pondered painstakingly over the evidence submitted have traced the bridge site they consider most suitable for future needs and have softened the blow by making the City a gift of plans and specifications for the bridge and causeways that would be required ; more, they have conceded that the position might be reviewed ten years hence. Nevertheless, the verdict is plain. Little surprise need be expressed at the nature of the report and the conclusions reached in it. From the beginning of the inquiry the commissioners limited their view to conditions as they obtain today coupled with an estimate of Auckland’s requirements a decade or more hence—without the populating stimulus of a bridge either projected or in being. Therein lies the fundamental weakness of the report. “The time will arrive, however, as it has arrived in recent years in Sydney . . . when provision for unrestricted traffic between the northern and southern shores of the harbour will become imperative.” Thus, like other past and present critics of an inevitable undertaking, they have clung to the fallacy that progressive enterprise should follow poprdation rather than encourage it. The site decided upon for the bridge of the future possesses minimum disadvantages to shipping, while the Northcote headland is probably the most central converging point for arterial roads traversing an area which, after the advent- of the bridge, would become fully and evenly populated. Pending possibly a fuller investigation—perhaps by another committee of experts ten years ahead—the estimate of £2,000.000 (excluding the cost of preparing approaches in Auckland City) must be accepted. Yet it should he noted that this freewill offering is made after the commission, in effect, has washed its hands of the whole business; condemned it as politically, nationally and locally impossible. On top of which comes a naive invitation to private enterprise to step in and make the best of a bad position. The review of the present-day ferry services is a valuable one, and the visit of the commissioners to Auckland will not have been devoid of benefit if the suggestions for transport improvements are acted upon. With a reasonable probability of 20 years’ monopoly ahead, the Ferry Company may find this feasible and desirable. For the rest, the report will cause merely delay. A bridge across the Waitemata will become a necessity of progress even though its absence max retard the change.