The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET. AUCKLAND SATURDAY. MAY 17, 1930 A SCORE OF STATESMEN

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 974, 17 May 1930, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET. AUCKLAND SATURDAY. MAY 17, 1930 A SCORE OF STATESMEN

JUUW ZEALAND has had thirty-six successive Ministers in its seventy-four years of responsible Government, and a score u } dl ''? duad administrative chiefs. As to title and distinction, the leadership has, like ancient Gaul, been “divided into three parts : Colonial Secretary, Premier, Prime Minister. On the eve of retirement Sir Joseph Ward is the twentieth leader in this country's political affairs. Since he will not he the last, it ean be said of him without any qualification that he is far from being the least distinguished of them all. . . Indeed, it is remarkable, as it also is characteristic of politicians all the world over, how few of New Zealand's score of statesmen stand out with alpine prominence in political history. The great men who are and will be remembered for the splendid merit of their national service are easily counted—not more than iialf a dozen at the most: Harry .Atkinson, Sir George Grey, Richard John Seddon, Ferguson Massey and Sir Joseph Ward. The others are now only honoured names m the slim record of leadership. Such is the way of an ungrateful world. Only seven of the twenty Government leaders dominated more than one Ministry. Atkinson was Premier in four Ministries at different periods. William Fox, the second Colonial Secretary m earlier days, led four Administrations. Edward William Stafford and the late Mr. Massey each had three Minisll?®® under their command, although “Old Dill" had the unique distinction of leading the first National Government during the World War and of serving continuously as Prime Minister for almost thirteen full years—a term only a few weeks short of Seddon’s not-out record of 13 years 10 days. Sir Joseph Ward also has commanded three Ministries, of which two were successive, but no other statesman in New Zealand has ever held so many important portfolios in different Administrations. And for the greater part of the retiring Prime Minister’s service as a legislator and administrator he was always in the forefront of political history and legislative enterprise. Sir Julius Vogel was leader of two Governments and was a bold plunger. Not many of New Zealand’s twenty most eminent statesmen are left to look baek across tempestuous years in the rough sea of party politics. There are five only who enjoy that historic vision, and one of them, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, Leader of the Opposition, ought not to be included, for he is merely fifty-two years of age. All of them, however, still are in the political arena, although the quartet of elder statesmen in every sense of that honourable title may not now be described as toreadors. The Hon. Sir Robert Stout, whose life-story of distinguished service for the country of his adoption would make a fine book, is eighty-six years old, and knows the physical frailty of the age when for veterans the shadows lengthen toward the tranquil twilight. Both the Hon. Sir William Hall-Jones and the Hon. Sir Francis Bell are seventy-nine years of age. The Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Ward is 74. Many of the bygone statesmen experienced the sweets of leadership only long enough to find them hitter and no more nourishing than Dead Sea apples. Henry Sewell, the first Colonial Secretary, enjoyed that distinction in 1856 for no longer than a bare fortnight. Fox on three occasions, Stafford and Atkinson on one, were leaders of their short administrations for the time it takes a politician to get used to his first silk hat. Those in the good old days when non-professional politicians did not waste time and public money on tolerating feeble Ministries. Out with the old and in with the new was the national slogan. Either the people nowadays are more tolerant or the professional Parliamentarians are more expert and obstinate at clinging. Sir Francis Bell, although never at any time an elected representative of the people, succeeded in 1925, following on the death of Mr. Massey, in securing the odd distinction of being Prime Minister for sixteen days without the risk of meeting Parliament. His experience may be described adequately and free of curt hostility as having been merely a decorative formality and a technical triumph.

And now it is necessary for the Government of the day and its crumbling party to select a new Prime Minister. Already, there has been some vain talk of dissolution and the possibility of disaster to the United Party. Its difficulty will lie less in selection than in the discovery of the right man for a tremendous political task in exceptional party circumstances. By the time Parliament reassembles there will not he even any "embers of sympathy in the former dull fire of the Opposition. The United Party has lost a magnetic personality. It is without a political hypnotist. And then there is a great stir of jealousy and rivalry in its own ranks. Ambitious men with no merit save ambition will desire and demand a marshal’s baton. Who lias strength enough in the party to clout them into silence and their proper place? It is not an occasion for prophecy. Let us all be content with tossing about the names of Forbes, Ransom, Atmore and Fusion—and, possibly, Confusion.