The Daily News. SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 1905. BIRTHDAY GREETINGS TO THE PREMIER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7857, 24 June 1905, Page 2

The Daily News. SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 1905. BIRTHDAY GREETINGS TO THE PREMIER.

At the Wellington Tow* Hall this evening will) be held a demonstration in honour of Mr SedUon's sixtieth birthday, and though the actual date of his nativity was June 22, this year's anniversary ma i hc considered a» -officially kept on the 24th. On such art occasion we are confident that all party and political differences will for the time being-drop out ■of sight, and one and all'will, withutmost sincerity, wish our illustrious Premier "Many happy returns of thy day.'' Now Zealand is .us,Uy proud of its Prime Minister, and though there are many consc eiitious people who do not see eye to 'ey-e with him on matters of government, if one can fail to regard him otherwise than with thu greatest respect ami personal goodwill. Mr Seddori occupies "the unique position of being the man of the time. History, especially that relating to the English.spi.akryg race, affords several striking, examples of the rise to power of exactly the right men to be leaders at times when t'.ieir peculiar talents for directing t' e Work in hanrj were most needed by the country. We have i:i New Zealand a striking illustra- ■ lion of this eternal fitness of things.! At the time Mr Seddon was called to the exalted otfice on whiu.i he luis since shed a world-wide lustre, the colony was only just emerg|iaig from a depression which had seriously affected itf-s progress. In fact, ut that lime this colony was Comparatively little known to the worlUi, except that it was understood to be included in Australasia—a term tuiut to many minds simply meant Australia. Year by year the enlightened and progressive legislation initiated and carried out by the Seddon Government have brought this colony lo the fore, and revealed to the world the marvellous resources with which this country is blessed. The enormous strides in the path of prosu perily which have beeti taken may well excite the envy of other countries, whjilu the masses have been so well careU lor that New Zealand is called the working man's Paradise. 'Ha have accomplished this magnificent tra!Hsfio-rmatiSon is of itself! a work that any; Premier might well tou proud of, but Mr Seddon has done more ti.i|an this. He has raised the staltus of the colony to ,a position which few people, in their most sanguine moments, could hiavc anticipated when he first look office. B S a happy inspiration he seized the right moment for prpviiig, the colony's patriotism in the hour of Britain's need. As the representative of the colony at the Colonial Conferenqe, and in scores of other ways, ho has worthily upheld the dignity of his posit oil and the importance of his country, whicli is now well known and deserved%- honoured throughout the globe. Mr Seddon remarked at Uisborne on Wednesday : "To-mor. row I will b» 60 years of age, and if u man is a» young as he feels, 1 am a youngster still." Everyone who

takes a deep interest in the country will devoutly hope that this same feeling of virility will last for many years to come. Jt is now that the Premier is approaching the zenith of his career, possessing that ripe judgment and vast experience from which the cotony has so greatly tocnelited, that his services can be more than ever benelicial to the land (of his uJJjption. Wo can readily understand that the Uppositian would hail wilh delight such a statesman to lettd them. They must, however, be content to abide in the borrowed light of his greatness So long as they retrain fro.m coming under his banner. H (1 long as they light fair no one wi.i complain, and the ccuitest, will serve as; a .stimulant to thu Premier's eiM'i-glies. Although Mi- Sed-

doln is not making, a stay in New Plymouth to-day, hut is proceeding through to Wellington under Un> ha])pirst of tirr.imislnncos, we oiler to him our heartiest congratulations

■on entailing upon another- year of his useful life, and we join wilh the colony in general in a sincere hope that hu may be spared to Carry on that vigorous and beneliciul policy which has bet<"( such ;i blessing to all sorts and conditions of men in New Zr.-a-