PREMIER'S REMINISCENCES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 248, 25 November 1909, Page 4

PREMIER'S REMINISCENCES.

SIR J. G. WARD ON THE DAYS OF HIS VOUTH. HIS FIRST AMBITION. Sir Joseph Ward tells the story of is early days in this week's issue of Mr. T. P. O'Connor's paper "AI.A.P." (writes the New Zealand Times' London correspondent on 15th October). All through life, apparently, his has been u strenuous career. His earliest reco." tetions are concerned with the delignW ind dangers I of boat-sailing in the lMiUit* of Cauipbelltown, in the South Island, where tlu future Premier was nearly drowned .it. the age of five. His first ambition, he sayp, was to work for himself, to be his own "boss," aud he left school at t'lj age of twelve with this idea firmly in his head. He ' was able to realise Ibis aim at the early age of twenty-one. Before that lie worked as a telegraph boy, a clerk in a general store, and afterwards in the railway service. "All this," says Sir Joseph, "points to' the conclusion that 1 was more than it bit of a rolling stone in the days of my youth. Perhaps I' was, but there was method in my various metamorphoses from telegraph boy. I wauled to grab all the knowledge I could, and. young as I was, 1 think 1 perceived the dagger of getting into a groove. Please don't think, however, that I was a young prig, scorning all natural delights an'l living only for some sordid ideal or so-called s'uecess. To this day I carry the honorable scars of many a hardfought game of football, and whatever sport there was going I took my full share in, loving, and still continuing to love, sport ami games of all kinds. HIS MAIDEN SPEECH. "Do I remember my maiden speech? Quite well. The first speech I ever made in my life was on the subject of cricket, when, as captain of our cricket team, I had to propose the health of an opposing eleven. The second speech in my oratorical career was on skill-boat sailing, and my third delivery dealt with the delights of horticulture. I have made a great riany speeches since then on far less interesting and congenial topics.

"As a public man, however, 11 suppose my •maiden speech' was made when 1 stood for the District Harbor Board (at the age of twenty-two), while as a politician my first effort, iu the House was a two and a-half hours'' oration oil the subject of the mails to and from New Zealand. After all these years twenty-three in all, the subject of the mails is still being debated iu our Parliament, and I frequently speak 'on it. PARLIAMENTARY SCENES. "Any exciting scenes in our House! Well, our Parliament, 1 am glad to say, has always ben singularly free from personal animosities, and personal ■scenes' are practically unknown, .suit, I remember a dramatic moment when a member of the Government, finding himself in disagreement with his chier, there and then tendered his resignation, and ceased to belong to the Ministry. "Then there was a sensation when Sir George Grey attempted to speak from the lloor of the House, only to be called to order by the Speaker as soon as he opened his mouth, For fully half an hour Sir George Grey stood silent while the question was debated whether he had any right to speak, it eventually being declared that he had not. LONDON IN THE SMALL HOURS. "My first impressions of London? 1 daresay it is rather hackneyed, but wdiat most impressed me was the volume of the traffic and the wonderful way iu which the police deal with it. I saw London in a way and at a time that few Londoners', I imagine, ever see it, and that was driving about in a hansom in the early hours of the morning when the streets are deserted. It is really the best way of seeing such a tremendous city. I have unforgettable memories oi my first London fog, which descended four days after my arrival and lasted about three days. Coming from a laud where if we did not see the sky every day of our lives wo should think the world was coming to an end, it was a very weird experience."