SIR JOSEPH WARD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 201, 3 December 1910, Page 3

SIR JOSEPH WARD

ITIS BACK TO THE WALL. A SENSATIONAL SPEECH. I '• SLANDERERS AND MALIGNERS." Tlie following is the full report of Sir Joseph Ward's sensational speech in .the House of Representatives on Wednesday. It is taken from the Wellington Dominion:— The Prime Minister began with a reference to his speech of lS'.Hi. which had been mentioned bv Mr. Massev, and in which he had alluded to criticisms of deceased politicians. It followed upon the time when he resigned his seat in tlie Ministry and in tile House, and when the Opposition of that day had employed a lawyer to dog his steps and find out all about matters with which they had nothing to do. The speech referred to was a bitter speech, but when he recalled it now, he marvelled at its moderation. He had, however, never changed his opinion that the method of attacking a dead man was one of the most contemptible, tilings that could be done. Mr. Allen and others: Hear, hear. Sir Joseph Ward: I will say something presently to whiefr'the member for Bruce will not say "Hear, hear." The party that was then in Opposition made a bitter, cowardly, secret, malicious attack on him through his business, and they provided money and paid a man who did the wiorlc for them, for the purpose of trying to ruin a political opponent. He had more than once said that he regretted that portion of the speech in which he referred to a man who had passed away, and whom he had never attacked in his lifetime, nor taken part- in attacks upon him. ' ''SECRETLY INSPIRED ABUSE." He (the Prime Minister) had been subjected during the last fourteen years to a great amount of malicious and very, verv often secretly inspired abuse. He had never raised this subject before, and he"~only did so now because it had be.en referred to by some of the speakers who had preceded' him in the discussion. ilr. Eraser: Only one. Sir Joseph Ward: W.dl, by one member. He regretted exceedingly that it had heoiir.e necessary to refer to his personal affairs. At the time in question he had been at the head of one of the largest businesses 'ill the country, and it was the easiest thing in the -world for people to pint that business down, and it was put down. It was the easiest thing in the world to ruin him personally. and he was ruined personally. He took the present opportunity of making some statements on the matter because he had never had an opportunity of being heard in his own defence. That privilege, which would have been afforded to th? humblest person in the country, to a Chinaman, even, had been denied to him. It was said that the business had been carried on recklessly, and yet. under liquidation, which was accompanied by a wholesale slauehter of the stock-in-trade, realised £SS,34d, a larger amount bv far than anv other business that had been liquidated in this country. Statements of reckless trading had be,-n made in reference to an advance of £2OOO without security to a contractor for the building of a bridge. The liquidator thought it was a bad transaction and took proceedings accordingly. but everybody who knew the contractor knew that he could pny. and he did so before the process was served on him. Six thousand farmers, small and large, did business with tha Ward Association and not one of them filed his schedule or lost a shilling over it —a thing that was unprecedented in connection with any large business that was brought, down instanter. ALLEGED "VALUELESS ASSETS."

One of t'te assets that was officially put on record as valueless was bought < back by himself, with the assistance of one or three friends, and in a short time ■he had netted £O2OO on it, and lie used , the proceeds to pay some of the English and New Zealand creditors of the Association. Within six months another asset fetched £45.000 in cash, though it : had previously been regarded as almost valueless. It now paid handsomely, but neither he nor any member of his family 'had since had any interest in it. What was known as his own personal estate, which was purchased by him with the assistance of a few friends, after it had been declared to be next door to valueless, was netting £4OOO three week? after it came into his possession and : was now netting £OOOO. Side by side : with the liquidation process, his ordinary business was carried on and was making more in profits than would have paid all the liabilities, losses and debits of the Ward Association at that time. One •of the first things he did in connection with that business was to see that the whole of the creditors were paid 20s in the £ —(applause)—and quickly, too. It i was done without difficulty, and he re- ' turned sums of money which had been voluntarily placed at his disposal by friends in different parts of the colony. He accepted no money from anybody. (Hear, hear). THE COLONIAL BANK. Some people had industriously circulated statements that he was responsible I for certain things connected with the Colonial Bank. He was never a party to the sale of that bank to the Bank of New Zealand. He was never a shareholder in the Colonial Bank, and he never received any concession from it. On behalf of .the Government at that time, he did his best to see that the National Bank acquired the Bank of New Zealand and that the general manager of the National Bank should become president of the Bank of New Zealand. The people who made the allegations about the Colonial Bank and himself were worse than slanderers. (Hear, ihear.) He possessed a record of all the losses and wrifcings-off of the Colonial Bank, as also of the Bank of New Zealand, and he had obtained them fairly and legitimately. The losses of the C<?lonial Bank, outside of anything concerning himself, ran to half a million sterling, and those of the Bank of New Zealand to two millions. How diid his slanderers stand in connection with those losses? He knew every one of them. Where were those slanderers now? AN INTERRUPTER REBUKED. Mr. Laurenson: In the Opposition ranks. Mr. Massev (rising): Mr. Speaker The Speaker: I must ask Mr. Laurenson to withdraw that remark. It is improper to interject, and the words lie used were improper. Sir Joseph Ward went on to refer to what he described as a mysterious pamphlet circulated by a Russian or Roumanian Nihilist, and stated that the writer of part of this production was an Oppositionist whom he could name, but wlio was not now in Parliament. Anybody who went down to Southland and spoke to the farmers with whom he < had had business relations, or to the directors or secretary of the old Southland Frozen Meat Company, would not find one who would say that he (Sir Joseph Ward) had ever in all his life attempted to do a dishonest thing. (Applause). The only people who imputed evil to him were hirelings, paid for the purpose, who never had anything to do with him, directly or indirectly. " IN CONNECTION WITH OATS." The suggestion had been more than once made that he was connected with what- they called! a swindle in connection with oats, sold by the Ward Association.

He had never been directly or indirectly connected with any swindle, either in that matter or any other. The cost of the liquidation of tile Ward Association was about £ IS,OOO, though a hading firm offered to do it for £IOOO. Me finally purchased the remaining debts of the Association, for the sole, purpose of getting the liquidator's books into his own hands. He had had them now for a considerable time. He found that within three months of tile liquidator taking charge there came in considerably more than the alleged shortage of sacks of grain. He had held for some- time a letter from the manager of the Bank at that time, informing him that he ought to have stated before that the warrants then held by the Bank were for grain "in store and to arrive." That was a very common procedure. The manager who was then in charge was one of the most honorable men in the country, and would not do a dishonorable thing. After the realisation of the assets, his business was carried on very profitably, and he had never done any business with the Government or any Government Department. RESCUING THE B.N.Z. Sir Joseph Ward also referred to having taken an active part with the late Mr. Sedidon in the legislation which prevented the Bank of New Zealand going down. Members of the Opposition at that time asked for a further examination of the business of the b/ink, and if that had been granted the country could not have come to the rescue of the Bank Mid the depositors in time, and the Bank would not have paid a shilling on its notes. The statement that he was responsible for the sale of the Colonial Bank to the Bank of New Zealand was a most cowardly one. Out of all the people who were carrying on business with tlie Colonial Bank, not one was given less than two years to make the necessary adjustments, excepting himself and the business he was connected with. They were given only three months, which those responsible must have known was an impossible period to do it .in. He had never in his life gone cap in hand to anybody at times of difficulty, nor asked anvone to lift a finger to help him. Not a man'in Parliament -could say that lie (the Premier) had gone to him and asked for the least assistance in any personal matter. In connection with the banking affairs to which he had referred, he was kept in Wellington at a 'Banking Committee for the best''part of three months (but nothing was proved against him), and wis unable to see the people who were connected with his large business, and at the end of the three months tlis business went into liquidation. "A HIGHER HAND." tie had a paper showing the fate which' had overtaken fourteen of the people ivho were moit active against him at that time. lie would not- make it public, but looking at what bad happened to those people, he believed that a higher liand had been looking after those who, while professing to act the part of impartial men, had been doing a-base'in-justice. He lad never tried to injure any of them, but he believed that a liigheir hand had taken care that at least a little of the troubles of thk world should afflict them. He believed that his family and himself were better off than; any .of them. He had bren Conn'eated with many leading men in different parts of the' w:orld, and not one had withdrawn business from him. That was one of the strongest answc.vs that could be given to his slanderers and maligners. Referring again to tile "•mysterious pamphlet,'' Sir Joseph Ward said that the man who had been circulating it, through professing to be as poor as a church mouse and unable to pay a £5 fine that was inflicted 011 him, had travelled from end to end of the country, delivering the pamphlet free from door to door. It had an addendum suggestiivx that the people should turn him (Sir Jtoseph Ward) out at the next election. , In reply to an interjection by Mr. Massey, the Premier said, "I am not suggesting anything aaginst you." Mr. Massey: To whom are you referring? To Mr. Black? Sir Joseph Ward: Yes; to Mr. Black •himself. '

ACCUSATIONS AGAINST OP- : POSITIONISTS. He would like to ask Mr. Allen if by ' any chance some person without means ' printed a letter about members of his family—supposing it happened to be his mother, dea<l and gone, his wife, alive, or father, dead and gone, and bv the 1 merest chance it came into his (Sir Jo- 1 seph Ward's) hands, and 'he carried it ! about, produced it in trains, and gave it to people to read' —what would Mr. Allen think of him? He would look upon him as a blackguard and a skunk. He would ask Mr. Allen if he had not done that? He could not deny it. He would ask Mr. Herries what lie would think of him if 'his (Mr. Herries') mother were written about, and he (Sir Joseph Ward) handed copies of it to anyone else? Mr. Herries would say lie was a skunk and a cur. The remark would be well deserved. He would ask Mr. Massey if his (the Prime Minister's) organiser carried a pamphlet from which the pamphlet in question had been compiled through this country prior to an election, what would hj& (Mr. Massev) think of him allowing it to be done? He would use the strongest terms lie could find in the language. Mr. Massey knows liis organiser (Mr. Martin) carried it round. Mr. Massey: I will tell you all about it. The Prime Minister went on to say that he recognised that lie was put .down fourteen years ago. I't was also true that he had done a lot to help others. He told the House at the time that they had not 'heard the last of him. OBJECT OF HIS ASSAILANTS. Since then he had successfully eontested five Parliamentary elections. Then again he had won every other election which lie. had contested. It was perfectly true that 'he had started life as a boy, earning 10s a week, and lie was not ashamed of it. (Hear, hear). It was also true that as the result of hard work he had attained the highest position in the country. He regretted t'lie personal way he had been attacked during his term of office. These attacks were means to also bring about the destruction of the party of which he was the head. He >wias probably better informed of what was going on in different portions of the country than any other man in it. He knew who prepared the greater portion of the pamphlet. Mr. Massey: You ought to name them. Sir Joseph Ward said lie knew the name of the woman who prepared a portion of the second pamphlet and lve, wanted to say that he held in his possession a letter written from the same quarter during the last eight month* in the north of New Zealand telling him what was to be done to him. Among other things a large number of these pamphlets were to be sent to London to be distributed there. He held letters i from numbers of leading men of London saying that these packets were posted wholesale. The writers were not only disgusted with it, but offered to do anything in their power to show their hatred of an un-Britisli action. He also • held letters from people in Australia, ' which < poke of wholesale parcels having been distributed there, with the objec-; of discrediting him to besmirch the fail name and fame of the men and women who were the possessors of New Zealan;!. He took that opportunity of giving the i suggestion that he was hankering after i the High Commissionership or any othfer . position ouifeide of New Zealand an-u#-

qualified denial. Had he been disposed to do so one tiling would have determined him to go over New Zealand and meet the people in the highways and byways and cities and towns prior to the next election, where this filthy pamphlet had been -circulated, with the idea of injuring him. (Loud hear, hears.) tu doing it there 'bad been introduce.! the name of his dead mother and tile name of his wife. He knew of nothing more despicable, and if -"he found any of his opponents were bcins ijttacked in sn.h a manner lie would have done anything he could to stop it. As the Prime Minister's time was up the Hon. T. Y. Duncan asked that it should be extended for fifteen minutes, and' the House agreed. Proceeding, the Prime Minister said that when the first copy of the pamphlet camo to him in the same hand-writing that gave him advice from time to time, he handed it to his lawyers for advice. It Was an extraordinary thing to-day that no man in 3iis position could' legally -do any tiling to protect himself under circumstances of the kind. When the Prime Minister resumed his seat a number of members of bis party, led by the Hon. Mr. Duncan, rose and gave him. three cheers.