THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1909. MR HOGG'S RESIGNATION."
The discussion which took place in the House on Friday evening last between the Premier and Mr A. W. Hogg with reference to the resignation of the latter from the Ministry was an unpleasant incident, but one which was, practically, inevitable in view of the painful history preceding it. Sir Joseph Ward dis - played aelf-control and tactfulness and was as pleasant as the circumstances admitted. Having come to the conclusion that Mr Hogg's presence in the Ministry was a serious 1 blunder, there was no other course open to him than to rectify the error as speedily as possible, and the only way in which he could do so was to request Mr Hogg to resign. From the point of view of the Premier he had the most ample justification for # his action, for he is the head of the Government,.and ha beI lieves that th 3 ruling party is, of those that are in existence, the most beneficial to the country. It is not to be supposed* therefore, that J.e was going to consider either his own feelings or those of IV"r Hogg where he deemed the interests of the country to be concerned. Mr Hogg resigned with a good grace, but his subsequent action in toiring the Dominion and holding various meetings, appeared to be evidence of dissatisfaction with the Premier's decision. In the course of his remarks in the House on Friday night, Mr Hogg stated that he had "suffered for his denunci • ation of the monopoly of land.. '1 hat was the thing whicb stood between land and labour* and had placed New Zealand in the deplorable position it had lately been. He had always regarded hnd monopoly as a crime, and he was only sorry that it was not in the criminal calendar. That was the view he uttered in his now famous speech. Cabinet took exception To it." When Mr Hogg had finished Sir Joseph Ward at once rose to state that he had been misrepresented, -and Jelt it is duty, more in sorrow than in anger, to express his very painful surprise at the extraordinary mis-statements of the gentleman for whom he had, and sHU possessed the highest esteem, and tor whom lie had displayed the most kindly consideration during thu whole time he wai in the A'ministration. The Premier went on to say that never or.co during his connection with the Ministry did Mr Hogg raise any question in the Cabinet on the land question nor take any ex•aption to what they were doing or urge a reversal of what fie Govern-
ment was doing on the land question. As a matter of fact, it was known to
every one of his colleagues that in a kindly and considerate way, as he was a new Minister, he (the Premier) had to draw Mr Hogg's attention to some expressions regarding financial matters, and to suggest the propriety of not continuing in that direction. This was dune without offence, it was kindly taken, and Mr Hogg admitted that he had dealt with a department he had nothing to do with, and he took in the most kindly way the suggestion that it was inadvisable to pursue lis it course in future. Mr Hogg had b en endeavouring t) put himself and his former colleagues in Ihe Cabinet in the position that he bad sacrificed his place beciU36 he would not change his views on the land question, because he was against monopoly, thus suggesting that other members of the Ministry were in favoui of it. Both of these statements were absolutaly contrary to fact, so far as the Government and himel* were concerned. No such question arose at any time. He felt it necessary to i say that in the position he held, whtn trom time to time anything occurred in the genera] conduct of the country which required the friendly intervention of the head of the Government, that it would be accepted by any man occupying a Ministerial position not as in any shape a dictation, but in recognition of the fact that it was a duty to confer with him.* It was clearly the duty of every member of a Ministry to conform to the recognised position of the Government of the day. Referring to Mr Hogg's advocacy of a system of paper currency, Sir Joseph Ward Baid that untlcr some circumstances he would have been prepared to go through a great deal to retain the association with Mr Hogg 89 a colleague. But if file had been weak enough, and his colleagues had agreed with him, in going on after the expression of opinion connected with one branch of the financial world—if he had been weak enough to allow that to gj on—he had no hesitation in saying that there would have bsen an unparall.led financial crisis in the country In the course of.the contradictory statements that passed between himself and Mr Hrg£, the Premier, also, I averred that Mr Hogg had not only never brought up the land question in the Cabin :t, but, also, had never mentioned the paper currency eit> er. Mr Hogg declares that the policy of the Government was never explained to him (it seems not a little curiocn that explanation of it should be needed seeing that he has "supported" tha Govermnent for twenty years pa ; t), and he made the Opposition members laugh when he tofd them that he did- not even now > know the policy of. the Government. In conneciio.i with Mr Hogg's insinuation that hs ha J to retire from the Ministry on account of .his views on th* hnd question, it is, perhaps, worth noting that, according to an interview in the "New Zealand Times," (published just after his retirement Mr Hogg said:—"The views I expressed on the land question had nothing to do with the request for my resignation, which sprang from my remarks about a State note issua." The supporters a»d friends ot Mr Hogg naturally enough feel sorry for him, but the Pemier cannot be blamed, except on one point, for the trouble that befel the member for Masterton, There is only one point, as w j rerparlced when Mr Hogg retired, in regard to which fault may be found with the Premier, and it is this, seeing that ihere was absolitely nothing new nor original in Mr Hogg's speech, and further, that he had rr.ade innumerable similar speeches in the House on various occasions for years past, Sir Joseph Ward should have known the views of the member for Masterton. Unfortunately for himself, however, Mr Hogg selected paper currency an a theme for rhetoric, and at that time the country was suffering from a touch of severe depression—the end of which was not then in sight. Sir Joseph Ward's paiiance was, no doubt, an exhaus'tibl9 quantity when questions of finance were dealt with hy his colleagues fgai'nst his wishes, and Mr Ho?!? suffered as a consequence for ill-timed remarks..
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Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9625, 18 October 1909, Page 4
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1,174THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1909. MR HOGG'S RESIGNATION." Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9625, 18 October 1909, Page 4
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