The Record Premiership.

To the Right Hon. H. J. Seddon. P.C, LL.D., Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Sir,—We desire to tender you our sincere and hearty congratulations on your having completed ten years of continuous office as Prime Minister of New Zealand. During that long period you have been responsible for legislation which has assisted the colony to make a marvellous advance in every direction and add enormously to the national wealth. Never before in the history of New Zealand has so much been done by Parliament to improve the social and moral advancement and material welfare of the page 9 people. The extension of the franchaise to women in 1893 was a forward movement, which has led other colonies in the same path. The Industrial and Conciliation Act and the Factories Act of 1894 gave to labour an independence and liberty which has been the theme of commendation by political economists throughout the civilised world. The Government Advances to Settlers Act of the samo year inaugurated the new departure of the State lending to its citizens on mortgage moneys at a low rate of interest. This important measure, coupled with the Land for Settlement Act, by which the State took the right to acquire large estates for close settlement, have been the main factors during the past ten years in the great development of the natural resources of the colony.

Your courage in asking the people of New Zealand to recognise that the aged who had not prospered in tne battle of life were entitled to a yearly pension as soldiers of industry has been amply vindicated. The Old-age Pensions Act of 1898 has proved a beneficial measure of the greatest value to the pioneers of New Zealand, and it has led to statesmen of other lands seeking in its provisions a panacea for the needs of the aged poor of their respective countries.

The colony, as well as the shareholders of the Bank of New Zealand, owe much to you. Your boldness in placing the credit of the colony behind the bank was a masterpiece of finance, and averted a financial collapse, which would have proved an irretrievable disaster.

The farseoing and masterful man ner in which you handled the Midland railway question not only saved the colony from immense loss, but preserved its honour and reputation. The subsequent treatment of the London debenture-holders of the Midland Railway Company was a proof of the generosity and honourable feeling actuating the Government and Parliament under your guidance.

It is impossible in the brief limits of an address to enumerate the long roll of valuable Acts of Parliament which have been passed during your tenure of office. The unexampled prosperity of New Zealand during that period speaks loudly as to the wisdom and prescience you have shown year bv year in guiding the country in its legislation, and which has done so much to keep New Zealand in the forefront amongst the self-governing colonies.

During your record Premiership you have represented the colony abroad with conspicuous ability and success. The conference of Premiers in Hobart in 1897, her late Majesty Queen Victoria's Jubilee, the first conference of colonial Premiers in London, the inauguration of the Australian Commonwealth, the Coronation of his Majesty the King, and the second conference of colonial Premiers in London, have all shown your power to deal effectively with great questions of Imperial interest. The statesmanship displayed by you in these matters and in New Zealand's assistance to the Mother Country in connection with the South African War has carried your name far and wide throughout the Empire.

The many honours conferred upon you during your visits to the Motherland have been most gratifying to the people of New Zealand. The distinction of being created a member of his Majesty's Privy Council, of being, presented with the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh, St. Helens and other towns, of being made a Doctor of Laws of the University of Cambridge and Edinburgh and a member of the most ancient Guilds of the City of London, is a proof of the world-wide reputation you have attained.

We trust that the policy of progress and development for New Zealand, with equal opportunities for every one of its people, which has been the ideal of your political life and labours may continue, and be strengthened year by year.

We tender you once more our cordial good wishes and congratulations, and hope you may be spared to give to New Zealand your wide experience and ripened judgment in connection with her public life.—We have the honour to remain. Sir, your very faithful friends.

Signed for and on behalf of the Great Meeting of the Liberal Party in the Opera House in the City of Wellington, held on the 2nd day of May, 1903.

Mr Macdonald, having finished the reading of the address, said: "Ladies and gentlemen, is it your pleasure that the address which I have just read be signed on your behalf bv Mr W. H. Quick, chairman of this meeting, Mr T. Kennedy Macdonald, chairman of the General Committee, Mr Edwin Arnold, honorary treasurer, and Mr W. J. Culver, honorary secretary, and be illuminated and presented to Mr Seddon?" A great outburst of unanimous applause was the answer of the gathering. Continuing, Mr Macdonald said he might he permitted to say a few words in support of the resolution. When he looked round the year audience in the Opera House that night it recalled to him the scene presented in the same building the night before the great battle in December, 1890, an event that marked an epoch in the political history of New Zealand. Many of those he was now addressing would remember that on that night in 1890 the Liberal parte was holding the last meeting prior to the battle of the morrow. The political fate of New Zealand was then trembling in the balance. None of them for a moment thought that the morrow would bring so great a victory as it did, hopeful though they were. Well, the country declared that the old-established reign of the Conservative must come to an end, and that a Liberal Government should take office, a Government that would represent all classes and see justice done to all. In a few days the Liberal Government assumed office. Within two years a change came—a change that cast a gloom over the whole colony. The leader was struck down in the fight. Many of his hearers would remember the melancholy procession to the funeral train which went forth from Wellington that Sunday morning, and bore the body of John Ballance to his old home at Wanganui. The exigencies of Government required that a successor to the deceased statesman should be found, and throughout the whole length of that funeral train there was one question on every lip. 'Who is to be the next Premier?" The vast majority, as opinions crystallised, said that Mr Seddon must take the reins. There were cavillers and carpers at first, but for ten years now Mr Seddon had held the office with honour to himself and the people of this colony. The story of his efforts and achievements on behalf of the people of New Zealand were told in brief terms in the address to be presented. There were some others that would bear special attention, events hall-marked in this colony's history. Mr Seddon's devotion to the land and income tax—the tenacity with which he fought to maintain it—had in result done much to benefit the colony. As to the legislation which saved the Bank of New Zealand, Mr Macdonald awarded high praise to the Premier. It was all very well at this time—when the country was prosperous and all was going along well, and all men were making money—but he would tell them that if the Government led by Mr Seddon had not stood firm as a rock on the Bank of New Zealand question, ruin and disaster would have gone through every family in the land. If, said Mr Macdonald, Mr Seddon had done nothing else than this, he would have done a thing that should make his memory live not only to-day, but in the generation to come. Then in the matter of the Midland railway, he wondered how many men knew of the work of the Premier in connection with that question, how he stood at the front and at the back of all the lawyers engaged in that great struggle to extract from the taxpayers of the colony a million of money, more or less, and how he, by the power that he possessed, and by the knowledge that he had gained in connection with the question, saved the colony of New Zealand the whole of that amount. (Loud applause.) If any man doubted his statement, let him go to everv lawyer engaged in the case and ask him what he thought of Mr Seddon and his efforts. Without him the verdict would have been against New Zealand, and the entire colony had much reason to be proud of a man with the ability, courage and determination to fight the battle of the people of the colony and to come out victorious. (I [unclear: oud] applause.) Mr. Seddon's career of ten years as Prime Minister liad been a wonderfull one in many ways. In some respects it was a romance. He questioned if any man in Australasia holding the same power as the Premier, ever had the same number of appointments to give away, the same number of gifts in his hands to bestow, and it was a proud thing for him (the speaker) page 10 to know that he had exercised that vast power with great honour to himself and great credit—and more than that, great benefit—to this colony. He had heard men speak about Mr Seddon's appointments, and speak disparagingly of them; he had heard nam sneer at his work, and he had heard them say he was swayed more by personal considerations than by the welfare of the country. He knew something about these appointments, and he said that the statement was absolutely untrue. Ho remembered on one occasion when the Premier and he were discussing the public appointment of a gentleman in connection with the colony. The gentleman in question had done Mr Seddon some serious damage, and he (the speaker) said to him: "I think the appointment will be satisfactory; hut there's the personal equation to be considered. He has not treated you well, and why should you give it to him?" As long as he lived he would never forget Mr Seddon's answer, and it was this, "Macdonald, I have the desire and the welfare of the country first at my heart, and I am big enough to put aside every personal consideration and every personal feeling if I think the appointment is to be good for the people of this colony." (Loud applause.) The men who disparaged him in connection with appointments were not worthy to wipe the honourable gentleman's boots. (Laughter.) He wondered how many of them would have been big enough to have taken that view in respect to a personal and political opponent? He had never forgotten that interview. It was stumped on his mind, and he thought it was a groat pity there were not more public men folding such broad views of public duty in New Zealand He mentioned the interview in connection with such matters, because he wanted to do justice to Mr Seddon who deserved every good word that one had to say. (Applause.) Passing over the Premier's visit to the Mother Country, he would merely say he had been honoured far and away beyond the ordinary lot of men by men of all ranks and all classes, and the peoplo of New Zealand ought to feel that they were greatly honoured in that, because the honours conferred on their public men were conferred on the whole of the people. They were the hall-mark upon the men and upon the people, and New Zealanders, every man and woman amongst them, ought to be proud of the fact that their ambassador, when he left these shores, had always been received with open arms and great honour by those amongst whom he went. (Applause.) He could not pass over his visit to South Africa without a word. Those who had sons and relatives there knew how carefully he watched the progress and career, of every man who went to fight the battle? of the Mother Land in that country. They knew better than he (the speaker) could tell them, that he insisted on news being sent to this country as to the doings of every member of the various contingents: and if a lad was wounded, or injured, or sick in any way, his father and mother or nearest relatives were advised instantly about the case. (Hear, hear.) The solicitude and care be displayed in connection with these lads, sons of New Zealand, could not have been equalled if he had been their own father. Long after he had passed away his memory would be cherished by hundreds of families for the fatherly and kindly interest he took in those he had been instrumental in sending away. (Applause.) Mr Seddon was known far and wide throughout everv part of the civilised globe. He was now known as an Empire-builder. The speaker was amused a few nights ago when he opened a letter from Colombo from a lady who was a passenger bv the steamer Bremen. She said. "We had an amusing experience the other day. A large number of so-called ethergrams were posted on board the ship as items of great news to passengers, and amongst them was this:—' King Edward has created the Right Honourable the Premier of New Zealand Lord Kumara.' (Laughter and applause.) The German captain and officers and crew all thought the honourable gentleman was quite entitled to be made a peer of the British realm"—and so, the speaker had no doubt, he was. Well, such a reputation even on the high seas, the reputation which he enjoyed in every city and every town of the United Kingdom, the honours conferred upon him, were all proofs of the great estimation in which he was held. No man of the whole of the self-governing colonies that went to England received so much attention and so much honour as the New Zealand Ambassador. (Loud applause.) "We very gladly—and I say we, the Liberal party of New Zealand—join, on the close of ten years of his Premiership, of his office as Prime Minister, in conveying to him our sincere congratulations and our hope that he may continue for many long years yet to rule over the destinies of this country and to carry them forward with the same energy and ability and benefit as he has done in the past. (Loud applause.) I have very much pleasure in moving the resolution and the address which I have just read." (Applause.)

Dr Findlay, LL.D., on rising to second the motion, was greeted with applause. He said he had been watching the Premier as he listened to the speech of Mr Macdonald, and he looked like a man who was listening to his health and benediction being performed on a cathedral organ. His voice was not a cathedral organ, and he thought he might merely say a fervent "Amen" to what Mr Macdonald had said of the worthy man whom they were there to honour. A great Shakespearian woman had said of husbands, "It's not a year or two that tries a man. You want longer." (Laughter.) And the same applied to politicians, particularly to them. A wife who had borne her husband's name for ten years could tell all the faults he had, and a great many that he had not. (Laughter.) And the democracy that had had Mr Seddon before its eyes for ten years had done the same thing. That honeymoon which followed the first placing of a politician over the great house or Parliament was a very nice time. He was on his best behaviour then, trying to live up to expectation. He lived on the credit of promises, and of the great reputation he was going to make. But that could not last long, as any other honeymoon could not. It had to go—(laughter)—and Mrs Democracy woke up to the fact that she had not the prize she expected to have. He had not fulfilled her expectations or even lived up to his own promises; and so it was that the occupation of Cabinet rank was so brief in these young colonies, or in any democracy, But they had the fact be fore them that Mr Seddon had occupied the position of Prime Minister for ten years. In the life of a man that was a long time. In the life of a Cabinet it was a cycle. They had to celebrate that night a record for the whole world in democratic countries, the fact of one man's holding the helm of State for ten years, unbrokenly and with uniform and continuous success. (Applause.) He had been tried by time, and had had upon him the fierce light which beat upon those in high places, and every weakness had been brought out. He remained to-day the same strong, patriotic, unpretentious Richard John Seddor that he was ten years ago. (Applause and a voice: "Amen.") He would not be long. They were there, he took it, to honour the man, if not to praise his performances. They were public property. They all knew of them, and could give him credit for them, but they were present as his friends, to speak to him they admired as a man. There was the great human side of his character that won admiration and affection. Below all his successes and his failures—as his opponents would call them—there remained that true man which had been unspoiled by prosperity and unembittered by abuse. "Hear, hear." His had not been a life of praise. No man would say that for the last ten years he had been fed upon the praise or the adulation of the multitude. He know that the prominence and permanence of his position would somehow earn him not always thankfulness, but even carping contention and criticism, and at times calumny. But surely, with the record of the last ten years behind him, with the prosperity of the country and the thousands who owed their well-being to his reforms and over and above all to him, would forget his critics and his foes. (Hear, hear). The only charge that could be made against him was that he had too soft a heart.(Applause.) From some knowledge of Mr. Seddon, he felt quite sure he was utterly unfitted for any judicial position on the great day of judgment. (Applause, then laughter.) He would conclude by saying—and there was not one man who could put aside partisanship and party feelings who would not join him—that the deeds, not the words, of the last ten years in the career and achievements of Mr Seddon were the most eloquent, complete and conclusive testimonial which they could give him. (Loud applause.) He had but to point to all that had been done in the last ten years for every class in this great colony to find ample warrant for every word in the address. (Loud applause.) Mr T. B. Williams said that he came

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from Wanganui, the district which returned the late John Ballance, Mr Seddon's predecessor in the office of Premier and leader of the Liberal party. That evening they had the special privilege and right, through him (the speaker) to convey to the Premier the hearty good wishes of the Liberals of Wanganui.

Mr John Stevens, ex-M.H.R., tendered Mr Seddon his best wishes for his future prosperity. This, he thought, everyone believed the Premier was entitled to, whether they agreed with him politically or not, as a gentleman and as a man of ability, one of the greatest public men that the Southern Hemisphere had ever seen. (Loud applause.) The audience would agree there were many in the colony who should be thankful to him for the masterful way in which he dealt with the finamces of the country, and so avert [unclear: a] a disaster similar to that which happened in Victoria. He asked them to throw politics aside, and to honour the man because of his works. (Applause.)