PREMIER’S REMINISCENCES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2670, 27 November 1909, Page 5

PREMIER’S REMINISCENCES.

SIR JOSEPH WARD ON THE DAYS OF HIS YOUTH. — Sir Joseph Ward teds the story of . liis early clays in an October issue ofrnt; Air. T. P. O’Connor’s paper, “M.A.P.” V(.. All through life, apparently, his has;:|?j Iwen a strenuous career. His earliest recollections are concerned in the de- Jgj lights and dangers of boat-soiling in the : j harbor of Campbelltown, in the South YjIsland, "where the future Premier was; ; | j nearly drowned at the age of five. :;M His first ambition, he_ says, was to ] work for himself, to be his own ‘'boss,” ;j and he left school at the ago 0f,12 with -V this idea firmly in his head. T-He was * able to realise this aim at tfiq early 1 age of twenty-one. Before that he worked as a telegraph boy, a clevis* in a ; general store, and afterwards in? the { railway service. / ’ “All this,” said Sir Joseph, “points | to the conclusion tliat I was more than ; 'a bit of a rolling stone in the days of i my youth. Perhaps I was, but there .h 1 was method in my various metamorphos- jt! es from telegraph boy. I wanted l|| to grab all the knowledge I could, and, ; young as I was, I think I perceived the danger of getting into a groove. Please ‘ S don’t thin'k, however, that I was a 'l*'*?' young prig, scorning all natural de- / v lights, and living only for some morbid idea of so-called success. To this day I carry the honorable scars of many a hard-fought game of football, and whatever sport there was. going I took my : f. full share in, loving, and still continuing to love, sport and games of all kinds. HIS MAIDEN SPEECH. “Do I remember by maiden speech? vi 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 j in my oratorical career was on skiff- I boat sailing, and rav third delivery • ail dealt with the delights of horticulture. 1 I have made a great many speeches j since then on far less interesting and congenial tonics. “As a. public man. however, I suppose my ‘maiden speech’ was when I stood |J|j for the district Harbor Board (at the -|*j age of 22), while as a politician my N|! first effort in the house was a two and Jl a-half hours’ oration on the subject of \» mails to and from New Zealand. After* r’Jjj all these years, twenty-three In all, the subject, of the mails is still being de-;'||fl bated in our Parliament, and I fre- Vi* quently speak on it. PARLIAMENTARY SCENES. “Any exciting scenes in our House? .if] Weil, our Parliament, lam glad to say, :‘a| has always been singularly free from personal animosities, and personal ; ‘scenes’ are practically unknown. Still, m I remember a dramatic moment, when a i member of the Government, finding himself in disagreement with his chief, ; |§ there and then tendered his resignation, and ceased to belong to the Ministry. ||!j “Then there was a sensation when Sir : : ||| George Gray attempted to speak from \J| the floor of the House,- 01113- to be called if to order by the Speaker as scon as he s|| opened his mouth. For fully half-an- |B| hour Sir George Gray stood silent while the question was debated whether he || had any right to spe-ak, it eventually being declared that he had not. LONDON IN THE SMALL HOURS. St "Mv first impressions of London? 1 daresay it. is ranker liackneyed, but -§H what most impressed me was the volume of traffic and the wonderful way in Nri which the police deal with it. I saw |§! London in a way and at a time that ‘yl§jj| vert’ few Londoners ever see it, and lijl that was driving about in a hansom in. the early hours of the morning, when. "||| the streets were deserted. It is really tho best way of seeing such, a tremendons city. I have not forgotten the memories of my first London fog, which de- ;3 i : i scended four days after my arrival, and which lasted three days. Coming from a land where, if we did not see the ;'!yj: sky every day of our lives, we should N|| think the world was coming to an end, it- was a very weird experience.