WARD, SIR JOSEPH GEORGE (1856-1930) was born at Emerald Hill, Melbourne, on 26 Apr 1856, the son of William Thomas Ward, a merchant. His parents coming to New Zealand when he was three, he attended the Bluff school to the age of 13, when he joined the post and telegraph service as a messenger. He left this for a merchant's office, and at the age of 20 joined the railway service. Next year, with very small capital, he started in business on his own account as a grain merchant. Being successful in his earliest operations, he soon had a flourishing connection in the export of grain to Australia, where he established agencies.

Though closely engaged in what was one of the largest businesses of its kind in the Colony, Ward found time to enter public life. He was elected in 1878 to the Campbelltown borough council, of which he was a member till 1897, including five years as mayor (1881-85) and another term as mayor in his final year (1896-97). He was a member of the Bluff harbour board from 1881-97. He resigned for political reasons, but was at once re-elected and remained on the board for many years. He was chairman (1883-88 and 1893-94). As a member of the Invercargill chamber of commerce, Ward did valuable service for his district by insisting that large steamers could load and discharge at the Bluff and that Southland cargo need not go to and from Port Chalmers as hitherto. This was clearly demonstrated by the first visit of the steamer Triumph, which went through the whole operation of discharging and loading at Bluff and clearing thence for London.

In 1890 Ward made his first effort to enter national politics, and succeeded in winning the Awarua seat against J. W. Bain and G. Froggatt. In the two succeeding elections he was unopposed and he retained the seat continuously, though often against opposition, until 1919. His administrative ability was at once recognised by John Ballance, who in Feb 1891, despite his lack of parliamentary experience, invited him to accept office as Postmaster-general. His flair for business was soon evident in the management of this important department, which he continued under the leadership of Ballance and Seddon until the middle of 1896. He attended the postal conferences in Sydney (1892), Brisbane (1893), Wellington (1894) and Hobart (1895). Inspired by the advanced proposals of Henniker Heaton, he consistently advocated the cheapening of postal and telegraphic communications, and during his many years in control of the department in New Zealand he lost no opportunity of furthering this object. In Seddon's cabinet he assumed at the outset the office of Colonial Treasurer and Commissioner of Customs, and in the second year he took also the department of Marine and the new department of Industries and Commerce. While in Australia in 1894, Ward had an opportunity of observing the effects of the banking crisis, and he came to the conclusion that if the Government had assisted the banks which were in difficulty the collapse would possibly have been avoided and would certainly have been less severe. When signs of a similar crisis appeared in New Zealand he warmly advocated state intervention and threw his whole influence into the legislation which in one day saved the Bank of New Zealand from failure and made it a semi-state institution for the future. His second budget speech (in 1894) was a noteworthy, and at that time somewhat alarming, outline of his financial policy. He proposed to raise loans amounting to £5,000,000 for public works and the purchase of native lands, and to assist farmers by making capital available to them for improvements at low rates of interest. He proposed the creation of consols in New Zealand, and amazed his critics by proceeding to England and raising the necessary money at the unprecedentedly low rate of 3 per cent. The State Advances office, established by Ward in 1894, was destined to be one of the most beneficent departments of state, and was never seriously challenged. In 1895 he carried through a customs bill, not without some difficulty, and he was also responsible for the passing of measures providing for grants to farmers and to fruitgrowers.

The political life so happily entered upon by the brilliant young administrator was destined to be interrupted in circumstances which might have been fatal to the future of less able or less optimistic men. The business of the J. G. Ward Farmers' Association, of which he was managing director, had grown beyond the stage at which a minister of the crown administering several important departments could hope to exercise adequate control of it. In 1897 the company failed, and Ward himself was seriously embarrassed, thereby vacating his seat in Parliament and having to withdraw from the ministry. Within a month of his seat becoming vacant, he was re-elected (13 Aug 1897), and the court held that he was now legally entitled to sit in Parliament. Ward's affairs recovered in a surprisingly short time, and he rejoined the ministry as Colonial Secretary and Minister of Trade and Customs (Dec 1899) and in Jan 1900 took charge of Railways. He threw himself with his accustomed ardour and efficiency into the administration of his departments, and revived his schemes for cheapening and improving empire communications. On 1 Jan 1901 universal penny postage was inaugurated in New Zealand, and Ward received the honour of K.C.M.G. in recognition of his work. He consistently urged the establishment of penny postage throughout the Empire, the inauguration of an all-red cable service across the Pacific (which was opened in 1902) and an all-red mail service. At the postal conference in Rome in 1906 he again put forward these views, and within a few years most of them materialised. In 1901 Ward passed the bill establishing the first department of Public Health in the world, and he became minister. Amongst other measures which he got through Parliament during these years were an act to establish a State Fire Insurance department, in order to keep down charges, and a public service superannuation scheme (which was applied first in 1902 to his own department of Railways). Though Seddon retained control of the Treasury till his death the rehabilitation of his talented lieutenant was complete, and he was regarded as the inevitable successor to the leadership of the Liberal party. As early as 1902, when the Prime Minister attended the coronation of King Edward VII, Ward assumed the position of acting-Prime Minister. He was actually out of the country, attending the postal conference at Rome, when Seddon's death occurred (10 Jun 1906), and it was not till 6 Aug 1906 that he assumed office as Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Postmaster-general and Minister of Defence.

Ward's cabinet a few weeks after he took office consisted of Hall-Jones (who had been Prime Minister temporarily, as Minister of Public Works and Railways); James Carroll (Native Minister), James McGowan (Justice, Mines, Immigration and Industries and Commerce), Albert Pitt (Attorney-general, Colonial Secretary and Minister of Defence), J. A. Millar (Labour, Customs and Marine), R. McNab (Lands and Agriculture) and G. Fowlds (Education and Public Health). On the death of Pitt shortly afterwards Ward assumed the portfolio of Defence, and John G. Findlay came into the cabinet as Attorney-general and Minister of Internal Affairs, with a seat in the Legislative Council. With such a team, and enjoying the unprecedented majority which Seddon had won at the general election a few months earlier, Ward was able, if he desired, to carry out his policy with little likelihood of being opposed. The first years of his premiership were marked by a succession of useful measures in furtherance of the Liberal programme of the nineties. Nevertheless, though the opposition at the moment was so weak, he shrank from a test of strength on the question of the freehold tenure. McNab did indeed bring in a bill to extend the leasehold, and it was well received on its second reading, but was then dropped. In 1907 Ward once more went to London, to attend the Imperial Conference (which opened on 15 Apr 1907). He was made a Privy Councillor, and on his return six months later he announced that the style and designation of New Zealand had been changed from 'Colony' to 'Dominion.' This was effected by royal proclamation of 10 Sep 1907 and involved certain consequential changes, such as the designation of 'M.H.R.' being changed to 'M.P.,' 'Colonial Treasurer' to 'Minister of Finance' and 'Colonial Secretary' to 'Minister of Internal Affairs.' An act was passed in 1907 increasing the graduated land tax, and another abolishing the lease-in-perpetuity in favour of the renewable lease with revaluation. In 1910 Ward established the national provident fund, to encourage the making of provision for sickness and old age and inalienable life annuities, and passed a workers' dwelling act; and in 1911 he passed a widows' pensions act. In the realm of finance he created a public debt extinction fund (1910), which envisaged the amortisation of the national debt in 75 years, and in the same year he passed the first act to combat commercial trusts and monopolies in trade and commerce. Ward was a firm Imperialist and an advocate of a strong navy. He had been a volunteer and captain of the Bluff Naval Artillery, and was always interested in defence. In 1908 he increased to £100,000 the yearly contribution of New Zealand to the cost of the Imperial Navy, and early in 1909, without consulting Parliament, he offered on behalf of New Zealand to pay for one—and if necessary two—battleships to strengthen the British Navy, as a reply to German expansion. Moreover, as the culmination of a long popular agitation, he passed the defence act, which provided for the compulsory military training of young men. In 1910 Lord Kitchener visited the Dominion to report on its part in Imperial defence and Ward's Government wholeheartedly co-operated in this direction, taking the first steps towards the system which enabled New Zealand to send an efficient expeditionary force abroad a few years later.

The Prime Minister again left the Dominion in 1911 to attend an Imperial Conference and the coronation of King George V. Accompanied on this occasion by his Attorney-general (Findlay), who conceived and prepared many of his proposals, Ward on this occasion sponsored 17 out of 36 important motions proposed at the conference. His proposal to establish an Imperial council of state comprising representatives of all the dominions and self-governing colonies was not favourably received. It was expounded somewhat precipitately, and apparently without adequate study on Ward's own part, and the Conference found no difficulty in indicating that the scheme went too far. It was accordingly withdrawn. Many of Ward's proposals were, however, destined to come to fruition in his own lifetime. The reorganisation of the colonial secretariat, the interchange of civil servants, the Imperial court of appeal, the state-owned all-red cable service and mail route, and the abolition of double income tax, all made some progress towards acceptance. The Declaration of London was adopted on his motion. During this visit to Great Britain H.M.S. New Zealand was launched by Lady Ward, and the Prime Minister received a baronetcy, the freedom of the cities of Edinburgh, London, Bristol, Manchester and Glasgow, and the honorary doctorate of the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham, Cambridge and Trinity College, Dublin.

Ward returned to the Dominion to face a general election in which it was evident that the long supremacy of the Liberal party in the country was waning, and that the agrarian interest, which had been steadily organising the country through the New Zealand Farmers Union and in politics under the leadership of W. F. Massey, was now in a position to challenge the long-lived Liberal administration. The elections resulted in the two parties being equal. When Parliament met (on 15 Feb 1912) it was obvious that Ward could not hope to carry on. A no-confidence motion moved by Massey resulted in a tie, 39 votes on each side, and the Government remained in power by the vote of the Speaker (Guinness), cast conventionally in its favour. Ward's motion to adjourn was defeated by 40 to 38. Believing that the discontent expressed at the elections was directed against the personnel of the Ministry rather than against its policy, Ward advised the Governor (Lord Islington) to send for Sir Thomas Mackenzie, who formed a cabinet of ten untried ministers from the Liberal side of the House and took office on 28 Mar. When Parliament met at the normal time Mackenzie was immediately defeated, and Massey formed a conservative ministry (10 Jul 1912).

During the rest of that Parliament Ward led the Liberal opposition. On the outbreak of war in 1914 there was no difference of opinion as to New Zealand's duty in the crisis. The defence policy of Ward had in a large measure made possible the war co-operation which New Zealand voluntarily undertook. The general election (on 20 Nov 1914) resulted in a position almost of stalemate so far as party politics were concerned. Massey returned from the country with 40 followers; the Liberal party numbered 34; and the Labour party, which had consolidated itself in the bitter industrial strikes of 1913, appeared on the floor of the House with a following of six members, who were not unwilling to vote with the Liberals against the Government. As the difficulties of the war deepened Massey proposed the formation of a National government. Labour held aloof, but on 12 Aug 1915 Massey took office with his National ministry, in which Ward was deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Postmaster-general. In that capacity he gave wholehearted service in financing the war operations of New Zealand. He raised war loans amounting to £80,000,000 (of which £55,000,000 was raised within New Zealand) and went out of office eventually leaving accumulated surpluses of £15,000,000. He accompanied the Prime Minister to several war cabinets and conferences in London, and on a visit to the western front. When the victory of the allies was complete, Ward and Massey differed as to the methods to be adopted in settling returned soldiers on the land. The breach grew wider during Massey's absence at the Peace Conference, and on 21 Aug 1919 the National ministry came to an end. The elections at the end of the year resulted in a decisive victory for Massey, who for the first time in his political career found himself in command of a majority independent of all combinations. The state of the House was: Reform, 44; Liberal, 18; Labour, 8; Independent Labour, 3; other Independents, 7. Ward suffered his first personal defeat at an election, J. R. Hamilton winning the Awarua seat by 3,164 votes to 2,407.

Four years later, on the death of Herries, he attempted to win the Tauranga seat, but was defeated by C. E. Macmillan (by 4,360 votes to 3,235). At the following general election (1925) he won the Invercargill seat, defeating Hargest and P. W. Hickey. In that Parliament the liberals assumed the title of 'Nationalists' and Ward remained aloof, sitting as the solitary Liberal in the House. He was absent from the Dominion when the Liberal party assumed its new name of 'United' (1928). On his return he was offered the leadership and accepted. The elections resulted again in a stalemate as far as the two main parties were concerned, but the rise of the third party was now the deciding factor. The state of the House was: Reform, 28; United, 28; Labour, 19; Independent, 5.

When Parliament met Labour voted with the United party to put Reform out of office, and on 10 Dec Ward again took office as Prime Minister. In his ministry of 18 members only one besides himself had any ministerial experience, and four were even without parliamentary experience. He himself was Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, with G. W. Forbes as deputy-leader and Minister of Lands and Agriculture. The other members of the cabinet were: T. M. Wilford (Justice and Defence), A. T. Ngata (Native Affairs), H. Atmore (Education), W. A. Veitch (Labour and Mines), E. A. Ransom (Public Works), W. B. Taverner (Railways and Customs), J. B. Donald (Postmaster-general), P. A. de la Perrelle (Internal Affairs), J. G. Cobbe (Marine, Industries and Commerce and Immigration), A. J. Stallworthy (Health), and T. K. Sidey (Attorney-general). Though obviously in ill-health, Ward entered boldly upon his policy and had a triumphal reception in the country, which was then suffering in the deepening depression. He at once made money available to the Advances to Settlers office to overtake arrears of applications. He stopped the railway construction work at Palmerston North and on the Taupo-Rotorua line and resumed that on the South Island main trunk and the Napier-Gisborne lines; he wrote down the capital of the railways by £8,000,000; converted maturing loans amounting to £19,000,000 at 4 per cent, and raised a new loan of £7,000,000, of which he devoted £5,000,000 to the settlement of idle lands; established a department of transport, and increased the tax on land. These measures did not suffice, however, to alleviate the distress caused by unemployment, and before many months had elapsed the Labour party, by whose co-operation Ward was able to keep in office became restive. Ward's health had deteriorated so much that he was compelled (on 15 May 1930) to resign the premiership, and on 28 May Forbes took office as Prime Minister, with practically the same colleagues, and with Ward a member of the executive without portfolio. On 1 Jan 1930 Ward was created a G.C.M.G. His death occurred on 8 Jul 1930. Ward married in 1883 Theresa Dorothea (C.B.E. 1918), daughter of Henry Joseph de Smidt. She died on 7 Feb 1927.

Ward was a fine departmental administrator, and left the impress of his efficient methods on every department he controlled. Pleasing, genial and courteous in his personal relations, he was a good parliamentarian, but lacked the personal qualities required for continued political popularity. He was eminently progressive, with a flair for figures, great vision and inveterate buoyancy. His enterprise in matters of finance frequently laid him open to criticism, which was often belied by the success of his legislation. No statesman since Vogel had such justification in the outcome of his visions.

A son, VINCENT AUBREY WARD (1888-) succeeded his father as member for Invercargill (1930-31). He was called to the Legislative Council in 1934.

NZPD, pass; Who's Who NZ, 1908, 1924; Aust. Rev. of Rev., Mar 1907; Kelly's Peerage; Gisborne; Stewart and Rossignol; Reeves; Condliffe; Scholefield, NZ Evol.; R.A. Loughnan, Biography of Sir Joseph Ward (1929); Otago Daily Times, 9 Jul 1930.

Reference: Volume 2, page 234

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