Evening star., 1901-02-16
PREMIER WITH POWER
Ruler of New Zealand and Leader in
Labor Movements
HE Is A man OF THE PEOPLE
Country Kindly Disposed Toward
the United States.
GONERNMENT r \ l. r O a ID 5
GOVERNMENT r y l l. r O a ID s


Ihave had an interview with the Hon. Rich
ard Seldom, the premier Of NewIealand The
premier in the great governments of Eu-
rope ranks somewhat as our Secretary of
State. The premier of New Zealand is the
head Of the government: this means he is
- the head of everything. Think of a country
= where the railroads. the telegraphs, the
telephones. the savings banks, the chief
lfe Insurance companies and a score of
other things run by the state Let there
be large car shops and machine shops filled
with government employees. Let the gov
ernment have stock in the biggest banks;
let it put its fingers into the management
of the farms. the factories and the mines,
and dc a dozen other such things that no
other government has ever attempted, and
you have some idea Of this institution in
New Zealand.
The head Of this government is the Hon.
Richard Seddon. He is more Is president
than Mr.. Mckinley is the President of the
United States. He is the leader of the
house. and he almost controls parliament.
He can to a certain extent make his own
laws and he is pushing forward new
schemes of all kinds without regard to pre-
cedent or history. 1t is he who for years
has been at the head Of the socalistic
movements in New Zealand He is the mpn
behind the new laws which relate tC labor
and capital and at the head 1f the par&y
ductive land holdings Of the rich and diV:d-
ing them a he lowest possible rates of
ownership requirement among The poor.
A Pen Picture of Premier Seldom.
New Zealand prides itself on being the
workingman's country, and Richard Seldom
prides himself on being its representa-
tive. He is man of the people. He was
born In England, the son of a Lancashire
farmer He learned the trade of an engi-
nd u-ba b,y- h1. c;x-
years ago, he first came TO Australia, ne
worked in the railroad shops. Later on he
went to the gold fields at Bendieo, and
there dug IN the mines with his own hands.
His friends sometimes call him digger
Dick though all traces of the roughness
of his mining life have long since 2asSed
away. Mr.. Seldom worked IN the Australian
mines for three years. and then came to
New Zealand to try his luck IN the gold
neidS or the west coast. 1t was there he
first engaged in politics. He WAS elected
mayor Of his town, and more than twenty
years ago was sent TO the New ZEALAND
parliament. He has been in parliament
from then until now. He is the father CT
the house We'll its leader.
1t was In the parliament house that l met
premier Seldom. l mad letters of introduce
tion from Washington and came there to
present them. l found the premier in his
office. He was seated at the end Of a long
. table piled with papers and documents /
was presented to him by his private secre-
tary, and he made me at home
My description Of him viii be battered By
the photograph which he gave me during
my stay. II represents the premier IN his
uniform as one Of the highest officers OF
the Masonic order Of New Zealand and il
Is striking likeness of him as he is TODAY
Mr.. Seaden Is one OF the biggest of the
public men Of our time. He is tail. broad
shouldered and well formed. He has big
frame. a big head and strong neck He
stands firmly upon his feet ana ne IS as
straight as our own President Mckinley.
He has a fair complexion. light brown hair
and heard and eyes Of crTu.eau blue. His
features are sort Cf a cross between those
Of James A. Garfield and BENJAMIN HART
son. leaning strongly toward Garfield. He
has more Of Garfield than Harrison in his
makeup. The blood in his VEINS is warm
and his nerves are alive with personal mag
aetism. His big head teens with ideas and |
his tongue has ball bearings in the express
sion Of them.
Federated AustraIasia
The subject Of the federation Of New Zea- |
land and It's Islands and OF the Australian |
colonies came up and / asked Mr.. Seddon
whether he thought mat such movements
would not eventually dissolve the British
empire.
He replied: Il think not l believe that
the empire Will grow stronger. I look. N
fact for union rather than dissolution. 1
believe that We Will eventually have a fed
Grafton Of all The EuEl.eh--p -peakiug peoples |
The time Will come when Great Britain ana |
her colonies and the Americans and their
movement. cur interests are the same
w have the same language and the same
ideas as 10 God, man and the universe |
We are If the same race, and blood is
thicker than water
What Will this union be- 7 asked
'It will be a union upon broad lines
Each government Will manage its own
local affairs but We viii all work together
as TO matters humanitarian and commercial |
New Zealand and the Mother Country.
To-day the relations of New Zealand
with Great Britain are 10 n large extent
sentimental ones the premier went on
1--WE have a governor appointed by the
queen but his office is as a social and IA
triotic connecting link rather than of an
executive or legislative nature. The gov
-ernor has the power of life and death as to
criminals condemned to capital punishment
He can pardon in such cases if he chooses
He has also say in matters which con-
Germ Great Britain and the colonies. but in
most things he can only file objections and
refer matters to the premier for settlement
THE New Zealander looks upon the gov
ernor largely as the guest of the colony.
We invite him here as the representative of
the queen, and such pay him a salary
This salary is now about s25,O0O a year. i
am in favor of increasing il TO So, coo. as at
present II is not large enough to more
than pay the governors expenses in the
way Of social entertainment Our last three
governors have resigned and gone back
home complaining that their incomes were
too small for the position. 1t will probably
be increased
New Zealand showed its love for The
mother country in the Boer warp said l.
Eyes" replied the premier. I'VE sent
them men. money and supplies. Some of
our best boys crossed the ocean to tight
the Beers, my among the number We
also offered to send troops to China and
We are always ready to fight for old Eng
land whenever she needs us. Every one
here talks about England as home This
II so not only OF those who are born there.