Chapter XX.
The Humanist.
The process of evolution did not stop at imperialism. Passing on to still greater things, he became a humanist, eager to do something for humanity’s sake.
“All legislation which I have brought to bear upon the human side of life is the legislation which counts most with me,” he said to a newspaper interviewer once; “there is much talk of men being Radicals, Conservatives, Socialists, and Liberals. I am none of these. I am a humanist. I desire to improve the conditions of the people, to inspire them with hope, to provide for their comfort, and to improve them socially, morally, and politically.”[1] The humanity stage came last of all, and if he had lived longer he would have done more in the humanitarian field of work.
It was an open secret among his friends that of all the measures he brought into operation, he took most pleasure and pride in the Old Age Pensions scheme. He fought for it as he never fought for anything else in his life. He rightly looked upon it as his greatest achievement. The sending of the contingents, the annexation of territory, the saving of the Bank of New Zealand, Premiers’ Conferences, reciprocal treaties, and preferential tariffs, all fell back in his estimation behind his Old Age Pensions scheme. “If I succeed in passing an Act that guarantees a pension to the deserving aged poor,” he said to himself some years after he became Premier, “I shall be doing a really great action.”
There are members of Parliament who tell the wonderful story how he sat in the chair at the table of the House for
- ↑ The Evening Post, Wellington, May 1st, 1906.
