Following the election of the Liberal Government in 1891, Ward was appointed as Postmaster-General under John Ballance; he was promoted to Minister of Finance in the succeeding ministry of Richard Seddon.

In 1863, the family moved to Bluff (then officially known as Campbelltown), in New Zealand's Southland region, seeking better financial security – Hannah Ward Barron established a shop and a boarding house.

Later, with the help of a loan from his mother, Ward began to work as a freelance trader, selling supplies to the newly established Southland farming community.

He was elected to the Campbelltown (Bluff) Borough Council in 1878, despite being only 21 years old – at age 25 he became Mayor, the youngest in New Zealand.

In 1891, when the newly founded Liberal Party came to power, the new Prime Minister, John Ballance, appointed Ward as Postmaster General.

Ward's basic political outlook was that the state existed to support and promote private enterprise, and his conduct as Treasurer reflects this.

[3] Ward's increasing occupation with government affairs led to neglect of his own business interests, however, and his personal finances began to deteriorate.

Ward gained considerable popularity as a result of his financial troubles – he was widely seen as a great benefactor of the Southland region, and public perceptions were that he was being persecuted by his enemies over an honest mistake.

On 19 June 1901, on the occasion of the visit of TRH the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later King George V and Queen Mary) to New Zealand, he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) for overseeing the introduction of the Penny Post throughout New Zealand.

The diverse interests of the Liberal Party, many believed, had been held together only by Seddon's strength of personality and his powers of persuasion – Ward was not seen as having the same qualities.

The Liberal Party's two main support bases, left-leaning urban workers and conservative small farmers, were increasingly at odds, and Ward lacked any coherent strategy to solve the problem – any attempt to please one group simply alienated the other.

The Liberals survived for a time on the casting vote of the Speaker, but Ward, discouraged by the result, resigned from the premiership in March the following year.

[8] Ward, who most believed had finished his political career, returned to the back benches and refused several requests to resume the leadership of the disorganised Liberals.

He occupied himself with relatively minor matters, and took his family on a visit to England, where he was created a baronet by King George V on 20 June 1911.

Despite the gains the Reform government was reduced to a bare minimum majority and when a by-election in Dunedin Central was triggered early the next year there was much at stake.

[11] On 12 August 1915, Ward and accepted a proposal by William Massey and the governing Reform Party to form a joint administration for World War I.

His cabinet was rather youthful, with only two members (Thomas Wilford and Āpirana Ngata), other than himself, having held ministerial portfolios before.

[16] Ward, as Finance Minister, passed a mini-budget at the end of 1928 appropriating £1,175,000 for public works construction.

In October, under increasing pressure from Labour, Ward made moves to reduce the growing unemployment numbers.

Ward was determined not to resign, and remained Prime Minister until well after he had lost the ability to perform the role effectively.

He was given a state funeral with a Requiem Mass celebrated on 9 July at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Hill St, Wellington.

Ward had been an active worshipper there (and at its destroyed predecessor, St Mary's Cathedral) for all of his thirty-seven years as an MP.