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The Review of Reviews. 



Aui/Uit 1, 1906. 



Deakin has recently described with happy force " the 

 abundant and impressive personality " of the man. 

 It is the true description of the many-sidedness 

 that characterised him. Another has attributed 

 his success to " his strength, his courage and his 

 sense." The words have been received with ac- 

 clamation in the country that knew the man so well. 

 Often have we seen him emerge from an all-night sit- 

 ting the freshest and clearest intellect in the House, 

 as ready for any duty, from the explanation of the 

 most intricate clause of a difficult bill to the formal 

 motion of the preamble, as ever he was at any mo- 

 ment of his life. In times of crisis we have seen 

 his master)- undisturbed, as for example, during the 

 banking crisis, when the Government Bill was in the 

 throes, and panic brooded over House and countr\. 

 In the full '• current of a heady fight " there was no 

 champion so fierce, so cool, so ready, so unflinching, 

 so exacting, so what a leader of men ought to be ; 

 i'l his easv hour none so pleasant, so genial, so 

 debonair. In his home no finer example of domestic 

 virtue could be wished for. 



Apropos there is a little story known well to his 

 friends. It was a sacred custom with him to be pre- 

 sent at the family Christmas dinner, a custom to 

 be obsened at every hazard. Once he found him- 

 self far away, with the addition of a flooded river 

 to his troubles. The rain never ceased ; but neither 

 did the Seddonian resources. A horse he had not, 

 nor did he lose his time in dramatically offering his 

 kingdom for such an animal. There was in a mob 

 of cattle close by a fairly quiet cow. To put the 

 mob into the flooded stream, to seize the old cow- 

 by the tail and go into the rushing current — and 

 currents do rush in New Zealand, especially in the 

 West — to be ferried over by the creature was the in- 

 spiration and the work of a moment. Thus was 

 " Dad " in time for the Christmas dinner. He had 

 risked his life, he was wet, he was draggled, ex- 

 hausted, but he was there. 



Those who know that ston,- know the family life 

 of that household, and they have realised to the full 

 therefore the tragedy of the last sad scene when the 

 strong man breathed his soul out in the arms of his 

 wife in the old familiar every-day title of '" Mother.'' 

 They, like all the rest of the world, remember that 

 he never missed any public opportunity of acknow- 

 ledging the services of his life partner, they mil 

 never forget the care devoted to the study of each 

 character of the large family, and the resulting 

 affectionate terms on which all were with their 

 father. This intense family affection that was always 

 in evidence was one of the strongest ties that bound 

 him to the people of his country. 



Again, no deputation that ever waited on him 

 ever retired without the rooted conviction that the 



particular subject on which it had been bent was 

 after all the one subject to which he had devoted 

 his existence, and the fervent aspiration that they 

 too, on some day in the wonderful future, might 

 come to know as much about it as he did. It was 

 typical of the thorough manner in which he did 

 all his work. 



Add to this that gloom was a stranger to his 

 looks, that ready jest and playful humour were his 

 at command, that never was he heard to say an 

 uncharitable word even of his worst enemies, that 

 ever ha said the right thing at the right moment, 

 that he never forgot a friend, and never forgot his 

 dignity before an enemy, and you will begin to 

 understand -how he acquired so marvellous a hold 

 on the confidence of the people of this country. 

 That hold was the natural consequence of a per- 

 sonality so many sided, of a disposition so genial 

 and yet so masterful, of an infinite capacity for 

 taking pains which is of the essence of genius, and 

 a knowledge of men quite unrivalled. But that 

 the qualities which can guard us after twenty-five 

 years should have captured the entire world almost 

 in a flash, as they seem to have done, if we may 

 judge by the extraordinary- unanimitv of the fare- 

 well tributes from ever)- country and every shade of 

 opinion and all ranks of life, has been the last and 

 almost the greatest surprise of Richard Seddon's 

 fine career. There was more in him, evidently, than 

 even we thought! 



-AH this gives point to the regret felt among his 

 countrymen for the untimely death of their greatest 

 personality. Xew Zealand does not consider that 

 he was taken away at the zenith of his fortunes. 

 On the contrary, New Zealand, seeing that the 

 world had at last come to acknowledge the appear- 

 ance of a new democratic force as readv as the 

 best of the reformers to attack the things requiring 

 reform, and endowed with a combination of qualiries 

 superior to all the difficulties which paralyse effort 

 in every- direction, had come to the conclusion that 

 a life of usefulness elsewhere was waiting for the 

 great Premier, far wider and deeper than the life 

 already lived in his own countr)- with such striking 

 success. 



These hopes have proved vain. It adds to the 

 depth of the grief throughout the country- of Richard 

 Seddon. We gave him a gieat funeral and a 

 majestic procession. We left him in his watchtower 

 near the skies to look down on the Parliament 

 House where he won renown and did the work 

 which is his real and enduring monument. We 

 feel sure that the memory of the strength, the justice, 

 the geniality, the wisdom and the tremendous de- 

 vorion to duty which cost the valuable life of Richard 

 Seddon will be the best incentive to his successors 

 of all the ages to come to stand up to their work. 



