Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1893. THE DEATH OF THE PREMIER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIV, Issue 2959, 28 April 1893, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1893. THE DEATH OF THE PREMIER.

Though the illness from whioh the late Mr Ballance suffered was long and painful and wasted him to a shactow, it was only during the last few days that a fatal result was counted among the possibilities of the near future; and even then there were solid grounds for the hope that he would be ultimately restored to health, though perhap 3 not in time to take his place at the head I Government in the ensuing session of I Parliament. The no«.a.»f hi a collapse ryesteraaj^oifceriioon ana death in the evening came consequently as a sudden and painful shock to the whole colony. From all parts and all parties come the tidings that the untimely death of the Premier is regarded as "a national calamity," "an irreparabie loss," and it cannot be regarded as aught else. He has been cut down in his prime— indeed, fifty-four is a young age among statesmen who have reached, as Mr Ballance, had the zenith of their power. John Ballance fought his way to the position which he occupied at the time of his death without any of the advantages with which in his day men generally began a political career, and it is to his talents, perseverance, energy, and uprightness that he owed the ultimate success which rewarded his long struggle, and placed him in the position of Premier of New Zealand. His bodily strength, sorely taxed by the struggle, was still further strained by the arduous work and long sittings of the session of- 1.891 ; and had he thought more of himself he might then have retired, honored by the colony and his Sovereign, to the AgentGeneralship, an office for which he was highly qualified, and been spared, in recuperated health, for many years of usefulness to the country. But he maintained that his duty wasin theplace where he hoped to obtain legislative* effect to the further reforms which the country desired and on the accomplish* ment of which he had set his heart. The odium which the opponents of Mr Ballance, his Ministry and his policy sought to throw upon the Government and the colony, and the predictions they made of national ruin and discredit, were enough to have daunted the most courageous, but the Premier withstood them all and pursued his course, though at the cost, as we now see, of his life. Mr Ballance was throughout his eighteen years' political life a eoosjgtent and earnest advocate of Liberal principles, jjHis sanguine temperament exercise^ a# inspiriting influence in, the ranks'of jfche papty when its fortunes were fit a low ebb, and it was fit that where fche long Conservative regime was at last ended he should be placed in command. No other man at the beginning of 1891 could hare congolidated and organised the Liberal ranks as he succeeded in doing, and his loss is the greatest blow that the party could have sustained, while his devotion to duty even while on his sick hftd niakes his death the saddest that has bee» recorded in our public history. No loss «ould be more sincerely and widely deplored, *d 4 the country joins and sympathises with th/? bereaved widow in mourning the departed leader.