A GREAT PIONEER.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 171, 21 July 1924, Page 4

A GREAT PIONEER.

Sir Walter Buchanan belonged to an indomitable self-reliant Scottish class j from which many of our finest pioneers have come. Hen like him are afraid neither of work nor of the wilderness. Like others, Sir Walter came out to the colonies as a young man, and graduated in the hard school of "overlanding" and gold-digging. There was great need of men who would go into new country and break it in for stock. There is still the need, but the' pioneer of today has a much easier time than his grandfather had in the days when settlements were few and scattered, and communications were all bad. Wir Walter Buchanan was one of the . untiring shrewd men who turned bush into grass, and were satisfied with ' nothing less than the best stock they could obtain and produce. He belonged to a class of land-owner that drew upon itself much political dislike, hut the work that many of these men did in increasing the productivity of the country should not be overlooked. He himself did the State much service in many directions. He was a member of Parliament for many years. He was one of the pioneers of the frozen meat industry, which saved the country in j the bad times of the "eighties and has : been of enormous value since. lie i helped to found important businesses, j and to the last day of his life he was active in many things relating to the land and its products. In politics he j was a Conservative, and during the Re- j form regime he was perhaps the most powerful individual influence next to 1 the Prime Minister. Those who differed , from him in policy, however, will pay a tribute to his energy, ability and | integrity, and to the services he gave I to the country, not only as a public | man, but as an unconquerable and farsighted pioneer.