THE DEAD LEADER.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 112, 14 May 1925, Page 8

THE DEAD LEADER.

FUNERAL CEREMONY.

IMPRESSIVE OBSEQUIES. NOBLE SITE OF HIS TOMB. A BEACON TO GENERATIONS. (By Correspondent.) "WELLINGTON, this day.

Mourned by the Sovereign he served with such loyalty, mourned by the leaders of Empire with whom he took his seat as a compeer, mourned by the Dominion he loved so well, and in whose service he wore himself out, the mortal remains of William Ferguson Massey were laid to rest to-day amid every manifestation of affection from a sorrowing people. After life's fitful fever he sleeps well. If anything can assuage the grief of those to whom he was nearest and dearest, it is the knowledge that they do not grieve alone.

had high ideals, and after he has passed away it is fitting that his resting-place Siould remind us of this fine trait in his character. Like a city set on a hill, that cannot he hid, Mr. monument will stand out as a beacon to generations of busy wayfarers yet to come.

Aucklanders would naturally have wished that the last resting-place of the bluff farmer Premier, who always retained a special corner in his heart for his home in the North, while being strictly fair to every part of the Dominion, could have been somewhere within sight of the fields he tilled and the scenes of his early manhood.

He was always an open-air man, and one lik\s to think of him resting on some eyrie that looks down on the busy affairs of men. Every ship that swings in and out of Wellington port will pass the bare Point Halswell where he was to-day laid with reverent sorrow. From the thronged city on the west, right , round to the east, his monument will v stand out clear and inspiring. It is fitting that our great men should rest thus. "His Monarch and his native laad were nobly served."