DEATH OF MR ALFRED DOMETT.

Press, Volume XLIV, Issue 6902, 7 November 1887, Page 5

DEATH OF MR ALFRED DOMETT.

[lE_CTER'S ___________ Received November sth, 12.30 p.m.

London, November 4.

Alfred Domett, C.M.G., formerly Premier of New Zealand, is dead. He was seventy-six years old.

The news of the death of Mr Domett will he received with especial regret from tho fact that not only Is his name intimately bound np with the earlier history of New Zealand politics, but he was one of the most eminent of the many capable literary men. who have been associated with this colony. Of his poem "Ranolf and Amohia "it may be said that it has attained the rank of an English classic, being widely read, for the beauty of its style and its picturesque descriptions, by large*'numbers of the public, for whom the local allusions have no special interest. The following details of his life are taken from " Men of Mark of New Zealand:" — Alfred Domett, C.M.G., son of Mr Nathaniel Domett, was born at Camberwell Grove, Surrey, May 20th, 1811. He matriculated at Cambridge in 1829 as a member of St. John's College, hut after j three years'residence he left the University without graduating. In 1832 he published a volume of poems. He then ' travelled in America for a couple of years; andaf terhisreturn to London aboutlo_3-37, fhe contributed some poetical effusions to I "Blackwood's Magazine." One of these, "A Christmas Hymn," was greatly admired, and has been frequently reprinted. Mr Domett afterwards spent two years in: I Italy, Switzerland, and other Continental countries. He Was called to the Bar at the. Middle Temple in 1841. Haying purchased some land of the New Zealand i Company, he went out to New Zealand araonarst the earliest settlers in May, 1842. On the introduction of the new Constitution, framed by Lord Grey in IS4S, Mr Domett was appointed Colonial Secretary for the province of New Munster, and in 1851 he became Secretary for the whole of New Zealand. Later be resigned both these'-offices, and for a time accepted an inferior appointment, though with far more arduous duties, as Commissioner of Crown Lands and Resident Magistrate of Hawke's Bay. Afterwards he Was chosen to represent the town of Nelson in the House of Representatives, and in 1860 he was re-elected. In 1862, when affairs in New Zealand were in a most critical posi- [ tion, Mr Domett was called upon to form a I Government, and he succeeded in doing so. < After the resignation of his Government lie was appointed Secretary for Crown | Lands, with a seat in the Legislative, | Council, and to this there was added the post of Commissioner of Old Land Claims. In 18-5 he became Registrar-General of I Land, and fivo years afterwards he was requested to undertake the administration of confiscated lands. For the signal services rendered by him to the colony he was created a Companion of the Order of Saints Michael and George, I_S_. He retired from public duties in 1871, and • returned to England. Soon after reaching England' he published " Ranolf and Amohia—A South Sea Day Dream," 1872, a poem descriptive of the scenery of New Zealand and of the habits, legends, and i character of the Maori inhabitants. In 1877 he published a volume of poems under the title of *« Flotsam and Jetsam—Rhymes Old and New." His other works are "Venice." a poem; 1839; "Narrative of the Wairau Massacre," published by the New- Zealand Company,-1843; " Petition to the House of Commons for the recall of Governor Fit-Roy," published by the same Company; and Ordinances of New Zealand, classified," published by the New Zealand Government, 18S0. His "Ranolf and Amohia" was very favorably criticised by Browning, Tennyson, and Longicllow. The Spectator, Eccamincr. and Illustrated London News were equally warm in their encomiums.