The Press. FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 1894. SIR JOHN HALL.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 8738, 9 March 1894, Page 4

The Press. FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 1894. SIR JOHN HALL.

The elector* of Sir John Hall's old district of EUeamere have <j[oqe well to mark their appreciation of thac gentleman's services to the colony. The gathering on night, w« are pleased to say, waa a thoroughly representative one. Political friends and political opponents met together, and united in heartily expressing their warm admiration of Sir Jqen Hall, both as a colonist end as a publio man. Few gentlemen have had the pleasure as Sir John has had oi looking hack on auch a career aa his. Since his election to tho House of Representatives at the end of 1855 for "Christchurch Country District," he has heen a member of every one of the ten Parliaments that have met; and, with three short intervals, he has sat either in the nominated or elected Chamber for very nearly forty years. These intervals were caused, one by & forced business visit to England in IS6O, and two by illness brought on by continuous over - work at his Parliamentary duties. And concurrently with his work in the General Assembly he took part—and no minor one either—in our Provincial Councils so long aa they lasted. Elected a member of the first Council for " Christchurch Country District," in 1853, he g«t iv successive Council* with few intervals till the aholi.

tion of Protinciaiisai. Even the duties attached to those two large spheres of usefulness were not sufficient to exhaust his power for work or to satisfy his desire to serve his fellows. He was Cbairmau of the first Municipal Couucil of Cijristcharch. For many years he sat as .Resident Magistrate for Lyttelton and Christchurch, besides holding the positions of Sheriff and Commissioner of Police. He brought the Road Board system into work in Canterbury under the Hoad Beards Districts Ordinance, ISB3. He inaugurated the county system of government iv Westland as first Chairman of the county, and he was Chairman of the Selwyn County Council irom the establishment of the county till he took office as Premier of the colony in 1879. A sketch of Sir John Hall's public career would be almost a resttme of the political and social history of the colony. The mere enumeration of his various terms of office, colonial aud provincial, makes a record sufficiently large and important to shed honour on the lives of a dozen ordinary citizens. He was elected member of the first Provincial Council of Canterbury in 1553. sitting for Christchurch Country District, and was re-eleoted ia 1855. In February, 1855, he took office aa Provincial Secietary, but resigned that position and his seat on the Provincial Executive in the following May. At the dissolution of the first New Zealand Parliament ia 1855 he was elected member for Curia toburch Country District in the House of Representatives, thus obtaining a seat when representative institutions in the colony were only in their third year— ia their very infancy. Since then, as we have said, he has -at almost continuously, and seen them grow till the preaenc full constitutional liberty was obtained. In May, 1853, he was appointed Colonial Secretary for New Zealand, but resigned that office after only a short tenure. He waa appointed Rasideut Magistrate for Lyttelton, also Sheriff aud Commissioner of Police, in November, 1856 ; Resident Magistrate for the colony in April, 1857 ; and Resident Magistrate for Christchurch Dktriot in 1858; holding these offices till July, 1863, when he resigned them. In 18G0, being compelled to visit England, he resigned his seats in the Provincial Council and in the House of Representatives, and on his return to the colony ho was summoned to the Legislative Council ia July, 1862. In December, ISG3, he wa3 elected a member of the Provincial Council for Mount Cook district, and in tho following March waa appointed member of the Provincial Executive, accepting the position of Secretary for Public Works. In M&j, 1864, he resigned his seat in the Proviucial Couucil (as was then required by the Canterbury law) and was re-elected by the Mount Cook constituency in June, 186_, and again chosen by the came provincial constituency at the election in May, J 865. In the following month he succeeded Mr. Rolleston as Commissioner of the Canterbury Waste Lands Board. Early in 1566 he resigned the Secretary ship for Public Works, tbe Commissionership of Waste Lands, and his seat in the Provincial Council. He also ac this time resigned his seat ia the Legislative Council, and was elected member for the Heatbcofee district iv the House of Eepresentatives, after an unusually hot coutest. Iv July, 1866, he waa elected to the Provincial Council aa member for Rakaia. At about the same time he joined the Hon. E. W. Stafford's Colonial Ministry as Postmaster-General and Conimissioner of Telegraphs. In 1867 he represented New Zealand at the Melbourne. Inter-Colonial Conference on Ocean Postal Servicea. In 1868 he acted as Colonial Treasurer, and made the colonial Financial Statement to the House, in the absence of Mr. Fitzhsrbert. In June, 1869, he resigned office with Mr. Stafford and | hia Ministry. At the general election in 1871 he was for the aecond time returned to the House by the Heathcote constituency, but resigned his Beat in July, 1872, and was appointed member of the Legislative Council, representing the FuxVoGEit Government in the Council ab Minister without which posi- j ticm he resigned on the defeat of this Ministry, which was succeeded by the Stafford Government. After the defeat of the Stafford Ministry, and oq the formation of the one by Mr. WatbrhoCse, he was appointed Colonial Secretary in October 1872, but ill-health compelled him to resign office in the following year. He soon after visited England, aud returned in 1875. Beingstill a member of the Legislative Council he was appointed a member of the. Colonial Executive Council without portfolio in tha Atkinson Ministry in September, 1876, In 1873 Sir George Grey having secured a Sir John Hall resigned hi* seafe in tha Legislative Council and stood for the Selwyn district iv the House, and waa elected. He was soon oho-eu leader of the Opposition, and |baying defeated Sib George; Grey he took office as Premier, filling also for gome time the offices of Colonial Secretary* Post-master-General. and acting Minister for Public Works. In 1882 ill-health again compelled him to resign hia official positions, and he went to England. Oa his return to New Zealand he was re-elected member of the House of Representatives for Sehvyn. In 1890 he represented;" New Zealand at the Federal Conference held ia Melbourne, and at the General Elections in the same year he was returned to the House for EUesmare* retaining that seat till the dissolution a few months ago. For many years past Sir John waa the only member of the House of Representatives who sat in the early Parliaments of the. colony, and he was thus for a long time the father of the House, Truly a great record this. Elected time after time by majorities of his fellow settlers, to whom bis life had been an open book, to both our Provincial and Colonial Legislatures, he has filled in the one many positions of responsibility and honour, and in the Other he has held successively almost every post of arduous duty and honour open to citizens, up- to the highest one of Premier of the colony—and filled tham so aa to win the respect of his political opponents, and the warm regard and; admiration of his friends, A dozen times or more he has challenged at the polling booth the veniiet of hia countrymen on hia public

aots *od private life. Not one rebuff has he met with, UQt one def#&fc ia there ou his record of appeals to his electors. Not ouce has the answer been other than such as a man of the highest! ability and integrity couid accept with pride and pleasure. We congratulate him on hia well spent life of work and on his wail merited honours; and we are proud that it is of a New Zealand statesman we-cau give such a summary of an unusually leogthy and honourable political career.