Sir Robert Stout.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19985, 21 July 1930, Page 10

Sir Robert Stout.

The death of Sir Robert Stout, which took place in Wellington on Saturday corning, robbed New Zealand of the most distinguished survivor of the period of development which ended with the Great War. Some people would indeed say that Sir Robert was the most distinguished man in the whole course of our history, and on the test of achievements the case would be diffloult to disprove. The story begins with the arrival in Dunedin in 1864 of a half-educated boy from the Shetland Islands. It ends sixty-two years later, when Sir Robert retired from the exalted office of Chief Justice of the Dominion, after having filled the highest positions that a man can achieve by his own effort or have bestowed on him by the vote of his fellows. It is not unusual for a teacher to become a lawyer, and a lawyer a politician. It is almost incredible that a pupil-teacher from the remote Shetlands should, within two years, have begun to attract attention as a schoolmaster, that he should j?e launched, five years later, on a dazzling career as a barrister, a year after that on a distinguished political career which ended with the Premiership, and throughout all the years that followed to the very last should not once have lost the confidence of bis fellows, but as Chief Justice, Chancellor of the University, and Acting GovernorGeneral have continued to be our most exalted citizen. The mental and moral characteristics which made so remarkable -a career possible are sufficiently indicated in an appreciation, specially written for The Press,, by the Hon. W, H. Triggs, who knew Sir Robert for fifty years. It is pleasant to think that people in those parts of the South Island which Tjib Press does not reach will be able to read this fine article simultaneously with its appearance in our own columns, since it has been sent also to the Otago Daily Times (as well as to one Auckland and one Wellington paper). It will be remembered also that Sir Robert, until about a year ago, was a frequent contributor to the columns, of The Press, since he seldom read a great book or listened to a great speech without recording his personal reactions, and it was to our own Literary Page that he usually turned when he wished to find a suitable audience. Whatever is right or wrong with democracy, and with our attempts to apply it to the Dominion's difficult conditions, we can take heart when we recall this long life and the honours with which democracy crowned it.