A SAD HOMECOMING. THE LATE PREMIER'S RETURN.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 143, 18 June 1906, Page 5

A SAD HOMECOMING.

THE LATE PREMIER'S RETURN.

A MIDNIGHT LANDING. SOLEMN SCENE AT THE WHARF. By half-past nine on Satlurday night many keen eyes peering into the gloom of the bay saw the headlights of two vessels slowly steaming in the calm. One was a warship, the Encounter, tho escorb of the Premier, who was lying dead in the Oswestry Grange. Tha man-of-war found an anchorage off Somes Island, and the merchantman halted at the mouth of Evans Bay. All day long the Tutanekai had been waiting. The steamer now moved out with members of Mr. Seddon's family and the Hon. W. Hali-Jonee. By Mrs. Seddon's wish there Wai no official public demonstration, but it was not humanly possible to prevent people from assembling by the Glasgow Wharf, where the Oswestry Grange was to be moored. When they knew that) the end of the tragic voyage had been Teached, they marched in strong cohorts, men and Women, to the water-front. At the bafle of the pier tihey were checked by a chain, A guard from the Permanent Force and police took care that no trespassers broke the cordon. The passport of duty and privilege gave many people admission to the solemn landing place but they made only small clusters of silhouettes in the great space. A detachment of the Permanent Force stood in the shadow 'of a shed. The white plumes of staff officers glinted in the gloom. Ministers of the Crown whispered to one another. There was a hush over everything. A gangway supported 1 by two cranes at the frontage attracted the watchers. It fascinated the eyes eerily* This grim pathway was tiho road by which the dead would' come afihore. Among many prominent citizens who waited here werb the Hons, A. Pitt, J< Carroll, J. M'Gowan, T. Y. Duncan, and C. Mills (members of the Ministryy^the Mayor of Wellington (the Hon. T. W. Hislop), the Hon. T. K. Macdonald (Chairman of the Harbour Board). The list) of military officers included General Babington, Colonel Chaytor, Colonel Webb, Major Joyce, Major Hume, and Captain Hughes. There wa3 an elemental stillness. Stars glittered coldly in a cloudless sky. A nipping frost was in the aif. From moment to moment the waiters expected to see tho steamer drawing in, but she tarried. . There seemed to be eternities between the <(uartter-hour chimings, Which bioke the silence thunderously. Eyes strained at the fixed lights, but there was no impatience. It wag known that) the Health Officer had''to see the passengers, and it wa& naturally perceived that other reasons necessitated delay. In tlhe meantime the sentinels gazed mechanically at the garden of lights. These gave emotions that quietly fitted with sorrowful thoughts. The water was streaked with ribbons of green, and yellow. Tho Rotomahana Went out into the night. There was a blaze of lights for a little while, evidence of gigantic energy, then darkness and stillness ; it was a lesson in life. As midnight approached the crowds by tlhe barriers were 'reinforced. At a- distance, in the dim light, the figures were like phantoms, with weird faces all looking one way, towards the gangway. At twenty minutes to Ihvelve the lights of tho Grange shifted. The vessel headed <for the sombre group of men and lamps. A sighing rose from the sea as the twin screws threshed the watbr. With quiet skill, the pilot brought the steamer alongside the staging. Mrs. Seddon descended. The sympathy of all went oub to her. Supported by her sons, Captain Seddon and Mr. T." Seddon, with the Hon. W Hall-Jones as escort, she was brought to a carriage. Then all tho members of the family drove away. Another hour passed before tlhe coffin was placed on the shoulders of a dozen men from the Permanent Force. The casket had been resting in. the saloon, and the transfer could not be effected quickly. A Union Jack draped the rest--ing place of. tihe late Premier, and "a Union Jack also covered the Toof of the hearse, behind which thef large crowd had fallen into line. Before the procession passed the Parliamentary Buildings, a roar rang out from one of the Encounter's guns. The reverberations boomed among the hills. This was the beginning of tlhe twentygun salute for the dead, Britain's tribute to the orecord of New Zealand's leader.Minute by minute the detonations of tihe artillery informed people far away that the home-coming was completed. The tolling 6f a muffled bell rose above the tramp of feet) in the densely thronged street, and then the ultilations of Maori women swelled the symphony of sad tones. Their dirge was the lament of tho native race for the lost chief. Afc last the home of the Premier was teached. The wailing of the Maoris tvas hushed. Soldiers carried the body into the house. Tho door closed"; the mourners were alone ..with there dead. • A mere description of the eventd of that sorrowful midnight can barely present a picture of the desolate scenes. They lie in the mind afterwards like the vague creations of dreams, leaving a .sen.' sation that the heart has been chilled through and through.