THE PREMIER'S LAST WORDS IN PUBLIC.

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

THE PREMIER'S LAST WORDS IN PUBLIC.

EMBAfitflNG ON THE OSWESTRY GEANOB. THE VOYAGE AOEOSS. " I thank you very much. Under the circumstances I should not havo thought of addressing you" here, but taking into consideration the extreme lateness of the hour yoiir Welcome is all tho more appreciated And I am very much obliged to you," This simple and brief speech addressed to the steerage" passengers oh board tho Oswestfy Grange, prior to her departure. I fr"om Sydney for Auckland in the early hours of Sunday morning were, according to one of tho passengers, undoubtedly the last words spoken by" the late- Pre* mier in public Interviewed by a Post reporter yesterday morning our informant said "'Mr. Seddon and his party arrived t\i> the Woolloomooloo wharf about 2 a.m. He courteously paused oh the gangway whdn going aboard the ship in order" that some enterprising photographer might take a flashlight pictuftf of his leave-taking of Australia. Mr. ScddOh thofl appealed t6 bo in the best of health, and as bo reached tho deck a number of steerage passengers — who had haard of his achievements and Avere on their way to ttio country which wa« already known to thorn aa Seddonland, to start life afresh— gave him a rousing cheer. Mr. Seddon was pleased at this xinlooked-fof receptidrt, and it was then, according to dtif informant, that he- gavo utterance to the Words quoted ftbore. " When he cam© on board he- was .walking slowly," tho same- authority said. " Be. &poko to two women- iiv the , steenyw, mtido the remark tiiafc it. was,

a iine night, and then went back to the saloon. About 6 o'clock on Sunday morning. T am told, the Premier was astir. He got up, after having had a restless night, and had v. cup of coffee. The doctor was about in the morning, and it was noticed that he went to and from the surgery on several occasions. 1 noticed further that he was rather sadlooking. Cut whether this points to the supposition that the Premier had been really unwell during tho early part of Sunday I am unable to say authoritatively." Tho first intimation that anything was> wrong reached the steerage passengers about 7 o'clock. They detected that tho ship's course had been altered, and enquiries elicited information of a somewhat indefinite character that the Promier .was unwell, and that they had decided to return to Sydney to procure tlie best medical advice obtainable. Every pound of steam was put on, and the boat was inside the Heads at 7 a.m. At 8.20 the pilpt was alongside, and Mr. Biggs, chief steward, and Mr Stuart Seddon went ashore to convey the 6ad news to Mr. Seddon's family and the Government of New Zealand. The Oswestry Grange anchored in the harbour, and no communication was allowed with the shore. The coffin was brought aboard later in the day, and the body was embalmed on board the ship. All day long one of the Harbour Board launches was. plying to and fro. Members Of the New South Wales Government came on board to pay their last respects to the memory of the man who had left them only a day previously after having what was really a triumphal toUr through the country. The membera of the Premier's family and a, number of close acquaintances and friends also visited the ship to condole with Mr. Seddon's grief-stvricken relatives on board. When at last th© boat was turned towards New Zealand's shores the grief and gloom was indescribably sad. what a contrast to the previous leave-taking! On the voyage across tho Tasman Sea, the steerage passengers sent the following letter to Mrs. Seddon, on the suggestion of an old New Zealander, who was travelling from London to his native land:-— " We, the undersigned, bep to offer you our most sincere and heartfelt sym path,y in connection with the terrible loss you have sustained by the death of your beloved husband,' the Right Hon. R. J. Seddon. We cannot but expressour deep regret that such a sad event should have occutred on board." Mrs. Seddon was much touched by the tribute, and deputed Mr. Andrews, one of Mr. Seddon's private secretaries, 'to personally convey to the passengers her appreciation. By command of the captain, the steerage passengers were later assembled on deck, and there Mr. Andrews briefly and feelingly acknowledged on behalf of Mrs. Seddon their kind expression of sympathy. The voyage to Wellington, our informant stated, was a good one so far as weather conditions were concerned. Outside Wellington on Saturday the wate_r was slightly rough, but it did not materially interfere with the progress of the ship. Bilt it was a sad passage. All amusements were suspended, and everybody felt that a calamity had befallen the ship. A PRIVATE SECRETARY'S ACCOUNT. An account of the journey from Sydney in the Oswestry Grange was given i to a Post reporter oy Mr. F. J. Andrews, private secretary to the late Premier, and a friend of many years' standing. Everybody on board, he said, Was most kind — from the captain to the cabih-boy. The saloon was placed at the sole disposal of Mrs. Seddon and her family, the other saloon passengers and j the officers kindly finding 'quarters elsewhere. Mrs. Seddon never left the body of her late husband from the time we left Sydney till She went ashore at Wellington, and scarcely would sue 'take any rest. The same with the other members ot the family ; none of them ever left him, and Mr, Matthews (the other secretary) and myself also paid the sarno tribute. It was a painful trip, said Mr. Andrews in conclusion, but the heavy blow Was considerably lessened by the exceptional kindness of Captain Taylor and his officers arid everyone concerned. chief stewarFinterviewed. Mr. Biggs, the chief 6tewaTd of the Oswestry Grange, told a Post reporter that there hud been no premonition whatever of the Premier's death. Mr. Seddon came on board at) midnight on Saturday apparently in good health, though he looked somewhat worn after his aorduous work of the two previous weeks. On Sunday at noon he had a hearty lunch, and "was seen about in the afternoon. AboUb 6 o'clock ho " had dressed for 1 dinner, and was sitting in bis cahin talking tto Mrs. Seddon. Suddenly he was seized with a fainting fit, and, leaving over on his wife's shoulder, exlaimed, "Oh, mother!" and collapsed. At first it was thought he had merely fainted, and the ship's doctor was hastily summoned. Recuperative measures wer> being employed when he arrived, but a glance at the prostrate figure was sufficient to convince him that all h6pe was at an end. Mr. Biggs did not care to enter into parWiculftTs of the melancholy jind sadly impressive scene which followed. At Mrs. Seddon's request the fact that the Premier had died was not given out on board. The steerage passengers were not made aware of what had happened, the intelligence being confined to tho officers and the ealoou passengers. Immediately the ship's course was altered, and 1 the big liner, with her flag fluttering at halfmast, commenced to slowly plough her ! way back to Sydney. ! That journey of 140 odd miles will nob be readily fdrgotten by Mf. Biggs. The news gradually leaked out and the whole sbjp was thrown into an inexpressible gloom. They reached Sydney in a truly funereal atmosphefe. It was a foggy morning, cold, with drizzling rain. Depression seemed to be everywhere. The very elements appeared to be in keeping j witlh their return to port. i What followed has already been told by cablegram. "I hardly care to speak about the voyage," said Mr. Biggs. ''It has been the saddest trip of my life." THE SHIP'S DOCTOR. Sr. Minchin, the medical officer of th» Oewestry Grange, Was approached by a Port reporter aftler the boat arrived with I the Premier's body op board. "My lips are dosed," he said in answer to a question, "I can say nothing." Discussing the voyage from iSydney* to Wellington, he said the bearing of the passengers on boatd was just what it should have been under such sad circumstances. Grief reigned throughout the ship? everybody seemed to have suffered a personal loss. AN IMPRESSIVE SIGHT. j ON BOARD THE OSWESTRY GRANGE. When the Grange liner arrived at tfic wharf oft Saturday evening; the leaden coffin containing the body, of the late Premier Was brought aft from the saloon and placed oft the lower deck inside a cafivas awning, there to* be placed in the oaken case which had been placed on board by the Tutanekai. Viewed from the upper deck the sight was one which, will not be readily forgotten by those who witnessed it. The Hon. Mr. Htvli-

Jones and other members of the Ministry, with the deceased's sons and some personal friends and close acquaintances stood reverently by while this last sad duty was being carried out. Before the lid of the coffin was placed in position, the flag covering the leaden case was removed and the members of the Ministry were given an opportunity of having a fleeting glance at the features of their late colleague and chief through the glass plate. There in the still darkness surrounding the big liner, the features, savo for the unnatural pallor, looked strikingly reposeful in tho subdued glare of electric lights from above. No word was spoken. Two thousand people, away on the horizon of the hight, it seemed, waited in silence for the cortege to arrive. A squad, from the Permanent Artillery, helmeted and wearing heavy overcoats, marched up the gangway, the canvas covering around the little space where the coffin lay was removed, and the military shouldered the remains, enthroned with the New Zealand flag, and walked slowly down to the waiting hearse on the wharf. Back in the 1 darkness about fifty or sixty steerage passengers, —many of them immigrants to this -land—stood along the rail of the fore deck; and every head was uncovered until the-solemn procession disappeared in the night.