A SERVANT OF THE PUBLIC

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 78, 29 September 1924, Page 6

A SERVANT OF THE PUBLIC

Not only the City of Auckland, but the Dominion as a whole, will be the poorer by the death of a faithful public servant in the person of Dr. T. W. Leys, late editor and one of the proprietors of the "Auckland Star." His lifetime was spent in the service of the public in the capacity of journalist. Dr. Leys's 'Liberalism was to him a serious political faith, for he honestly believed that in supporting that party-—first with Sir George Grey and, in later years, with Mr. Seddon at its head—he was prompted by purely altruistic motives. For himselE he refused reward, at the hands of the party of his adoption,- holding that he could serve the people better from the editorial chair than from any seat in the Legislature. Time proved that he was right. As a large section of the public of Auckland and elsewhere has realised, in the person of Dr.' Leys (as in I that of other leading journalists of the Dominion) it had a faithful servant watching its best- inter- [ csts according to the utmost of his ability; one not afrad to speak out when the occasion demanded plain and vigorous speech. Journalists occupying executive positions can and generally do serve the public interest in many ways other than checking actions of party opponents or upholding party principles. They must create and maintain a personality that'speaks for the voice of their paper, expressing its consciousness and conscience and enlisting the confidence and vrcspect of its readers. Dr. Leys succeeded in all these. Tn addit'on, ho was exceedingly generous to the City of Auckland in the matters of education, art, and literature, as his services mid gifts to

the Art Gallery testify. He was a staunch upholder of the highest standards of journalistic ethics, unwritten, but recognised and gener- £% practised by the New Zealand daily Press and designed * solely in the best interests of the people as a whole.