THE LATE MR G. E. HAUGHTON.

Evening Star, Issue 12173, 18 April 1904, Page 4

THE LATE MR G. E. HAUGHTON.

The announcement of the death of Mr Charles Edward Mallard Haughton will be the cause of considerable regret. .Mr Haughton was an old resident of Otago, and was widely known in various circles. He was horn in New South Wales, but returned early to England with his parents. He was educated at Oxford (where he graduated as M.A.), with the end in view of entering the Anglican Church. After be had won his degree he was appointed chaplain on board H.M.S. Queen. He served in this bhip throughout the Crimean War, for which be obtained the medal. He Avas subsequently appointed as chaplain and naval instructor of H.M.S. Euryalus- (Captain Tarleton), where he was specially selected as tutor in navigation and mathematics to his late R.BL the Duke of Edinburgh, who served on the ship as a naval cadet in those days. The Euryalus was then on the Indian station. Eventually he left the navy (at about this time he "went over " to Rome, largely through the instrumentality of the Rev. Father Newman), and came to the colony in 1853, settling in the Lakes district as a mining agent with the Late Mr Henry Manders, who, strangely enough, was his successor both in the editorial chair of the ' Wakatipu Mail' and in the representation of the Wakatipu electorate in the House of Represent.irives. It was at Queenstown that Mr Haughton had his first connection with journalism. His political career began in the Provincial Council of Otago as one of the members for the Wakatipu. He filled for a time the Chairmanship of Committees with conspicuous ability, and was Secretary for Goldfields in a short-lived Government, of which Mr E. B. Cargul was the head. In the wider arena of colonial politics he was a notable figure for some time. He was a faithful follower of Sir Edward (then Mr) Stafford in the sixties, and when that Minister refused to recommend the Governor to delegate certain powers to Mr James Macardrew as Superintendent of Otago. Mr Haughton, along with other supporters of the then Administratiou, was made tofrel the weight of popular indignation, which assumed a very pronounced form. As principal whip of the Stafford Government, Mr Haughton saw a lot of active work in sessions when party warfare was very keenly he was stoutly Conservative, was a firm believer in the Public Works policy of Mr Vogel, which he aided to carry, and to his credit be it always remembered that both in the Provincial Council and on the floor of the Assembly he spoke in favor of and supported many of the measures now accredited to the Liberals—especially the project of the close settlement of the land, the deferred payment system, and the original factory legislation of Mr J. Benn Bradshaw and Sir J. L. C. Richardson. Tn 1872 he resigned, having been appointed UnderSecretary of Immigration and Mines by the Fox-Vogel Government, and his seat for Wakatipu was filled by the late Mr V. Pyke, whose principal opponent on that occasion was the late Mr James Macassey. In 1876 he retired from the service of the Colonial Government. There were not many men in Otago in those days who were better able to " run " an election than Charles Haughton, and many capital stories conld be told of his finesse and resourcefulness both as a whip and as a party organiser. It is related, for example, that on one occasion, wnen there was a warm contest going on between squatterdom and the party of close settlement on the Otago goldfields, Mr Haughton "engineered" about seventy miners, who under their miners' rights voted for him on one side of a certain river, and were immediately afterwards ferried across to do similar duty for the successful candidate in the adjacent electorate. And when Mr Macassev wooed in vain the electors of Mount Ida 'in 1869, it was Mr Haughton who took charge of the campaign, addressing meetincs alf over the electorate, and practically won the seat for Mr D. H. Morvyn. As a speaker he wns much above the average, and if he was not'capable of oratorical flights he never failed to conv.nand respectful attention, for he always expressed himself in elegant English, and in debute conld be courteous to a degree and caustic to a fault, as many who dared to cross swords with him learned to their cost, as they rarely essaved a second encounter. After retiring from the political arena ho attached himself to the staff of the Wellington 'lndependent,' and when he made his permanent home in Dunulin at the back end of the seventies he joined tho literary staff of this journal. For upwards of thirty years his pen was at the service of the ' Evening Star,' and It may be said with frankness and honesty that his ripened judgment, intimate knowledge of colonial affairs, and able reasoning powers influenced in no small decree the formation of a sound public opinion in Dunedin during many critical periods in Otago's history. He met with a severe accident in the "Octagon a couple of years ago, and never recovered from its effects. He was last at his chambers on Saturday week. On Monday he took to his bed, and never rose from* it, his death occurring at 11.45 p.m. on Saturday. The interment took place in tho Northern Cemetery yesterdav afternoon, it having been tho wish of the deceased that he should bo buried without any delay. Among thofo present at the graveside were a few of his old political' associates, some personal friends, the representatives of the various departments of the ' Evening Star' and Mr Fredk. Mallard (his sole relative in this part of the world, who was chief mourner). The Rev. Father Murphy officiated at the grave. As soon as he heard of the decease, Sir Joseph Ward telegraphed from Inve'rcargill: " I much regret to learn of Mr Haughton's death."