AT KUMARA

Grey River Argus, 25 June 1906, Page 3

AT KUMARA

A service in memory of the late Mr Seddon was conducted at the Kumara Methodist Church yesterday by the Rev C. Aker. Preaching from 2 "Chronicles 25th chapter -and 24th verse _«AU- Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him"— Mr Aker said that this eulogy of one of Israel's great and popular kings who, by his great . and noble achievements; won the love and esteem of his people, was highly applicable to our. late departed Premier. It had been their recent and sad experience to have had taken from their midst one who could ill be spared The late Premier's sun had gone down while it was yet day, for his' natural strength was not .diminished nor had his eye lost it original fire. Mr Seddon had been a beloved and honored servant of the King and had endeared himself to all by the valuable labors with which his life was crowded and the many virtues that had adorned his"* private life. They might well mourn his death at such a time \ when all were looking forward with anticipa tion to possessing his valuable services for' some time to come. Mi Seddon's death had created a void in the colony arid a loss to- Kumara which they could not hope to be filled. Ht had stood head and shoulders v above his fellowmen and had been highlj honored when alive and his death wai; deeply lamented. In his attitude anc conduct among men the late Prime Minister was natural, simple and ingenuous; in conversation pleasing; he did not p/etend to refinement but was courteous and polite to' all; he possessed great knowledge 'of humanity;- he was' warm in his friendships and was sympathetic with the afflicted and suffering. As a patriot he regarded the liberty of the people af their birth-right and glory. His high est distinction was his clear, far-reacb ing, profound and powerful understanding which enabled him to seize hold of and discriminate acutely the 1 merits of various subjects in all then aspects; this ch'aracteristc also enabled him to give -his decisions with unhesitating promptness and unflincb : ing firmness. At the time of hisdeath Mr Seddon was more populai with the people than at any previous period of his life. The nations loss was a great one and all were poorei by his death. He had died at his post.; he left his life's work unfinished but lie left a noble example and a living memorial in the hearts of our young colony.. Special hymns were sung; the choii -, rendered the anthem "When the mists * have rolled away; and Mrs and Miss Aker sang the hymn, "He died at his post." The Dead March in "Saul" was played at the conclusion of the service.;

There was a very large attendance at Holy Trinity Church, Kumara, or Thursday afternoon, when a memorial servide was conducted by the Rev Mi Hore. , In the course of his address Mr Hore said that our late Prime Minister was a man, a manly man, admired and respected by all parties in the- political world ; but, best of all, he was beloved and honored in his personal life. It would be for a future generation to pass a verdict upon what was' at present considered-- the wise and far-seeing statesmanship; of Mr Seddon. This they could say: He labored for the common' good and throughout his long public career he tried, to do good. That he. was bound up in the welfare of the people was evidenced by the Old Age Pension and other acts. The shock of the news of Mr Seddon's sudden and tragic end had come to those on the West Coast not so much "in the form of the loss of a great statesman and a daring, politician as the loss of a personal friend, a father, a brother. He had endeared himself to all classes of the community and the dramatic close of his strenuous life had thrown. a profund and wide-spread gloom over the whole . country-side. That a man growing up amongst -them as one of themselves- should "have risen to fill the highest position in the land and to take his place among the greatest of the colonial statesmen of the British Empire -showed a large and noble nature: but that he should still have retained and merited the personal affection of loyal admiration of his constituents displayed a yet nobler, larger nature. With all the access of power and position that came to him with increasing years he had never forgot those among, whom his early days had been spent and who had helped him on.ward to the prominence he attained. Always ready (with his royal memory for names and faces) to give the right hand of fellowship to each' arid " all of his friends of humbler times; the little children's friend, the women's protector, the old man's doughty champion, the hale and hearty comrade— it/was all this that endeared i him so much to them on the Coast \ and made him one of themselves — united in bonds that could not be sever' ed in life and most assuredly had not been sundered in death. "He is a" poor' New Zealander who does not feel to-' day that he is the poorer by the death' of Richard John Seddon." That is true; but that he is a poor New Zealander who .does not feel to-day that he is the richer by the life of Richard John Seddon is much more emphatically true. In any State, buf more particularly in a young and fast growing colony such as this, the example of such a noble life spent in the serice of his fellows was the greatest and most valuable legacy that ht could have bequeathed to the country. The young men of the rising generation needed the example of such a life to direct, to encqurage/ to inspire them, and enable them" to live above petty self-seeking and to strive-.earn-estly to serve their country and their God. - If the example set by our late Premier helped to uplift the manhood, of New Zealand, -to produce a race of men of courage and "resolution, to generate and foster purity in* the home life and - devotion : and earnestness in" their, religious life, .then Richard -John Seddon would not have .lived in vain. .