STRIKING TRIBUTE

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 138, 15 May 1925, Page 3

STRIKING TRIBUTE

MEMORIAL SERVICE AT OPERA HOUSE.

ADDRESS BY REV. DUNCUMB.

“GREAT IN NEW ZEALAND’S NATIONAL LIFE."

Of an impressive nature and in full keeping with the solemnity of the occasion, the memorial.. service at the Opera House yesterday afternoon 'was one which will not be readily forgotten. Occupying the central portion of the stage was a framed photograph of New Zealand’s great statesman, draped in black velvet and with a wreath of .laurel leaves at the foot. To do honour to his memory there had assembled over 1000 townspeople, over whom the Deputy-Mayor, Cr. A. J. Graham, presided. On eaoh . side of the stage were New Zealund standards, also draped in black, while the same colour was also prominently displayed in the auditorium and proscenium.

With Cr. Graham on the stage were the Mayoress (Mrs F. J. Nathan), borough councillors, local ministers, representatives of the Headquarters staff of the Defence Department, the Municipal Band and the various church choirs under the baton of Mr J. Holmes Runnicles.

Apologies for absence were received from the Mayor, Mr F. J. Nathan, and Mr J. A. Nash, M.P., both of whom were attending the funeral service at W'ellington, and from Mr G. H. Bennett, president of the Council of Christian Congregations, who was in Napier.

The service opened with- “Lead, Kindly Light,’’ by the band and a Scripture sentence by the Rev. G. W. Dent, following which all present joined in singing "0, God, Our Help in Ages Past.” PRAYER BY REV. RUGBY PRATT. “O, God, our Strength and our Redeemer, Giver of live, Conqueror of death, we worship Thee ’in this hour lof sorrow with humbled hearts. In faith of Thy perfect mercy and wisdom, we commit to Thy holy keeping the spirit of Thy servant, William Ferguson Massey,” said the Rev. M. A. Rugby Pratt in prayer. “We bless Thy Name for the life Thou didst give to us for a season, praising Thee for the faith of Thy servant in the atonement tof Jesus Christ our Lord; and giving Thee thanks for his quenchless hope, his steadfast courage, his patient endurance and his unwearied labours. We glorify Thee for the inspiration of his example, for the grace that was manifested in his life and for the triumph Thou did-t grant hint in his death. “O, God of all comfort, Who dost bind up the broken heart, graciously sustain with Thy presence the family that is so sorely bereaved. Strengthen the _ sorrowing ones with faith, cheer them with hope; let Thy presence be felt in their loncli-nc-s; cause Thy light to shine upon the mystery of their grief, and aomfort them with tile living hope of u re-union never to be broken. May neither pain, nor aDguish, nor tribulation, lior loss separate them from Thy love.

“O, God, the King of Glory, Who didst raise Thy Son Jesus Christ from the dead, speak peace to our hearts in this troubled hour' and comfort us all with the glorious certainty of the world to ciome. Keep us in everlasting fellowship with the blessed dead, and grant us grace faithfully to fulfil our course, and to continue in Thy love until the day breaks and the shadows flee away.

“O, God of the Nations, in this shadowed day do Thou raise up for the service of our aountrv men who will lead vis in righteousness. Purify the politics of our people. May men Of influence be brave in defence of all Unit ia good. May the things that soil our nation’s life be banished from our borders. As we leave the spirit, of our departed leader in the arms of Thy everlasting love may we, with ready will, take up anew the tasks of life. May wo grow stronger in faith, purer in thought, larger in love, nobler in action, and may we all seek so to serve our country that it may become famed for the moral beauty of its sons and daughters, and that it may fulfil a worthy destiny amongst the nations of the earth, a-his we ask to the praise of Thy great Name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Following Scriptural readings by Rev. W. Fancourt and Adjutant Canty and the singing of the hymn, ’‘For All the Saints and “How Bright These Glorious Spirits Shine,’’ the Rev. C. W. Duncutnb delivered an inspiring address

“TIE PIN" IN CHARIOT OF STATE,

“To me,” said the speaker, “there has fallen the honour and great responsibility of paying Palmerston North’s tribute to the memory of our deceased statesman and national leader—William Ferguson Massey. The death of King Uzziah was an outstanding event in Jewish history; they would reckon the flight of time from the year he died. Uzziah’s death was a shaking blow to God’s chosen people, for he had so guided their destinies that prosperity was theirs. lie had been a great king; a builder and a welder, and liis name had spread far abroad. W hen he died it seemed as if the tie-pm ot state had fallen out, and consternation,

chilled the natioanl heart; they felt tno j dread uncertainty of the immediate future. I have dared to wonder if, in the years to come, we New Zealanders will do as the people of that country did—measure the passage of time by the passing of a great leader; if we shall say: _ Let me see, it was the year Mr Massey died. Uzziah was the next greatest king of Judah after Solomon, and I believe that, when the history of the past 13 years ot New Zealand’s development is written, it will be revealed that, even ..as Uzziaii was great in Judah, so has William heiguson Massey been great in New Zealand’s national life —a voritablo tio-pin ill chariot of stato, ft welder of a sound builder of intorostu, laying well &nd truly foundations upon which future generations may go on and on to erect ft sound piosperity and a new Britain beneath the Southern Cross. “HELD NO PEER.”

“I submit that among the 70 odd years of New Zealand’s Parliamentary life William Ferguson Massey, of all its leaders, has held no peer. With the name ot Richard Seddon, he captures _tho imagination as a man pre-eminently suited to mould the destinies of this new land. Virtually a son of the soil, with his interests bound up in agriculture, lie waß early fitted to be Prime Minister of a country whose fortunes are dependent on the land. Log Cabin to Wliito House’ is the title

of the biography of one of America s greatest citizens, and‘From the Haystack t Versailles and Beyond’ is a fitting tit e of the record of the 30 odd years of service rendered this country and the Empire by Mr Massey—a record which every boy should read, since it is an unblemished record of dogged courage, absolute honesty ot purpose, of tireless energy, marked patience and unswerving loyalty to that which he believed to bo right. GENIUS FOR HARD WORK. “Mr Massey may not have had the genius which is revealed in brilliant parts, but ho had the genius which a young country like Now Zealand Btands in need of—the genius for hard work. It b said that, in the days when ha was on the Opposition benches, and the House was not sitting, it was common to ;ask where Massey was, Tho reply was more often than net i ‘Oh, he’s in the library. W hile

others spent their leisure-time in pleasure, Mr Massey was storing his mind with the material which he so successfully used when Fortune’s' wheel placed him at the head of the State and demanded of him more than had ever been asked of any other cf New Zealand’s leaders.

“I have mentioned Mr Massey’s loyalty to the right. Were 1 to apply a text I would take the words of Peter and John when commanded by the Sanhedrim to ceaso preaching. ‘We ask you,’ they said, ‘whether it would he right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God; judgo ye.’ I believe that question, ‘ls it right?’ was ever the deciding factor determining his decisions, and men everywhere had come to trust him, even though they might disagree with him. Mr Massey was an outstanding illustration of tHo truth that

‘The heights by great men reached and kept Were not attained by sudden flight, But they, while their companions Were toiling upwards in the night.

“In matters of trade dispute, and as a member of the Imperial War Cabinet, and as a delegate at the Peace Conference, Mr Massey was gladly welcomed as arbitrator because of his recognised sound cominonsonso and scrupulous fairness so far as he understood the position.

FROM FARM TO COURT OF NATIONS

“It is not expected of me, I am sure, to trace in detail every step taken by this son of Ulster from the farm at Mangero to the Court of Nations in the most momentous duys of history and to the Premiership of this fair land. But every phase of his career—whether it be the record of his early efforts to servo the community as a school committee man or a road board member, or bis continual diligence and industry in Opposition, or his courage and tenacity of purpose, intense loyally to idealism and his absolute irinocency of self-seeking when in power—every. phase of his career, I repeat, is a fitting examplo to every young New Zealander to follow, however humble his station in life may be. “The Great War of 1914-1918 was the furnace in which many reputations utterly perished; others were badly tarnished, while others came far from obscurity to shino forth as the purest -gold. Among the latter was our esteemed Prime Minister. Even so our New Zealand Division on Gallipoli, in Palestine and Flanders made for themselves an imperishable name and a place for this country among the world’s nationals, Mr Massey, but new to office, consolidated New Zealand’s position by each successive decision to which he lent himself from his first decision l ‘to throw in our lot with the Motherland for weal or woe,’ to the decisions lie made respecting repatriation and after-war settlement, which find no equal in the Empire and which involved serious grappling with the intricacies of national finance and the delicate, risky enforcing of economies upon tlio community. When every war Prime Minister had passed from the stage —two stricken with death under the strain —Mr Massey still carried on until to-day, in the goodness of God, we find ourselves among the most prosperous of the peoples of our far-flung Empire. “It may not be generally known that Mr Massey was a vice-president of the British Israel Association, which lias as its basic idea the belief that Britain is of the lost ten tribes of Israel and is therefore heir to the promises the Lord God Jehovah made to Abraham and his seed. Perhaps hero Mr Massey received much of his enthusiasm for the British Empire; certainly, he impressed one with the thought that he believed that tile British Empire bud a great place in God’s plan for the peoples of the globe. As u statesman he may not have quite caught the imagination as did Cecil Rhodes, but even so Britain and the Empire in him a robust Imperialist of the practical type, and Britain will ever regard him as one of her most illustrious sons, to whom she and the Empire, as well as the country he has served faithfully and so long, owe an unpayable debt.

AN HONOURED MAN. “Leading: cities of . Britain honoured him with their freedom.; a Belgian decoration was in his possession; and I can well believe that His Majesty the King would have been delighted to have honoured him with the highest of honours too, but Mr Massey sought them not. Now he has passed into the august presence of a majesty, greater far even than that of the King of England and ruler of our Empire. Ho bus been ushered into the presence of the King of Kings, and I do solemnly believe that, when all the hay and stubble of William Ferguson Massey’s character has 1 teen removed, there will he ample gold remaining to merit Him who shall faithfully reward those who serve their God and their fellows without stint in time saying: ‘Welt done; thou hast been faithful in many things. Enter thee now into the joy of thy Lord.’ If, as some seem to think, the heavy burden imposed by the war years and the postwar re-adjustments, so magnificently _ and unceasingly borne by our Prime Minister, weakened his system and left him an easy prey to the disease which laid him low, so that ho in reality gave his life for his country, then I can fittingly close with the words of Robert Louis Stevenson:

‘Gladly did I live; gladly I die I lay me down with a will.’

“That God may in his infinite graciousness comfort those who mourn his loss, and that He will help us to worthily take up the burden and carry on should be the earnest prayer of everyone.” The Rev. J. H. Bredin led the gathering in prayer, following which the hymn “Now the Labourer’s Task is O’er” was sung.

The service concluded with the pronouncing of the Benediction by Rev. M. Christensen and the playing of the “Dead March” by the band. •

FEILDING MEMORIAL SERVICE. I (From Our Own Correspondent.) In spite of the wet weather prevailing there was a large attendance at the memorial service held in Feilding yesterday in honour of the memory of the late Prime Minister. The marshal, Major W. H. McLean, M.C., got the procession into order and it moved off promptly at 2 p.m,, headed by the Feilding Brass Band, Following the band wero the members of the R.S.A., Boy Scouts, Masonic fraternity. Oddfellows, Druids, Territorials, High School girls and boys, and children of tYio primary schools and the Salvation Army Band. Both bands played appropriate music in turn while en route to tne monument.

On arrival at the latter spot, the members of the Ministers Association, Roys. J. Adams, A. Mitchell, T. Miller and R. Gardiner, along with His Worship the Mayor (Mr W. E. Carthew) and C'rs. Sutton and Sandilands and Mr J. S. Tingey ascended the dais.

Beforo commencing the service, Rev. Mr Miller said that, among the glories of the nation, not the least was this —that through our sufferings we raised men of the highest integrity to positions of trust. In the late Prime .Minister we had this exemplified in the highest degree. In his private life he was esteemed and honoured and his domestic life was one lof peace and harmony, while in his public life his personality was remarkable for its integrity, for to nil men his word was his bond. Commerce was built ou honour between men and our nation required this in her public men. One of the late Mr Massey’s strongest political opponents has testified that his word was always to be trusted. The service they proposed to hold was to honour him not only as a man, but also as the elected head of the nation. The speaker prayed God Ho would never ooaso to raise men whoso word could bo truntod. Wo needed men of strength and determination, and whom spoils of office and monoy could not buy, Tha country’s lsuder had fullen, but God endureth tor

ever. The .speaker finished by quoting a verse from Julia Ward Howe: —

In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea, With a glory- on His bosom that transfigured you and me. As He died to make us holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on.

The service- was then proceeded with, the older being: Hymn, “Now the Lab ourer’s Task is O’er”; Prayer, Rev. J, Adams; Scripture reading, Rev. A. Mitchell; hymn, “Rock of Ages”; hymn, “The Sands of Time are Sinking”; Benediction, Rev. C. D. Gardiner; Dead March. MAYOR’S ADDRESS.

The Mayor gave a. most impressive address. He commenced by saying that nearly 19 years ago a similar service had been held in honour of Richard John Seddon, another of our Premiers who had passed away in harness. To-day they were met to puy tribute to the memory of William Ferguson Massey who, after 111 years of political life, for 13 of which h« was Prime Minister, had passed away. The Jate Mr Massey was essentially- u son of the people and, a thorough democrat, for notwithstanding thut His Majesty the King had been pleased to create him a Peer of the Realm, he preferred to remain a man of the people. They revered and honoured his nuino as a statesman rather than us a politician. During the very trying time of the war he had proved himself as a strong man and since peace had been declared he had come right to the front as u statesman. On tuking up his Ministerial duties the late Prime Minister stated: “So far as the future is concerned, whether our term lof office is long or short, our highest ambition will be to say that we have lived up to our beliefs and we hqjsn to leave the country a better place than we found it.” They had lost the leader they had trusted for so many years, but they liked to think of Ihe strength he showed. “We feel,” continued the speaker, “that something of life lias passed from us, but let us remember he was big in form, big' in mind and a man who had a wonderful knowledge of the Book of Books. Mr, Massey was a true Briton —a plain, simple honest citizen —and this explains why he won and held the people. Our hearts go out to his brave widow and family who have sacrificed so much to allow their husband and father to do li is /duty.’’ The monument at Point Halswell would be erected more for the benefit of other generations; this one certainly did not need any to keep him in remembrance, concluded the speaker.

SORROW IN AUCKLAND

AUCKLAND May 14. The memorial service as a combined tribute to the late Prime Minister, held in the’ Town llall Ibis afternoon concurrently with the funeral of the dead statesman in Wellington, wus a most impressive one. The largo hall wus well filled some time prior to the commencement of the proceedings, the gathering being representative of all classes of the community and all shades of political thought. Most of those present were in mourning and there were numerous manifestations of universal sorrow. The solemnity of the occasion was evidently- felt by tlie huge congregation, there being a tense atmosphere reminiscent of thut experienced on such memorable occasions as tho Anzac Day ceremonies. Ministers of all denominations took part in tho service and also in the outdoor service in Albert Park. Services were also held in most of the churches and the minutes’ silence at one o’clock was solemnlyobserved.

Memorial services were also held in manyother towns throughout the Dominion, the day being universally observed as one of mourning.