DEATH OF THE HON. WILLIAM SWAINSON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7191, 3 December 1884, Page 5

DEATH OF THE HON. WILLIAM SWAINSON.

It will be seen from our obituary column that one ot our oldest colonists has'been removed from onr midst by the hand of death in the person of the Hon. W. Swainson, the first Attorney-General of this colony. His face and figure were wont to be familiar to the public in the streets of Auckland, but of late years he has led a retired life./ Though originally possessing a vigorous constitution he had been gradually breaking up during the past twelvemonths.. About a week ago he caught a cold and it settled on his lungs. Dr. Haines, bis medical attendant, did allthatconld.be done, but without avail, and the deceased gentleman passed away at an early hour yesterday morning, in the 75th year of his age. During his last illness he was attended by Mrs. Outhwaite, the widow of his friend, the late Mr. Outhwaite, who came out with him in the same Teasel in 1841. , The following biographical particulars concerning the deceased gentleman will be interesting to our readers : —Mr.Swainson was a native of Lancaster. He became a member of the Inner Temple, and was appointed Attorney.General for New Zealand by Lord John Russell early in the year 1841, the colony having, as our readers ' are aware, been founded in 1840. >Mr. Swainson left England on the 9th of April, 1841, in the barque Tyne,./with hi» friend the newly-appointed Chief Justice Martin, afterwards Sir William Martin,/ The late Mr. Outhwaite, who afterwards became the first Registrar of the Supreme Court, was also a passenger. 'The Tyne reached Wellington on the 9th of August/for these were not the days of direct steamers, and even sailing vessels did not hurry themselves. <ftf ter a detention there of a month/ the Tyne sailed for Auckland, and was 19 days,between the ports/Mr..Swaineon finally landed at Auckland on the 25th of September, IS4I/ <At that time the infant capital of the infant colony was in a most primitive condition, with its one public building, a long, low, native-built hut, in which a large part of the public business in Church and State was carried, on. Post office, Police Court, .and Church were all rolled into one. On the voyage out Mr. Swainson was engaged with the Chief Justice in framing measures for establishing Courts of Judicature for the administration of justice, for providing a system of oral pleading, for the transfer of real property, for the, establishment of municipalities,' for simplifying the form and language of indictments in criminal proceedings, for the regulation of marriage, etc. /While New Zealand was a colony of a ." severe type" (a period of some fifteen years), the office of Attorney-General was more onerous and important tharyat present with responsible Government. He had not only to devise and frame every Government measure, but to take charge of them through the Counoil. When the new Constitution was brought into operation Mr. Swainsou was senior member and first Speaker of the Legislative Conncil; and in tho stormy first session of the General Assembly, 1854, he was brought into close I contact with the weil • known Edward Gibbon Wakefield/'with what result may be seen in a graphic jriemsrandum written by him and printed in extenso in " New Zealand and its Colonisation."/' Mr. Swainson continued in * the active discharge of his duties from 1841 till 1856. On tho establishment of responsible Government he ceased to be Attorney-General, but centinued for some time afterwards to he a member of the Legislative Council, and now and then acted as an honorary member of the Executive Council. Mr. Swainson took an active part in laying the foundation of the English Church in New Zaaland.j He was a member of. the Conference held in June, 1857, for devising its constitution, and took an active part in its deliberations. He was a member of the first General Synod, and framed the fundamental measures introduced at its first session, held in Wellington, in I March and April, 1859, and conducted them through'the ciynod, and was afterwards for several years a member of the Synod of the diocese of Auckland, and took an, equally prominent part in its proceedings. Mr. Swaineon was Chancellor' of the diocese of Auckland, an honorary office ho held held since 1866. Throughout the episcopate of the late Bishop Selwyn in New Zealand he wan his legal coadjutor in organising the members of the Church of England into & branch of the Mother Churob;. and in de- ; vising the measures necessary for its constitution, government, and laws. He was at one time . a frequent traveller in the bush, having traversed the length and breadth of the' North Island on foot, with,a tent and accompanied by three Maoris. Mr. Swainson mixed much with the natives, and from the earliest period was regarded by them as a friend of tbe race.j

Few people have taken a greater interest in the progress of the colony. Before leaving England and being appointed AttorneyGeneral, he had a firm faith in its future, and published a pamphlet on its climate, in which its greatness was shadowed forth. He afterwards published here anonymously a small book, descriptive of "Auckland and its neighbourhood," which was afterwards, with some- additions, published in England by Smith, Elder, and Co., under the title of " Auckland, the Capital of New Zealand and tho Country Adjacent." Iu 1555 ho went to England on leave, and spent a good deal of time in travelling about tho country, giving lectures on New Zealand, iu London, at Richmond, Bristol, Plymouth,, Hereford, Lancaster, etc., their main object being to aid in making known to the public the principles on which the islands of New Zealand were ereoted into a British colonj,. and the advantages proposed by them as a fiold for emigration. They were afterwards (1856) published by Smith, Elder, and C 0.,. and are now probably out of print. In 1859, Mr. Swaiuson published a larger work, " ifew Zealand and its Colonisation." "New Zealand and the War," published in 1862, was his latest literary work, its object being to enforce the impolicy of engaging in a costly and protracted war to gain possession of land at tbo Waitara with a doubtful title. Not long after "New Zealand and the War" was published, a proclamation appeared in tbe Government Gazette, May 15, 1863, rcoiting that an engagement had been made for the purchase of a certain tract of land at the Waitara, commonly known as Toira's block, but that the said purchase had never been completed; that all claim to tho same on the part of the Government was thenceforth renounced. r Mr. Swainson occupied the small house brought with him from England—his wellknown "cottage by the sea," at Taurarua, Judge's Bay, where, for upwards-of thirty years, he was the next door neighbour of his friend, the late Sir William Martin^ The funeral will leave his late residence at Taurarua to-morrow (Thursday) at half-past four p.m.