“IN MEMORIAM.”

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4493, 22 October 1901, Page 4

“IN MEMORIAM.”

Nine days is, in the popular idea, , the limit to the memory of most men* and things. It is nine years since that af» ternoon when the terribly sudden death of Sir Harry) Atkinson was announced; but. Sir Harry has not been forgotten. That fact the proceedings at the unveiling of his bust in the Parliamentary lobby, the other day, have preyed conclusively. What is more, Sir Harry ought;, never to be forgotten ,in New Zealand, so long as the marble endures in which his resolute, noble features are so splendidly preserved. His memory deserves to be held in remembrance lor many reasons, which Captain Russell, his remaining colleague, stated very fully in' the remarkably graceful and feeling address he contributed to the unveil., ing ceremony. Of these none strikes the public so much ’.n thpse days of South African battle as that one which is supplied by Sir Hurry’s military career and character. Well known in his own country, and to the soldiers of the Queen, who respected him greatly, he appeared before the Auckland public in 1863 an unknown man. 'Ho made an impression at once, as Captain Russell described; but in a few weeks be proclaimed a new epoch. Mr - eld Had begun his agitation for the famous selfreliance policy. Harry Albert Atkinson went to his support with all the vigour and determination which had marked him in the field. The House and country were not long in. finding out that the man who spoke so stirringly about dig. carding the Imperial troops, and fight., ing our own battles on our own soil, was the first colonial soldier of his time. He stood before the House as the hero qif a dozen pitched battles, the organiser and commander of the best force the country had ever seen till then, a bornsoldier, tactician, and leader of men; and since that day, we may add, no better commander or body of soldiery have ever arisen in New Zealand. His speech on the Militia Act was therefore listened to, and ft "proclaimed a »ew

era,” as was said at the time. That speech settled the public mind, and selfreliance became a fact, and did its uork vitli full success. Its fruit is the readiness of our young men to help the Empire. The highest proportion of mili.. tary contingents to population is the testimony of history to the value ct sdfrclianco in New Zealand.

Sir Harry Atkinson was, of course, the first Defence Minister under the new policy; but ho was destined to face an uphill fight. It is carious that ho fell a victim to an Auckland cabal at the very outset of his career. Auckland had certainly a serious grievance, in the shifting of the capital to Wellington! The point, however, is that Auckland, even in those days, could stick together and take vengeance. Unit £act> and financial depression, a thing which Sir Hprry had to encounter fre.. qucntly in later years, drove him from his first office in 1860. For four years ho helped the Ministries that carried on tho •’self-reliant policy, and then, in 1860, ho temporarily disappeared from tho political horizon. 'When', in 1873, ho returned, 1 the great public works policy had been launched, and before many years he had to bear on his broad shoulders the consequences of the rather too rapid career that followed the launch., ing. In 1874 he. joined the Ministry, and the next year he, as Colonial Treasurer, astonished the world by his mastery of the colonial finances. : In this, as in the military side of his- history, Sir Harry has remained unsurpassed. Tho provinces were to bo abolished that year. Other men 'had sent forth tho fiat. Tho details wero left to the corstructive power and well-known courage of Sir Harry Atkinso*n, and nobly he did what was expected of him. The reaction came soon after, searched tho colony in the earlier eighties, and taxed all the vigour and courage of Sir Harry to steer the country through its difficul. ties. A second time that task descended on., him, 1887—and what these tasks entailed cn that strong constitution, driven by .that iron will, supported by that high sense of duty, lightened only by his own courageous and cheerful disposition, no one knew till the last years, and many failed to realise till they hoard of that sudden coming of his “marching orders.” Some men have served the State as strenuously-as Sir’ Harry Atkinson; there were always good men, after even Agamemnon; but; no man over spent himself more. His reward from over the sea was singularly belated, for knighthood did hot come till 1888 to the man who had- amply won it in 1863. His only reward in t-ho colony was even more delayed, for it was not til) Sir Harry foil into feeble health that the colony discovered that it loved and venerated him a, 3 one of its greatest and best. Liberal he was in his political views', in the truest sense, hut he was often unfortunate in not being able to give, his mind free play. New Zealand jiow enjoys'the boon of old age pensions, but he ' worked hard in that direction before public opinion was ripe, tor the question. < -He was the first, to bring down a labour 'measure. Many differed from him’; all admired him ; and all regretted that though no man had worked harder for the public, no man ever got less for himself. He will live in our history 8,3 one of the great men who woro his life out in hard harness; hut this hbnour his memory will enjoy with others- His special distihqjlfn will be that he will he known as l one, ot the great figures of tho fighting days of the past—as the greatest soldier that New Zealand produced in the first sixty years of her history—as the foremost among the many sterling men who cheerfully undertook the task, unprecedented among colonies, of self-reliance, and by bo doing hardened the spirit and in., creased the loyalty of the people of this country.