THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 1932. WILLIAM PEMBER REEVES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21647, 18 May 1932, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 1932. WILLIAM PEMBER REEVES.

The death of Mr William Pember Reeves, which is reported by cable today, bears no relation to contemporary politics in New Zealand, for it was as far back as the middle of the closing decade of last century that the first Minister of Labour retired from the Seddon Government and from Parliament, in order to become the AgentGeneral and High Commissioner for the Dominion. But in the minds of very many people who are no longer in the bloom of youth the announcement will revive memories of a striking personality, an accomplished parliamentary gladiator, and a Minister whose name will be lastingly associated with a highly important legislative enactment. Bom and bred in New Zealand, bearing a name already honoured in journalism, Mr Reeves was, though qualified for the Bar, engaged in newspaper work during his earliest years of manhood, and his writing was characterised by pointed force and cultivated vivacity. He entered Parliament in 1887, at the same time as Sir Joseph Ward and Sir James Allen, and in his first speech he said: “ Though I am a very young member, my occupation has led me in previous years within the precincts of this House on many occasions, and I have cherished in times past what I think is a legitimate and not dishonourable ambition of some day having the privilege of addressing the House as a member.” He had other ambitions, and though some of them were realised it may be surmised that he sometimes dreamed of altitudes of political fame to which he was not destined to climb. It may be mentioned, as an early indication of his rhetorical liveliness, that in that first speech he -quoted the familiar legend about the “young lady of Riga who went for a ride on a tiger ” with fatal results—gave it, in fact, a currency which has survived to this day. And he closed with the words (in allusion to a charge, brought against Sir Julius Vogel, of having used disgraceful language): “ It cannot be disgi’acoful to speak the truth. Truth may be disgraceful here; but if truth is a degradation and disgrace, then all I hope is that this will be the most degrading and disgraceful session that has ever been held in the city of Wellington.” That maiden speech was delivered on October 14, 1887, and his last appearance in the House was on November 1, 1895—only eight years, but in that comparatively brief term no member (with the possible exception of Mr Scobie Mackenzie, who was out of Parliament during the last two years of Mr Reeves’s time) spoke with such polished and yet robust effectiveness. Many and sparkling were the parliamentary conflicts between the first native-born Minister and “ Scobie,” and the Hansard reports of their contending philippics are still well worth reading. By his forcible speeches in Opposition in the Parliament of 1887-90 Mr Reeves had clearly established his claim to inclusion in the Government formed by Mr Ballance in January, 1891, after the victory of the LiberalLabour alliance at the polls. At first he was Minister of Education and Minister of Jiistice, and in the following year he also took charge of the new portfolio of Labour. His outstanding legislative achievement was the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, which, after considerable controversy, was placed on the Statute Book in 1894, and which may be regarded as a memorial of his farsighted intelligence and bold powers of practical conception. The system may not have been as consistently successful as he hoped it would lie, but, on the whole, it justified the belief which he expressed in moving the second reading of the Bill:—“ New Zealand will have set an example to the civilised world which will be widely followed in days to come.” He added with substantial justice: “In this Bill I have endeavoured to do what is just and fair. ... I can honestly say that it was not introduced as a one-sided or class measure.” The amendments that were made in the original Act from time to time materially altered its complexion, and it may be doubted whether Mr Reeves considered these an improvement upon his measure. It was once observed that Mr Reeves was democratic by conviction, aristocratic in temperament. With all his intellectual

and rhetorical gift, there was a subacid quality in his nature, a lack of warmth and heartiness, a too prominent display of the critical note. It may have been a perception of these partly disqualifying characteristics, together with a desire to move in a broader atmosphere of intellectual life, that induced him to withdraw prematurely from the hurly-burly of party politics and to accept the AgentGeneralship in 1896. He was .at the New Zealand office in London for thirteen years, and during that time rendered acceptable service to his country. His later years were mainly devoted to economic and business interests. For eleven years he was director of the London School of Economics and before he relinquished this office he became chairman of directors of the National Bank of New Zealand—a position which he held for thirteen years and from which, while retaining his seat on the board, he retired this year, doubtless on account of failing health, for visitors to England from New Zealand had before this noticed with concern that Mr Reeves had aged to a marked extent. He wrote an excellent historical description of New Zealand (“The Long White Cloud”), and- his “ State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand” is a useful and authoritative work, but, on the whole, neither in public life nor in literature was his early promise very richly fulfilled.