DEATH OF DR GIBB

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22711, 25 October 1935, Page 8

DEATH OF DR GIBB

The Rev. Dr James Gibb, whose death we announce with regret, was for a good many years the most conspicuous clerical figure in the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand. He had what may fairly be termed a Dominion reputation, and his prominence was furthered by the fact that he lived and laboured for an extended period in each of the two islands. It

was in Dunedin that he made his name, so to speak, and here he is honourably remembered as a zealous minister of religion, a warm-hearted philanthropist and a broad-minded public-spirited citizen. The high traditions of First Church, so intimately associated with the beginnings of the history of Otago, were worthily maintained during his pastorate of seventeen years, and there can be no doubt that his removal to Wellington left a noticeable gap in Dunedin, His temperament was somewhat combative, and controversial activity, both religious and secular, was not wholly to his distaste. He was rather impetuous in some of his public utterances, and he had a pungent quality of crusading enterprise. Crusaders are liable to provoke hostility, but Dr Gibb’s antagonists never questioned his sincerity. If he liked to be prominent, as he probably did, he never coveted mere popularity, never shrank from championing the cause of a minority if he , believed it to be the cause of reason and righteousness. If he was not a trained scholar - or a profound thinker or a very accomplished preacher and orator, he possessed an excellent power of giving* telling expression to'what Lord Morley once termed “ the generous commonplace.” He may not have been entirely exempt from human foibles, but his critics—and he had a considerable number of critics —could not help acknowledging the essential warmth and brotherliness of his disposition, the earnestness of his devotion to church and people, the genuine fire of his passion for the betterment of humanity. He will be missed in Wellington, as he was missed in Dunedin years ago, and he will be remembered in his own church as a man who was one of its most conspicuous personalities. We feel that New Zealand has lost a man who served his generation with unremitting fidelity.