SIR FRANCIS BELL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22830, 14 March 1936, Page 12

SIR FRANCIS BELL

Sin Francis Henry Dillon Bell, whose death we announce with regret this morning, was n figure of considerable mark in the political, professional, and municipal life of New Zealand. If it was only for a fortnight and only, as it were, by accident that he attained the highest rank of distinction in the public service, he occupied a very honourable position in the estimation of the community, and did valuable work as a Minister in an unostentatious way. Though temperamentally unsuited for the task of democratic leadership, and inclined to be conservative in some respects, he was nevertheless reasonably progressive, and it was with injustice that he was sometimes de-

scribed as reactionary. A certain fastidiousness or exclusiveness of mind and manner, not without a subtle charm of its own, helped to prevent him from winning popularity; but it is probable that popularity lay outside, the scope of his refined ambition. All his opinions were based upon logical and practical grounds, with little relation to emotional sentiment. He sat during only four sessions in the House of Representatives, and, though he proved a skilful debater, he was clearly more at home at a later period in the Legislative Council, which he led in a highly capable and acceptable manner. The tradition of the fine atmosphere of early New Zealand statecraft was in his blood, so to speak; for his father had been a member of more than one • Ministry in early days and had also been a distinguished Speaker of the House of tives. The second Sir Francis (who, prior to his acceptance of a title, was generally known as Mr H. D. Bell) won eminence in his profession, both in law and advocacy, and the Attorneygeneralship, which came to him rather late in life, had been fairly earned. He could have been a judge of the Supreme Court had he chosen, and his name was freely mentioned in connection with the chief-justiceship of the Dominion at the time of Sir James Prendergast's resignation. The prolonged Liberal predominance prevented him from entering the Cabinet until 1912. He proved an excellent administrator, shrewdy judicious, and painstaking. The. value of his counsel in the Cabinet—counsel on which.Mr Massey largely relied—could hardly be over-estimated. Finally, it will not be forgotten in Dunedin to-day that Sir Francis Bell was an "old boy" of the Otago Boys' High School—in fact, one of the very first pupils. He was chosen to preside at the memorable dinner at the time of the jubilee celebratiou, and he said that he counted it to be the greatest honour ever conferred upon him. "He had not had the fortune to live in Dunedin for years. He had passed • from the memory even of those who knew him in the old days. That he should have been borne in the memory of the school, and that they should have selected him out of so many who might more worthily and with greater right have filled the position was a tribute of which any man might be proud, and of which, at' air events, he felt proud." The same speech contained a fine passage on the higher purposes of education. Without depreciating learning, Sir Francis declared .that the true aim of the school was " the turning out of men, not of scholars.". New Zealand is distinctly the poorer to-day through the death of the most distinguished of her " older statesmen."