SIR F. D. BELL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2181, 19 December 1895, Page 10

SIR F. D. BELL.

fIR FRANCIS DILLON BELL was born near London in 1822. His connection with the colony is of the earliest and closest. When a youth of seventeen he became Assistant Secretary to the New Zealand Company, which was then commencing its colonizing opeiations. Accredited by the company, and acting as representative for many of the absentee Nelfeon landholders, Mr. Bell sailed for New Zealand in the Qrsula, arriving at Wellington in September, 1843, three months after the terrible Wairau massacre. The very graphic account he gave of Governor Fitzroy's interview with the chief Rauparaha, one of the principal actors in the affray, does not place the Governor's attitude in a creditable light. Business connected with land purchase now engrossed most of his time. In 1847 he was appointed the company's Resident Agent at New Plymouth in place of Mr. Wicksteed, and upon Colonel Wakefield's death, in 1848, he was appointed to a similar charge in Nelson. The same year he was nominated to a seat in the Legislative Council by Governor Grey. His acceptance of this was viewed with great disfavour by a large section of the people, who were strongly opposed to the Governor's policy. When in 1851 the New Zealand Company surrendered its charter he was appointed commissioner under the "Land Claims Settlement Ordinance," and a commissioner for Crown lands. For these offices, and for the difficult one of investigating the complicated questions involved in titles to land, he was eminently qualified, and through many years he discharged them with thoroughness and impartiality. When the Constitution Act came into force in 1853 he was elected to rejxresent Wairarapa and|; Hawke's

Bay in the Wellington Provincial Council, and in 1856 he was Colonial Treasurer in the first and shortlived responsible Ministry known as the Bell-Sewell. During the Native war he held office as Native Minister, and in 1862, accompanied by Mr. (now Sir John) Gorst, he visited Australia, and there succeeded in raising a body of men who formed part of the Waikato defence force. In 1864 he settled in Otago, entering into pastoral pursuits. Here he became a well-known member of the Provincial Council, and was elected for the Mataura in the House of Representatives. In conjunction with Dr. Featherston he was deputed in 1869 to visit the Home country to obtain the Imperial guarantee to a loan of £1,000,000 for Immigration and Public Works, and to discuss the question as to what force was most suitable for the defence of the colony. On his return he was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, an honour which he held for five years, being succeeded by Sir W. Fitzherbert. In 1881 he was made K.C.M.G., and was appointed Agent-General for the colony, an office which he held for ten years. The duties of this position were discharged with the utmost credit and honour, and it was with a sincere regret that the colony received the resignation of so capable and faithful a servant. Sir Francis Bell possessed a great facility of pen and speech, much readiness and perseverance, and a great capacity for land work. New Zealand must ever be indebted to him for the competent way in which he dealt with, and finally settled, the involved and almost inextricable confusion surrounding old land titles. • • •