THE BURIAL GROUND AND FUNERAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3713, 12 May 1925, Page 22

THE BURIAL GROUND AND FUNERAL.

WELLINGTON, May 10. The private burial ground for the Into Prhne Minister will be constituted by his Excellency's warrant. A small part of the Defence Reserve at Point Halswell overlooking Wellington Harbour has been especially set apart for that purpose. The body will be interred there on Thursday, the funeral service being conducted by the Itev. George Miller, Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly, who w r ill come from Dunedin for this duty.

THE BURIAL PLACE. A PROMONTORY IN WELLINGTON HARBOUR. AUCKLAND, May 10. Point Halswell leaps to the imagination as the burial place of the New Zealand statesman. It is a bold point jutting into Port Nicholson, and thus it looks on opeu &ea as well as upon the city. Any monument erected there will be always before the eyes of the people in the Capital and will be the first to catch the eyes of those on ships arriving in Wellington. The dedication of hilltops as resting places of great men has several precedents. Sir John Logan Campbell is buried at the summit of One Tree Hill, Mr Cecil Rhodes in the MatopDO Hills of Rhodesia, and Mr Robert Louis* Stevenson on Vaea Mount, Samoa. Mr Richard John Seddon lies in a grave on a prominence overlooking Parliament House and Lambton quay, Wellington. HEALTH INDIFFERENT FOE MONTHS. ME. MASSEY’S LATEST PUBLIC APPEARANCES. WELLINGTON, May 10. Ever since the close of the 1924 session the Prime Minister had been in somewhat indifferent health, suffering from a painful illness stated to be sciatica. For some time he was under treatment at Rotorua, and after his return to Wellington it seemed as if he was making steady, if slow, progre«to towards recovery It was shortly after the welcome to the Governor-General, Sir Charles Fergusson. on December 13, that Mr Massey was precluded from taking any further active part in politics for the time being. His heartening message to the people of the dominion on New Year’s Day will long be remembered for its strong tone of optimism. For the next two months Mr Massey was under the care of his medical attendant and satisfactory progress towards recovery was marked by bis first appearance in uublic since December 13. when ho visited the steamer Aorangi while she was laying at the Queen’s Wnarf. He did not leave his car, however, as tho ascent of the gangway would have been too severe a tax upon his strength. lie expressed unqualified approve of the new motor ship and of the enterprise of the Union Steam Ship Company. On his way home Mr Massey called upon Lord and Lady Maclay at the Midland Hotel. On March 2 the Prime Minister was reported to have benefited by his short outing and to be well on tho wav to complete recovery. On Wednesday, March 18, he attended tho Government luncheon to the "All Blacks," at which ho gave a rousing speech, but on March 31 news of the operation on him on the previous day came liice a bombshell upon the public. A turn for the worse had taken place; Dr Car rick Robertson, of Auckland, had lucn called in, and an operation nerformod. It was followed by the issue of the followirg bulletin i "The Prime Minister's illness haa lately developed more serious symptoms. After consultation between his medical advisers and Dr C&rriok Robertson, of Auck-

land, it was decided that an investigation by operation was essential. The operation took place in the Bowen Street Hospital jarly this morning. The patient bore the operation well. Further bulletins will to issued from time to tirno.” Bulletins were issued for a few days and were then withheld until there was a definite change. The renewal of the bulletins created further suspense, and then a week ago a slight improvement was recorded, the Prime Minister showing an unexpected reserve of vitality. Ihe improvement was not maintained, however, and the acute anxiety of the last two or throe days terminated this evening, when the toiler of 70 long years passed to his rest.

THE ACTING PRIME' MINISTER’S TRIBUTE WELLINGTON, May 10. Sir Francis Bell, Acting-Prime Minister, said:—“'Though for many days I have known that the death of my friend and leader was near, the actual end has brought a sorrow which is too great to leave me capable of writing of him. as he deserves from me. Year by year during his long leadership of the Opposition and then throughout the thirteen years of his tenure of office as Prime Minister Mr Massey has grown greater in the estimation of the people of New Zealand, and has won more and more the affection of those who have been privileged to serve under him. The value of his strong, patient sense of publio duty will be more keenly felt now that his wise and prudent control of public affairs has ended. The whole Empire will mourn his loss with us, for among Empire statesmen he long since advanced to a foremost rank. A real and lasting tribute to hia memory is the unanimity of all classes and sections of our political and social life in the expressions of personal affection and anxiety sine© the serious nature of his illness became known. The country had come to know his worth as its leader in Parliament, but even more to understand how just and upright he was in all his dealinga and his happy, unaffected consideration to all alike had disarmed many opponents and attached to him more firmly his hosts of friends.” TRIBUTES FROM POLITICAL OPPONENTS. WELLINGTON, May 10. Sir Francis Bell received the following telegram from the Right Don. Sir Joseph Ward this evening:—"With deep regret I have just been informed of Mr Massey’a sad death. The dominion has suffered % great loss, and I tender you and your colleagues my sincerest sympathy in the per* sonal loss you have all sustained.” Mr H. E. Holland, the leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party, telegraphed from Westport as follows:—"I wish to •onvey to yourself and the members of the Government by own sincere sympathy and that of the Labour Party in the almost irreparable loss they have sustained in the death of the Prime Minister. I shall always remember him as a statesman of wide capabilities and strong determination and a great opponent who, having given his word, never once broke it. After life’s fitful fever may he sleep well." THE NATURE OF THE ILLNESS. WELLINGTON, May 10. A New Zealand Times representative ap« proached a number of tho late Prime Minister’s family to-night suggesting that it was a matter of dominion-wide interest i hat something of the actual nature of Mr Massey’s last illness should be made known, but it was explained that the subiect was naturally a very painful one to Mrs Massey, and that out of consideration for her feelings it was desired that no reference should be made to it for th present at least.