THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1893. CHIEF JUSTICE HIGGINBOTHAM.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2455, 24 January 1893, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1893. CHIEF JUSTICE HIGGINBOTHAM.

Thebe died, in Victoria recently one of the greatest men the Australian colonies have ever seen. This was Chief Justice Higginbotham. Ho was a great lawyer, a great journalist, a great politician, a great democrat, in fact, he was a great man in every sense of the word. He dispised titles, believing no honor could come to anyone ex« pt through the people. We are not in great sympathy with this idea; we could never see the slightest harm in a man accepting a title from his sovereign, provided the acceptance of it does not curtail his capacities for usefulness. For instance, Sir Robert Stout accepted a title, and Dunedin East him out of Parliament for doing so. What use has Sir Robert Stout made of his title since 'I He has used it on all occasions in the interests of the most helpless of his fellow creatures; it gave him weight, it added importance to hia name, and all these he has employed in the interests of the people on all occasions. Why then should the people object; what can it matter to them so long as he did his duty as a good citizen I We have no sympathy with this idiotic scream against accepting titles, but at the same time we admire the high principles which have guided such men as Mr Gladstone, and the late Chief Justice Higginbotham in refusing them. It proves that they had a soul above the weaknesses and vanities of this life, and were possessed of the greatest of all governing attributes, the capacity to govern themselves. Chief Justice Higginbotham died without a title, but he loft behind him a record far more honorable than any distinction a monarch can confer. He did his duty, and loved his kind, and his great talents were always employed on the side of the poor and the helpless. A couple of years ago when the groat maritime strike took place, Chief Justice Higginbotham, notwithstanding the position he held, took the part of the strikers in a very substantial way. His was not more sentimental sympathy, but something more substantial. He handed the strikers a cheque f oy £SO, a lid. alap gave

them £lO per week while the strike lasted. Chief Justice Higginbotham, was an Irishman by birth, and graduated in Trinity College, Dublin. He began life as a reporter on the Loudon Morning Chronicle, and after having been called to the bar came to Victoria in 1851. Shortly afterwards he became editor of the Argus, but after having held that position for two years resigned to follow the profession of a lawyer. He soon got into the front ranks of a bar which possessed such stars as Aspinall, Ireland, and others, and of course went into Parliament. The Argus in reviewing his life recently said “ that no man played so important a part in making the colony, and no man cut a deeper groove in its political destinies.” And it also,said he bad no equal as an orator. He was chiefly instrumental in obtaining a protective tariff for Victorian industries, and thus brought the Colony to a high degree of prosperity till it wrecked itself by means of landbooming, and dishonest speculation. Mr Higginbotham always resisted any interference by the British Government in the affairs of the colony, holding that the Victorian Government was perfectly free and independent of Home influence. Not long ago, when Chief Justice, he did not hide his opinions on this point. Sir Henry Loch, who was then Governor, was leaving ihe colony, and it became necessary to appoint temporarily someone in his stead. The Chief Justice of course in all the colonies is the person who is invariably appointed, but owing to his previous career the authorities thought it advisable to sound Chief Justice Higginbotham on the subject. He very soon gave them his opinion. He told them that for a Governor to take his instructions from England was inconsistent with the rights of a selfgoverning colony. That if appointed he would report to Lord Knntsford everything of Imperial interest, but would not receive any instructions from the Secretary of State as regards colonial matters, neither would he allow the Secretary of State to address him on such subjects, nor would he report anything to him on anything concerning the internal affairs of Victoria. The consequence was that the Chief Justice was passed over, and Sir William Robinson was appointed. He was a firm believer in abolishing the Legislative Council, holding that there was no need for it, and that it was a great hindrance to progress, and yet in 1890 that body, as well as the Lower House, presented him with their thanks for his great work in consolidating the laws of the colony. As a lawyer he scarcely ever took up a case unless he felt firmly convinced that he had right and justice on his side, and on the Bench he was the most careful, the most painstaking, and the most impartial Judge that ever sat on the Bench. He was so much so that lawyers used to complain of delays in the administration of the law. But this did not trouble the Chief Justice, his aim was to administer justice, and he administered it regardless of any consideration. The Argus, in the article referring to his death, said that he was a failure as a politician, because he despised such arts as bribery, log-rolling, and so on, which Parliamentary leaders have so often to indulge in. His failure, therefore, may be regarded as one of his greatest successes. The man who can relinquish office sooner than resort to the usual artifices common to politicians all over the world, deserves the eternal gratitude of the people. But he has gone, and he has left no better behind him. He died in harness. Doctors had frequently warned him that he was killing himself, and that he ought to take the six months holiday to which he was entitled by law. He always refused to do so, holding that if he was unfit for his duties his business was to resign, and that he had no right to waste the time of the country. He was a man of the highest principles, and an inflexible sense of right and justice, he was most honorable and consistent in all his actions, and Victoria has sustained a great loss by his death.