THE LATE WILSON GRAY.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1983, 13 May 1875, Page 2

THE LATE WILSON GRAY.

The Australasian has the following graceful notice of the late Judge Gray:— Every one who knew the late Wilson Gray/ whether in this country or in his native land, will be saddened by the intelligence of his decease. During his public career in Victoria," when he was a-prominent member of the"'Land Convention, and represented Rodney in the Legislative Assembly, he had many political opponents, but he never made a personal enemy. That agitation brought to the surface many selfish adventurers and plausible demagogues; but Wilson Gray embarked in it with none but generous and noble aims; and every act of his life bore "the stamp of perfect disinterestedness, of unimpeachable integrity of purpose, and of a rare single-mindedness. If popularity came to him, he accepted it modestly, but bore it as burden rather than an honor. .If he was calumniated and misunderstood, as it was inevitable that he should be, owing to the ignoble character of many of the men with whom he was compelled to work, he submitted to detraction and misrepresentation with a gentle equanimity that was almost pathetic in its sweetness. His heart was as tender as his intellect was robust. -He w_as an optimist by nature and temperament; but his intimate .contact, : with political life, both-in Ireland and in Victoria, was of such a character as to disillusionise him.; and those -who saw him of late years could perceive that . "•■--,'

"He bore a laden breast, Full of sad experience moving towards the stillness of his rest."

His faith in humanity and his hope of better things were inextinguishable; but after an active participation in the strife of the forum and the senate, he had arrived at the conclusian expressed in the well-known couplet of Johnson, '

" How small, of all that human hearts endure, That part which laws or kings can cause or cure," : • And in accepting a district judgeship in Otago we believe that he was actuated, by a desire to dedicate the remainder of his life to the service of his fellow creatures in an employment for which he was peculiarly well-qualified, not only, by professional training and mental ability, but by the singular fairness, impartiality, rectitude, and probity of his moral nature. "To know him was to love him; " and to have known him will constitute one of the most carefully cherished memories of all who had that privilege.