SIR GEPRGE GREY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6290, 22 September 1898, Page 1

SIR GEPRGE GREY.

THE TRIBUTE OF PARLIAMENT. THE SCENE IN THE • HOUSE. PATHETIC REFERENCES, [From Or>u Couukspondknt.] WELLINGTON, Sept 21. Probably the Representative . Chamber was never before pervaded with a 'greater intensity of reverent feeling than it; was this afternoon. One vrcz irresistibly reminded of the poet Gray's line. " And all the air a solemn stillness holds." ./ A full House listened with grave attention to the fitting testimony borne to the services of Sir . George. "Grey." -' The usual movement was stilled, the rustle of .b&pers was hushed, and .one- could' feel- that, those who knew him; and those -who kneirj him not alike were stirred Iby the path'eUb; £>;arerices to his life. . ' , '; The Premier's speech "was ch'quent, l v +lr a sense of the great influence exsrejsed by Sir George, . and ulso with a. dee -• souse of, 'personal loss. " Australia and the Cape," he said, "will ever, remember the great everlasting: beneficial services rghctared them by the great statesman we mqfcurn, but none will feel the parting, none caij .regret the loss, more chan the people of Neyr Zealand. He was the greatest man ever with us, and now he has crossed the bar, has been called to his long home. Last year was a year of rejoic'.ng. Every part of the Empire sent, its representatives to the Jubilee. 1898 has been a year of mourning. The greatest statesman of the Motherland has been called away. Germany mourns the loss of her great son in Bismarck. We in the colonies mourn our leader. Sir George Grey. , But, though they be gone, their works live after them. If. is a long way to look back over his life ; bom '''lßl2, called home 1898 — eighty-six long years." ' Briefly summarising the "events of Sir George's life, the Premier emphasised the great debt the cause of Liberalism owed to him. He put into it life it never; had before. To him wu owed tho glorious free Constitution under which we live to-day." Nor was it amongst) our own /people alone that he showed greatness and goodness. The Maoris reverenced him for his dealings with them and his treatment of them. He wa* ever the guardian of our liberties, M3ver sincere, ever helping and maintaining the weak against the strong, a veritable champion of the rights and privileges of the people. Sir George had been a leader whom he had always loyally followed. His. foresight and judgment, exceptionally keen, ''.made him a great figure in the Empire. He prophesied the Eastern situation exactly over twenty years a.go, and he had a part in giving India its importance in the Empire;' In'concluding, the Premier 'foouchinglyC ' referred > to Sir George's love of children as biie of! the secrets of his influence over men's hearts. 1 The, leader" of the Opposition, reverently and with emotion /"recalled Sir George Grey's ' kindness and . friendship towards himself when a child, but it was pathetic that one with so great? a love for children; had left no child of his own, ho one to perpetuate the name he had made so great. The Empire had lost a son whom the wp^rld itself would mourn. They in Australasia might claim that the freedom of the people was due to him. His career was a remarkable one; his nature a remarkable An autocrat ; by nature; h^bad r yet devoted hiinX self to tlhe service of the masses. He was a veritable Cassar, desiring to base his power on the votes of the people, and use it for the welfare of the peoph. The figure was so grand, the proportions so great, that we were tuo close to sjppreciate the proportions or realise the true dimensions of the figure. There might be those who wished that he had died here amongst the reople who knew him well and loved him well, yet it was fitting that he should rest in the very heart of the Empire. Mr Scobie Mackenzie and Mr' Holland added their testimony to the loss the world had sustained, but probably the most impressive part of the afternoon's proceedings • was the tribute from the Maoris which was voiced by Mr Carroll, whose slow pathetic tones and half poetic language made his speech peculiarly intei-esting. The Maoris, he said, were wont to associate strength and grandeur of scenery, lofty mountains, broad lakes, with the power and dignity of such men as Sir George Grey. They loved him for his treatment of them. To their minds he was a lofty figure, a great idealist, working for the good of all humanity, but especially of their own race, a man of high honour, lofty and fine ideas and aspirations. It was sad that he had left no child, but he ha i given himself to the unborn children and had worked for them. He, himself, would ever regret that the scene of Sir George's last moments had not been in the coimtiy where he .played so great a part.