LAST MOMENTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 March 1940, Page 6

LAST MOMENTS

MR SAVAGE PASSES AWAY PEACEFULLY FUNERAL TO TAKE PLACE AT AUCKLAND. BODY TO LIE IN STATE IN WELLINGTON. WELLINGTON. This Day. Mr. Savage passed away peacefully. At. his bedside were his old friends, the Hons. Mark Fagan and P. C. Webb. Mr. Savage had been practically unconscious for the last forty-eight hours and his passing was momentarily expected yesterday. Most of the members of the Cabinet visited the residence during the afternon and evening' and anxious inquiries from all parts of the Dominion poured in during the day. This morning, arrangements were put in hand for the funeral, which it is understood will be held at Auckland. the actual place of interment being at Orakei. It is also understood that the Prime Minister will lie in state in the vestibule of Parliament Buildings before the body is taken to Auckland. During his illness. Mr. Savage was □tended by the Rev. Fathers Nolan and Robinson.

EFFORTS FOR HUMANITY PRESBYTERIAN MODERATOR’S TESTIMONY. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. “The passing of the Prime Minister removes from the political field a figure which has grown to almost heroic dimensions in the thoughts of thousands of his fellow-citizens,” said the Rt. Rev. Lawson Robinson, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand.

Whatever might be the opinions of men regarding the legislation for which he and his Government had been responsible, Mr Robinson added, there would be few who would be unready to. admit Mr Savage’s sincerity of purnose and his deep and abiding interest in the welfare of the people—particularly those upon whom circumstances of life had pressed heavily. Perhaps the outstanding feature about the late Prime Minister, said Mr Robinson, was his broad and sympathetic humanity. The laws his Government enacted aimed at an improvement of material conditions for those especially whose incomes were on the lower levels, and there could be no doubt that the historian of the future would write of him as a statesman who had written a new page in social legislation.

MAN OF HIGH PRINCIPLE VERY KIND OF HEART. LORD GALWAY'S WORD OF PRAISE WELLINGTON. March 26. A tribute to Mr. Savage was paid by Lord Galway wherj he attended a meeting of the Wellington Provincial Patriotic Council today in his capacity as chairmain of the National Patriotic Fund Board.

"We meet today rather under the shadow of the passing of the Prime Minister,” said the Governor-General, "and I feel that I must say just one word on how deeply many people will mourn the passing of a man of high principles and of great character, who rose to the highest, position in the Slate, and 1 know a vast number of people will greatly deplore the loss of a man who was very kind of heart and who possessed great ability and determination and high principles, and who will leave a lasting mark on the history of this Dominion.”