Dr. Campbell's Knighthood.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIX, Issue I, 5 July 1902, Page 49

Dr. Campbell's Knighthood.

The information that Dr. Campbell had been made Sir John Logan Campbell was conveyed to him last week in a telegram from His Excellency the Governor, as follows: —

“I have the honour to inform yon that His Majesty has been pleased to confer on you the rank of Knight Bachelor.—Ranfurly.” The telegram is addressed "Sir John Logon Campbell, Kt.”

Sir John Logan Campbell answered Bis Excellency as follows:—"His Excellency, the Earl of Ranfurly: I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of Your Excellency's telegram, intimating to me ‘that His Majesty has been pleased to confer upon me the rank of Knight Bachelor.’ In accepting the great distinction whieh His Majesty has been pleased to confer upon me, I feel I cannot dissociate myself from my fellow pioneer colonists, and that the honour so graciously bestowed extends to them as well as to the citizens of Auckland. 1 pray Your Excellency to convey to His Majesty in such words as you may deem most fit the acknowledgments of his devoted subject.” A telegram from Wellington says that in its reference to Dr. Campbel] the "Post” says: "The honour conferred on Dr. Logan Campbell singles cut one of the oldest and most deserving of New Zealand's colonists. Dr. Campbell was one of the most energetic citizens of the rising township of Auckland in its earliest day, and when, on the occasion of the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York, he was called as a veteran to the Mayoral chair, be signalled his munificence by the gift to the city of a valuable par’s at One Tree Hill. Dr. Campbell owns a beautiful residence overlooking the Waitemata, and his biography is contemporary and intimately connected with the growth of the Northern capital.” His Worship the Mayor, Mr Alfred Kidd, was the first citizen to congratulate Sir John Logan Campbell this morning. Mr Kidd waited upon Sir John first thing, and said he wished

to congratulate him on behalf of the citizens of Auckland upon the well honour His Majesty the King had been pleased to confer upon him. “To no one,” said the Mayor, “throughout the length and breadth of the colony could an honour have been given that would have been more popular.” On behalf of Mrs Kidd and himself the Mayor also asked Sir John to convey congratulations to Lady Campbell. After fittingly responding, Sir John Campbell remarked, with that homely dry manner so well knQwn, that though the King had been pleased to alter his designation, he had no doubt he would still be “Dr. Campbell” to the people of Auckland for the rest of his days. On an occasion like the present one, when His Majesty has seen fit to recognise the worth of the Father of Auckland, it is but fitting that some brief reference should be made to the past career of the recipient of the King's Coronation honour, although to Aucklanders generally the. principal facts are pretty- well known. Sir John Logan Campbell, M.D., M.R.C.S., is the only- son of the late John Campbell, Esq., M.D., of Edinburgh, and the. grandson of the late Sir James Campbell, Baronet, of Abcrnchill and Kilbryde, Perthshire. He therefore comeo of an old Scots family, and is not the first of the line that has been honoured by the Crown with the right to bear the title “Sir,” Of more interest from an Aucklander's point of view is the fact that Sir John Logan Campbell, being now in his 84th year,, is still hale, hearty and wonderfully active, advancing years apparently having only ripened his judgment, without prejudicially affecting his physical or mental powers. To him belongs unchallenged the title of Father of Auckland, for he has seen the present cit*'? develop from a few raupo whares to its present condition, when

the main street is to -be asphalted, and electric tramways laid to the suburbs. Apart from the kindly interest felt on all sides for one who has helped to found the city, the faet that he presented to the people the magnificent Cornwall Park, makes his present honour at the hands of the King all the more appreciated by the citizens.

Sir J. L. Campbell was educated at Edinburgh, and grauated at the University, taking the degree of M.D. In 1838-9 he threw up a commision in the East India Company's service, and sailed from Greenock, July, 1839, in the ship Palmyra, Capt. Brown, bound for Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney, with emigrants, being medical officer in charge. In 1840 he came over to this colony, first landing at Wellington. Shortly afterwards he came on with a comrade to the North, and first landed in the beautiful land-locked Waihou Harbour (Coromandel), where he remained some time under the protection of the great Maori chief, Te Taniwha. generally known as Old Hooknose. Subsequently the adventurous doctor made a boat excursion up the Waitemata, and' navigated its waters before a white man had set foot on the Auckland beach (Horotiu). On their way up they called at Waiheke, where the Delhi, barque, was loading spars for England. They next sailed to Orakei Bay, and went over to the Manukau, ascended One Tree Hill (Maungakiekie), and afterwards went up the Waitemata to Pine Island (Pahi). As the Maoris were averse to selling any land, the party went back to Coromandel. Later on Dr. Campbell changed his quarters on the Hauraki Gulf to Waiomo, where he and his partner, Mr William Brown, sojourned with the chief Kanini, of the Ngatinatera tribe, and bought from the natives Motu Korea (Brown's Island) in August of 1810. In September of the same year Dr. Campbell was present at the unfurling and saluting of the flag at the foundation of Auckland. The only other two survivors of those then present are Messrs E. M. Williams and Horatio Nelson Warner. In the following December Dr. Campbell pitched his tent in Commercial Bay, gave up the medical profession, and started the firm of Brown and Campbell, on the allotment on which it has ever since conducted its business. Nine years afterwards he visited tiie Old Country, returning in 1850. In 1855 Dr Campbell first entered the field of politics, being elected Superintendent of the Province, and also member of the House of Representatives for Auckland. It was at this period he started the volunteer movement in Auckland long before its commencement in England. Subsequently Dr. Campbell was a member of the Stafford cabinet, without portfolio, but resigned in 1856 to again visit Britain. In 1859 lie was returned for Parnell, and in 1861 made a long visit to Europe, from which he did not return till 1871. In May, 1897, the firm of Brown, Campbell and Co. joined forces with the late firm of Ehrenfried Bros., the two constituting at tl’e present time the Campbell and Ehrenfried Co. Ltd., of which the subject of this sketch is the venerable Chairman of Directors. When, a year ago. the citizens of Auckland were looking for a fitting Mayor to represent them upon the occasion of the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York, by common consent, the Father of the City was turned to, and he, recognising the wishes of the people, once more returned to public life. It will thus be seen that S* r J- L. Campbell’s career is intimately associated with the progress of the city, and the honour done him by the King to some extent is reflected upon the people amongst whom he has so long dwelt, and by whom his many virtues are so thoroughly recognised and appreciated.