In the Puhlic Eye.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume VII, Issue 2, 1 November 1902, Page 83

In the Puhlic Eye.

The Eight Hon. R. J. Seddon, P. 0., LL.D., has OURPEEMIEE. returned to New Zealand, and been fitly welcomed by his people after performing the allimportant task of representing and upholding the dignity of this up-to-

date little colony at the Coronation of our King. Nay, more, Jor few indeed will affirm — of' whatever shade of political opinion they may be — that our worthy Premier has lost a single opportunity, from the time he left these shores to his

return, of putting in a word for the mighty British Empire in general, and little New Zealand in particular. Wherever in the course of his travels, with his keen eye for the advancement of the nation which gave him birth, he saw aught that he judged defective in any particular of administration, he denounced it with no uncertain sound. And on tlie other hand, whenever he encountered anything worthy of praise he accorded it with as free a hand. It was this blunt outspokenness, this genuine and laudable desire to give all and sundry the

benefit of his experience, this absence of all considerations of secretive diplomacy, which caused our Premier to receive, perhaps, more attention from that resounding echo of public opinion, the World's Press, than any other royal guest of them all, King or Kaiser though he might be. It is true that much that was written of him could by no stretch of imagination be termed complimentary, but this is merely one of the penalties of the position. What great statesman

has not had some of his motives or actions misconstrued ? It goes without saying that there have been some slight rifts in the lute on which our Premier accompanied his Song of Empire— some few flies in the pot of ointment with which he sought to assist to grease the wheels of State, but what after all were these compared with tlie results attained ? Nought — very nought. For instance, the Colonial Conference disappointed him. Of it he had hoped much — too much, perhaps. His compeers were not prepared to ascend the heights to

which he aspired, but after all, a great point has been gained. The Colonial Conference is an established fact ; the rest will undoubtedly come in its own good time, as everything does to he who not only waits, but works for it with the pertinacity of our persistent Premier. Amid all the pomp and ceremony of the occasion, if we judge our Premier rightly, we believe the visit to the home of his childhood will be one of the pleasantest of his memories.

The Hon. Colonel Theodore Minett _,«, „.„„.,„ Haultain, whose COL. HAULTAIN. vanced age of eighty-five, occurred recently at Parnell, has been intimately connected with the history of New Zealand from- the time of his arrival here in 1849 in charee of the eighth division of New Zealand Fencibles. He had previously served ten years in India. He intired in 1856 and settled at Man-

gere. But there was more important work in store for him. In 1859 he entered Parliament ; a little later he organized the Auckland Militia, and took rank as lieuten-ant-colonel. The Waikato War found him in command of the 2nd Waikato Regiment. His promotion to colonel-commandant of the Waikato Regiments for gallant services at the capture of Orakau and elsewhere quickly followed. Resign-

ing in 1865 he represented Franklin in the House, and under Mr Stafford's Ministry he entered the Executive Council. As Minister of Colonial Defence during the stirring times when the arch-rebels, Te Kooti and Titokowaru; were giving much trouble, Colonel Haultain did good work, and was again in command at the Whakamarama campaign. His able report on the Native Lands' Act in 1871 led to his appointment as Trust Commissioner under the Native Lands' Fraud Pre-

vention Act, and still later he held the responsible position of Sheriff. During his long residence in Auckland Colonel Haultain has given much of his time to the interests of Church and educational institutons. Space will only allow the mention of a few of these — viz., member of the Anglican General and Diocesan Synods and Standing Committee, Secretary of Trustees of S. John's College, Vice-Chairman of Board of Governors of Auck land Grammar School, a position

he held to within two years of his death. The Sailor's Home also owes much of its success to his energetic Secretaryship. It will be seen that Colonel Haultain had •ever a keen sense of his duties as a colonist and citizen, and that, furthermore, he has thoroughly acted up to it.

The death of Mr. Samuel Birt Biss, Mr. S B BISS Chief P ° St maSter at Auckland, closes a career of forty-two years spent in the service of this department, commencing as it did with a cadetship in 1860, in the Auckland office, some two years after his arrival in the colony. He was born at Calcutta in 1843. Speedier promotion never followed strict attention to duties than in Mr Biss' case, foi December, 1861, saw him appointed chief clerk at Dunedin. The gold discoveries in Otago about this time caused the postal business to increase phenomenally, and Mr Biss, with the assistance of his brother, had the responsible task set him of re-organizing the Dunedin office in order to enable it to cope with the extra business. The next recognition which he received for his services was the Chief Postmastership of Auckland, which was given him in 1870, and which he held at the time of his death.

During the thirty-two years in which Mr Biss had charge of the Auckland office a great change has come over the volume of business, the letters annually put through

increasing from 1,273,166 to 19,773,000. In order to keep up with this mass of correspondence the officers in the head office have risen from 18 to 100 during the same period.

From a private source we received a notification that X SL^2S? B Lord Ranfurly inVETEBANHOME. tended to bute an article to " The New Zealand Illustrated Magazine " on the Veteran's Home, but a later telegram stated that the state of Lady Ranfurly' s health and his visit to Australia had prevented him from carrying out his intention. We regret this the more from the fact that subscriptions are still required for this very laudable object, and we feel that an appeal from the Governor himself would have a much more powerful effect than anything we could write. We cannot conceive of a more deserving object. The need of a home for those who have spent their lives in the service of their country has been brought more forcibly before us by the difficulty many of the members of the returned contingents have had in getting work. If strong young mea such as they are find a difficulty, how much harder must it be for disabled old veterans who are not lit to do a day's work to make their old age as comfortable as they have a right to expect it should be.