THE LATE MR. T. E. TAYLOR, M.P.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XX, Issue 1112, 3 August 1911, Page 20

THE LATE MR. T. E. TAYLOR, M.P.

In the presence of death we are always ready to recognise the better qualities of our opponents, and to join with their sorrowing friends in the sympathetic feeling of regret that lives should be cut short in the midst of their usefulness- The tragically sudden death of Mr. T. E. Taylor, M.P , —tragic in its unexpectedness — has come as a shock’ to the community generally, and we believe we are right in saying that the feeling of

regret expressed right through the community, extends to the ranks of the licensed victuallers and to the liquor interests generally. There is probably no class in the community that respects a fighting man more than the licensed victuallers, and MrTaylor was himself so much of a fighter, and had such fixed tenacity of purpose in all that he undertook, that friends and opponents alike could not fail to respect and admire the man, although they might, and did, disagree with his principles and modes of action. In the Prohibitionist camp, Mr. Taylor’s name was one to conjure by. No one could move upon an audience or bend it so easily to his will as the member for Christchurch North. In the political arena it was the same, although, curiously enough, his own constituents never really trusted the hon. gentleman, for life failed to retain their confidence be--yond the life of any one Parliament. Thus he was returned for one Parliament and rejected for the next, returned for the next Parliament and defeated by an overwhelming majority when he stood for re-election in 1905, the position being again reversed in 1908, when he got back by a majority nearly as large as that by which he had been previously defeated. Much of this was due to his own erratic disposition, and to his lack of ballast, his judgment sometimes proving very fau'ty. But, in some measure, it was a’so due to the fickleness of the Christchurch people. Even the sternest critics Mr. Taylor has had, have, however, always admitted that whatever vagaries may have characterised his conduct, he was always actuated by the best of motives and impelled thereto by an overwhelming sense of duty. If it be correct to say that he was a man of impulses, it is none the less true to say, that these impulses were dictated by the conscientious feeling that he was in the place where it was demanded of him that he should act, in accordance with the promptings of that higher moral sense that was so much part of the man’s life. He may have ’been mistaken in much that he said,, and in much that he did. But, whoever heard anyone seriously accusing Mr. Taylor of having an “axe to grind?” A man of fads and fancies, he was yet gifted with great humanitarian principles, and would probably have made his influence much wider felt had his opportunities been greater. He was settling down nicely into the Mayoral duties in Christchurch, and was developing sound administrative abilities, when death laid its hand upon him. A brave, courageous man, he claims our respect and homage. Peace be to his memory!