SIR ROBERT STOUT At MANCHESTER.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 666, 17 November 1909, Page 7

SIR ROBERT STOUT At MANCHESTER.

: DEGREE, OF DOCTOR OF LAWS. Sir Robert Stout, Chancellor of the New Zear visited Manchester, early in. October, to receive tho honorary degree of Doctor ijt Laics froiu Victoria University (sa\'s the djondou correspondent of the '.'Auckland: Star"). J. he perouionv Was presided over by Lori ilorley, . the Chancellor of Victoria University. Ihree other honorary degrees. wert conferred at the samo time, Mr. Whitelaw , Reid beins made a Doctor of laws, Sir Alfred. Lyall a 'Doctor of Letters, and Dr.. Otto Wdllaeh, of bottihgen University, a Doctor of Science. Lord Morley presented the degrees, and Mr. Whitelaw Reid replied ou behalf of the recipients, . sir Robert Stout was introduced to the assemblage by Professor Alexander in a short speech. Among those," lie said, "whom an ancestral instmct.drives ftoto.tlieif hohies to found new bcotlands m all quarters of the globe, with 11-?- c T, f' ;ues H>b original country and some additional ones, none living is tuote Conspicu°ys^/or PUDlac services than the Chief Justice of New /ealhnd, in whom the blood-red myrtle and the yellow kowhai of one end df the Eiiipite are fottnd • Mourning Upon rock traheplanted froin • the Shetland Islands at tho other end. If tho air ,in which ho lives has .sustained his,untiring inetgy and his lucidity of thought ana vision, ho may owe to his fathers sowo part of 'his tenacity of principle ahd possibly also of thisv delight in doiii» ,'\s first Mihister of tho Crown ho guided his colony through Solile of her dark .vtats of stress and insecurity. Imbued with the phsslon of equality ■ anil freedohi, and thotlgh touched, yet hot infected, v-ith thut unquestioning confidence in the action of the State, with Which the foil of New Zealand is saturated, ho has witnessed in varying Moods of approval or. distrust, but winning admiration in every mood, the series oflegislative and; social enterprises which llave drawn all eyes •upon- that country. His withdrawal from Parliament, which impoverished political life loft him- dispense ei|tol and unbiased Justice from _ its highest source, ohil to continue his lifelong and splendid devotion to tho cause of tempmneo—(cries of "Oh")—and his zeaLin the interests of higher education. AVe greet in him the Chancellor of the University of New Zealnnd, dstered With us in her hopes and her ,ideals, which,.' recetvihg sometimes Irom.-us, has givdn i us. in fef urn, shall I say,, rather'.of her best or of ours?"