OBITUARY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 11, 8 October 1919, Page 7

OBITUARY

MR. ALFRED DEAKIN By T»leer«,ph-PreE« Aesoctatlon-OoprTlßht Melbourne, October 7. Obituary.-The Hon. Alfred Deakin. Mr. Deakin was Federal Prime Minister from 1903 to 1910,-Press Assn. A DISTINGUISHED CAIiIIEE. Mr. Alfred Deakin, 'who has been Prime Minister of the Commonwealth three times, was ouo of the most picturesque. . figures in Australian public life. Tho son of Mr. William Deakin, a well-known coach proprietor in tho early days, Alfred Deakin was born at Fitzrov on August 3, 185 G. Educated at tho Melbourne Church of England Grammar School, he wont on to tho University, but did not graduate. After being called to tho Bar when twenty-one years of age, he spent several years as a leaderwriter on tho Melbourne "Age." His political, career began when he was elected to the' Victorian Legislative Assembly as one of the members for West Bourke. When the House assembled Mr. Deakin moved the Addre?s-in-Eeply, but as it was found that a complcte'poll hart not been taken at one of the polling places, Noivnham. he resigned, and at the byelection which followed was.beaten by Mr. Harper. After another unsuccessful attempt, ho was in. 1880 returned at tho top of tho poll. Since then, with the exception of a short break twelve years ago, when ho entered tho Federal arena. Mr. Deakin was continuously in Parliament. His first Ministerial appointment was with the Service-Perry Coalition Government in 1883 as Minister for Public Works. '

In 1887 Mr. Deakin visited England' as a delegate to tho Imperial Conference. Subsequently he made a trip to India and California to study irrigation methods: and while in office he succeeded in passing the Water Act, which was rcsnonsible for tho birth of Mildura. This settlement is now a garden "of'beauty and productiveness—in Mr. Deakin's boyhootf it "was regarded as a desert. After the Gillies-Deakin Government was defeated hi 1890, Mr. Deakin did not hold olHco in any Victorian Ministry. II; is stated that he has declined knighthood and other honours offered on liehalf of three sovereigns.' Ho was a member of the Federal Conventions of 1891 and 1897, and in company with Sir Edmund Barton and the late Mr. C. C. Kingston he was sent io England to watch' the passage of the Commonwealth Constitution Hill through the House of Commons. ,'• At the commencement of federation' in 1901 Mr. Deakin became Attorney-General in the Barton Ministry. Three years later Sir Edmund was elevated to tho High Court Bench. Mr. Deakin succeeded him as Prime Minister, niul was head of the Federal Government on two subsea nent administrations.

An orator of the front rank, he delivered at liallarat, in 1990, what was described' as a "groat speech." The fate of the Federal Convention Bill was then in doubt, and Mr. Deakin. concluded a powerful address by quoting the lines written by the Bondigo poet, Gay, "Oh, let us rise united, and be one people serving God."

"If you will giye us Mr. Deakin, you may have all our leaders, not excluding Mr. Balfoui," wrote it notable English politician to an Australian friend. Such was the opinion of very many Englishmen, who were deeply impressed by tho Australian Premier's brilliant advocacy of the seemingly lost, cause of Imperial preferential trade. His splendid power ns a public speaker was exemplified at ;:um. erous public functions, and tho Prime Minister of the Commonwealth was, dining his visit, perhaps the most popular figure in English public life. Mr. Deakin,. with his commanding proseuco, his splendid voice, and his rich mental uidowments, was the finest orator in contemporary Australasian politico. Yet ho had what people do not look for in orators, a great capacity for quiet hard work. 110 was credited with the ability to make a dull speech when Iho situation would not be so well served by a brilliant onf. Throughout tho history of his .participation in the federation movement he repeatedly'showed himself ready to,sacrih'co his own advancement to a, cause or a principle. He seemed . to prefer to work under other men, and yet there was no dissent from tho opinion that Alfred Deakin was the right man for Victoria to send to London on the delegation of 1900. When Sir William Lyne was trying to form the jjrst Fede rat Ministry, tho men whom he asked to join him wanted to know what Mr. Deakin **cis doing, and when they lcnrnt that ho was standing out, they followed his example. It may therefore bo said that Sir Edmund Barton owed his Federal Premiership to Mr. Deakin. So much was Mr. Deakin inclined to efface himself for a point of honour that even his friends called him quixotic. He did not love tho limelight, and was happiest in his quiet homo in the Melbourne suburb, "whore he had |ahva.ys Jived. His family, his books, his friends, and the public parks and gardens where he walked—it was amongst these that.he was happiest. One who knew him wrote: "Combine tho qualities of a magnetic orator a scholarly recluse, a simple gentleman able to lake pleasure only in his home, and nn enthusiastic patriot, and the curious character that is Dcakin's begins to shape itself, with all tho anomalies and paradoxes pertaining to a public man who wislioi to'escape the public." Slß'' CII AM,KS _ C;AMI'BELL. (Roc. October 7, 9.10 p.m.) London, October (i. The death is announced at Glasgow of Sir Charles Kulpli Campbell, Bart., of Cheviot Hills (N./..), aged oU-Aus.-NX Cable Assn.