IN MEMORIAM

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 220, 11 June 1921, Page 5

IN MEMORIAM

WEST COASTERS’ TRIBUTE TO LATE HON. R. J. SEDDON

CEREMONY AT NATIONAL MONUMENT At tho national monument to the late flight Hon. It. J. Seildon, in the Parliament Grounds, yesterday morning, a laurel wreath was placed on tho monument on behalf of tho West Coasters I’osident in Wellington. Tho wreath here ’The following inscription: Un tho fifteenth anniversary of tho death of the late Kight Honourable 11. J. Seddon, the members of tho West Coasters’ Association place this wreath on his monument with deep affection and in grateful remembrance of his devoted services to th» cause of humanity. 10th June, 1921.

Mr. J. J. M’Grath, on behalf of the association, voiced tho deep feeling of reverence and affection which the memory of Mr. Seddon kept green tn ! the hearts of all West (Masters. He knew from personal experience what a warm heart (he lato Mr. Seddon had, especially tor the declining days of the fathers and mothers of the present generation of Coasters, and how his advice and assistance were always available to help tho sons ,of the early pioneers. Many of these-sons to-day, thanks in no small measure to this advice 'and to Mr. Soddon’s example, occupied prominent posttions_in the professional and public affairs of this and other cities in the Dominion. This country had every reason, said Mr. M'Grath, to revere the memory the deceased statesman, and tho association'laid thij.wreath on the monument with filial respect and reverence to Mr. Seddon’s memory, and with deep sympathy for his wife a.ad family.

Those present adjourned to Mrs. Seddon’s residence to tender to her personally their sympathy and affection. Inspecter W. E. M'llveney, an old Kumara toy. who was the oldest Coaster present, feelingly stated that, .his recollection of Mrs. Seddon and lifer late revered husband went back over 15 years. He knew what a helpma’o Mrs. Seddon had been not only in her own home, but throughout the Coast in its early and hard-living happy days, when all men and women were equal and there was no domestic problem. Mrs. Seddon then was to all Coasters what she was to them to-day—"the first lady in tho Ifend.” They deeply sympathised with her and trusted that on this sad anniversary sho and her family would derive some consolation from the affectionate regard all Coasters still had for her. Mrs. Seddon thanked Mr. MTlveney for what he had said and the West Coasters for their thoughtful remembrance of tho occasion. Slip asked her son Mr. T. E. Y. Seddon, M.P., to speak for her. Mr. Seddon said that though the occasion was always a sacred and sad one for the family it was a generous and happy thought on tho part of tho friends his mother loved to remember her and her family in the twilight of her days, for tho reverential net of laying tho wreath on his father’s monument and for the kindly voiced at the monument and before Ills mother, he, as well as his mother and all members of tho family, was deepiy grateful.