AUCKLAND SPECIAL.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 182, 9 August 1901, Page 3

AUCKLAND SPECIAL.

LATE SIR JOHN McKENZIE

(Special to Times.) Auckland, last night.

Speaking of Sir John McKenzie’s death this morning the Herald states : —“ The people of the colony will heartily endorse the unanimous testimony paid yesterday in our Legislative Chambers to the sterling character of the late Sir John McKenzie. There were no two opinions in the colony as to his fitness to so dramatically receive knighthood at the kindly hands of the heir apparent of the monarchy,' and it is pleasing to know that before his death that the honorable distinction crowned his career. The opportunity which our arduous colonial life has afforded to ability and grit had made him prominent among our pioneers who are now steadily passing away. Many were the remarkable and worthy men. Of these Sir John McKenzie was a not unusual type. Born a “ herd laddie," winning his way by sheer hard work, scrupulous honesty, and untiring patience, doing with all his might everything that came to his hand in the varying phases of the changeful Empire-building life, thinking as much of the common wealth as of his own advancement, lie was a living proof of the inherent strength, fortitude, and capacity of the simple, unassuming founders of our State. Those who mourn a domestic loss in Sir John McKenzie's death have the proud satisfaction of knowing that, though many opposed him, none ever doubted him, and after all it is the personal character of men that moulds society and forms the future, leaving an undying influenco behind when the difficult work at which they wrought has been attended by later and broader knowledge.”