Late Mr. Cecil Duff: A Tribute

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 133, 22 June 1937, Page 9

Late Mr. Cecil Duff: A Tribute

'G. F.

, LEMMON.

Sir, — It was With deep sorrow and regret that I learned of the death of Mr Cecil and I shall be very grateful if you will print my humble tribute to hia memory. Iu the past 1 have expressed very harsh criticism of the legal professiion (for which I make no apology), but with the passing of Mr Duff I trust I may be privileged to exonerate him from all those strictures which 1 hurled against his profession. In my personal experiences with him I iound him to be a man of high principle and integrity, a keen sense of justice. dominating all his actions. His prominent and courageous activity iu public affairs has made his name a household one in Hawke's Bay, and even those who on occasions disagreed with him must have respected and adinired him for his grit and determination and rugid adherence to duty, My heart goes out to his family in their utterly irreparable loss, and while only Time, the Great Healer, can assuage their grief, I can think of no more litting tribute to his memory than Tennyson's beautiful liues: "Sunset and eveming istar And one clear call for me, Apd may there be no moqning of the Bar When I put out to sea. But such a tide as moviug seems asleep, Too full for sound and foain, When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home. Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark, And may there be no sadness of farewell When I embark; For though from out our bourne of time and place The flood may bear me far, I hope to eee my Pilot faco to face When I have crossed the Bar "

— ^Yours, etc.j

Poraite, June 20, 1937.