A REALLY GREAT MAN PASSES.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 24, 21 October 1937, Page 4

A REALLY GREAT MAN PASSES.

News of the death of Lord Rutherford, of Nelson, has come upon us with tragic suddenness, as we had had no preliminary warning of any bodily trouble affecting him. Now it has come one cannot help wondering to what extept the people of this country realise what it pieans. Had we had like unexpected word of the death of, say, some prominent All Black footballer, there would no doubt have been a marked display of grief and sorrow, in which practically all would have shared, with widespread talk of his prowess and his achievements. With- how many will Lord Rutherford and the marvels, almost miracles, he has wrought be the subject of conversation today? With only a very few, it is to be feared. Yet in him New Zealand has lost one of her greatest sons — in the realm of science undoubtedly the very greatest — and the world has lost a man who has worked wonders that will prove of infinite benefit to his fellow men. Yet how many in this country can say that they have any true knowledge as to what they all mean and imply ? Such is our queer idea of relative human values. With the passing of Lord Rutherford, at fbe zenith of his fame, a career has ended that will fill many volumes in the history of scientific research, leaving a memory that will live through the centuries, when all our popular idols of the day will have sunk into the dark pit of complete oblivion. These are thoughts which the people of this, his native land, should take to heart and cherish as something to fill them with real and iustifiable glidc*