The Late Professor G.S. Sale.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 February 1923, Page 4

The Late Professor G.S. Sale.

LONDON. ! leeenilier -8. (In Chrisiniiis Toy Ceorgc Samuel Sale passed wwj at z, 1 M" ! !>l,m:more Place. K ■ nsington. at the advance I age of DC Kor live years h,. |,ad been entirely helpless though he siill'ored no pain, and hi- death can only he considered as a providential release. Mr- Sale has been the constant attendant upon her husband dining his -ad illness, and naturally she j„ acutely feeling the sorrow which has at length fallen upon lur. The late ITofe-siir Sale, wliese remain-. have to-day been eiematod. citme to bond,m alter hi- retirem'iit j,, RlflS from the Chair of Classics m the University of Otago. and he took up Ins residence in Chiswick. Heto he entertained freely, and his bouse was a fivourite resort ol visiting and retired Xew Zealanders, until! ill-health compelled bis withdrawal from all sncinl nctivilios. N’cws of liis; death will. <loul>tVss. have been cabled to the Dominion, and record of bis life out there will have been published, but it will, perhaps. be interesting to quote a notice which appears in “The Times”, and which is obviously contributed by one intimately acquainted with the details of Ids varied life. The writer first, recalls that 'Professor Stale was the son nf a Rugby master under Arnold and lie gives a record ol his career at Trinity College. Cambridge. "Tn 1800 his health having broken down, he. nil the advice of the late Sir Henry Holland, settled in New Zealand, and tool,- up sheep farming in Canterbury. In the following year he was appointed fi-sf editor of ‘The Press’ (Christchurch, now perhaps the leading jour-

nai in New Zealand, and one of the ' most influential in the Australasian j Dominions. ‘The Press’ was at that i time under the leadership of James Ed-| ward Fitzgerald, combating the tendency of a handful of early settlers to indulge in reckless borrowing before an appreciable security had been created in the form of national wealth. After six months of editorship Sale spent nine months on the Otago goldfields. Tn the following year he was appointed Provincial Treasurer and Receiver of T.and Revenue for the Province of Canterbury. Fresh diggings having broken out in Westland. lie | was despatched in 180-3 by the Provincial Government of Canterbury to take charge of the field as Warden and Role Commissioner. Here his dominating will procured for him the soubriquet of ‘King Sale.' In 1869. oit the constitution of Westland as a separate province, he returned to England and entered at Lincoln's Inn with the intention of being called to the Hnr. Rut hi« destinies were hound up with those of the young eolonlv. In 1870 the University of Otago was founded chiefly through the enterprise of the Presbyterian community; and. of the three original professors, Sale, after being miner, larnier, admiuistrater, and editor, was appointed to the combined Chairs of Classics and English Literature, lie brought into the small community the breath ol a larger life. Seven vears later he was relieved ol ! English through the appointment of a separate professor. “During his long tenure of his position Sale was undoubtedly the most potent inilueiiee in the academic life of

New Zealand. He was a man of wide culture, stem demeanour, great force of character and impressive porsonalitv. Over many generations of students he exercised a powerful influence. In 1871 he ten).; a leading part in the negotiations which led to the reconstruction of the University of New Zealand : and it was mainly through his influence that the local university in the south consented to merge it-' '‘Dims to an Imperial Charter. and become, with Cnnterburv College, all affiliated institution to the University of New Zealand. He sat on the Xew Zealand University Senate for over thirtv years. He contributed to the Classical Review and other publications.”