THE LATE T. E. TAYLOR.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 1024, 1 August 1911, Page 3

THE LATE T. E. TAYLOR.

PROPOSED MEMORIAE. Christchurch, July 30. A public meeting was held yesterday afternoon to set up a memorial fund in memory of the late Mayor, Mr T. E. Taylor, M.P. Mr H. W. Bishop, S.M., presided, and the room was crowded by representatives of all sections of the community. The chairman said that he wanted the public to accept his presence there as chairman as the best possible assurance they could have that the movement was entirely unconnected with any party or faction or branch of the work that the late Mr T. E. Taylor during his strenuous life had been connected with. (Applause.) He took the position apart from any party, and he wanted those present to think only of T. E. Taylor the man. Mr Taylor had given his best talent and the whole of his physical strength to advance the best interests of the Dominion, and he had lelt an imprint that all hoped and knew would live in the country for years. That was proved by the simply marvellous tribute that had been paid by all the people and all the newspaper press of the country. Had their dead Mayor been able to see the esteem in which he was held he might well have said that he had not lived in vain, and he had not lived in vain. It had been his (Mr Bishop’s) proud privilege to be associated with Mr Taylor for many years, and he had realised more and more of late years those wonderful qualities that had made the man one of whom all were proud. Mr Taylor had worked unceasingly to help the people of his country, and all would agree that any person who tried to raise the standard of life in the Dominion was deserving of the highest praise. He remembered Mr | Taylor as a loving and devoted son and as a loving husband and father, and it was only in that he had given his talents for the public weal that he had not left adequate provision for the maintenance of his loved ones.

Mr Salter, the late Mayor’s solicitor, had asked him to tell the meeting that his mother was practically penniless. She certainly had the old age pension to look forward to. but neither Mr Taylor nor his friends would like to think of that. His wife, five daughters and one sou were not sufficiently well off to raise them above the worry of educational and other considerations, and no person present would wish to add to the sorrow and strain being endured by the widow, who all wished to relieve as far as possible. They would accept his assurance that it was necessary to establish such a fund, to provide an adequate income so that the immediate effect of their friend’s death would not be so severely felt.

Mr J. J. Dougall, said Mr Taylor had not lived for sordid gain, and his great personality had left him a living example of what a man can do to stir up the human sentiment in any people of any territory. He would suggest that a shilling fund should be iustituted, and moved that a representative committee be appointed to carry out the memorial scheme. The motion was carried.

Mr T. E. Taylor’s funeral yesterday was a remarkable demonstration of sympathy and affection. The whole route from the Council Chambers to the cemetry was lined by a crowd. In no place were the people less than two deep, and at particular points they were twenty deep. It is estimated that fifty thousand people were in the streets- Ten thousand gathered outside the cemetery gates, and the crush was so great that the authorities were compelled to exelude the general public from the ground. The people drove in from the country in hundreds during the morning, and trams arriving between one and two o’clock were crowded to their utmost capacity. There were evidences of deep feeling everywhere. It is doubtful if such another funeral has ever been seen in New Zealand. Certainly it was unparalleled so far as Christchurch is concerned. Ashburton, July 31. The list in aid of the T. li. Taylor Memorial Fund was opened at the Guardian office this morning, and was headed by Mr Hugo Friedlander, who subscribed fifty guineas.