LEST WE FORGET.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2277, 17 May 1921, Page 2

LEST WE FORGET.

MR. J. H. COLLIER, in a letter to the Wellington Post, points out that next Monday, 16th May 1921, will he the 59th anniversary of the death in Wellington of Mr Edward Gibbon Wakefield, to whom, in conjunction with the late Earl of Durham and others, England and the British Empire are indebted for the systematic colonisation of the Dominion, with a population to-day of over a million of white people, speaking the English language and conforming to the customs, habits, and institutions of the Great White Nation from whom we have received the greatest inheritance that ever fell to the lot of any nation or people in ancient or modern times. Mr E. G. Wakefield was also the leading spirit in founding the Commonwealth State of South Australia, and its beautiful capital city- of Adelaide. In early life he did good work in connection with the establishment of representative institutions and responsible Government in Canada, while acting as private secretary to the Earl of Durham, who was sent on a mission to that country by the British Government. The tomb of Mr E. G. Wakefield is to be found near the middle of the north-east boundary fence of the Bolton Street Cemetery, Wellington, within earshot of the division bells of Parliament House, and he lies buried by the side of two of his brothers and a niece. One of his brothers, Colonel William Wakefield, was practically the first real Governor of New Zealand, acting as the New Zealand and Colonising Company’s superintendent in the now colony. lie also died in Wellington, on 19th September, 1848. The correspondent urges that some fitting memorial be held to honour the memory of one of our greatest Empire-builders.