OBITUARY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3552, 19 October 1926, Page 3

OBITUARY.

SIR JAMES CARROLL. Auckland, Last Night. Sir James Carroll, who suffered a heart attack this morning, died in the Rawhiti Private Hospital at a-quarter, past eight o’clock tonight. The memorial service for Sir James Carroll will take place in St. Patrick’s Cathedral to-morrow afternoon and the body will he conveyed to Gisborne by the Wainui leaving to-morrow night.

Sir James Carroll, who was for more than 20 years one of the best known public men in New Zealand, was born at Wairoa, Hawke’s Bay, on August 20, 1857, and was a son of Jos. Carroll and Tapuke, of Ngatikahungunu. He. was educated at the Native School, Wairoa, and at Mr Thompson’s private school, Napier. His early years were spent in farming, but on the outbreak of the Hauhau trouble under Te Kooti, he volunteered for service in the Urewera campaign of 1870, being mentioned in dispatches, and received the ( £SO for conspicuous service in Hamlin’s expedition. Following the conclusion of peace,.in this campaign, he was for 18 months a cadet with Mr Locke, Native Commissioner for Hawke’s Bay, where he came under the notice of Sir D'onald McLean, by whom he was transferred to the Native Department. From 1879 to 1883 he was interpreter in the House of Representatives and in 1884 contested, the Eastern Maori electorate against Wii Pere, but was defeated. In 1887 he again contested the electorate and was successful, remaining continuously in Parliament until 1919, when he was defeated by Mr W. D. Lyspar. In 1892 he was made a member of the Executive, and on being elected for Waiapu (an European electorate) became Minister of the Crown from 1893 to 1912 (Seddon, Hall-Jones and Ward Cabinets), and during Sir Joseph Ward’s absence in England in that year, was Acting Premier. He was Knighted in 1911 and in 1921 became a member of the Legislative Council. The late Sir James Carroll’s influence in native affairs was very considrable, and his work towards the improvement of liitV people’s position in the direction of working their holdings on a tribal basis, has been of considerable value. He has amicably settled many native disputes, notably the Urewera trouble at Ruatoki, and for some years was a trustee of the East Coast Native Trust Lands. With a wonderful command of English, Sir James Carroll was conceded to be the best speaker in the House of Representatives, earning the soubriquet of New Zealand’s only orator.