King Dick at Home.... PEOPLE HE MET, AND WHAT HE SAID TO THEM.

Free Lance, Volume III, Issue 115, 13 September 1902, Page 20

King Dick at Home.... PEOPLE HE MET, AND WHAT HE SAID TO THEM.

IF you have a quiet Sunday to spaie, and a pile of English papeis coveimg the period withm which King Dick is on the warpath, mopping up freedoms of cities, annexing university degrees heie, teacnme Scotsmen how to be "canny" there, and proving hih ability to be considered the most lobust after-dinner orator somewhere else, you will own that he has boomed the glories of these delectable isles with a boom that outdoes anything in that line up-to-date. Everyone breathlessly lead the cable durin" July intimating the fact that the Premier was at Dumbarton and that Mrs. Seddon was to have christened the Union Steamship Company's infant boat the Moeraki. Mrs. Seddon was ill m London, and Miss Seddon bioke the wine bottle m the time-honoured way tha" sends a cold shiver down the back of the lover of good liquor The Dumbarton "Herald " on this occasion," raked up some of the events of Richard's boyhood days. For instance "The elder Mr. Seddon (it says) was neither very learned nor wealthy Dick and his brothers and sisters only had the most rudimentary education. Dick's body grew a bit faster than his mind some people thought. He was never stupid, but nobody predicted any sort of eminence for him except that of inches. "At fourteen, he went to Daglish's ironworks as an unindentured apprentice. He was as good at his work as most; he was better at trifling than some. There was no wickedness in him, but he w r as remembered kindly as a scapegrace A custom arose at Daglish's of letting the men leave work at six o'clock, and keeping the apprentices on till half-past ten under the charge of one journeyman. For this overtime they were paid at the rate of eight shillings a week "These lads did not like being compelled to work longer than the men for a recompense that did not reach twopence an hour So they went in a body to one of the governing Daglishes and demurely stated their case. He looked them over, and demanded to know who had put them up to that "damned nonsense." The upshot of the apprentices' mild revolt was "that they were sriven a few days in which to sign indentures or leave the place. Big Dick wouldn't sign. ' Dick then got a job in Forester's Foundry, Liverpool. But he fell ill, and his' place was filled and he signed on to work his passage to Australia. He rushed off home, nearly frightened his parents out of their wits before he could say good-bye, and then, with the clothes he wore, and a bundle under his arm. ioined his ship and left his native land, and did not see it again till he came as Queen Victoria's guest, to be received with all honours. "Dick's uncle, Nathan Seddon. had emigrated to New Zealand ten years before. Dick's love of kindred, luckily for him, turned his eyes to the islands in the Southern, and' not to those in the Northern sea. He sent an advertisement to a New Zealand paper, hoping thereby to find his uncle. The plan was a success, and Dick went to the sphere of his unique renown His career in New Zealand has been described times without number. But his uncle's share in his well-doing does not seem to be known Nor is his entry into colonial politics perfectly understood. "When allmial gold mining became an industry in a certain part of New Zealand, the water supply was most difficult to obtain His uncle knew where on the higher ground, water was m plenty, and he, his sons and Dick who was the mechanical expert, formed the Band of Hope Water Company which brought them the money on which Dick built his modest fortune oait of which has been made as mining eneineei and part as an advocate for he studied mining law and passed the easA examination which gave him a 'locus standi' before magistrates who themselves were not models of judicial culture "Evervborl- knows what Dick has done and what he is The King says. 'Mv friend, Mr Seddon.' He glories in beinrr a Lancashire lad His mother was a devout Scotchwoman He never forgets the pit from whence ho was dragged, nor the friends with whom he fought the battle of overtime " ♦ * -» Mr Seddon, on the occasion of the ship's christening got in some of his most striking patriotic work, for slnns ever suggest "the grand old flag " In eulogising Mr Chamberlain, however he said that Joe was iust the sort of lad to "see that their country should not be invaded, their flag flaunted, and from point k> point to proceed until

they were that day at peace with homoui, and to the advantage of the empire." (Applause.) ♦ «■ * Curious that those canm Scotch repoiteis insisted on the 'flaunting of the flag " Mr Seddon, of course, meant "flout," but has never been known to say it that way vet He said the Union Steamship Company at the present time w as the most popular company in existence, and it deserved to be. Not a single manager, shareholder, or any person connected with the flourishing US S Company said a word in denial of this, and it was a popular sentiment, as you may suppose. Miss Seddc-n would have been piesented with the neck of the christening bottle, but she put so much vigour into the baptism that there wasn't any neck left. King Dick put in a word in oase at any time New Zealand should want another loan. He said the best security that could possibly be given was that the colonies were under the same flag, and inhabited by people of the same blood. And all the people there were convinced that the argument was a sound one, and that relationship was as good as £ s d any day. ■* * * On the following day, July 17, we find Mr. Seddon m London, and occupying a. seat at St. Paul's School Apposition Dinner, and an inch of two in the great and solemn "Times " There was a vast sprinkling of the salt of the salt of the earth there, who made a special point, seeing that it was a school apposition dinner, in talking about the Navy. You see, they were wanting the colonies to take their shaie of the nation's burden. We do not quite know if Lord Selborne has travelled this way at all but, in a short speech, he said a good deal about "New Zealand and Australia " but not a word about "Australia and New Zealand." This is a guide to the relative importance of the island and the continent that cannot but be fymg to Maonlanders His Lordship was keen on getting New Zealand and Australian recruits for the navy, but he avoided the minimum wage side of the question. We are not in a position to say how much or how little Mr. Seddon said on this occasion, but one of the remarks attributed to him jn the inch set aside for his special benefit is that, "Theie was, not to be any economy of expenditure m connexion with the Navy Speaking for those beyond the seas he mieht say that they desired a larger expenditure." • * * That was a jolly little gathering that took place at the Hotel Cecil on Juh 22nd when London Maonlanders made King Dick a present. Theie were heaps of New Zealand oeople there, from Sir Westby Percival down to Colonel Porter, the Commander of the New Zealand Forces." Everybody knows that it was a magnificent trophy and also that Mrs. Seddon was the recipient of a spleudid diamond tiara, and that when Richard upreared himself you could have heard an acid drop. After the tumult of glad welcome had been stilled, and the guest of the evening had said some nice thines about those presents, he eot on to the meat, egzs, and buttei nuestion. "Sir Wilfrid Laurier had claimed for Canada," he said, "that she would be the granary and the baker of the Empire, and Sir Edmund Barton had claimed for Australia that she would be the Empire's butcher but in New Zealand they had not all their eggs in one basket, and tl could claim a combination of the three especially as the dairyman was not included, and in that respect he thoueht New Zealand could take the first place "The mutton of New Zealand wa.s unsurpassed in the whole world, while hi respect to their beef it was the neatest approach to and he was not suio that it did not suipass the uiicv loast beef of old England (Laughter and cheeis ) New Zealand was the most 3ntn.li at the present time of any pait of the King's dominions beyond the seas " * * * It is quite apparent, from the Edinburgh "Evening Despatch " of Juh 20th that Mr Seddon was in that ancient city. In fact, it is pretty clear that he was made a freeman of it which means that he is at liberty to enter it at any time during the remainder of his life provided he pays his railway fare thither The "Despatch" mentions that Sir Robert Bond, K.C.M.G., "Prime Minister of New Zealand," was there also We had hitherto understood that the knight referred to had a billet in Newfoundland The paper rectifies itself later on, however, and Dick comes into his own again in time to make a speech.

After Canada's Piemier, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, had said how glad he was to have Edinburgh thrown open to him, and Sir Edmund Barton had done half-a-column ot masterly "hedging" m Jus well-known tactful style, Mr. Seddon said the freedom of the Scottish oitv had not that day been bestowed on a whole Scotsman. He \us the only man who had any claim to be considered a Scot, and he was but half an one Here the "Scotties" went "clean daft v\ i laughing." He spoke of blood and cement and African veldt and (as the paper says) "in a strong clear voice and in a manner that roused the enthusiasm of the audience more than any of the other spea.kers." He let the men "o' Edinburgh toon" know that the Maoris were "sick at heart" at not having had a chance' to get at the enemies of the Empire, and was allowed to quaff his "real Scotch" after being encored several times.