SIR. DONALD McLEAN, K.C.M.G.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4931, 11 January 1877, Page 5

SIR. DONALD McLEAN, K.C.M.G.

The brief time that has intervened since the death of our distinguished follow-colonist, and the painful feeling as of personal loss ■which is experienced, prevent us from attempting anything like a biography ; yet we feel it a duty to give some notice of his career, and thus to show our appreciation of the sterling excellencies that marked his character. His colonial life cpmmenced nearly forty years ago as a seaman in a small coasting craft. Blessed with a vigorous frame, having , a frank, cheery look that tv as “ a letter of recommendation,” and gifted with some faculty for acquiring languages by which he mastered the difficulties of .■ the native tongue, he so early as the year. 1841 obtained an appointment in the native protectorate.. As it soon became evident that he understood the character of the natives, as well as their language, his advancement from one step to another was rapid, and equally creditable to himself and to those who had the good sense to recognise and reward the ability which he displayed. Thus, in 1845, he became Inspector of Police in Taranaki—a' position for which he was peculiarly qualified, as even then the natives had begun to entertain some jealousy of the colonists, because of the predilection of the Europeans for that-place, which the natives had always prized so highly. About this time, or perhaps a little earlier, he first visited Wellington, travelling necessarily on foot, making his way through the intervening forests, and characteristically regarding it as though it were not a remarkable thing to have done. On this visit he made the acquaintance of Mr. Strang, and subsequently married the daughter of that gentleman ; but was not long permitted to enjoy the comforts of domestic life, as he lost his young wife almost immediately after the birth of their first and only child, Mr. Robert Douglas McLean, who is now the only representative of his father and grandfather. In 1852 Mr. McLean was appointed as a Commissioner for the purchase of native lands, and afterwards became the head of that department. , It is in this capacity that he will be best remembered. None but those who have known New Zealand during the last five-and-twenty or thirty years can properly estimate what an amount of tact and delicacy were required in the performance of his duties. The natives, who had at first welcomed their pakeha visitants, had become alarmed by seeing how firmly the Europeans .were establishing themselves in the country, and-not unreasonably began to fear that the white men wouldspeedily dispossess the aboriginal inhabitants of all that they had once called their own. Hence “land leagues" began to be heard- of, and not a few of the natives were disposed to bitterly resent any effort to obtain more of their, lands), while at the same time it was felt by the Europeans that the acquisition of lands for ■ settlement and the profitable occupation of those lands was the only thing that could secure the prosperity of the country and all its inhabitants, whether European or native. While the more recent efforts of Sir Donald McLean to restore and maintain peace have been of priceless value, it la equally true that during the period in which he was negotiating for the purchase of native lands—a period ranging from 1852 to 1863—a single false step, anything that would have appeared to be a mere greed for possession, would have hopelessly embroiled the two races, and brought on a conflict which would have proved to be a war of extermination. That which did take place first in Taranaki, and then in Waikato, only showed how ready ail the elements of combustion were; and the fact that Mr. McLean succeeded in purchasing large tracts of landwithout exciting jealous orhostile feelings is an unanswerable proof of the truth and honesty which were seen and recognised in his dealings. Stories will long be told of the invincible patience with which he would listen for days —or even weeks—to the iteration by native ' speakers of the same arguments, and then, when they had done, replying so firmly and yet so judiciously that it almost invariably ended in his carrying his point, with the concurrence of those who had been opposing him. It may be noted here, os the too-memorable year 1860 is included in the period during which Mr. McLean was Chief Land Purchase Commissioner, that unfortunately he was very ill about that time, lying in Mr. Strang's house in Wellington. As soon as he was able he hurried away to the North, but it is just

( possible that events might have shaped differently could he have been there earlier. In April, 1863, Mr McLean resigned the emoluments of his office (although he con- / tinned to take the oversight of the department Until its abolition), having been elected as a member for the Napier Country District in the Provincial Council of Hawke’s Bay, by which body he was elected Superintendent of the Province, the Gazette notice of which appointment was dated the 4th of March. Before this he had been specially connected with Hawke’s Bay, having represented the General Government there,; and by his care and watchfulness had preserved the peace of the province when it was most seriously imperilled. It was therefore fitting that the people of that province should recognise his services in the way they did, and also by electing him (on March 23, 1866,) as the representative for in the Colonial Legislature. On the formation of the Fox Ministry in 1869, Mr. McLean took office as Native Minister and Minister for Colonial Defence, and the first-named office he continued to hold (with the exception of the brief interval of one month in 1872), until he finally retired a few weeks ago. It must be added that in the list of the Waterhouse Ministry (1872-3), Mr. McLean appears as 0.M.G., while in the Vogel Ministry of_ 1873 he becomes K.C.M.G., with the knightly Pt fhr Donald’s personal history for the last few years is inseparably blended with the histoty of New Zealand. The peace which has been enjoyed is largely due to his indefatigable and self-denying efforts, and it is only repeating a truism to say that but for the establish■ment of peace, public works could not havei been carried on, and the prosperity that has b£en so universal would have been unknown, ihd indeed impossible. It is too soon yet to :■ estimate the share that Sir Donald has had m .bringing about the state of things that has happily prevailed, but the future historians of the colony will do justice to his memory. Personally Sir Donald continued to the end just what he had been from the beginning. No cynic he. He “ took the goods the gods provided.” The writer, like all Sir Donald s friends, took an early opportunity to congratulate him on his receiving the honor of knighthood, and the hearty “ Thank you, thank you, with which the congratulations were received told at once that he believed they were sincere,'and also that he was conscious that it was a thing of which he might fairly be proud, and for which his friends might well express their pleasure. The closing scene too was deeply touching m its° simple pathos. Maori,' English even, faded away in that supreme hour, and in the language he had learned on his native heather, he “ babbled o’ green fields,” and so told that his work on earth was done. Pea,e to his ashes ! Through all New Zealand Europeans mourn for him, and natives say their hearts are “dark” because “ Makarini” is no more. He was not “That faultless monster that the world ne’er saw,” but He was a man, take him for all in all. And we arenotquitesurebutthat, having regal’d to some aspects of his many-sided character, we might not be justified in adding the succeeding line of that well-known quotation.