The Evening Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1878.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 827, 7 December 1878, Page 2

The Evening Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1878.

The news of Sir John Larkin Cheese Richardson's death will be received with unfeigned regret throughout the Colony, for the deceased gentleman was known to and respected by all classes. For years he occupied a foremost position amongst the politicians of the Colony, having for a lengthened period prior to his-elevation to the Speakership of the Legislative Council taken an active part in the affairs of the country. As a straightforward plainspoken politician he had few equals in the New Zealand Parliament, and was excelled by none. Although for several years he had retired from active political life, and had sought well-earned ease and retirement in the Speaker's chair of the Colonial House of Lords, he at one time took a prominent and by no means insignificant part in many political battles, but throughout these lie invariable maintained the respect and obtained the admiration alike of political friends and opponents ; and now he has for ever quitted the political arena, we doubt if he has left a single enomy behind him. He was an excellent tactician and an able debater, and on many occasions was his voice listened to attentively, and his every word eagerly devoured in many of the principal political battles of the time. He was a member of one of the strongest Ministries that ever held the reins of power in New Zealand, having hold the portfolio of Postmaster-General in the Ministry of Mr. P. A. Weld, now Governor of Tasmania. That Ministry included, in addition to Mr. Weld and Sir John (then Major) Richardson, such men as Sir William Fitziierbert (then plain Mr. Fitzheebert), Mr. J. E. Fitz Gehald, the greatest orator New Zealand ever possessed, Mr. J. C. Richmond, and, if we mistake not, Mr. James Prendergast, now Chief Justice of the Colony. It is a remarkable circumstance that of these eminent politicians Sir William Fitzhkrbert is the only one who now occupies a seat in the Legislature, and even he lias retired for a time, at any rate, from active political life, and rests content as a Speaker of the House of Representatives with holding the scales between the two contesting parties. It is also worthy of note that with one exception each of the gentlemen we have named was afterwards chosen to fill some important public position, the exception being Mr. J. C. Richmond, who quitted the Colony in disgust some few years since after suffering signal defeats at a general election when wooing the smiles of the Wellington and Nelson elections at one and the same time. The Weld Ministry, of which Sir John Richardson was a prominent member, originated what has been known as the self-reliant policy. It wa3 that Ministry that when the Home Government demanded payment from the Colony for the thousands of soldiers then in the North Island, bade the Mother Country take her troops away, and expressed the determination of the Colony to rely upon its own forces to cope with the Maoris. What the effect of that decision was we need not attempt to discuss at present. Suffice it to say that in the working out of the self-reliant policy the deceased gentleman took an active part. But it is not alone as a politician that we look back upon his memory with a feeling of reverence. As a private citizen and a man Sir John Richardson ever commanded the respect and esteem of his fellow-colonists ; and woll might it be so, for he always proved himself a friend and warm supporter of everything calculated to promote the happiness and well-being of all classes. He was a bluff soldier, but ho was also a kind, warm-hearted, open-handed gentleman, and long will his name occupy a place in the memory of all classes of per- j sons in the Colony. j