THE LATE SIR JAMES CARROLL

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 156, 28 October 1926, Page 5

THE LATE SIR JAMES CARROLL

ORATOR AND POLITICIAN. / Some Memories. “ i hope it will always be Jimmy by you,” was the typical utterance of the late Sir James Carroll to a friend who congratulated him on his knighthood. No man sought the honour or desired it less. It was almost forced upon him, as it were. It was , the wish of the King, who when ; Prince of Wales toured New Zealand and Vas accompanied through the Dominion by the then Hon. James Carroll, It was a tribute to the Maori race. So “ Jimmy ” Carroll became Sir James Carroll, but to his friends and they were innumerable —he was « Jimmy ” ; and to the people he was and will remain just “ Jimmy ” Carroll. And what honour is greater? Just as his two great political contemporaries, .Seddon and Massey, will be remembered by posterity as Dick Seddon and Bill Massey, so he will live ip memory as “ Jimmy.’ Was it fate that his last public appearance should have been at the unveiling of the memorial to his great political opponent and his great personal friend, the late Sir William 'Herries ? And in the “ winter of his age ” there he paid his tribute with graceful word and courtly utterance to one he had cared for so much. 'And in a few days lie joined his old friend. Alike and yet dissimilar, these two great men gravitated to each other through their gentility of nature and charity of mind. The intrigues, the bitterness and sometimes the baseness of political warfare only acted as a foil “to their qualities of gentlemen. And in that era when they were political powers they were known as the two gentlemen of the House. Could a greater distinction have been bestowed ? Probably “ Jimmy ” will be better remembered as the orator —the greatest of his age—than as the politician. He will live in the memory of many -as the finest speaker they have ever heard. With his deep and melodious voice, full of music and charm, with his wonderful command of English, his brilliance, his use of metaphor and simile, was it a wonder that in his prime the crowds were enthralled, that He could sway the multitude and obtain a control greater than that of any man of his day ? Memory goes back to a tangi over a very famous Wairarapa Maori chief. The marae of the pa was thronged ; on one side the Maoris, on the other the Europeans. The time for speech came. Sir James walked out to the centre of the marae. Pacing' slowly up and down, he addressed the gathered Maoris. And when he had finished he turned to the Europeans. His opening words : “ The stately totara has fallen. The small trees are bereft of his shade.” And as he continued, as that melodious voice rose and fell like the swell of a great organ to give expression to pearls of speech in lamentation of the death of one who had done much to weld the Maori and European races together, his domination of the pakehas grew. The feeling became more intense, the sobs more pronounced, and ere he finished not one of that large assembly was dry-eyed. The Governor with bent head held his handkerchief to his face. Seddon,

square-shouldered, burly, erect, looked straight ahead of him, and the j tears rolled down his cheeks. But it was left to a journalist to pay the greatest tribute. To one of the reporters, one of - the most brilliant descriptive writers of the time, and now dead, came someone at the end of the ceremony. “ I do hope you have got a full report of Carroll’s speech.” The reporter looked at him steadily and coldly for a moment or two. Then he said : “ Man, it is impossible to put such music on paper. It would be a heresy to try.” As a political speaker “ Jimmy’s ” charm remained, though the intenseness and depth were replaced by subtlety and skill. No platform speaker had a greater command of English, or, when he chose, the ability of being able to say so much and mean so little. Seddon, with his * vibrant voice, booming, echoing his dominant personality, smashing down opposition through sheer strength, was typical of the claymore. Sir James was the antithesis. Quiet, polished, j witty, his was the attack of the ra- ; pier, the balance, the poise, the flexible wrist of the skilled swordsman. An instance. Once he came to speak in the heart of an Opposition community. Those were the days' when the Hon. John McKenzie introduced his famous land policy and Seddon was sweeping New Zealand like a tornado with his slogan, “ Men and women and children instead of sheep and cattle.” The meeting was distinctly hostile. Early heckling arose from the back part of the hall. Sir James went on unpertui'bed. The

noise continued. Then he paused, and proceeded to tell a Maori story. It was of an old tohunga and of a number of youthful rivals. The machinations of the malcontents and their defeat were the basis of the theme. Never for a second did Sir James indicate that the story had a direct bearing, but it was not very long before the audience saw the illusion, and when the speaker returned to the political matter there was a ripple of laughter through the hall. But there was no more heckling after that. At the conclusion of the meeting the audience stood up and cheered

“ Jimmy.” It was a very wonderful and rare tribute from a politicallyhostile community. In the House Sir James probably spoke less than any of the Ministers. He was not a debater. He lacked the incisive, sharp or pointed manner of a Taylor or a Pirani or a Hutchison. But he had his own peculiar field in which he excelled. There was no one in the House who could so cleverly draw a red herring across the trail, or divert the attention of the House from the crucial subject matter to some trivial details without incurring the displeasure of Mr. Speaker. It was said that when Seddon was being pressed rather more closely than he liked the Whip was sent to >Sir James. And then the Minister of Native Affairs, in that apparently dilatory and languid manner of his, with his polished speech, would enter the debate and draw the Opposition pack away from the scent his chief disliked. But “ Jimmy ” was at his best in a circle of congenial friends.. To few men has it been given to be a more delightful conversationalist. With a mind stored with the history and legends of the Maori race, he would narrate anecdote after anecdote, full of interest, until someone looked at his watch and marvelled at the flight of time.

As Minister of Native Affairs Sir James was very often blamed, but not always justly, for his Taihoa policy. Affairs, especially where land was concerned, did not always move as rapidly as the Europeans would wish. But Sir James stood between the two races. He took the line that he was the guardian of his people’s rights, the policy which his successor, Sir William Herries, followed, and at the time he took office Native Affairs were not running as smoothly as they do to-day. It was his task to bring the two races closer together. His best work remained unseen and unknown to the majority of Europeans. In the Seddon Administration Sir James Carroll held the unofficial position of intelligence officer. No Minister equalled “ Jimmy ” in the art of “ feeling the pulse of the public.” Friendly with everyone, in his own quiet and peculiar way he gathered information from a thousand and one sources. astoundinghow much he knew about the “ little things ” in politics which were happening throughout the Dominion. Always tactful, courteous and kind there was a method in his chatty little conversations which few dreamt of.

Orator and politician, the end has come. No more will that beautiful voice with its almost magnetic power be heard. Stilled for ever is “ the full flowing river of speech.” Departed is a charming personality. No matter how bitter the fight, SirJames was always * chivalrous to his opponents, and no ungenerous words would pass his lips. A cultured mind, a master of Maori tradition, ceremonial and history, he was a link between the past and the present. Kindly in thought and action he was always a gentleman. Ha ere ! Haere ! Ha ere ! E Timi !