The Late Mr Seddon.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVI, Issue 43102, 8 June 1907, Page 2

The Late Mr Seddon.

One of the most brilliant speeches at the recent presentation of the Freedom of the City of London of the Prime Ministers of the self-governing colonies was delivered by Sir Wilfred Laurier. At the luncheon which concluded the memorable gathering, the Lord Mayor of London proposed the toast of “ The Prime Ministers of the Self-governing-Colonies,” coupled with “ the silver-tongued Laurier,” In responding, the Candian Premier, after tracing the history of the Imperial Conference, paid the following tribute tq the memory of the Right Hon. R. J. Seddon : —Now, if I may without any lack of propriety, I would say that at this last Conference I was in very poor health, and never did I expect that I should cast again my eyes upon the shores of England. But at that time there was one amongst us who seemed to be, and was, the incarnation, the very incarnation, of robust health and robust manhood—l mean the late Mr Seddon, of New Zealand —and though the place of Mr Seddon is filled, and well fitted, by liis successor, Sir Joseph Ward, it was at that time believed by everyone, that Mr Seddon would attend this Conference and many others, and impress upon them his personality, his powerful personality—a personality composed at once of shrewd, practical sense and perfervid enthusiasm. But he is no more. He has been cut off in the prime of life, when, to all appearance, he had yet many years in him of hard work. Such is the lesson, the old and always new lesson, of the uncertainty of all human projects, of the inanity of all human calculations. We think, we plan, we prepare ; but between our most cherished thoughts, our most careful preparations, there very often occur unforseen events to mar, and, indeed, often to destroy.—“ Hot Lakes Chronicle.”