The Daily News. THURSDAY, JUNE 21. THE CLOSING SCENE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8138, 21 June 1906, Page 2

The Daily News. THURSDAY, JUNE 21. THE CLOSING SCENE.

Bv the unanimous wish of the people of the colony, to-day has been wholly set apart as a day of mourning, to the m»mory of the greatest figure that has yet occupied the stage of life in the brief, but eventful history of New Zealand. Many men achieve greatness, but few, indeed, j greatness such as has marked the

life of our late Prime Minister. So strong a place had he won in the lives and affections of the people, that the shock occasioned by his tragic end may only be compared with the intense sense of loss realised

in a family bereavement, To people t of every class and station, and of , diverse political convictions, there f were traits in the great personality ' and character that compelled ad- , miration and respect. Never at any ] moment of his life a drnne, he was I admired by all men for his pluck and I endurance, and for the whole-souled 1 ardor with which—unhappily, to his own undoing—he employed the wonderful mental and physical resources nature had ondowed him with. While acquitting himself with honor in the highest positions, socially and politically, to which his high office called him, he never forgot he was of the people. He was ever one of them, never forgetting old friends, old times, and old mates. This admirable trait in his character was of itself sufficient to account for esteem, amounting almost to veneration, in which he was held by the people of Westland. A correspondent recently summed up an appreciation in a contemporary in these words: "He was keen, merciful, just, progressive, moral and honorable —truly a man in every sense of the word, admired, feared, and respected by his political opponents." None there is who dare say the deceased Statesman had not earned this whole-hearted attribution. In common with all flesh, Mr Seddon made mistakes, but it is no |mere charitable impulse that has prompted all —political opponents and admirers alike -to agree that his shortcomings were of such an infinitesimal qiun- : tity in comparison with his worth and popularity, as to be beneath reckoning. Only deep - rooted, genuine esteem and regret could have called forth the world-wide tributes of the past week, and the unanimity with which to-day's solemn proceedings have been agreed upon throughout the length and breadth . of the land. Although to-night all that is' mortal of New Zealand's great mail will lie beneath the sod, it is with pride we recall the tribute ot the great French journal "Le Temps ": "Mr Seddon is worthy of a place among the cliosen few of our • epoch's history." What greater i honor could New Zealand wish might be accorded her fallen hero ? -