SIR FREDERICK YOUNG.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 96, 1 August 1910, Page 3

SIR FREDERICK YOUNG.

A VETERAN IMPERIALIST'S REMINISCENCES.

CHAT WITH A WONDERFUL OLD MAN. On June 21, 1817, there was born in Limehouse, London, the son of Mr. George Frederick Younig, a boy who was de&tined to exercise incalculable influence upon the lives of countless people; who was to become, through a career of consistent ideals and unceasing effort, .a leader of thought in the development of our colonies; and who is able, on the threshold of his 94th year, not only to look back upon a record of definite achievement, but also to take his active share in the advance towards that fuller realisation of national responsibility of which he dreams.

! Sir Frederick Young, K.C.M.G., is a wonderful man. As he sat and chatted | about the past in the Royal Colonial Institute, I found it difficult (writes a re-' presentative of the London Daily News) to believe that this alert old gentleman, with the spare frame, the grizzled white moustache, and the keen blue eeys, was indeed within seven years of 'being a centenarian.

"They tell me," said Sir Frederick, "that my vigor and vitality are extra,' ordinary for a man of my years. Well, I Jiave had; my opportunities, I have done ■my best, and when I am called I am ready to go." Thus tranquilly, secure in the knowledge that others will carry on the work he has striven to perform, he unfolded his vision of the future. It is the vision of an intellectual worker who has lived in six reigns; who• remembers the three days' travel on the top of a coach to 'Newcastle, when his father was elected M.P. for Tynemouth; who was present in Westminster Abbey at the coronation of William IV. on September 8, 1881; who treasures the recollection of a delightful meeting with Garibaldi at the house of Mrs. Seeley, mother of the present Major Seeley, and who has arrived, a little feeble, perhaps, and conscious of the weight of years, but still active, and with his enthusiasm undimmed, at the era of the flying machine. , 'Here is one example of Sir Frederick's tremendous bridging of years. He was present —"I recollect it as clearly as yesterday," he told me—at the banquet in September, 1839, to the principal colonists, who went out in four ships to do the spade work in New Zealand. The Duke of Sussex, son of George 111., was | in the chair, and Sir Frederick recalled the black skull cap which the wore,

THE MAORtS-THEti AND NOW 1 .

"At the time when we were beginning to colonise New Zealand in 1839," Sir Frederick observed, "the Maoris were camtlliak lAt this moment there are 16 or 18 Miltii'i chiefs sitting in Parliament. Well, now, to have that happen in a single lifetime is a wonderful thing. It ha 9 been possible because —whatever the mistakes made by individuals—our civilisation has been undertaken by the right sort of people." You will find that wherever Sir Frederick speaks of "the right sort of people," he has in his mind those who seek to move according to the theories of Edward | Gibbon Wakefield. He was a very voung man iwhen he met the great founder of South Australia and New Zealand, and fell at once under Wakefield's fascination, "I used 1 to go and stav with him Reiigate," he said, "and I have never forgotten the lessons in colonisation which he taught me." Wakefield's first principle was that every acre of land used for the purpose of colonisation should contribute, f rom the price paid for it, a certain amount towards the cost of sending nvn out. There was thus provision for tlr rl ;stinct purpose of planting population upon the land. ' "When the self-governing colonies were subsequently given their waste land absolutely, without control from the Mother Country, it suited them," said Sir Frederick, "to repudiate Wakefield's system, iwMch he regarded as fundamental, and to use the land fund derived from their sale for other purposes; and they only appropriated certain portions of the colonial revenue, as it occasionally suited them, to the importation of labor by means of assisted emigration. I confess that many years of study, reflection, and experience have led me more than ever to the conclusion that the main of Wakefield's system were sound; and in my opinion it has been an unfortunate thing that they were ever repudiated and abandoned, as well as for the colonies as for the Mother Country." NO APOSTLE OF THE "BIG "STICK."

Sir Frederick is no apostle ,of the "big stick", in colonisation. "There are two words in the English tongue," he says, "of extraordinary force. One of them ought to be stamped in letters of gold on every human heart. The other should 'be eradicated from our thoughts. The words are 'sympathy' and 'prejudice.' " And in his own use of the word "Imperialism" he dislikes the warlike significance which it has obtained. "I prefer the word 'nationalism,'" he told me, "because it expresses far more the fed-u-ation of the Empire which I hope the world will see."

He has the same hopes for ' mth Africa as he had *• • New Zen' ad; and, though. !'.c ".0;t • that i>er nallv he mightk-.- .uvned to v,.iit a little longer, he U l with the granting of Horn* Hii!'.* hi.cl particularly enthusiastic about Botha'' -•woinvii-nt as Premier. One of hi-.- ;;rV •? ?«eetinr

with Ivruger, some V 'v ;' •va:\ when he told Oom •: y.'.irod

forward to the time '."R". r*.won'n penetrate the whole of -nat :t country. The rugged old Boer statesman smiled inscrutably and said nothing. For Mr. Roosevelt, Sir Frederick has great respect; but he insists upon the value of what is called sentimental ism in colonising work "I am very fond of saying," he remarked, "that sentiment is of*great value and a great factor in ruling the world, "but it requires to be fortified and braced >y something in addition. The nationalist spirit should be respected as far as possible." i In this connection Sir Frederick recalls ] how he was once invited to become a member of the Pamell party in Parliament. "Tn my first book, which I caller! 'lmperial Federation,' published in 187G.'' 1 he explained, "I said that to carry o'-it my idea we should require local Parliaments for England, Ireland and Scotland. Thereupon I had a visit from Mr. Finnegan, one of Parnell's chief supporters, •who said they were very anxious to bring me into Parliament. I had told him I felt complimented; but that in my view his party stood for disintegration and not federation.. My pla:n would have riven the local Parliament power over Focal affair? in Ireland, but with the Supreme Parliament paramount." It came as a shook to find that <?ir Frederick contemplated the possibility v.ndon mav not always be the cniii<,i) .-r ihe Empire, "I want the whole v n , r i,9.» he. 3aid, "to be united politically, and that is my creed at the present day.' I want a gfeat Imperial Parliament, with meetings in' whatever city .w.rj iM.ij i Niy. o oj .rti.q f •<"

may, (be the centre of the Empire. There are .the strongest of reasons, of course, why it should be London; but Canada, for instance, is very go-ahead, and it is not impossible that Canada should produce some day our greatest city. Or it may be Australia. I 'have seen things move so marvellously that anything may happen."