SIR JOHN LOGAN CAMPBELL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 308, 25 June 1912, Page 6

SIR JOHN LOGAN CAMPBELL

AN APPRECIATION. (By W.T.J.) As an Auckland-born citizen of this Dominion,' may I have a little of your space. "The Doctor," as we knew him, is the last of the prominent men of New Zealand associated with its early history —politically, socially and from the point of view of the litterateur. In the days of Auckland, as I remember it, when the waters of the Waiteinita, as seen from Fort Britomart, where blue and so clear that we boys, looking at the regatta between times, were attracted by

seeing stingrays and other fish swimming about on the rocky bottom where now the North Island Main Trunk railway passes over on its way to the Auckland Railway Station in those days Dr. Campbell was known to every inhabitant of the Queen City of the North. In his interesting book, "Poenamo," he tells us of his first visit, by means of a canoe, in 1839, to the Waitemata harbor, and the appearance of Auckland in those days, over seventy years ago. He was struck with the beauty of the scene —the harbor water clear and phosphorescent, and the cliffs covered with pohotukawa, which were in full blood-red bloom. Af* 1 ter encamping on Motokorea Island, Dr. Campbell landed in Auckland, and chose a site for his tent close to where his scoria-stone warehouse is built, near Shortland street. From those early days of New Zealand until lis passed away on Saturday, he was id "Mfted with the fortunes of Auckland aI New Zealand. Dr. Campbell knew the country before it was under constitutional government. He saw the first Governor (Governor Hobson) arrive, and lived to see each 1 succeeding representative of our monarchy down to the present oicupant of the position (Lord Islington). Dr. Campbell was elected to the House of Representatives in 1855, and was contemporaneous with the three F's (Featherstone, Fitzherbert and Fox), Domett, Dillon Bill, Sewell, Stratford, John Williamson, Reader Wood, Dignan, and other political giants of the past. He also held a seat in the Cabinet of Premier Stafford. Dr. Campbell did not continue long in the House, as he resigned his , seat after a year's service. He contested the position of Superintendent against Mr. Whittaker, and was successful, owing to the vigorous advocacy of Mr. Hugh Carleton (brother of the novelist), who at that time edited the Auckland Southern Cross. A few days Afterwards Mr. Carleton and his friend, who were driving together, came to grief. Their horse bolted; the worthy doctor was landed on his head, and lay insensible, while Mr. Carleton sustained a fracture of the hip joint. Dragging himself to where his friend lay motionless, he thought him dead; and forgetting his own hurt, and thinking only of the political battle he had won, to all appearance lost, he exclaimed—"My God! Freddy W will be Superintendent after all!" The loss of life or limb was of secondary importi ance to a "walk over" by a politician to whom he was "on principle" opposed. I When the doctor recovered consciousI ness, he consoled him with the assurance that, being a Scotchman, he "had fallen , on the hardest part of his body, which I saved his life." The last public position held by Dr. Campbell was that of Mayor | of Auckland, and he did the honors of I the city he loved so well on the occasion | of the visit of the present King and l Queen to Auckland in 1902, that he was j knighted; and the familiar old title of ; "Doctor" was discarded for that of the I more pretentious one "Sir John Logan Campbell. It was on the literary and artistic side of the deceased gentleman's nature that he scored most. His writings, his support of the School of Arts,

I and his benefactions, both public and pri- ' vate, made him respected and revered by both old and new Aucklanders. Under the shadow of the Southern Cross he set an example to accumulators of wealth that the most disgruntled Socialist can find no fault with, His gift of three hundred acres to tie citizens of Auckland at One-Tree Hill (lfnown to the Maoris as Maungakiekie), was an example of generosity that all should appreciate. The monetary value alone of the land would be £IOO,OOO. Outside that aspect, the panoramic view that strikes the eye is almost sverwhelming. No one can say that they have seen } Auckland if they have not visited Cornjl wall Park, and climbed that grassy hill, J noticing extinct craters and old native ' fortifications by the way. An uninterrupted view of nearly a hundred miles from the hill top can be had on a clear ■ day. The eye rapidly takes in the Little Barrier due north, the Southern Range beyond the Waikato river, then the eastern blue mountains of Cape Colville and gold-bearing Coromandel can be traced. Turn as you will —north, south, east or west—a panoramic view is obtained that is unequalled. As a boy I climbed Mount Eden (Maungawhau) times out of number, when we searched for wild Cape gooseberries, which grew luxuriantly about the hills fifty years ago; but the much-vaunted view from Mount Eden cannot be considered when compared with that from One-Tree Hill at Cornwall Park. I am not surprised at the giver of this valuable gift wishing to be laid at rest in such a 'beautiful place. It would take too much of your space to tell of the "Father of Auckland" and his further generous acts; but I will just mention the Children's Home in Grey street, and his helpfulness towards the Society of Arts and the Pioneer Settlers. Dr. Campbell, had seen the beginning, as it were, of a new world when he came to Auckland a young and frail man; and he lived to see some astonishing events. He saw the Maori Rebellion of 1845, the attempted invasion of Auckland by the NgatipOi in 1851, and the second Maori Rebellion of 1860. Associated, as Dr. Campbell was, with commerce and shipping, he saw distance almost annihilated between the land of his birth and that of his adoption—the improvement in steam navigation of quite recent years has cut down a sea voyage from over a hundred days, on a "wind jammer," to less than thirty-five days. Marvellous, indeed, were the changes noticed in his long life; and he could have said with, the poet, when he left his own land in those far off days, and arrived here—''When the centuries left 'behind me, like a fruitful land reposed, When T cling to all the present for the promise it enclosed. When J dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, Saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that could be." The deceased gentleman had a warm spot in his heart for Taranaki. Speaking in the House on the Province of , Taranaki Bill (Hansard, 1856), he said that he considered that whatever in reality tended to the prosperity of New Plymouth would not in any way detract from that of Auckland; and he was favorable to the granting of the request for the cession of Kawhia to Taranaki. lie was, further, trustee for the fund raised in Auckland towards the relief of the distressed Taranaki settlers, caused by the destruction of their property by the Maoris during the 1860 war. The work of Sir John Campbell will not soon be forgotten, and his name inust stand out in the history of New Zealand. Everything he did was thorough, and his example to the present generation of politicians, commercial men and oth#r» could well be followed. By the death

j of Sir John Campbell, the last of the I many prominent men that guided New * Zealand in the early days has passed \ away. Vale!