The Daily News. SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 1913. A GREAT PERSONALITY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 176, 24 January 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 1913. A GREAT PERSONALITY.

! It is given to few men to attain to an j age nf between ninety ami one Imiulreil j years. .Still more rare is it that a youth who starts life as a junior clerk . ends it as a Peer of the itcalm, honored by the people' of the land of Ins birth; and yet doubly honored and revered by the land of adoption, and most rare of all is it to lind a man not only giving the best years of his life in his country's service and the advancement of its trade, commerce and status, but also using his wealth for philanthropic and ■patriotic purposes in a way that can only be described as princely. Such a. man. and more, was the late Lord Strathcona, Scotch by birth, and Canadian by adoption. His life stands as testimony of what can be accomplished by perseverance, a word that was fittingly placed on the Stratbcona coat of arms. Speaking of Lord Slralheona's career on .one occasion, (he Duke of -Argyll truly said: "Lord Stratheona's career has been so conspicuous and note worthy, that it should be brought in il.-, entirety to the knowledge of the public. Ido not think there is any other civilian alive who has been able j j to do so much practical good to the KmI pirc before filling an official position. j His life should also nerve every young j man to effort, to work in honesty and I hope, and to feel that be may become a J power affecting for good the destinies of peoples." Such_was the man who, born in a small Scotch village, brought up, it might be said, on the wilds of the Labrador coast, became the foremost man in Canada, and left his mark on the annals of the Empire. When only nine years of age, so Hie story goes, young Oonafd Alexander Smith demonstrated that lie possessed a kindly, sympathetic nature—the full bloom of which was' seen in later years. The incident which revealed this incipient philanthropy was occasioned by a flood which ruined the family of one of his playmates, to whom lie gave all the money lie possessed—a i shilling- and some coppers—to help them over their distress. -Many years after his benefactions ran into hundreds o! thousands of pounds. A glance at the record of his life canouf fail to arouse thrills of wonder at what the late peer accomplished ere the sands of his life ran out. In ISM, at 18 years of sge, he sailed for Canada as a junior clerk in the great Hudson liay Company, fie spent the next thirteen years of hia , life on the wild coast of Labrador, where lie showed (lie stall' he was made 01. Step by si™ be rose till be .became Chief Factor, and subsequently Resident Governor. Hut as a public man he first came into prominence in connection with .the insurrection in the Ked Biver settlement (now included in Manitoba). For his service, and the prudence, tact and ability which he displayed, ho re!" eeived the thanks of the Governor-Gen-era! in Council. In 180(1 ho retired altogether from political life in Canada and became the Dominion's High Commissioner in London, a post which lie ! occupied, despite his great age, till ,thc time of his death. But Lord Strath, conn's greatest service to Canada was in connection with railroads, tint for lis indomitable pluck, energy and determination, linancial and otherwise, the Cauadiau-I'aciiie l',ailway would not be !is it is. He sank almost his entira wealth in promoting what i., 10-day the greatest railway in the world. Jn recognition of his great services, he was - made a K.O.M.C. in LSSii, and in 1890 he was raised to the Peerage as Baron Strathcona and Mount Itoyal, of Cdcn- "»' ">»l <-f Montreal. Were it put to the vote as lywhat was I he most popu--I'U act of the late peer from an Empire point of view, there is no doubt the preponderance of cl pi„i, m w ,„,| (l ))(j hl favor of his aKion on the outbreak of ihe lloer war, when lie raised and equip, ued at his own expense the (iUO men '•■»< l horses known a-i '•Slralheona's Horse."