LATE PRIME MINISTER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 April 1940, Page 5

LATE PRIME MINISTER

TRIBUTE BY THE LABOUR CAUCUS. TRUSTED AND BELOVED LEADER. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. A tribute to the character and ability of the late Prime Minister, Mr Savage, was embodied in a resolution carried unanimously at the opening of the Parliamentary Labour Party caucus yesterday morning. Those present stood in silence as a mark of respect to Mr Savage’s memory. “We deeply mourn the death of our trusted and beloved leader, the Rt Hon Michael Joseph Savage,” the resolution said. “We place on record our highest appreciation of his fine, honest, outstanding, upright character as a man and a statesman; of his courageous and able leadership; of his self-sacrificing devotion to duty; of the complete absence of self interest or self aggrandisement throughout the whole of his life, public and private; of his great sympathy for those in need, distress or Eickhess, and for suffering humanity generally; of his noble ideals and great humanitarian efforts and achievements; of his steadfast adherence to the principles of Labour and his magnificent work for the cause he dedicated his life to and the party he led so successfully. We express our gratitude that it has been our privilege to participate with him in the work accomplished in translating into legislation and practical administration so many of the proposals for the betterment of the people of New Zealand, which with the help of his advocacy and under his leadership obtained the decisive support of the electors on two occasions.

“We share in special measure the grief so sincerely felt and so overwhelmingly and impressively shown by the people of the Dominion, and we tender to Mr Savage's relatives and friends our heartfelt sympathy.”