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Show The Late Richard Seddon. A Sidney correspondent of the Nation tells of the career of the late Premier of New Zealand, Richard Seddon. He was the son of a Highland shepherd, he was unlearned, unused to all the gentle courtesies of life until past middle age, unacquainted un-acquainted with anything like statecraft, still he come to dominate New 'Zealand and by his influence influ-ence to pretty nearly dominate Australia, and when he died he was more grieved for and sincerely . mourned than any other man who ever went away to the great southwest continent and wore out his life there. The correspondent recalls tbe saying of Albert Sorrel that "Napoleon tyranized o r Franco with its own consent," and adds that "Mr. Seddon despotized over New Zealand with its cordial co-operation." Prior to 1891 Now Zealand ministers had been distinguished for academic rearing, social rank or eminent services. ser-vices. Then Richard Seddon was raised from the rank and file to the place. How well he filled it can be judged by a few lines from this correspondent: corres-pondent: "He had been officially invited to visit Australia, as a sovereign might have been invited, in-vited, and from the day he landed in Sidney until he took his departure, he was treated like a king on a royal progress. Ho was banquetod; he made innumerable speeches; he was interviewed inter-viewed by the representatives of every progressive progress-ive movement; he honored Australian institutions institu-tions by merely visiting them and he wound up by negotiating a treaty of commerce between the commonwealth and New Zealand. And when the steamer that bore him away from those shores was hardly out of sight of land, the indomitable will that had never once in life relaxed its grasp, gave way, and, like Scott's Queen Margaret of Anjon he fell suddenly dead. It was the most glorious of ending "a death at Trafalgar." |