over may well be proud: "His distinguishing characteristic was his extreme conscientiousness. This made him doubtful of his own powers and ever prone to underrate himself. He had been offered a seat on the Supreme Court bench of New Zealand, but this he refused. When the Liberal party in Victoria got into power, to their great honour, he was offered a county court judgeship, and this also he declined. Another of his characteristics was his entire unselfishness. At one time, when the business of the court was light, he thought it wrong for the government to keep a district judge for such a small number of cases, and he wrote offering to resign, notwithstanding the fact that, if his resignation had been accepted, he had no means and no business to maintain himself. His benevolence was unbounded. No one in distress who requested aid from him ever met with a refusal. Here then was a politician—radical in his opinions, pure in his life, unsullied in his character, not a self-seeker, and ever modest and humble. Is it not the duty of Australians to cherish his memory? Amidst all the turmoil of party warfare, no one doubted his sincerity. Am I wrong, then, in thinking that, when the impartial historian comes to record the early struggles for Liberalism in Australia, the name of Wilson Gray will stand high amongst the statesmen and politicians of the past? I know of no one's career better fitted to inspire our young colonists with enthusiasm and with a desire so to act that their lives may not be forgotten. Gray strove to so frame the laws and carry on the administration of the government, that the evils which had afflicted? European countries might be unknown in these southern lands. He was a Liberal; he was poor; he was conscientious; he was modest; he was able; he was learned. Let our young colonists, remembering him and his life, ask themselves what
