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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 77

The Late John Wesley Jago. — A Good and Faithful Servant

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The Late John Wesley Jago.

A Good and Faithful Servant.

It is with profound regret—with a feeling of dejection which not even the knowledge that a good man has gone to his rest and reward can immediately lift—that we announce the death of Mr John Wesley Jago, for more than thirty years the manager of this paper. We are somewhat at a loss in trying to write of the sad event, for we have not quite realised it as yet. On Thursday he was in his accustomed chair at this office; that afternoon we heard him conversing on public affairs with all his wonted vigor and shrewdness; and quite recently we watched him as he strode along Bond street with the alertness of a middle-aged man, and silently predicted for him octogenarian longevity. It was often said—so young was he in heart and manner—that he was not unlikely to attain the years of his old friend and chief, Mr George Bell, whose memory is still green and fragrant in this City and in this house. Futile dreams!—and to-day we only know that one of the warmest hearts has ceased to beat—realising but dimly that the familiar cheery voice will be heard no more, and that a staunch friend and true philanthropist has gone home and left us much poorer.

"His mute dust
We honor and his living worth";

and we may add, with but little conscious exaggeration,

"A man more pure and bold and just
Was never born into the earth."

Very sudden was the call that came yesterday; Death was full urgent with our friend, but (with reverent confidence be it conjectured) he had small need of time in which to make his spiritual dispositions and cast the slough of earth. "Even as he trod that day to God, so walked he from his birth." Our praise is large and emphatic; to those whose acquaintance with Mr Jago was slight and casual it will doubtless appear extravagant; but not a will be aware that we write conscientiously and according to knowledge.

Large-hearted charity, social zeal, and an almost passionate philanthropic devotion are the qualities which are primarily pictured in the mind as we think of Mr Jago's character, but it must not be forgotten that his intellectual abilities were also of no inconsiderable calibre. In his best days he was a public speaker of much force and impressiveness, with great command of language and argumentative grip; and to the very end he wielded the pen of something better than a ready writer. He could be very trenchant on occasion, and the controversialist who measured swords with him had to keep all his wits alert. His unceasing energies were given to the Temperance cause, which he championed at a time when total abstinence was regarded as an eccentricity and when the doctrine of Prohibition brought scant popularity to the preacher. We are not writing from the Prohibitionist standpoint, and it goes without saying that Mr Jago's views on this subject were not the views editorially enounced in this paper; but we are acutely conscious to-day that he would have thanked us little for any tribute which should seem to slur over his life-long activity in the fight against the liquor traffic. It will be generally admitted that he was a fair fighter and a scrupulous controversialist. He had a kindly feeling for his opponents, even while frankly regarding their cause as an odious one. He treated the Temperance argument from many standpoints, but the essentially Poisonous nature of alcohol was the consideration which (especially of late years) he was most insistent in presenting. His whole soul was in this work, but he was very far from being "a man of one idea." He had largeness of mind as well as of heart, a shrewd relish for good books (including fiction), and a thoroughly genial interest in the current events of the world, great and small, universal and local. He loved a "crack" and a joke, and a cheerier, more sympathetic companion it would have been difficult to find. How we shall miss those frequent, brisk conversations!

Much more might be written concerning him who has journeyed so swiftly to the Land of Light. "Large was his bounty and his soul sincere"—but of his incessant bounty it is fitting to say little. He would have preferred silence on this score, and posthumous praise does well not to linger too particularly over

"That best portion of a good man's life—His little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love."

Not unremembered, however, by many and many a grateful soul. Be it added that Mr Jago's benevolence knew no restriction in regard to creed or shibboleth of any kind. He was a man of deep religious feeling, but religious toleration was almost a passion with him. Much might be said, too, regarding the value of his work in this office and his intelligent devotion to the interests of the 'Evening Star'; but here again there is little need of eulogistic words. We have lost a dear friend and comrade and helper. Dunedin has lost a high-souled citizen and philanthropist. To have known him well, to have enjoyed his companionship, to have admired his rare unselfishness and self-sacrificing love of his kind—this is "part of our life's unalterable good."