striking and pleasing thing about Kumara is its children. They had turned out to the last baby to see the Premier, and their bonny smiling faces and sturdy little forms decorated the view in every direction. ‘It is the best place in the world for a child, said an old Kumara resident. ‘Everyone here loves children, and they have a grand time.’ Kumara may not be entitled to claim that splendid distinction, but there can be no doubt as to the number or the character of its children. With a total population of some 2,000 souls, the children seem to run into hundreds, and from the little red-vested rascal in his father’s old boots to the uniformed cadet, from the rosy-cheeked girlie who shook her curls over her face in a terror of joy at the Premier’s smile, to the lithe winsome maiden just budding into womanhood, all seemed the very best of their kind. Kumara has somehow solved one of the most vexed problems of modern times, and if Mr. Seddon should decide to set up a commission of inquiry for the benefit of the colony at large, he would not be without enthusiastic supporters.”
By this time Mr. Seddon had become an influential man, well known all over the Coast, and well respected.
He developed a liking, which became a ruling passion, for public life. He loved contests, arguments, and vehement discussions. He found in them the same exercise for his mind as the sports ground afforded for his body. He did not realise it at the time, but he also found in his public duties the disregard of old-groove methods, the boldness and promptness of action, and the broad Liberalism that characterise the legislation of his greater days, when he became an imperialist and a humanist.
At the age of twenty-four years, he was the recognised “head-man” of the district. Disputes were referred to him, and hardly any public action of importance was decided upon before those concerned sought his advice, or received it, as he did not always wait to be asked.
By and by he was able to leave business and to engage in practice as a miner’s advocate in the Warden’s Courts.
He made a name for himself there, as he had done in other spheres of labour. By his impatience at official delay in opening up the Kumara field, he made himself disliked by
