The death of Mr. W. F. Massey, who had been
Prime Minister of New Zealand for thirteen years, means another great loss to the British Empire. Those who knew Mr. Massey will long remember his geniality, his simplicity and, his refreshing belief that the right must triumph. Anyone who did not know that he was an Ulsterman might have suspected it from his intense and unquestion- ing devotion to Great Britain. In New Zealand, where he was immensely popular, his chief care and, therefore, the foundation of his policy was the development of the use of the land. We have also to record with much regret the death of Admiral of the Fleet, Sir Doveton Sturdee. He was chief of the Naval War Staff at the beginning of the War, and if it is in any way true that the Staff was responsible for Admiral Cradock being placed at the mercy of Admiral von Spee, who outranged and overwhelmed him at Coronel, a tragic disaster was never more poetically redeemed than when Sir Doveton Sturdee rushed out to the Falklands with a special squadron and there destroyed all but one of Admiral von Spec's ships, It was the most complete naval victory in the War.
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