Death of the Hon. John Douglas
A former member of Queensland
Government Resident at Thursday Island
Thursday Island, Saturday
The Hon. John Douglas, C.M.G., died at 11.15 this morning from weakness, following haematemesis. His funeral takes place at 4 o’clock to-morrow afternoon..
The news of the death of the Hon. John Douglas, C.M.G., was
received in Brisbane with genuine regret, a regret which will be felt
throughout the State and in the southern portions of the Commonwealth as
well. The Home Secretary was advised
officially of the event on Saturday afternoon, and the flags on all the public
buildings of the city were lowered to half-mast.
AN APPRECIATION
The death of the Hon. John Douglas removes from the public
life of Queensland one who, by reason of his natural intellectual gifts, his
educational attainments, his wide experience of men and affairs, and his well
balanced and essentially fair mind, was eminently qualified for a leading part
in building up the institutions of a young country. To the traits mentioned add honesty of
purpose and honourable, even chivalrous, character, and we have a fair view of
the mental side of the Hon. John
Douglas. Physically he was a fine,
robust specimen of the Anglo-Saxon – alert, active, enduring. His face revealed his generous nature: his brow, dignified in later years by an
abundance of silvered, waving hair, was that of a man of noble instincts. There was in him and about him always a calm
dignity and courtesy which, however estimable in the eyes of his private
friends, did not help him in the rough-and-tumble fighting of political
life. It was said that he was not a born
political leader in that he was not a fighter.
Those who knew John Douglas privately and closely would put the
expression thus: He was not a born
political leader because he always fought in the open, and his blows were never
below the belt. He was not personally
aggressive, did not possess the aggressiveness that pursues and belittles, and
it is no secret to those who watched Queensland political developments in the
late seventies that his lack of that very quality led to the selection of
another leader of the old Liberal party.
Practically upon that came the retirement of Mr. Douglas from political
life. But he had done the State good
service: he had served in the old
Legislative Council of new South Wales when Queensland had not yet been
established as a separate colony, and from 1863 until 1879 held a prominent
place in the political life of this State.
Mr. Douglas during his political career was responsible for the first
blow struck at unrestricted Chinese immigration to Queensland. His Government passed an Act designed to
check the flood of Chinese to the Palmer Goldfield and other portions of the
State. The Royal assent to the measure
was withheld, but Mr. Douglas was not content to accept this as the last word
on the subject. He imposed upon ships
coming from China ports certain quarantine regulations, and that administrative
act was found quite effective. Later on
the legislation, much as we find it to-day, met with the Royal assent. With this exception Mr. Douglas’ term as
Premier, from 8th March 1877, to 21st January, 1879, was
not marked by any strong policy:
but for that there were other
reasons than his lack of creative instinct.
Mr. Douglas had gathered up the
threads of the Macalister and Thorn Administrations, and it was evident was
fully occupied in holding the ground for his party until the general
elections. Though not credited with
having originated any other big political movements, Mr. Douglas was a good, sound administrator,
whose humour was never impugned, and whose natural alertness and mental power
prevented him from making serious mistakes.
Since his retirement from active political life he gave
ample proof of his capacity in the management of men. He lived for many years in the outposts of
this country and in New Guinea, administering the laws given him to meet cases,
and using his own discretion where no laws existed – when savage people had to
be dealt with – and there has been no occasion
upon which his judgement, his tact, or his broad sense of right and wrong have been questioned. Away in the great gateway that leads to the
and from the East, Mr. Douglas has had
under his care a community as diverse as one would meet at Port said, and at
times the elements were bitterly and openly contentious. Again he has had to deal with Aboriginals
whose instincts to plunder and murder are well known: again, with employers of
Aboriginals – white men and yellow – whose natures were lower and more devilish
than the savages employed: again, with
the native of New Guinea and of the intervening islands lying between that Queensland
coast and that of the Possession. Can
any one point to an instance of lack of capacity on the part of the Government
Resident of High Commissioner in handling the difficult material which makes up
the population on the fringes of Torres Straits? Has there ever been a display of temper or
tyranny? On the other hand, the
Government of the State and of the Empire in so far as it was entrusted to the
Hon. John Douglas has been carried out
in a lofty and practical spirit, with firmness, but with kindness and
unflinching justice, yet with patience.
The Hon. John Douglas was for some years on the literary
staff of the “Courier” and “Queenslander” as a leader writer. That was after his retirement from politics
and before taking up his appointment as Government Resident at Thursday
Island. It was chiefly in those days
that the present writer working in the same room with Mr. Douglas learnt to
appreciate his high intellectual qualities, to know the warmth and kindliness
of his nature, to fully realise his benevolence in dealing with the weaker side
of humanity. Mr. Douglas carried into
his literary work the polished style which characterised his public speaking,
but he was in the nature of things more concise and therefore more effective as
a writer than a speaker. In Parliament
and on public platforms Mr. Douglas was more remarkable as a pleasant speaker,
dipping his eloquence from a “well of purest English undefiled” than as a
forceful critic or advocate. As a writer
he was, perforce, restricted to space, and his ideas put in the concrete form
often sparkled.
For much of
the following we are indebted to “Meynall”and Wendt and Co.’s
“Queensland.” The Hon. John Douglas.
C.M.G., B.A., son of Henry Alexander Douglasw and Elizabeth (Dalziel) his wife,
was born in London on 6th March 1828, and a nephew of the 4th
and 5th Marquises of Queensberry.
He was educated at Rugby and Durham University and emigrated to New
South Wales in 1851. Received an
appointment as Gold Fields Commissioner which he gave up to enter pastoral
pursuits. He sat as member for Darling
Downs in Sydney before Separation and afterwards for Camden in the New South
Wales Parliament. In 1863 he settled in
Queensland and entered the Legislative Assembly for Port Curtis. In February 1866, he joined the Macalister
Ministry, and was Postmaster-General from March to July of that year. He was called to the Legislative Council the
same year, but some months later he was appointed Treasurer, and re-entered the
Assembly as member for the Eastern Downs.
Again he resigned and led for the Government in the Legislative
Council. In May 1867, Mr. Douglas
resigned the Treasurership and took up the portfolio of Secretary of Works
until the following August. On the 25th
November 1868, the late Sir Charles Lilley came into power at the head of a
Liberal Government and Mr. Douglas in December took office as
Postmaster-General, amongst his colleagues being Macalister, T. B. Stephens and
St. George Gore. In November 1869 he
resigned on accepting the post of Agent-General for Queensland, which he held
until 1871, when he returned to the State and was elected in 1875 for
Maryborough. In June 1876 Mr. Douglas
accepted office as Secretary for Lands in the Thorn Government, which was an
offshoot of the Macalister party. In
this Cabinet were Sir S. W. Griffith, Sir J. R. Dickson, Mr. R.M. Stewart and
Mr. C. S. Mein. On the 8th
March 1877, Mr. Thorn resigned and the Premiership fell to Mr. Douglas, who led
a really strong combination against a strong and active opposition led by Sir
Thomas McIllwraith. In the following
year he exchanged the portfolios of Secretary for Lands for that of Home
Secretary. He led the Government until
21st January 1879, when his party was defeated in the general
election, and Sir Thomas McIllwraith’s administration succeeded to power. Subsequent to the assumption of a
protectorate over a portion of New Guinea by the British Government Mr. Douglas was a candidate for the office of
High Commissioner, but the position was given by the Imperial Government to Sir
Peter Scratchley, R.E. Mr. Douglas
became Government Resident at Thursday Island in April 1885 and on the death of
Sir Peter Scratchley he was appointed
Special Commissioner for British New Guinea, which post he held for nearly 3
years after the sovereignty of Great Britain was proclaimed. In 1889 he returned to Thursday Island as
Government Resident and Police Magistrate.
The long residence in the far North seemed to impair the constitution of
Mr Douglas very little, but in 1902 he was able to take a long holiday, during the
term of which he visited England and the Continent and returned to Queensland, as
he described it in his cheery way, "in splendid fettle.'' Early in the
present year he visited Brisbane from Thursday Island, and it was then noticed by
his friends that he did not appear quite so robust as on his return from
England but his mental brightness and energy were in no way impaired. Age was,
however, levying its charges on his reserve of strength, and the White Horseman
coming, as he comes to all, delivered the great message, and the faithful servant
of the public went to his rest.
The Hon. John Douglas leaves four sons. The eldest, Edward, is a barrister who served
as an associate to Sir S. W. Griffith and Mr. Justice Power. He is now practising his profession in
Brisbane. The second son, Henry, is
manager of Bowden’s business at Thursday Island and with him is the third son,
Hugh. The youngest, Robert, who is
spoken as a young man of high intellectual prowess is at Sydney University, and
is in line for the Bar.
