The Capricornian (Rockhampton), Saturday, 30 July 1904, p. 36
THE LATE HON. JOHN DOUGLAS.
The death of the Hon. John Douglas, says the “Brisbane
Courier” 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 he 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 that 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’s term as Premier, from 8th
March, 1877, to the 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 honour 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 judgment, his tact, or his broad sense of right and wrong have been
questioned.
Away in the great gateway that leads to 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 natives of New Guinea and of the intervening islands lying
between the 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 (or 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, with 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 “Meynell” and
Werrett and Co.’s “Queensland.”
The Hon. John Douglas, C.M.G., B.A., son of Henry Alexander
Douglas and Elizabeth (Dalziel) his wife, was born in London on the 6th of
March, 1828. He was 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 of 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 of 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 McIlwraith. In the following
year he exchanged the portfolios of Secretary for Lands for that of Home
Secretary. He led the Government until the 21st of January, 1879, when his
party was defeated in the general election, and Sir Thomas McIlwraith’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 three 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, and has served as 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 Mr. Bowden’s business at Thursday Island, and with him is
the third son, Hugh. The youngest, Robert, who is spoken of as a young man of
high intellectual promise, is at Sydney University, and is intended for the
Bar.
