Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Monday 14 January 1884, page 5


DEATH OF MR. JARDINE

SMITH.

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We deeply regret to have to announce the sudden death of Mr. William Jardine Smith who for many years has been one of the lead ing journalists of Melbourne and one of the principal contributors to this paper. The sad event was it may be said totally unex pected. Shortly before Christmas Mr Jardine Smith suffered from a carbuncle, which occasioned great pain and consequent prostration but he was supposed to be fast recovering, and he had made preparations for a departure from Melbourne for change of air when a second carbuncle developed and the patient sank rapidly from exhaustion. Death took place on Sunday morning. The news will come as a severe shock to the friends of the de ceased for few of them had any idea that the illness was of a dangerous character.

Mr Jardine Smith arrived m the colony in 1852 when l8 years of age. He entered into commercial pursuits taking engagements under the firms of Messrs H. A. Smith and Co and Messrs Murray Smith Strachan and Co. This circumstance caused it frequently to be supposed that Mr Murray Smith and the deceased gentleman were related but such was not the case and statements which have appeared in the press upon the subject are unfounded. As years rolled on Mr Smith de veloped strong literary proclivities, and decided ultimately to abandon business for journal

ism. His first efforts are understood to have been contributions to Melbourne Punch, with the result that he subsequently became for a time editor and proprietor of that perio dical and has continued ever since to have a more or less close connexion with it.

He also furnished papers to other periodicals including some of the leading English maga zines and he remained an occasional writer for such papers as Fraser's and the Nine- teenth Century thenceforward. An article in the November number of the lastnamed magazine commenting in a happy vein upon General Fielding's picture of Australia as a special field for "blue blooded boys" is evi dence in itself of Mr Smith's incisive style and his mental vigour. By such efforts as these his abilities were developed and ob tained recognition. In 1867 be formed his first connexion with this journal. This also grew, and in a short time Mr Jardine Smith became permanently attached as a leading contributor to the editorial staff of the Argus and this responsible and arduous position he occupied until the day of his death. We have therefore, to lament the loss of an old colleague, one whom we are conscious did the state good service in his day, and as, owing to the anonymity of journalism, the knowledge of those services is necessarily confined for the most part to the few persons with whom he worked in a confidence that was unbroken from first to last, it is meet that there should be this public acknowledgment, both of his labours and of their exceptional value. The journalist like the poet and the orator is often born and not made. But in addition to natural talent - while his general literary abilities were of a high order - there was a special line of subjects in which Mr Jardine Smith was a trained and weighty authority He was a master ot the science of political economy in all its recognised brunches. A disciple and a diligent student of the great economists whom it is the pride of modern England to have produced, Mr Jardine Smith was wont to expound and apply the principles of trade and commerce with force and distinctness. So with the cognate subject of the powers and the sphere of government. His views of the work which it was profitable that a Government should undertake and what should rather be left to the individual, were the result of reflection and observation and his arguments expressed with clearness were invariably entitled to the highest re spect. In political controversy Mr Jardine Smith was a fearless combatant, but those who knew him best will most appreciate the statement that he never wrote an ungenerous line - not one unworthy of a gentleman. In journalistic circles he will be greatly missed, for he was liked and respected by all. Sincere in his convictions sensitive and generous to a singular degree, and incapable of putting his own interest before those of others, it is natural that intercourse with him should have been a pleasure. His colleagues, we are sure, will ever esteem it both a pleasure and an honour to have been associated with him

Mr Jardine Smith was twice married and leaves a widow and five children. His funeral takes place this afternoon. The time named for leaving the residence of the deceased, Gore-street, Fitzroy, is 3 o'clock and Kew Cemetery is to be reached by half past 4.