My first word must be a note of sorrow. July to us, as regards the agency, has been a fatal month. In it we lost Crawford, and now Patterson has joined the great majority. This is the common lot of all. Happy is the man who leaves this world for the next without regret, feeling that his life has been of some service to his kind, and that the people amongst whom he has lived express their recognition of his worth by their sorrow and appreciation of his labours. Such was our friend. If we, who stood by his bedside in the last moments of the final struggle, could have been cognisant of his thoughts there would have been no regret; for W. H. Patterson was the enemy of no living man, but the friend of all. We were not so privileged, but we were so glad to see the large crowd of people who gathered to pay a tribute to his memory. The gathering was diversified in its character, spontaneous in its gathering, and truly sympathetic in its manner and spirit. But from our regret for his loss let us turn to the influence of his life. The true test of a man is his work. Our friend stood the test. The real measure of a man's life is its actions; he was full measure. He was not showy, but solid, and as such, being dead, yet speaketh--speaks in no uncertain sounds; let us turn no indifferent ear. The main work of his life, in conjunction with others, was the inception, promotion, and solidifying of our organisation. It will be the most real expression of our sorrow if we do our best to carry forward that upon which he set his mind, and which he endeavoured on all occasions to enforce. Would it not be sham sorrow and unreal regret on the part of a son who on the death of a father ... a father who by the toil and care of his life had made a position ... if he were careless of that work, and had regard only to self-indulgence? Little as we may think of it, there has a fortune come to this generation and a position been gained for it by the labours of our friend and others which cannot be estimated in money. We are apt to test everything by a monetary standard, but in this case the test fails. Within the life of Mr Patterson there have been effected changes which he outside the range of wages, but which are none the less valuable to us. These are only known to those whose working life commenced anterior to thirty years ago. There are many who have not the experience, and who cannot, therefore, realise to the full, the contrast. Lightly as these may be inclined to look upon the changed conditions, and think because these conditions exist now they have always existed, there are numbers who know, and who are able to compare, and rejoice in the change made.