FROM MIDDY TO GOVERNOR.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1807, 5 April 1888, Page 2

FROM MIDDY TO GOVERNOR.

Sir John Tharston, m the coarse of a speech at the banquet at wh'oh he wag. entertained on his return to Fiji, treated his hearers to the following Interesting bit of biography. — "Rls return to the colony, with which he had been so long conneoted, certainly afforded him quite as ma oh pleasure aa It appeared to give to those present, and he would here take the opportunity to refer to the occasion of his first arrival on these shores, which, together with the opening Incidents of his career here, bad certainly bean mlsunder. stood. He found from a peruaal of a report of Jthe proceedings at a publio meet- [ ing held here to arrange the reception to be given to him, that an old f tlend of his had stated that his arrival was due to the aooldenfc of a shipwreck and that It waa merely a fortuitous occurrence that he should have reached Fiji with some ship* wrecked sailors. That, lnfabt, his arrival was one accident, and hla entering the office of the British Consul another. Now this was not correct. He certainly had been shipwreokod, bat his arriving m Fiji was by no means by chance. He oommenoed his career at sea, and after having; been for many years voyaging thereon for other people, he determined to do a little on the same element on his own account. ' He accordingly went about for pleasure, amusing himself by botanUlng and other like methods of enjoyment. He arrived In Fiji by the John Wesley, and It was under the auspices of his esteemed old friend, Mr Oalvert, who waa then at the head of the Wesley an missionary body, that he really commenced his career here* Mr Culvert advised him to call on Oaptaln. Jones, the British consul, who met him cordially and Invited him to dinner. While partaking of Oaptaln Jones' hospitality, he found they had been shipmates, he (Sir John) having been a midshipman on board an East lndlaman carrying troops, and by which Oaptaln Jones who was then an ensign, was a passenger. It was while relating an incident which ocoarred at a shooting party, that Captain Jones nald, ' Why, Tharston, I waa there,' and then the fact was gradually recalled of their having before met under the circumstances juab narrated. It was then that Captain Jones offered — If he, Sir John, would become his guest and would ooaoh himself In the duties, to recommend him to Lord Stanley— now Lord Derby — for appointment In the Consular Oflioe. So that he took up the noeltiori of Oonaul by premeditation, add not by accident, and he now held In his hand a letter from Lord D9rby to CUptaln Jones, written In 1886, directing that offioer to hand to him the neoegjary commission. He hoped there would be no mUoonstrnction of hio motive In relating thla anecdotes -Some of those present would' no doubt remember the story of a mem* ber of Parliament who declined to answer an opponent because, as he said, at one period his boots had been blaoked by the gentleman who, at the tlmß of speaking, was hla political adversary. * Well, sir I* was the reply of the other ; « Well, ilrf . Did I not black them well V That was the 1 feeling which animated him m recounting these matters. He did not refer to this because It might be supposed he we* ashamed of having risen from a humble possltion. In whatever position he might be plaoed, he would always strive, ai he always had striven, to do that which he had to do ' veil.' He said this, too, because some asserted, very erroneously, that he was an optimist, and that he had 1 the Devil's luck as well as hit own,' and that the various positions he had attained wet* all the result of aooldent. But he would be very oorry to trust to aooldent, or to have oommenood his oarear at Governor by an ucoldent."