FOR THE GIRLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 225, 22 September 1928, Page 2 (Supplement)

FOR THE GIRLS.

GOVERNOR HOBSON'S MEMORY,

OUR SCHOOL CHILDREN'S TRIBUTE.

My Dnr Girls, —

Happily there i» a moremtat lately to gather together the history and traditions of oar great little country, which we love so much. 1 »■! wondering if any of oar "Badge*" readers were among the company of yoaag New Zealanders from a city school* who, with their headamstoi gathered round the grave of Captain Hobson, the first Governor of New Zealand. It was the eighty-sixth anniversary of Governor Hobson'• nsnth, and for the last four years the historic anniversary has been observed by the senior scholars and carried oat under the direction of the hesdmaster After short addresses by the headmaster and another speaker, the chadrea placed their tribute of lovely wreaths upon the simple marble slab which marks a great man's resting place. It was quite a thrilling little cerema*. girls. The headmaster reminded the scholars that Captain Hobsoa was not only the first Governor, but also the founder of the City of Auckland. If it had not been for him, Auckland would have been somewhere about where Paamure is now, but with the instinct of a true sailor he knew a site by the Waitemata was better. Governor Hobson came to give Hew Zealand a Government, to preserve peace and protect the natives, to amk* laws and enforce them with very little help from anyone. Daring his short administration his path was strewn with diScaltiss. "He died for his country as truly as if he had passed amid the battle," said the speaker, "and that is one reason we commemorate k« to-day." ~" Two outstanding features of Hobson's character ware his novation, to duty and his steadfast honesty, and he was a man who lived in every sense up to that particular school's motto, "Truth Without Fear." He was dm leader of that band of pioneers who made New Zealand what it was to-day The Maoris loved hint, and when he died they requested the Imperial Government to send them "another Governor, a good man like dm last.** Let us hope that before long a mora fitting monument upon the heights, where all can sea, wll be erected to the memory of New Jk # Zealand's first Governor. * a*P£^^^ Indeed, as citiaens ot to-morrow, it is for young New Zealand to see to it.