The Press Friday, June 12, 1925. The Governor-General.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18406, 12 June 1925, Page 8

The Press Friday, June 12, 1925. The Governor-General.

The representative of his Majesty the King, who will arrive to-night to pay his first official visit to the City, will bo welcomed with all those sentiments of loyalty which such a visit naturally inspires. Tho country in the past has been honoured by having as its constitutional heads gentlemen who won for themselves proud positions in the Mother Country, and who at the call of duty accepted pro-consulships to a land so far remote from the scenes of their former endeavours and triumphs, and Sir Charles Fergusson, the last appointed Governor-General, is a worthy successor to those illustrious men who have preceded him in his high office. Should there ever have been an inclination to view the office as one marked only by titular distinction and formal responsibility such idea has now gone, for with the growing importance of tho Dominion as a sturdy partner in tho imperial confederation and with a claim to at least consultation in big affairs of State, the duties and responsibilities of ' the Governor-General overshadow largely the formal and ceremonial attributes of the office. Never during the history of New Zealand has a Secretary of State for the .Colonies found it possible to visit so distant a portion of tho vast domain over- whichy ho exercises jurisdiction, nor perhaps, is, it reasonable to expect hinv to do so; although there are signs that a policy of personal visits' by the head of the Colonial Office to portions of the Empire is in process of formation. It; is therefore. a, matter, of the highest, consequence that the envoy from the Office and the representative of tho King ;should be a gontleman of real, .capacitjv There are too . nia,uy. pressing problems confronting the Dominions and the Empire to-day to make the \ Governor-General 'a task an easy one, and in Sir Charles Fergusson, a distinguished soldier, who succeeds a distinguished sailor, the Dominion will assuredly have a Governor in whom the utmost'confidence may bo placed. Men who have risen to high eminence in the Services invariably possess not only professional skill, but likewise the very important faculty of a keen arid sympathetic understanding of the aims and aspirations of the people over whom they are called to rule. Sir Charles Fergusson, we feel sure, may look forward with Confidence to a period of useful effort for the King, ' for the Empire, and for the Dominion. We trust that the warmth of welcome to ■be extended to him during the course of his present visit to the City will hasten other visits. ';'■''■