PRESENTATION.

Clutha Leader, Volume III, Issue 139, 9 March 1877, Page 6

PRESENTATION.

TO THE EDITOR.

ig IRj^.X noticed in your last week's issue, accounts of departures of two old residents in the Tapanui district, viz., Messrs 3vrKcl!ar and M'Duff, to each of whom a complimentary dinner was given, and a presentation made-. So far so good. It can't be otherwise thau gratifying to most -of us to hear of incidents such as those "Connected with old and public-spirited residents in cur midst ; also, tho nature of the testimonial in the case of Mr M'Duff indicated, a sensible and kindly spirit, as Ms late misfortunes in business would "naturally justify the assumption of a pecuniary present being the most appropriate ; but can the as me be urged in the vase of Mr M" K«llav ? I think not. Had the presentation to that gentleman been confined to the watch, no exception could, I presume, have been taken to it, but when one learns that, in addition to a watch, a purse, containing 100 sovereigns, was also presented, one is naturally in•clined to ask the meaning of this last donation. The thought which rose spontaneously to my mind was, that Mr M'Kellar was " hard up." This was immediately followed up by the reflection that the position he occupied in this country, and also the nature of the arrangements he, presumably, had made with the Government of the country in which he is about to settle, involved thousands, and that, therefore, even if he were short of ready cash, still he could not be reduced to so low an ebb as such a present would indicate. Many other ideas occurred to me to try and account for it, but each was dismissed as . unsatisfactory, and I at last came to the conclusion that it was sheer priggishness which animated it, considering that most, if not all, the subscribers "are men who live at less expense, with interior means, (even if some be not struggling hard to make " both ends meet,") than the recipient of their bounty. I could not help surmising also, whether those who subscribed to both funds gave 'even an equal, let alone a larger amount, to the one who most stood in need of it. The above remarks are dictated by no unfriendly feeling for Mr M'Kellar, whose actions, so far as I have been able to observe, have caused me to feel a sincere admiration for him ; but still, to a man in his position, a small pecuniary present, particularly coming from men of less means, is de trap. To those Taj:>anuites who are blessed with real charity and a superfluity of cash, I would say there are many worthy struggling men around you "to whom a temporary loan, not so trying as a gift, minus interest, would be a godsend. Apologising for encroaching oti your space to such an extent. — I am-, etc., Anti-Humbug.