RECEPTION TO SIR JAMES MILLS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 56, 29 November 1907, Page 7

RECEPTION TO SIR JAMES MILLS.

COMPLIMENTARY LUNCHEON IN TOWN 7 ; ;"; ..''.'..' "HALL. .GROWTH OF THE UNION STEAM •■•■•- SHIP COMPANY. Sopio'two hundred gentlemen, representing, tra'do,-and commerce in various branches, as well as politics and local bodies, assembled in tho Concert Chamber of tho Town Hall yesterday afternoon to do honour to Sir James Mills, managing director of tho .Union Steamship Compahy, Ltd., on. the occasion of. his return 'from Great Britain,/whero ho had tho distinction of being knighted by His Majesty King- Edward VII. The function was •participated in by people from all over the .Dominion,-.'.and..tho arrangements were carried out by an oxecutivo committee con-,, sistirig of tho Hon. C. M. Luko, Messrs. C. W. Jones (manager of tho Huddart-Parker Company), E. C. 15. Mills, James Darling (presidont :of.- the Institute .of 'Marino Engineers), "and A. F. L'evestara (chief engineer of the'Rotomahana).-The Right Hon. Sir -J. Gv Ward'(Prime Minister) occupied the chair, haying on his right the'guest of the occasion (Sir James-Mills),, the Hon. J. A: Millar (Minister, for Marino and Customs), Mr. Harold Beaucliamf) (chairman, of the Bank of :Ncw Zealand), Mr. D. J. Nathan, Mr, A. JJY'L*evestam (chief engineer of tho Roto-, maharin), and the Hon. C. M. Luko, .M.L.C. On the chairman's, left were the Mayor of Wellington (tho Hon. T. W. Hislop), tho Hon: 'j. G. Firidlay.-K.C., LL.D. (AttornoyGpneral), Mr. O. W. Jones (manager of tho Huddart-Parker Company),'tho Hon. T. K. Macdonald, M.L.C. (chairman of the Wellington Harbour Board), Mr. J. Darling (president of tho Instituto of Marino Engineers), and. Mr. E. C. E. Mills. -Among those present, were the Hons.-J. Carroll, :T. W. "Hislop; ~C. ' H. Mills, J. M Gow'an, H. Gilnior, and C. M: Luke, Messrs. J Aitken, T.M. Wilford, and W. Fraser, M.H.R: s; .Lieutenant-Colonel Bauchop, Captains , Anderson,, Bone, Cameron, Collins, Eyansy..King, Monro, and Smith; Liout., J. Macpherson, and Messrs. John Anderson, George Allport, F. W. Anderson, N. J. Aγnott, ■ M. J. Brookes, J. H. N. Burnes, A. Burf, jun., A. L. Bcattie, J. Beveridge, H. D.'.Bell, K.C.; H. Burt, John Blundell, J: H. B.:Coatos, A. Croll, W. Cullen, W. Campbell,, H.-A. Crambnd. H. Coulls, W. Callender, T. O. Chant, John Duncan, R. Duncan, Jojin Daniel. John Darling, C. A. Ewen, W.',Ferguson, W.,A. Flavell.R. J. Frankic' W;, Fraser, R. 8.. Grange, W. T. Glasgow, , \V. 'Gardner, C. Holdsworth, H. Hutchison, W. Hanlon, A. R. Hislop; J, Hicks, A. R. Hislop,; jun., P. Heyes, C. Haines, N. Heath, Johnson; J. W. Jack, W. A. Kennedy, E. W. Kaiio,' M. Kennedy, W. G. Lodder J F 'w e Vr J \?- Lnke ' J, K - Lo ? an > A - M - Lewis! m V;^ I -;i Mor . t ° n ' A% H: Mi ' cs > W, Mitchsll £;•'«:•.; Mart,n A.!Morri ? on, J..C. Maddison, Mallard, 1-V M'Parland, ]'. M'Ardle, James Mlntyro, H. A. M'Gregor, G." M'Gregor, N. MNicol, D. -M'Murrich, A. M'lntyre, W. M'Cabo,. D. Neilsony - W.:-Nathan, A. E Pf?re°-, T - A. Peterkin, W. A. Palmer, E. Sk Pl i c ' ler '- H - R,x Tr o*t, T.Ronayno D. Kbbertson, J . JRobm, D. Rankin, David Robertson, W. C. ..J. Rjehardson, G. Shirtchffe,;C.Seager,.J.'G. Stott, W. Smart, G. Srmmonds if, C t - Tewsloy, R. T. TurnbuU, tr.-.-iJ!,.. lolhurst-, Tripe, L. Tripp,' Wricht BmitK.-J: Webster, w'allis, D. WimamsonE;! Wilson, Georgov Wilson; W. Watson A M Wilson,,and'T. S.'Young. , " ■. ■ ' ' ■Apologies- for' unavoidable absehco' were' received, from Sir t R 'Stout (Chief Jnstice); M Nab. (Minister for i and-,, tho' ; Hon.;G. Fdwlds (Minister for 1- J icatiom and:a large number, of others.- ;. . ~..'S:f ?: th# . gue;st;s ; pareer. ''. ■ ■'■T, h . e ;« in proposing- "Our Guest," jaicl-.the _day.-would be a memorable one, Pu ■?,. l- M those ar °und the table, buKfor amongst 'thoni.V for thoir' guest was born in'the Empire City. (Hear hear.) -As a.son of. the Dominion, the people throughout the country were;proud to know that,,he had. received, a .distinction worthily earned, and,the citizens of Wellington—who topk.a«v:ery deep,interest in the welfare and progress-of .their-.city; , :-and in the career of tnoso >■ born- here-^vbuld- particularly; rejoice' in the fact that' Sir JaiHes Mills-had received this hdrifjur- from His Majesty, , and' that it was thfe;recognition for ,the first time in this l°P&yi,?f a tone of industry;' (Applause.) bir James Mills had''attained- to' a position n J¥Q > conim.erc[al world in lus, own line, unexampled in'tho Southern, Seas ;Vand it was a,-.sour,cp-of immense satisfaction to those who took ,a deep -interest : in the personal welfare of Sir James Mills, and in,the de-velopment--and- growth 'of ■ that- great iristitutipn of which he was the-proud and distinguished head, to recognise this distinction to ono. who' had so -well served" in'the industrial world. (Applause). "•"It would ' be impossible on such an occasion" to attempt to sketch the career of their guest, but he was entitled to say that sinco 18G9—when Sir Janies Mills really began the battle of life and became connected with the development of , the great shipping industry of this country—to , the presont time,. ho "had not made one single personal enemy. (Applause.) That was-a' great thing-to be able (to say, when they camo'to consider the conflicting. interests that necessarily, arose, and the troubles attendant on the development of an onormous institution such as the Union Steamship Company, and that' their guest had worked himself up from.the lower rung of.-the ladder to the -top. He.: had gone through all the phases of life—public, commercial; and otherwise—without having left anyfine in this country- but those who rejoiced at the great "distinction conferred upon him.■■• Looking back to 1869, he found that when Sir James Mills started, tho entire revenue of this country only amounted to the modest sum of £1,454,995, while to-day it was,,'in round numbers, £8,500,000. In 1869 the combined imports and.exports amounted to £9,100,000, while;. last year they had reached'tho- handsome- figure of £33,000.000. (Applause.) In 1875, when tho Union Company started; the fleet consisted of five vessels of 2050 gross, tonnage; to-day it consisted of 62 Vessels with a'gross tonnage ot 150,000. n They conlJ find side by side withthe development of New Zealand'the growth, progress, and development—under the guiding hand and the master mind of Sir James Mills— rof that great institution of which tho people of this country wero so justly proud. He. also wished :to convoy their congratulations to Lady Mills, who had been a faiths ful coadjutor, and had shared in a great deal of! the/ , troubles as'well as rejoiced in the pleasures and successes which were attached to the daily lifo of her husband,-in the onerous,, difficult, and : responsible position ho occupied. (Applause.) On belialt of. those present, and on behalf of ,thc country, ho tendered • their -warmest congratulations to Sir Ja'mcn/and -Lady-Mills, .their earnest wish for; his- personal Vsuccess, and their sincere hqpe'.'that tho flag of the Union Company might, under his guidance, continue to wave with the same success that had marked its courso for the past forty years. (Applause.) The toast w&s.'drunk with musical honours, followed by cheors for Sir James and Lady Mills.;;/ ■;.■■■ ' - . , .■■ -, ;i • -} SIR;JAMES ; MILLS , 'IN REPLY. Sir' Janies "Mills, ;who, ,on rising, was received ; with hearty , applause, said hefourid it vei:y difficult to pxpross bis sense of the high honour'done him by the presence there ofithq 'Prime' Minister and such a representative gathering of tho citizens of Wellington. •Hβ thanked them for the congratulationsi:convoyed to him and to, his wifo.'in connection with the high honour rocentiy Conferred' upon him by His Majesty the- King.' Though ho valued that honour highly, he thought ho valued moro the very cordial'expressions of good will and esteem which .tho event had evoked from his fellowcitizens/throughout- the Dominion/ (Hear, hear.) He felt very much the numerous congratulations he had received from all parts of -th'c Dominion and the warm expressions from both friends and the Press. He also valued the honour because it had been bestowed on him at the instance of Sir Joseph' Ward and the New Zealand Government, and ho looked on it as a generous recognition on 'the part of the Government of, the 'Dominion of. the part the Union Company had played in'doveloping and building up tho trado. of the country. ' (Applause.) It wasj.-as the .Chairman had stated, a compliment to tho peoplo of Wellington that ono of its sons should be so honoured, and it was a special compliment to the Company,

of whioh he had the honour to bo the chief representative, that their work hud been recognised through him in this way. In this respect also, ho thought, Wellington might ho considered to ho ontitled to somo congratulation, because, as it happened, the chief executive officers of tho Company woro nil Wellington boys—Mr. Houldsworth, Mr. Aitken, . their popular manager here, Mr. Kennedy—(hoar, hear) —and thoir manager in Melbourno, his own brother, who was also a native of Wellington. There were many other natives of Wellington throughout the service—in fact, it was very full of Now Zea-land-born youth. As the Chairman had informed them, ho began to take a serious part in tho business of life in 1869—when ho was bub 21 years of ago—when he found Jiimself at tho head of a little Hoot trading in* Otago Harbour. Ho had associated with him Mr. John Darling, and together they pushed their business and embraced the coastal trade of the South Island, as far as Lyttelton. They met with success, and acquired the original Maori (174 tons), and, after a while, another vessel, called tho Beautiful Star, and, filled with ambition,. tho Bruce, of 462 tons. It was in 1874 that they were filled' with a desire to conquer fresh fields, and they decided to get a couple of steamers and engago in tho whole coastal trade from Otago to Auckland. The original Hawea and Taupo, appeared, and they. wero first called by the name of tho Union Company. During the 32 years that had since elapsed, the Company's fleet had grown from this small beginning to over 60 steamers and over 150,000 tonnage. (Applause.) It was a long jump from the original Hawea and Taupo to tho last of the new steamers of the Company to appear in these waters—the Marama and Maori. Theso represented, for their size, the best that colild be produced in ship-; building,'and he was glad to learn that they were very much appreciated by tho travelling public. Of courso, they .meant a considerable amount of extra risk and expense, because they wore much more expensive to maintain than these vessels • they had clisP™' Together they : had cost close upon £300,000, and while a monthly earning of something like £300 would bo sufficient for the Mararoa and Rotomahana, it took £6000 to clear tho cost and permanent charges of .a steamer like the Maori. So that in 'introducing ; steamers of that character the Company was anticipating trade and taking some risks for tho future. It had always been the policy of the Company to kr,?p ahead.of trade and conduct it so as to <nve as much satisfaction as possible to their supporters and also to their employees. The"had tried to.be impartial,-and tried, not to be Sroedy because, when they had made profits, they had not hesitated to spend them- in improving tho fleet and giving .greater facilities to tfio public. (Hear, hoarlf He believed that there was a feoling throughout the Dominion that they had dono the "f\ th % co »l tl '». expected from human beings with a limitation to their benevolence., STnln °/f 1i! a , ppl , a ", se -> As their employed, they had shared in the work of the Company, and throughout had been most loyal in looking after the interests of the company as well as of the country This applied., to. tho staff ashore as well ae afloat sontatives of the officers and- of tho engineers, and from both these branches of the service the Company had received the most loyal support, while amongst them, especially the engineers, thoro was a very large percentage of locally-born youths. Although udging from tho papers, one would think they did not receive the same loyalty from tho workmen, seamon, and firemen, he was satisfied that even that section of their service was loyal to the Company. He thought ho was justified, in ..directing: attention to tbo importance to the Dominion that the headquarters and control of tho Company should be in, the Dominion. (Hear, hear ) iho result had been that tho groater part of the expenditure in connection with the Company had been centred in ' the Dominion, and had created employment for a vast number of servants .and' for locallyborn youths amongst the clerical' and engineering staffs, as well as'amongst the deck officers; although ho would like to see more ot the latter born in the Dominion. He .■hoped, with the assistance of 'his friend, tho Hon. Mr. Millar,. that a 'scheme-'would' be carried but by which' it would bo-possible to supply their ships with officers from locally-born -youths. These considerations were all'important, and it was also important to consider that the profits had not been' taken away, but had been expended in giy'- : ing'the public: the very best possible 'value" for their money. Ho did not know that he could say any more, except 'that he was : very proud at being a nativo' born New Zealander, that the Company of which he' had the honour to be the representative was a New Zealand company', and it niado one foci puffed up with pride'to know that so many people abroad knew and thought .woll of' our' Dominion. They were, always interested'to meet anyono from Now 'Zealand, and always' had a kindly feeling for it. (Applause.) This he attributed largely to 'the influence' of the present Prime Minister. Sir Joseph Ward, and his predecesqr, • Mr. 'Seddon. This was shown at tho Imperial Conference last, year, where the speeches of Sir Joseph Ward had made a very favourable impression, and whore his dealings with people—commercial and otherwise—had all tended to the good of' tho Dominion.' In conclusion, ho desired to again express his appreciation of the honour dono him. It was very gratifying to think that the event had been received so sympathetically-by the people of Wellington as well as throughout the Dominion. (Loud applause.) ' , HON. C. M. LUKE. . The Hon. C. M. Luke, who was to have spoken earlier to the toast, said.he thought that, when the history of tho Dominion was writuvi, the year 1907 would stand but for two-.significant events, the. proclamation of the Dominion, and the conferring of "the honour of Knighthood on their guest. There Was no man in tho Dominion moro worthy of that honour, and none on whom it would sit with more grace and distinction. It should be regarded, not only as aii honour dono to the Company of Sir James Mills, but as an honour tlonc to the Ho joined most heartily with Sir Joseph Ward iii oxprossing his approval of the' honour conferred, upon their guest. DR. FINDLAY PROPOSES • "COMMERCE." Dr. Kindlay, Attorney-General, in proposing the. toast of "Commerce," said he..'supposed it might well be said that the growth of the Dominion miglit be found written in tho history of the Union Steam Ship Company, since no agency had done moro to promote the commerce of this country than the lied Funnel Fleet. He was not oblivious of the groat "services that had been performed by other agencies, by the great Home lines, for example, hut from the very boginning of pur commerce in Now Zealand the Union Steam Ship Company had .gone on hand in hand with its development. To somo extent rjo doubt tho development of tho country had been tho cause of tho Company's pro.gress, but he thought that to a very large degree New Zealand's development was duo to the growth of the Company, which had forerun the country's needs, a'courso which bad required both foresight and courage. Seeing that Sir James Mills had guided the development of that great and prosperous Company, the commerce ot New Zealand was greatly identified with his name. It bad been a shock to him to hear that so many valuable people came from Wellington. They wero often told, and it was one of the deepest beliefs of His Worship the Mayor, that tho Magi all came from Otago, and that no one worth a rap could come trom any other pare, but through some freak of nature for which Ivj could not account, such men as Sir James Mills had named came from the Empire city. The topic of commerce was one of facts and figures, not easily digested by an audience already occupied with the process of. digestion. It was not a topic that could bo de.m with in an imaginative way, or that lout itself to romantic treatment or exaggeration and that embarrassed him, because he had enjoyed the privilege of groat freedom. He found, howevor, that the figures dealing with New Zealand's commerce were of such a naturo that the only difficulty was to get people to believe, without exaggeration, tlia really enormous strides that had been made. •The-facts'and figures proved that there Had been, firstly, a steady,,, solid advance', of which they were very proud, but there was more than that to make them proud in the methods by which they had attained success. He bolieved this country had kept up tho traditions of British merchants. It had reason to be proud that it had men whoso sense of honour and integrity in tho walk of commerco was as high as in any other

walk. Thero was a success, of which examples had been seen in American industry, from which honest men turned away in indignation and disgust, but it was cause for pride that the commercial men of New Zealand had attained their success whilo preserving a high sense of integrity and commercial honour. In the rise' and development of tho Union Steam Ship Company there had been opportunities many and great for tho abuse of the power and privilege which tho Company had, but never in the whole history of the Company had such abuse taken place. The Company had co-operated well, moderately, and fairly with the Government. Evory branch and shade of commercial business 'bad bedii carried out in a spirit of fairness and honesty,-and he thought that the government of New Zealand bail been , made, easier by the spirit in which the Company hnd been conducted. Ho congratulated the guest of the day, and asked them to drink to tho toast which ho had proposed. MR. D. J. NATHAN, IN REPLY. Mr. 1). J. Nathan, on behalf of tho commorcial community, expressed thanks for the way in which tho toast had been. proposed and recoived. He was sure that thoy could all appreciate the concluding remarks of Dr. Findlay on tho commercial spirit of New Zealand.. At the same time, they had had very high traditions before them in the manner in which commerco had been conducted by their fathers in the Old Country. Their guest had given them the sanie example. A great deal had been dono by its commercial men to make New Zealand what it was today, but a great deal moro could bo done yetj and ho was sure that the present generation would be able to continue the rato of progress; of their predecessors.. They must,however j look much more nowadays to the assistance of the Government than in the days gone by. Ho considered, and he thought those present would agreo with him, that if tho Red Funnel Fleet recoived that assistance from Now Zealand which it had a right to expect, and of which, ho felt sure, the pcoplo of this country would approve, wo should havo our own line of boats running to Vancouver. Ho know from tho positions ho had occupied that thore was a strong feeling throughout the Dominion that wo should have our own lint to Vancouver. They all appreciated the manner in which Dr. Findlay had conducted tho business of the Legislative Council, although he had not como from . the, South. (Laughter.) Sir. James Mills had gone to tho South after spending his youth in Wellington. Ho wondered if he might find it advantageous to his Company and himself to spend his later years in Wellington. It "'.-.s a natter for great regrot that the head office of the Union Company had left Wellington; Ho was in hopes, and he thought that many of those present were in hopes also, that they might yet see the head office of the Union Company here, and have always tho benefit of Sir James Mills's presence. (Applause.) THE MAYOR ON SHIPPING INTERESTS. Tho toast of "Shipping Interests " was given by tho Mayor of Wellington (tho Hon. T.' W.' Hislop). He referred to the guest's early association with Mr. Macandrew, who was" tho'first to.introduce steam navigation into Now Zealand. Personally, he had seen the .shipping industry developed from the timo there was nothing but tho old sailing schooners, and when it was necessary, if one wanted to go to Auckland from the South, to go to Sydney,; first, in the development that had been achieved tho Union Company had constantly endeavoured to meet ; ho wishes of their customers, and had tried to look at the matter, not as a mero moneymaking concern, but to do all that they could to contribute to tho i commerce and development of the country. Ho wished publicly to pay a tribute to the manner in wnich Sir Janies Mills and his Company had constantly endeavoured to look io the well-being of those in thoir employment. (Applause.) Tho toast was enthusiastically honoured. '■■': GROWTH OF THE COMPANY. Mr. Harold Beauchamp, in reply, extended hife own personal congratulations to. Sir James Mills on the honour conferred upon him. He reminded those present that on the occasion of tho arrival of tho Malicno ho nnd suggested that the time had arrived for somo such distinction being conferred on their present guest. Ho would liko-to quoto some figures, to. show the growth of tho Company. In 1877 the Company had eleven steamers with-a gross tonriago of 5538; in 1887 it had thirty-eight' steamers ' with a ■ tonnage of 31,632; and in 1907, including tho steamers in oourso'.of building, sixty-two steamers of a.gross : tonnage of 142,017. . Ho thought that was an achievement of which any Company might feel proud. ; Tho great 'secret, no idoubt, of the success of tho Union Company waji that it, had always given much more than the public demanded, and in .the Southern seas the red funnels wore as thickly, strewn as'" Autumn' , leaves in Vallambrosa.":(Applause.) Ho wished' , to quoto for ,the information of those present some figures for soptennial periods in regard to arrivals at tho Port of Wellington. In the year-1893 there woro 157 from intercolonial ports with a registered) tonnage of 204,G65, and 1848 from.coastal.ports with a registered tonnage of 514,764; in 1900 there wero 131 steamers from intercolonial ports with a registered tonnage of 235,162, and'from' coastal ports of 2243 steamers with a tonnage of 977,137; in 1907 thero wero 185 steamers from intercolonial ports with a registered tonnage of 417,657, and from coastal' ports 2957 steamers with a, registered tonnage of 1,714,005, or an avorago of 678 tons. (Applause.) These figures spoke more eloquently than words. He hoped that tho day was not far- distunt when they would bo able to welcome the headquarters of tho'Union Company to Wellington, whero they were prepared to rcceivo it with open arms. (Hear, hear.) !' "THE MARINE . Mr. C, W. Jones, of the Huddart-Parker Company, Limited; proposed the toast.of the Marine Department. He said that the'.Dominion could claim to possess a really live Department, of Marino. A few captious critics might declare that the vitality.of tho Department orrod on the side of excessive exuberance, but any such criticism, if analysed, would bo found to refer, not to the Dopartment which administered the laws, but to tho laws which it had to administer. His own experience was that tho Depart-ment-took a broad-minded view of■its ridministrativo duties, and exercised , more commonsense than was sometimes displayed in tho laws themselves. (Laughter.) H6' had always received from the administrators of tho Department, from tho Minister downwards, .nothing but courtesy and consideration, and as full a measure of fair treatment as the Draconian laws would allow. •Sl'EliCH BY THE HON. J. A. MILLAR. ; The Hon. J. A. Millar, who was received with much applause, said, in replying to tlie toast, ho did not-think there was any great occasion for any shipping company to he afraid of the Department, since the Department considered it its duty, not to hamper the shipping industry, hut to do all it could to further it, and it had vory little trouble with tho companies, who generally tried to do right. If tho law was broken the Department bad to act stringently, but it did not look' for'trouble. ' The work of tho Marino Dopartment was perhaps moro unseen than that of most other departments, for it was largely concerned with keeping clear tho smaller harbours to allow thoir produce to como to the larger ones. It might sometimes seem unnecessary work, but if trado was to develop it was absolutely necessary to improve theso smaller harbours. He must take exception to the proposal to move tho headquarters.of the Union Company, and Sir James Mills to Wellington. They were a'reserve which no one else would bo allowed to poach upon. (Laughter.) The training ship which had been referred, to was only an experiment at present. If it was found that the youth of, New Zealand did desire •v seafaring life, it would be necessary to go further. The present vessel was too small, and in a year or two they would have to get a larger vessel which ■ would servo as a training-snip inside the harbour, the men being sent to sea at intervals in tho smaller ship, for the purpose of gaining a- complete practical training in all branches. They should all bo proud that there were 95 | i cont. of Britishers in the Union Compan.i '.< licet, and he believed that the desire of the Company was to employ as far as possible the youth , of this Dominion.* He congratulated Sir James Mills on the honour that had been conferred on hint, and hoped that ho would 'long live to enjoy it. "THE HARBOUR BOARD." Tho Chairman proposod the toast of the ".Wellington Harbour Board." He said it

needed no words of his to commend it to that or any other audience in New Zealand, because) it stood in the forefront Its progress during the last twelve or fifteen years had bociii marvellous under the guiding engineering genius of one who had so long directed its affairs. Nothing could stop the progress of Wellington, and he believed that nothing could stop tho progress of the Harbour Board—not even the interposition of both branches of the Legislature. (Applause.) The Hon. T. IC. Macdonald, responding to tho toast, said that as one who had lived for thirty-six years in Wellington, and bad a great affection for this city, Sir Janies Mills's elevation was to him a great, event, for if there was one thing that bad marred Wellington in the past it had been a want of !oyo and affection'for the city in. which they lived. Ho hoped that Wellington men would f.ow havo a greater regard for, their city, and (hat in Sir .lames Mills's career■ they would find a worthy example to put before their sons. The Wellington Harbour Roard recognised the immense future in front of the city, and the enormous responsibilities tvliich this entailed upon tho Board. The word for tho Board at all times was " Forward"; it had to move ahead and cope with the crowd of work that was coming upon it overy month of the j'ear. No one,recognised this moro than bis friend Mr. 'Ferguson, and the Board regretted that while it would retain the benefit of his advice, it would loso his active services. The Board was greatly indebted to Mr. Ferguson for the hard work he had nerfonned during the best part of a man's lifo. That very morning ho had spent several hours with Sir. Ferguson in considering a now source of development, tho .reclamation at Evan's Bay, whero he hoped to seo> a hundred .acres added to the' lands of the city, nnd where they might "find a. homo for the Union Company when its head office came here. Tho Board would bo able, in two or thrco years, to give to every industry tba*. wanted ono a homo on tho shores of Evan's Bay and Port Nicholas. (Apnlauso.) Ho thanked the gathering for their toast. THE CHAIRMAN. Sir James Mills gave " Tho Chairman." Personally, he had listened with vory great interest to what had fallen from tho gentlemen representing tho commercial interests. It was a very nice prospect to havo that the Harbour Board would bo able to offer the Union Company gratis —(laughter).—sufficient room to accommodate its headquarters; and ho could assure them that if that offer was made it would not bo treated lightly, but would reccivo the most serious consideration. Sir Joseph Ward had been a long timo a Minister in'vnrious capacities, but although he had only been a short time Primo' Minister, ho had already earned the admiration and esteem of the citizens, of tho Dominion far his brightness, far-seeingness, and business capacity. (Applause.) The toast was drunk with acclamation. Tho Chairman, in acknowledging tho toast, said tho day would bo remembered by all of them from the fact that the former Wellington youth, now grown to full manhood, was there recognising that., the old place be was onco fond of, and was still fond of, was ajixi.ous to drag him back from the South. (Applause) The function closed with the singing of ." Auld Lang Syne " by all present.