A GOVERNOR’S OPINION OF NEW ZEALAND.

Dunstan Times, Issue 959, 3 September 1880, Page 3

A GOVERNOR’S OPINION OF NEW ZEALAND.

At Sir William Pitzherbert’s dinner at Wellington last week, the Governor said that had he been at liberty to consult his own inclinations ho would have stayed here. He had told his English friends he was pleased with the climate and people, and would like to settle here after he retired into private life. Expecting to remain for his full term, he had made private arrangements that would have .isTntified him with the interests and amusements of the colony. He would leave the colony with feelings of severe regret. He had desired during his short stay to make acquaintance with the people and country, and always tried in his relations with the Legislature to st-ictly up hold the letter and spirit of the Constitution. The country was one of surpassing interest; had unrivalled climate, unsurpassed soil, vast mineral resources, and a most favorable geographical position—everything to constitute a young and happy Britain without all the want and misery in the old one. But the administration here had not always been above criticism. The future had been discounted too much, but with care and frugality everything would be right in the end, for the resources of the country were so vast that it could not go wrong eventually. In proportion to its population Now Zealand was more in debt than any other country. As a word of parting advice he would urge New Zealand to rest content with her present pre-eminence in indebtedness ;• she should not get to the extremity or the result would be disastrous. They were fortunate in getting so able an administrator as Sir A. Gordon—a most conscientious, able, and high-minded man than whom a belter could not be found.