DINNER TO THE SUPERINTENDENT.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2304, 24 September 1870, Page 2

DINNER TO THE SUPERINTENDENT.

Yesterday evening a dinnerwas given at the Of/l Masonic Hall to his Honor the Superintendent. ifi recognition of the services be has rendered to the province during the last session of the General Assembly. The dinner was provided in Mr Wain’s usual excellent style, and greater praise cannot be given. His Worship the Mayor was chairman, and Mr J. Brown croupier. Amongst those present were Mr H. Driver, M.H.E. ; Mr J. MTndoc, M.H. E, ; Messrs G. Duncan, J. Millar, J. Sibbald, and E. Seaton, members of tlip provincial Council, and several members of the City Council. The customary fcrpial toasts having been drank, and the “ Army, Navy, and Volunteers,” having been responded to by Mr Stavcly, The Mayor, in proposing the health of his Honor the Superintendent, took the opportunity of observing that it was not simply as a representative of the Province of Otago that he had bpcu invited, but as Superintendent of the ProvijjCv and member of the House of Representatives. There might be some who did nob approve of all that had been done, but it was gratifying to see so present. He might he pardoned if he alluded V.riGiy to a few measures that had engaged the attention of Parliament, bearing immediately upon the iiitere..ty c,. the 1 rovinee, for they proved that his Honor was tl;c right man iu the right place. His Honor, in hi£ public career, had shewn himself superior to of sect, He had shown

hat ho care 1 for no man’s opinion so long as o: he course he followed was the right on*, a teviewiog what had been done during his d juperintcndcncy, he might refer to the in- v reduction of salmon, the advantage of which p o the Province m one could question, il Next- was the establishment of the Indus- ( ;rial School, the commencement of the Port a Dhalmcrs Railway, the projection of the t Southern Trunk Railway, the build ng of s several bridges—one over the Otepopo River, s mother over the Shotover, and the proposed < bridge over the Waitaki. Then there were { the introduction of bent, Russian flax, and i other pro hicts ; a bonus bad been ottered - for the establishment of woollen mannfac- ; turcs and one for the encouragement of whale ( fishing. The subsidies to road districts ot f L‘2 lo LI had been productive of the host i effect, and it must be matter for common re- 1 mark the rapid progress that had been made i with the Port Chalmers Dock, fn addition j to those were the New Post and Telegraphic Offices ; and last, not least, the reunion of Otaco and Southland. Referring again to the Industrial School, he had no doubt most bad visited it; and had the Superintendent nothing move to show as the result of what had been done during bis term of office, it would be something to reflect upon with satisfaction, for its probable effect for good could not be over-estimated. So with the Graving Dock at the Port. It supplied a Colonial want, and must conduce to the prosperity of all classes in the Province. His Honor had had much difficulty in arranging for the Port Chalmers Railway. He had been foiled, but not discouraged ; for ho had said, “When one plan failed he would try another.” He (the Mayor), however, did not wish to detract from the merit due to the Executive in the matter. It had been said that his Honor leaned too much to the squatting interests ; but it was a remarkable fact that one-third of the whole agricultural settlement in the Province had taken place during his Supermtendenov. It could not, therefor-, be said ho was a foe to agricultural settlement. In fact, he (the Mayor) did not think one single pledge given by his Honor was unfulfilled. There wore yet two or three matt; rs to mention that bore intimately on the prospects of the Province, and in which his Honor had rendered valuable assistance, the pissing of the University Bill was one. He considered that Act conferred more lasting benefit on Otago than won id have resulted from its being made the Seat of Government. Some difference of opinion existed as to Port Chalmers becoming th* terminus of the San Francisco postal lino Some said perhaps it might never be He had taken some trouble to enquire, _*nd was told there was every probability of its being something more than the mere name of terminus ; and if it did not happen, the mere effort to make it so deserved the thanks of the community. But should it become the terminus of the line, it would be equal to the exqenditure of at least LIOO.OOO annually iu the Province. He concluded by proposing his Honor’s health.

Ills Hosor the Surf.ein'TEKOEXT in acknowledging the toast, felt grateful for the manner in which it had been responded to and for the cordial manifestation of good opinion which that gathering implied. He would not pretend to consider himself altogether unworthy of that good opinion, hut lie felt the cnconiums of his Worship the Mayor were somewhat beyond the mark. The office which ho had the honor to occupy, was in some respects peculiar, and surrounded with difficulties in various wsys. P<rhapa not the least was the ignorance which prevailed with regard to the position of the Superintendent on the part of those who conferred the honor. It seemed to be imagined by the public, that he who hold that office was almost a monarch ; that he had only to say, “ Do this,” and it was done, but he need not say to those present that the power of a Superintendent w.13 initiative and negative He could do nothing unless he could carry with him the majority of the Provincial Council. He was tempted at times to regret he could not go ahead as he wi'hcd, without the constitutional cheek of the Provincial Council, but having said so much, he thought it only right to add that the present Provincial Council and Superintendent had, on the whole, worked very harmoniously together during the last three years and a-half, and very great material progress had resulted from their continued action. In fact, there had been greater progress dudng those few yo*rs than during any equal period in the history of the province. And thjs had taken place in spite of peculiar drawbacks—-po ope coulq gainsay it. He did not say it in a sedf-gra-Dilatory spirit. Progress had not been so great as he wished or anticipated. When he assumed office he hoped it would have been greater than it could now prove before his tenure expired. In fact, he hoped to have been able to visit the Clutha and return the same day. One of his first official : <uts was to adopt practical measures for carrying out the Southern Trunk Railway, 'but unfortunately his efforts turned out futile through causes over which there was no control He looked upon the construction of that railway as the one thing needful the mphis ultra required to giro new life and vigor to the Province. Hp did pot look upon it that the benefits that would accrue would be confined to Dunedin and the Clutha, hut it would be like Die let'jug in of water, which it would be impossible to stsp until the railway system spread over the length and breadth of the land. Ho believed the introduction of the railway system would change the whole aspect of affairs. _ It meant population, settlement, and civilisation—it meant that the waste lands of the Province would be filled up by r A and women instead of cattle and sheep- fc the desert should rejoice, and blossom as the rose, He could not but feel humiliated to think that Otago should h?jv<s been the last to introduce a system so essential to the com ditions of modern civilisation as was the construction of railways. It was humiliating to think that hundreds of thousands of pounds on roads, which of necesfity were, during a great part of the year, neither more nor less than quagmires. Holding those views, it would be seen why ho so gladly accepted the policy of Mr Vogel during the first session of the Assembly. (Cheers). He looked upon it as the only means of getting railways introduced into the Province with any chance of success. He would have preferred the line being formed independently of the Government ; hut politicians were obliged to deal with things as they were, and not as they would have them to he ; and, therefore, ]>e felt he ought to take advantage of what was ottered, and give every support in his power to the financial scheme. Whether the Province liked it or not, under Bilking political complications, it was precluded from ooing into the money market, otherwise ho would UvVer have consented to the General Government having th ; e smallest finger in. the pie, in respect' to railways, immigration,

or anything else. Politics Were, however, a system of compromise, and much as he desiderated Provincial independence, he , valued the introduction of railways and public works more. (Cheers). To his mind it mattered little whether introduced by the General or Provincial Governments, so long as they got them. There could be no doubt that railways and immigration, which were at the head and front of the Government scheme, were the great problems that required to be solved. Ho believed the Separation question, as evolved in Mr Reynolds’s resolutions, was utterly insignificant compared with immigration and public works, and that one would effectually settle the other. Ho would not enter upon political subjects, for he thought neither the time nor place fitting for them, and the more as he intended next week to address his politicalconstituents at theClutha. Buthc thought he might fairly congratulate that meeting and the citizens of Dunedin, on the fact that the proceedings in the General Assembly had, on the whole, been advantageous, so far ns the Province was concerned, but the Mayor had so enlarged on the subject as to render further comment unnecessary. Doubts had been cast as to the resolutions coming into force, but they were bound to believe that every Act would be honestly and sincerely carried out, and if so, the result would bo that the Port would be the last of arrival and the first of departure of the American steamers. Ho thought it impossible to overestimate the practical results of that arrangement. In the first pl«ce, it would introduce a little Yankee life amongst us, and the expenditure would not be merely LIOO,OOO but L‘200,000 a year, which would bo batter than any goldfield yet discovered. There was no doubt that Dunedin would be the seat of the Colonial University. He coincided with the chairman in the opinion that that would he het'er than making it the seat of Government. He should be sorry to take any undue credit to Himself for those things. The fact was the whole of the Otago members deserved ai much credit for those matters as lie liimself. He was sorry to think that a feeling had crept abroad that that demonstration was indicative of anotuer idea. He repeated he did not deserve more than his colleagues, for they were in the same boat-, and assisted each other. Looking upon the most important feature in the Government schema to he that of immigration, if Otago’s cards were well played, he b.-Roved a large share would fall to it. By means of that a direct line of steamers from Loudon to Port Chalmers, making the passage in about fifty days, would bo established, and it would be the fault of the Province if the results of that line were not, that brfarc ten yean the population of Otago equalled ’lie present of the Colony. He la Ino sympathy with those who thought there were sufficient people in the Province. Ho believed it, with Southland, capable of sustaining two millions of peop'e in affluence and independence ; and he, for one, would aim at introducing hundreds of thousands of hard-working people into the Province. His Honor sat down amid loud cheering. “ The House of Representatives” was pro : posed by Mr Id. ff. Wa i>, and acknowledged by Mr Driver, who pointed out that although flic Otago members had acted harmoniously together, it must not be imagined such would he the case in future unless men were elected who had a stake in the Province. It would not do to elect men who absented th-mselves from the Province at all times excepting when an election was in prospect. This was the more needful, as organic changes were in prospect. Mr Mercer proposed “The Members of the Provincial Council,” to which Mr Duncan responded. He differed from' 'My Macandrew’s views, and considered the condition of the support of the measures of the Government by the Otago members should have been that they accepted the Separation resolutions of Mr Reynolds. He was loudly cheered. The other toasts of the evening were “ The Mayor and City Council,” “ The Agricultural, Pastoral, and Mining Interests,” “Mercantile and Shipping,” “New Industries,” “The Press,” “The Ladies,” and “ The Host.” The proposers were Messrs Bell, Millar, M.P.C., Reeves, Duncan, M.P.C,; and J. Watson; and the res; ondrnts the Mayor, Messrs Ure, G. Turnbull, M.P.C , Wilson, Brown, jun., and Wain. Messrs Fleury, Beichardt, and Martin played some wcll-sclected music during the evening, which pa*sed off harmoniously and pleasantly.