LUNCH TO THE GOVERNOR.

Evening Star, Issue 3813, 14 May 1875, Page 3

LUNCH TO THE GOVERNOR.

We make the following extract from the speech his Excellency delivered in reply to the toast of his health, at the Provincial Council lunch yesterday:— I rejoice in this opportunity of meeting the representatives of the Province of Otago, because it gives me the opportunity of shadowing forth slightly the ideas which have arisen in my mind during my journey from Canterbury to this place. As the vice-chairman has ■aid, this is a country which combines the scenery of Switzerland and Scotland, and the fertile fields and rich pastures of the lowlands of England. During my journey I saw fields which ■would rejoice the heart of a Lowland or an English fanner, teeming with stacks, which evidenced most satisfactorily the product of the recent harvest. I passed over roads which would do no discredit to any part of England; and I saw bridges which, for utility, and, in some cases, for their architectural construction, would do credit to the old country. I saw smiling homesteads, happy villages, and risin;' towns, and I saw the cottages of laboring men, all of them decked with gardens, which evidenced the taste and refinement of Europe; and in every country I regard re finement as the best evidence of prosperity,— (Applause.) I also saw vast public works goia ' on, bridges being constructed over rivers which might tax the ingenuity of an engineer in any country; and I look forward with pleasure to the time when those works shall be completed, and the different centres of population m this island connected by the railroad. In this Colony you are trying an experiment which hassometimesbeen daunted—that is, whether by public works and a great system of immigration you can force the country into prosperity ami advancement. From what I have already seen, I believe that in this country at . any rate, the experiment will be a success.—(Loud applause ) If we are to take the returns which I see of the small sections of railway which are now con structed as any gauge of what the future returns of the railway when completed will b , there can be no doubt that this country will bo well repaid for the public works she has under taken, and that she will become most rich ai.<’ most prosperous. But, gentlemen, in political as well as in private matters, it is never wise t*> take things too much in trust.—(Hear, hear.) You have undertaken vast works, and havo risked much. You have, I know, fright ened some of your fellow - colonists by the large expense you are undertaking ; and they believe you are likely to he embarrassed by what you have done. This is not my opinion from what I have seen.—(Loud applause.) But at the same time, having done s» mnch, it will be well not to press forward much farther till you have ascertained the positive result ef that which has already been done. I have myself resided for many years in British North America, which is one of the oldest am' richest of Her Majesty’s Colonial possessions and I have always entertained file deepest affection for that portion of Her Majesty’s dominions, and I may say that I always looked npon it as a kind of second home. But I can cndly confess to you that since I have visited New Zealand, were I about to become a Colonist, and had to make a selection as to what Colony I should reside in, I t.binV I should now choose New Zealand.—(Loud applause.) You are blessed with a climate which is neither parched by tropical suns nor frozen by long and continual winter snows. You have a soil and climate which will produce all European productions, and you have a climate which never interferes with the labor of the whiteman. With these advantages I believe that the Colony is likely to prosper and flourish in a manner which may create the envy of those who now are sceptical of the advantages of the course' she has pursued. The feelings which arose in my mind during my journey from Christchurch to this place were, first <if all, veneration for the power and goodness of God who could create such a country for the habitation of man, and admiration for the exertions which have been made by her population for the develoi ment of that country ; and, I must add, deep gratitude to Her Majesty for having been graciously pleased to ■elect me to preside over such a Colony.— SLoud and continued applause.) [•look forward with the utmost hope, with the utmost confidence, to the future prosperity »M mtess of New Zealand.—(Applause.) ohe has already been called the Britain of the oouth, and I myself know, from what I have seen or the energy of the people of the Colony, that she widely deserves that denominatio .; i m / Q^ Ure i7* are , “ay vie even with England herself in her production*, her com . her “fractures. Gentlemen. I thank you (cordially (for the maimer in which you bate received me here to-day; and I also

wish to take this opportunity, while speaking before you, the representatives of Otago, to thank you for the kind manner in which I have been received by all from the first moment I entered your Province.—(Loud applause).