THE PREMIER’S VISIT.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 377, 29 March 1902, Page 3

THE PREMIER’S VISIT.

WELCOMED WITH INTENSE ENTHUSIASM. SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL, TESTIMONIALS AND SPEECHES., The Tutanekai left Napier at 3 on Thursday afternoon, and made the run up to Gisborne in seveh hours, the Premier and other passengers being landed at half-past ten o’clock. The uncertainty of the time at which the , steamer would arrive had made matters rather awkward for the reception committee, but everything was carried out in' an admirable manner, and, though the Right Hon. the Premier may get much greater receptions, hi point of magnitude, on his travels, he will not get a more hearty one. The Tutane/rai (Captain Post) was tendered by the Waihi (Captain Neal). His Worship the Mayor (Mr Townley), Mr Joyce (President of the Liberal Association), Mr Sheridan (Secretary of the Reception Committee), Councillors Lysnar, Harding, Kennedy, Miller, and Messrs R. M. Birrell, W. F. Sinclair, and others went out to receive the Premier. WELCOME TUNES.

The City Band (under Bandmaster Morrison), went out on the Waihi and greeted Mr Seddon with the tune, “ Fine Old English Gentleman,” also ■“ Will ye no come hack again ),” and True Friendship/’ AT THE" WHARF.

On arrival at the wharf cheer after cheer went up from tiie great crowd assembled. “ Thank you for your kind welcome,” said Mr Seddon, doffing his hat, and then the cheering broke forth afresh. Mr Seddon then drove oil to the Masonic Hotel, and a few minutes later (11 p.m.) he attended THE SOCIAL.

There Mr Seddon was given a very hearty, reception, being greeted with much cheering. The Mayor warmly welcomed the Premier, and in a fine speech, referred to the important, function at which Mr Seddon was to,, be present as the representative oh New Zealand. The enthusiastic cheering with which he had been welcomed that evening, was but a foretaste of ,what he might expect on a scale of greater magnitude when he reached the Motherland. (Cheers-). He would be ticking part in the greatest gathering the British Empire had ever seen. (Cheers). The Mayor then alluded to the way in which the Premier, in his fervent Imperialism, had brought New Zealand to the fore, so that her name was respected throughout, the world. They were sure that at the great gathering at which Mr Seddon was to be present, he would, as in the past, worthily uphold the honor of the colony- (Cheers). He would now introduce Mr Seddon to them, though lie knew that not much introduction Was required. (Cheers). THE PREMIER.

who was received with prolonged applause, said he thought an introduction was always necessary, especially ;he said smilingly), when it meant m "introduction to the youth and peauty of Gisborne. To the people p[ Gisborne he owed a great deal, from the first time he had visited jisborne in an official capacity to the present moment their acquaintance hadmproved. He had been agreeably, iurprised to see such a large number pf people at the wharf to meet him it the late hour of the night he had irrived. On the wharf he had been ;iven a most enthusiastic welcome, dis Worship told him that was- only •he commencement, that when he got ,o the Motherland he would get simiar welcomes there. But (continued he Premier), no welcome could be varmer, and no welcome could be regarded by him with greater pleasure ban the one he had received on enterng the room that evening. (Cheers) '’hey did not require that evening liore than passing reference to quesions affectins the district. OUR PROGRESS. One of the greatest pleasures he had a a public man was to note the process made by the colony during the ast ten years. He had been delighted ?ith the progress the Gisborne disrict had made during that time, but i they were pleased with the progress I the past ten years, that progress would be nothing as compared with the -regress of the next five or six years. Cheers). He was not there on that -ccasion" simply for the purpose of aying Good-bye. He was there on nost important business in connection with the settlement of the lands of he district, and as for their railway* xtension, that went without saying. Laughter). With the embargo removed from the fine land in their disrict, and that land thrown open for ettlement, they would find that durng the next five or six years Gis-i iorne would have most prosperous imes ; they had not yet seen anyhing compared with what was bound o eventuate. (Cheers), His worthy olleague (Me Carroll) was now on lis way down from a most important Native gathering. It was not simply l formal hui, but was a gathering of Natives for the purpose of ptarant beore them the Maori Lands Adminis;ration Act. A quarter of a million Lcres of land had now been handed iv'er for settlement purposes. (Cheers) Phey would receive that announcement with -enthusiasm when he said tha. in lifferent parts of the colony the Natives had already handed in half a million acres of land. (Cheers). In ihe nast settlement had been kept hack P but for that neither the Natives nor ’ the Government were blameworthy, owing to the difficulties m [he way. There had been two solutions -one was to take the land compulsorily, or dealing with them m the wav they were now doing. The wa tives understood that they must o their owu motion ta*e advantage of iff Act and they were freely doing that He anticipated shortly that two' million acres of Na \' t 7emS ™t nection with such an important mat ter they would appreciate that it tives called him-and hei had been? They'had that Snate success' would ho achieved, and by-and bye,’when all these lands were settled nnd the Natives were receiving their ■returns and justice had. been done to IF«Srp^ ■mMsgstezm 1 mfiority of « (Prolonged cheering), ' THE SURPLUS, 'And now, as it was close to the end the year, and I " w l, Ly [ hat lhe jony in ji, e consolidated rfa? over £200,000. When he had rS'affioutffinaiiciai difficulties a.iffia.l Softs- of 'Prognostications S,e^r?w^ise f critlcswcre in a fog.; (Laughter). PUBLIC WOBKS FUND.

As to the Public Works Fund, and more particularly railway extension, they could not have their cake and eat it, too. If voted a certain sum they d not 80 on spending when that was & canid no* expect move, os it

must bo taken from somewhere else. All that had been appropriated for this work, and more, had been spent in this district. It could not be said that there was any holding back of this expenditure. He anticipated that there yet remained in the Public Works Fund f 400,000, which with .£275,000 loan remaining amounted to £67 6,000. Yet they had been led to believe, and had been told positively that there was no money in the Public Works Fund, and that no work could go on after the 31st of March. He now told them that after the 31st of March there would be an expenditure at the rate of j£loo,ooo per month. (Cheers.) And this district, of course, would have its share. (Cheers.) THE CORONATION.

Mr Seddon then referred to the Coronation, first paying a deep tribute to the late Queen Victoria. They would hope that it would be many years before thero would bo another Coronation ceremony, and that the reign of King Edward would be as productive of good to mankind and to our great Empiro as had been the reign of his gracious mother. (Cheers.) When ho had gone to represent the colony at the Jubileo celebrations in 1897 some said that it was a misfortune the representation of the colony should have fallen on the shoulders of their humble sorvant —[Voico : They didn’t know you, then| —but when he camo back the genoral concensus of opinion, ho could say without egotism, was that ho had done his best. (Cheers.) Years had rolled on and again it had become his duty to represent them, and from one end of the colony to the other thero had been expressions of opinion favorablo to himself, showing that men could hold diverse opinions on political questions, but yet could bo unanimous in these matters. It made the responsibility all the greater to feel that ho had the unanimous confidence of the people of the colony as their representative. Ho would be going as the representative of a great people and of a great colony, and he would represent them fairly, impartially, and to tho best of his ability. The speaker then went on to refer to tho great questions that would have to bo dealt with, taking up the line he had done in the speeches already fully reported, favoring a preferential tariff for British goods and a fair cohtribution to an Imperial navy. He altogether deprecated any idea of a squadron for New Zealand at the present time. Ho showed how necessary it was in view of Russian encroachments for New Zealand to bo prepared, and pointed out

that under present conditions the advantage of our trade was helping foreign nations to build extra inen-o’-war, so that Great Britain had to build more to keep pace with them. A treaty had been entered into with Japan, because the Japanese bal the strongest fleet in the Pacific, and with their navies Great Britain still ruled the waves. (Cheers.) In regard to Colonial statesmen ho said they had the great advantage that their minds were freer, they were not bound by the precedents that hemmed in the statesmen of the Motherland.

THE WAR. Fortunately, in New Zealand they had few if any pro-Boers, and had no such experiences of what they saw in the Old Country. He believed that if there had been the same combination as there was in the colony and no encouragement were given to the Boers to continue the hopeless struggle, the war would have been ended ere this. (Cheers.) The affair to Methuen had for a time set aside the noble work done by the Seventh Contingent at Bothasberg, but New Zealand had answered with a Tenth Contingent, which was cheerfully accepted by the Imperial authorities ; 2000 had been asked for and granted by Australia, and Canada was contributing 2000. First of them all was New Zealand, with its contingent unasked for. (Cheers.) He was delighted to know that Australia and Canada were taking up the matter with enthusiasm as New Zealand, which would prove to the pro-Boers that there could only be one end —a full surrender and the placing of the territory under Imperial rule, and under the British flag. (Cheers.) With 20.000 fresh men, well horsed, going into the field, he still had a hope that on the Coronation of the King peace would reign supreme. (Cheers.) Though they had made great sacrifices, and were if needed prepared to make more sacrifices, the Boers would, on surrendering, be treated, as Great Britain always treated those she had beaten, generously, and he believed they themselves would soon see that it was for their future good to bo under the British flag. (Cheers.)

CONCLUSION

After a warm tribute of praise to the New Zealand soldiers, the Premier said that he would rather remain in the colony, but it was his duty to go as their representative. He hoped he would survive the great functions he had been invited to. (Laughter.) He bad just received an invitation to a great function on tho 10th June, under the Anglo-Colonial Society ; on the 12th June, he was to be the principal guest at a New Zealand dinner; and on the 13th he was to go on a tour of Scotland, under tho auspices of tho Empire League, Edinburgh and Glasgow being included in the tour. (Cheers.) But wherevor he went, the hearty cheers of tho people of Gisborno would not bo forgotten. (Cheers.) Ho would now say “Au revoir.” He would look back on this gathering with great pleasure, and hoped that at no distant time he might return and pay them a further visit. (Cheers.) The statements that ho was nqt coming back to tho colony wore not true. He hoped that when lie returned ho would have fully earned their congratulations on having faithfully represented them on his visit to the Motherland. (Cheers.) Tho Band then struck up tho National Anthem, after which Mr Seddon led oil in the singing of “ Auld Lang Syne,” grasping tho Mayor by one hand and Mr Joyce by the other. These gentlemen, it may be mentioned, were the two members of tho Maori Lands Administration Council present. MESSAGE FROM MR CARROLL.

Mr Sheridan, the secretary of the Reception Committee, then read the following telegram from tho Hon. J. Carroll: —

“ Tokomaru Bay.

“ Deeply exercised at my inability to bo present with you on so important an occasion as the farewelling of tho Premier of the colony by our district, in connection with his visit to England to attend tho coronation of His Majesty Edward tho Seventh. Lot us all wish him God-speed to the Motherland, and trust that his mission, fraught with such enormous possibilities for the good of our people and country, may be complexioned by the most roseate results that success can bring into living fact. Tho events no doubt will bo unprecedented and will mark a special epoch in the history of our Empire. The representative of tho colonies at that great function will mean the opening up of now and extensive areas for national consideration, bosides the submission to careful and fuller examination of the condition and prospects of our trade relations within our Empire as against foreign competition. We may look forward with every hopo to have things made better than they are by our colonial representatives meeting tho Imperial authorities in conference on these largo questions, and I believe that among all those who will be there, the elect of our colonies, no one will bo a more prominent figure and there will be no ono whose views will claim more attention than Mr Seddon. He has fully earned the respect and admiration that he commands. “ I have to state on behalf of the residents ot Tokomaru that they regret that an opportunity has not been afforded them of subscribing their names to the address to the Right Honorable R. J. Seddon. They hope, at any rate, it will be understood that they cordially join with you in the send-off you are giving. With regard to the Maori residents of the East Coast, Mr A. T. Ngata has wired direct to the Premier their expressions of goodwill and kind regards. Kia-ora to_ you all.”

THE TESTIMONIAL.

Tho message was received with applause, and then Mr Sheridan presented to tho Premier tho testimonial (already published) from the people of the district, which he said contained about 2000 names.

Mr Seddon returned thanks, and then, on his motion, a vote of thanks was accorded to the Mayor, and a vote of thanks to tho Band.

After another dance the assembly broko up, the Premier being much cheered as he drove off.

YESTERDAY’S MOYEMENTTS,

Yesterday morning Mr Seddon attended the Anglican Church. The Rev. J. Welsh preached an impressive sermon, which Mr Seddon fully appreciated. In the afternoon tho Premier was taken by the Reception Committee for a drive to Ormond. Tho route followed was over tho Taruheru bridge and up the Ormond road to Makauri, hence by the Makauri road to

the main road, and on to Ormond. The party returned by the middle road. "While passing tho railway line at Makauri a momentary stop was made, and the Premier was given a good view of the line. From t’he luxuriousness of the growth he must have been impressed with the fertility of the land. On his return to

;own he was met by the Hon. J. Carrol:

who had just come in from the Coast, highly delighted with the success of his mission to Waiomatatini Native meeting. Mr Carroll speaks in high terms of the business-like way in which the Natives conducted the Council, the methods of which would compare favorably with any European body of a similar nature.

AU REYOIR 1

The Premier and party left the wharf soon after midnight, and the Tutanekai sailed for Napier at 1 this morning. The Mayor and member of the Reception Committee went out on the Waihi.

A short adjournment was made to the Tutanekai’s saloon, where Mr Seddon’s health was drunk, and the company sang 11 For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow,” winding up with “ Auld Lang Syne.” A number of Maori chiefs then gave an inspiriting haka, and cheers and counter cheers were given. As the launch was leaving someone suggested that Mr Seddon should come back again. “ I hope if I do,” he said, "it will be no longer 1 Poverty ’ Bay. Fancy eating mutton coming from a place called ‘ Poverty ’! ” The Mayor made some remark about a welcome when he returned. “ Yes,” said the Premier, “ I will rejoice when I do,” while ho gave a friendly wave of the hand to Mr Joyce. Soon the anchor was weighed, and the good ship Tutanekai was cleaving through tho billows on her way to Napier.