PRESENTATION AND BANQUET TO MR JAMES MACANDREW.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 958, 21 July 1877, Page 3

PRESENTATION AND BANQUET TO MR JAMES MACANDREW.

[liV TELEGRAPH. PER PRESS AGENCY.] Dunedin, July 20. Mr James Macandrew, M.H.R., and late Superintendent of the Province, was this evening presented with a purse of 1500 sovereigns, at a public meeting in the Princess Theatre. There were 500 persons present, including all leading citizens. The Mayor, who presided, in making the presentation, said more subscription lists had yet to come in, which would increase the amount considerably. He also made a long speech, premising that it had been decided that politics were to be kept out of the affair altogether. He reviewed the life of Mr Macanclrew since he first settled here, and said he had gained the esteem of all his fellow citizens. The Superintendents of Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch had received presentations, but this was the most valuable of all. He said Mr Macandrew had been identified with the history of the colony for twenty-five years, and had always assisted its progress. The Public Works and Immigration scheme originated in his fertile brain, and most of the public institutions in Otago had been mooted by him, He had always been actuated by the highest motives, and his name would be handed down to posterity as a household word in the history of Otago. Mr Macandrew, in replying, expressed his thanks for the great honor done to him by his fellow citizens. He said the testimonial was not of his seeking, but that he was rather averse to it;. He was still proud indeed to receive it, not for its intrinsic worth, though a small fortune in itself, but as a token of the appreciation of his public services which pervaded the minds of the community. He believed that a greater honor had not been conferred on any other man in New Zealand, and he hoped he would prove worthy of it, and shape his conduct in the future so as not to belie the action of those who had presented it. It was now thirty years since he had the honor to take part in the affairs of the Otago Association, under whose auspices this settlement was first formed, and twenty-six years since he showed confidence in its future by casting in his lot with the pioneers of early settlement. Since then he had devoted himself to public life, and he was proud to see that the young sapling which had a hand in planting was growing up into a stately oak, under whose branches many families had, and would emerge from comparative poverty into ailluence, independence, and wealth. He might be pardoned for saying that the Mayor was right in saying that no one had taken a more active part than he in the early days, and that if he had attended less to public affairs and more to his own, ho would have been richer. However that was not to be, and he consoled himself with the saying, " Whatever is, is best." He commented on Parliamentary duties in the early days taking people from their business for a long time, once taking six weeks to go to Auckland, and it was generally found that the shortest way back was via Sydney and Melbourne. Nothing was more gratifying to publicspirited men than the consciousness that they had endeavoured to do their duty, and had left some footprints on the sands of time, and had acquired the good opinion of their fellowcitizens. He had experienced the feeling often, and never more than now. That he had been guilty of sins of omission and commission he woidd not deny. Who had not ? But he had never made use of high official position for nepotism or the gratification of avarice. He had not a single relation or connection in the public service of the colony. He had retired from the Chief Magistracy of the province considerably poorer than he had entered it, and that was poor enough. It was hard to address an audience at length without going into politics. He, along with the province of Otago, had been snuffed out, and he would not have the same power now to serve the province. He had the satisfaction of knowing that they were not snuffed out by the desire of the people of the province, a large majority being against it. He was now going to the House, as one of their representatives, with less heart or less hope than lie had ever gone there. He was no prophet of evil, but he could not help feeling that wc had fallen upon evil times, and that Otago's geometrical progression would not be as great in the future as it ought to be. He hoped he was mistaken, and would earnestly assist to aid and devise measures for developing the resources of this great province. Otago did not want anything at the expense of the rest of the coiony. She did not wish to be the milch cow of the colony. She merely wished a fair field and no favor. If only permitted she could intersect the whole of the province with railways without any external aid whatever. He hoped the different communities would abandon their wretched narrow-minded jealousies, and substitute honorable rivalry and public spirit, to be diffused through the rising generation, instead of political indifference, whose bitter fruits were not yet all tasted. He hoped all would realise what was due to their adopted country, themselves and their children, and that the watchword of Otago be, as in the past, " The greatest happiness for the greatest number." Ho thanked them again for the honour conferred, but could not find language adequately to express his feelings. Mr Macandrew was repeatedly interrupted by cheers, and the enthusiasm at the conclusion was something tremendous. j An adjourumeuf was immediately made to the banquet, which is now going on.