THE AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL ASSOCIATION’S DINNER.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1788, 13 November 1879, Page 3

THE AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL ASSOCIATION’S DINNER.

Tho dinner, held in tho evening at Mr Wagner’s Clarendon Hotel, was not the least ■ successful portion of the proceedings in connection with the A. and P. Association e annttal celebration ; and was avery decided improvement upon the dinners given on previous years, both as to the attendance and the quality of the repast, which was really excel- ■ lent, the viands and wines wore of the best quality, and.reflected the greatest credit upon the caterer. Among the guests were his ‘Excellency the -Governor, and his Aido-de-Camp, Oapt. St. John, tho Hon, W. Robinson, Hon. M. Holmes, Messrs Acton Adams (of Nelson), Hurst (of Auckland), and Moorhouse, M.H;R.’s,'the Mayor of Christchurch, and a number of the leading citizens of < Christchurch, • Canterbury squatters, and ■ visitors from tho-North and South. Tho chair was occupied by the President, J. T. Ford," E?q, supported on his right • by His Excellency the Governor, and on the left by Mr Moorhouse. The company having done full justice to tho admirable repast provided. The usual l loyal and patriotic toasts were proposed by the chairman and duly honored, Tho Chairman then proposed the health of His Excellency the Governor. [Loud and prolonged cheers.] He felt sure they all welcomed him. Personally, he thought the present a most favorable time for the • Governor to have paid us a visit, as he was likely to form a better idea of tho resources of the country at such a time. He was not going to make a long s peech, but felt sure that all. gentlemen present would be most gratified to see the Governor and to hoar that ho had consented to become the patron of the society, which they all know was not second to any south of the line. The toast having been honored with enthusiasm, His Excellency spoke ns follows : I am very -sensible, Mr President, of th kind terms in which you have proposed my health, and grateful to ycu, gentlemen, for the marked cordiality with which you have responded to tho toast. I can assure yon that it has given mo great pleasure to visit Christchurch at the present time, as it has afforded me an opportunity of inspecting your splendid show, and thus of forming a better estimate of the vast pastoral and agricultural wealth of this magnificent district than I could have gained by any amount of mere travelling through it. I have been able, too, to avail myself of the same visit to observe, as I have done with satisfaction, the very admirable manner in which the good old national sport of horse-racing is conducted : under the able and efficient management of 1 the Canterbury Jockey Club. [Cheers.] * Above all I have had an opportunity ef seeing for myself the crowds of well dressed and 1 obviously well-to-do people who have thronged f tho racecourse and the show ground, and 1 whose appearance and demeanor abundantly 1 testified to the lojal, orderly, contented, and ? truly British character of the population. 1 [Cheers.] ■ Indeel, all that I have seen here c and elsewhere in New Zealand since my 8 arrival, has served to convince me that although * oceans separate you from the old country, * your hearts are British still. [Cheers.] * That you are like Ralph Rackstraw, the able * seaman in in “ H.M S. Pinafore”—

" And in spite of all temptations. To belong to other nations, You still remain Englishmen.” [Cheers and laughter.] And, in your picturesque and most enjoyable island home at the Antipodes, you retain those feelings of attachment to the throne, respect lor law, order, and constituted authority—[cheers]— and that lore of out-door business pursuits and amusements, which constitute all the world over the marked characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon race. [Cheers.] I may add that the cordial expressions of welcome and good will which have been extended to myself personally, not only in Christchurch, but in . every part of the colony which I have visited have been most gratifying to me, and encourage me to hope that you at all events give me credit for a sincere desire to act here an honest and straightforward 'part in the - discharge of the important duties which have been entrusted to mo by my sovereign. a (Cheers:) My only fear is, gentlemen, that you may expect too much from me, for if so there will assuredly be a reaction of disap- • pointmeut. (“ No, no.”) But you must all bear in mind that in matters of internal administration and policy the functions of a . constitutional governor are of a negative rather than of a positive character, and that his principal achievements consist rather in preventing mischief than in accomplishing any substantial good. He has to reconcile and discharge as best he can the doable functions ■attached to his office—that of a Governor, responsible to the Crown, and the constitutional head of an Executive, controlled by his advisers. {Hear, hear.) The task of reconciling these sometimes conflicting functions is often one of peculiar nicety and difficulty; and as -Lord Pufferiu well observe:!, the duties of a constitutions! Governor in this respect resemble not a little those of a man we see tending some complicated piece of machinery, who goes about clad in fustian, with a little tin can having a long spout to it, and pouring a drop of oil here and another there, with a view of securing the working of the various parts with as little friction as fiossiblo. [Cheers.] These lubricating perormaroes of a constitutional Governor are mostly hidden from the public eye, and the functions of his office are in consequence apt to be under-rated, but I am myself far ■from thinking that the position is either an unimportant or on uninfluential one. [Hear, hear.] Constituting as he does the official link between the colony and the mother country, he can, whilst resolutely regarding Imperial interests, at the same time do much by tact and judgment to maintain harmony of action between the local and Imperial -officials. [Cheers.] Placed also as ho is by his position above”the strife of parties, holding office by a tenure less precarious than the Ministers who surround him, and bound as he is to see that under nil circumstances and changes the law and the constitution are obeyed—he can, by holding the balance equally between contending parties, by never allowing himself to become in the slightest degree a partisan, do much at times to moderate extreme opinions and to allay the asperity of political warfare. [Cheers.] And when the strife waxes fierce, and the hitting becomes a little wild, he has to assume the position, as it were, of an umpire in the political prize ring, to see that the rules of the game are strictly adhered to, and above all to repress firmly and vigorously any tendency to hit below the belt. [Laughter, followed by loud and prolonged applause.] These are amongst the least agreeable of a constitutional Governor’s duties, but there are others which are thoroughly enjoyable. Eor example, it is his privilege to be able, without provoking either jealousy or suspicion, to take a warm interest in societies such as this, and indeed in all social movements having for their object the advancement of the industrial, educational, or moral interests of the people, and to promote every undertaking which gives promise of developing the resources of the colony, or of assisting her friendly and successful rivalry with other colonies or countries in the arts of peace. [Cheers.] At the same time a Governor may, in my opinion with advantage, and without doing anything inconsistent with tho obligations, or derogatory to the dignity of his high office, identify himself warmly with the pleasures and amusements of tho people—[Loud cheers] —and by sympathising with them genially and heartily in all the good old English sports and pastimes, do much by his influence and example to ensure their being carried out with moderation and propriety. [Cheers.] These are tho general principles which I laid down for my own guidance in the groat neighboring colony of New South Wales, and although of course I often failed in acting up to so high a standard, my experience and observation in Australia have taught me that if a Governor in those colonies simply seeks to do his duty honestly and fearlessly, steering unmoved an even course between the political contentions of tho day—indifferent alike to praise or blame—ho will never appeal in vain to tho confidence and generosity of an English community. [Enthusiastic applause.] And now allow me to say that the first impressions which I have formed of New Zealand are most favorable. I have already in the few months I have been here visited most of the principal centres of population, from Auckland in tho north to Invercargill in the south, and I can truly say that the country appears to me to bo one of surpassing interest and promise. The scenery is quite equal, if not superior to anything I have seen in any other part of the world. I have been much struck also with tho extent and variety of the resources of the country, as well as with the industry and energy and marvellous rapidity with which they are being developed.

[Hear, hear] Coming from Auitralia I could not fail to note with admiration the extraordinary richness of the soil, and its special adaptability for homestead settlement upon comparatively small areas. [Ol ens] _ Your climate, too, is magnificent, far more enjoyable than that of the old country, whiht it is equally fayoi able to the development of ot British energy. The influence of bout climate and soil is, I think, clearly perceptible upon the physical development and character of the population. For wherever I have found men brimful of energy, cheerful, and contented with their lot, believing thorohghly in the land of their adoption, and determined to promote her advancement to a foremost place amongst the dependencies of the British Crown—[cheers] —l know oE no sight more calculated to impress an Englishman with feelings of pride and thankfulness than to travel through a groat new country like this, which was only first settled about forty years ago, and to see on all sides the evidence which it affords of material progress and social improvement. To see great cities like Christchurch, and Dunedin, and Wellington, and Auckland, and Invei cargill, which have grown up as if by magic—to see as I did mountains of grain stacked and waiting shipment at Oamaru and Timaru, the produce of districts which a few years ago did not grow enough for their own consumption—to see such a pastoral and agricultural show as I inspected to-day, and of which many ot the old countries of Europe might well feel proud—to see everywhere vast tracts of country, which twenty-five years ago were unproductive, covered with flecks and herds, and cornfield, and administering to the wants and contributing to the happiness ot hundreds of thousands of ®ur race. I say

sights such as these make one feel proud of the genius of our countrymen for colonisation, and confident as to the future of this great country. [Cheers.] The resources of tho land are boundless. It is capable of supporting in comfort and independence a population of many millions, and it offers to my mind on the whole more advantages than any other country in tho world with which I am acquainted to an industrious, sober, working man, [Cheers.] Nature has indeed been most bountiful to New Zealand. She has given her beautiful scenery—a magnificent climate—rich mineral gifts—a soil of unsurpassed fertility, an extensive seaboard, a commanding position, and in short every national condition necessary for tho reproduction here in these Southern seas of a younger and a happier Britain, exempt from the stint, and the want, and tho misery which are unfortunately so common at times in tho old country, and offering a far more general participation in the good gifts which God has so bountifully bestowed upon this country. [Loud oheers.] For myself I may say, gentlemen, that having been now employed in the public service for over thirty-six years, during tho last twentyfive of which I have had the honor of representing her Majesty in the various quarters of the globe, I cannot reasonably look forward to any very prolonged period of active service, and it is a source of no small satisfaction to mo to find that what will in all probability be the closing scene of my official career is laid in a colony possessing features of such engrossing interest, and holding out a promise of such a brilliant future. [Oheers.] I need scarcely tell you that New Zealand is no promotion after such Governments as Ceylon and New South Wales, which I filled for nearly fourteen jeirs ; and indeed it is in some respects less advantageous even than the Government of Hong Kong, to which I was appointed exactly twenty yea's ago j but all considerations of such a character are to my mind more than counterbalanced by tho magnificence of your climate, and by tho interest \ which attaches to the political and social problems which are here being worked out. The mixed character of the lopulation, the difficulty of the Native prob- ; cm, the history and traditions of the Maoris, the operation of tho public works policy, the opening up of the vast and varied resources of the county, and the influence of climate and soil upon physiological development, all present to mo new lines of study, and open up a wide and varied field for intellectual speculation. When, therefore, this Government was offered to me 1 gladly, and without a moment’s hesitation, accepted it; and I now only hope that I may be allowed to expend whatever remains to me of energy and ability in your service. [Oheers.] I earnestly trust, too, that my political and social relations with you all may bo as cordial and comfortable as they were with the six other colonial communities with which I have had the pleasure of being associated - [Oheers] —and that when the time comes for my departure, you may bo able to say of me, as I am proud to know they did, that I conscientiously acted up to what I at all events believed to be my duty, and that my whole heart was wrapped up in the advancement and prosperity of those whom I had been commissioned by my Sovereign to serve. [Loud and continued applause.] The President, Mr J. T. Ford, responded on behalf of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association. He also begged to thank the company for tho support which the Association had from time to time received at their hands.

Mr Duncan proposed “ The Army, Navy, and Volunteer Forces, ” Coupled with the names of Capt. St. John and Mr D. Craig. The toast was responded to by Capt. St. John and Mr Craig. The latter gentleman was proud to say that when the Government recently appeared to stand in need of assistance the battery which he (Mr Craig) had the honor to command, was the first to volunteer that assistance. [Applause.] Mr Murray - Aynsley proposed General Assembly.” The toast was responded to by the Hons. Wm. Bobinson, and M. Holmes, Mr Acton Adams, Mr Moorhouse, and Mr Hurst. The Hon. Mr Holmes remarked that hitherto the colonial Government had done nothing to forward such institutions, and suggested that the Government should grant £IOOO a-year towards a National Agricultural Association. Mr John Ollivier proposed—“ The Mayor and Corporation of the City of Christchurch.” His Worship the Mayor of Christchurch responded to the toast. “The Judges,” “ Successful Exhibitors,” “ Unsuccessful Exhibitors,” and other toasts followed, and the company broke up at an early hour.