ENGLISH & FOREIGN

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 13, Issue 671, 8 April 1869, Page 3

ENGLISH & FOREIGN

INTELLIGENCE.

COMPLIMENTARY DINNER TO MR W. MTZHERBERT..

On Wednesday, January 27, a complimentary dinner was given at St James' Hall by a committee", of colonists and other gentlemen interested in New Zealand to the Hon. W. Fitzherbert, Colonial Treasurer of that colony, in recognition of his able and successful services as the financial representative of New Zealand in England. A further token of appreciation of Mr Fitzherbert's exertions, in the shape of a very handsome silver tea and coffee service, which has just been presented to him by the same body of gentlemen, was exhibited in an ante-room during the evening for the inspection of the company. The banquet was presided over by Sir George Grey, K.C.8., late Governor of New Zealand, who was supported by Lord Granville, Secretary of State for the Colonies; Mr Monsell, M.P., Under Secretary for the same department; Mr C \V. Dilke, M.P., Mr P. Vanderbyl, M.P., Dr C. C, Fuller, Mr Justice Chapman, 'Sir C. Clifford, Mr F. A. Weld, Mr J. C. Watts Russell, Mr John Logan Campbell, Mr James Matthews, Mr Erskine Nicol, Mr John Ballantyne, Major Atkinson, Mr W, J. Steel, Mi Henry Sewell, Mr Howard Kennurd. Captain Pauli, Mr Alexander Morrison. Mr Joseph R. Morrison, Mr G. F. Verdon, Mr T. M. Usborne, Mr A. L. Elder, Mr William M'Cash, Dr Daldy, Rev. P. Beaton, Captain Mayue, R.N , Mr Roche, Mr Nathaniel Cock, Mr C. R. Essex, Mr Robert Davie, Mr William Bouchers, Mr John Bridges, Mr Robert Campbell, MiFrederick Collier, Mr Alfred Fell, Mr Thomas Gooch, Mr William S. Grahame, Mr Ernest Alers Hankey, and other gentlemen interested in our Aus tralian Colonies.

About 150 gentlemen sat down to dinner.

The Chairman said, as a man well acquainted, with the colonies, that the Queen was regarded throughout her dominions with a love surpassing that ever borne towards any previous British sovereign, because throughout her lons and blameless life she had devoted hex self to the one object of promoting the good of her subjects and the welfare of the greatest empire which the world had ever seen. The toast of "The Prince of Wales and the rest of the Royal Family" was also received with the utmost loyalty. The Chairman, in giving " The Army, Navy, and Volunteers," warmly eulogised the heroism which had been displayed from time to time by members of those services in New Zealand, referring in particular to the noble self-devotion of Captain Biggs during the recent disturbances in that Colony which had cost that gallant officer his life, and also led to the murder of his wife, who had refused to quit her husband's side in the hour of his utmost danger. With the toast, which was drunk with great cordially, were coupled the names of Captain Mayne, R.N., Capt. Pauli, and Major Atkinson, each of whom briefly returned thanks for his own branch of the service. In responding for the colonial volunteers, Major Atkinson said he addressed them with, considerable pain, owing to the disastrous news lately received from New Zealand. Plaving personally known many of those who had fallen in the recent insurrection, he could affirm that more gallant Englishmen than they were had never breathed. [Hear, hear.] He had the honor ol serving for some years with the volunteers and Militia of New Zealand. —who were looked upon in the colony as practically forming one service—and he believed they would value highly the compliment paid them that evening, because much had been said and written in England, which might lead people to think that the colonists were lighting iu an unjust cause. The colonists were men of like feelings and aspirations with their fellow-subjects at home ; many of them had gone to New Zealand with the view of settling permanently there ; and they had taken up arms in what they deemed a just quarrel, in the same manner as he was sure the English Volunteers would do in this country if the authority of the Queen were called

lin question. Notwithstanding the late disasters, be was firmly convinced that the colonists were capable of taking care of themselves; and although, of course, it was a difficult matter for a young and struggling colony, in debt and with a small population, to extricate itself from its present troubles, yet if the settlers were only true to themselves, as he believed they would be, they would come out of their fiery trial all the stronger and better for the ordeal they had undergone. lor the work which they had now to* accomplish they would be very much strengthened if they were certain that they possessed the sympathy of the English people—a sympathy which he earnestly hoped and trusted would not be withheld from them. [Cheers.] The Chairman, in proposing the toast of the evening, said they had met to do honor to Mr Fitzherbert for the emijent ability and success, as well as the fidelity with which he had fulfilled the financial mission to this country committed to him. By the manner in which he had performed his duties he had relieved the revenues of New Zealand from au annual charge of about <£30,000, besides gaining a considerable sum of ready money for the use of the Colony in the great emergency which had lately arisen there. But, in addition to that Mr Fitzherbert had for at least twentyfour years, within his own knowledge, devoted his talents and his energies to the promotion of the welfare and prosperity of New Zealand, for which services almost the only reward he had received was the approval and admiration of the great body of his fellow colonists.

Mr Fitzherbert's health having been druuk with much enthusiasm, that gentleman rose, amid renewed cheers, to respond. After avowing his inability to thank them as he could wish for the great honor they had done him, he adverted to the present situation of affairs in New Zealand. In the midst of the heavy distress of that Colony fighting as it was now doing, unaided,, an unequal battle for very life, be saw the dawn cf hope for New He had a reliance upon the sympathy of thi't great empire, and he believed that sympathy would not be a barren one, confined merely to words. Kemembering what sacrifices England had recently made to liberate some twenty Europeans from captivity in Abyssinnia, he would never believe that she would remain indifferent to the agony of a young colony where not only men, but women and children, of her own race were exposed to the brutal tortures of the cruel Maoris. He was the more impressed with this conviction when he recollected how that great country had not refused to extend to another colony the benefit of her guarantee for its bonda —not to save that favored colony from ruin or from scenes with which he would not harrow their minds, but far less urgent necessities. In saying that he did not mean to abnegate on the part of the colonists of New Zealand any portion of that self-reliance which, became them ; but he maintained that the grant of some assistance to New Zealand in the form he had intimated, so far from injuring the British taxpayer, would in the end greatly bene* lit him, inasmuch as the prosperity of the country would stimulate the trade and commerce of the mother country, and also serve to lighten her local and Imperial burdens. The Chairman then gave " the Health of her Majesty's Ministers," coupling with the toast the name of Earl Granville, and expressed a hope that Government would direct its attention to the formation of a sound scheme of emigration which would alike arrest the increase of pauperism at home and prove advantageous to our colonies.

The toast was very cordially received, and

Earl Granville, in acknowledging it, said he regarded the reception awarded to the toast as a gratifying indication of the loyal feelings of our colonial dependencies towards the Government of the day, to whatever party the Queen and Parliament might have entrusted the administration of affairs. [Hear, hear.] It was not for him to speculate on the probable duration of the present administration ; but this he would say, that as long as they might be in office he trusted they would do nothing in and

be detrimental to the true interests of our widely extended empire. 'The day after the Ministry was formed the Chancellor of the Exchequer, having occasion to make a speech, declared that the Government was immaculate ■ —that it had done no wrong whatever. He was afraid after it had been six Weeks' in office it would be a bold thing for him, or any one to say the some thing of it; but, at all events, if they had done wrong it had not yet been found out. Nobody knew whether Mr Gladstone had dealt a secret blow at emigration, whether Mr Bright had forged any new fetters for trade, whether Lord Clarendon had dragged us into a war, or whether Mr Monsell and himself had adopted a perfectly retrograde colonial policy by attemping to regulate from Down-, ing-street the local affairs of communities of English race quite capable of conducting their own local self-govern-ment. Yielding to the commands of the chairman to propose a toast, he would do so with the greatest pleasure. In accepting the invitation for that evening he had been influenced by several motives. In the first place, having most unworthily accepted a post of great responsibility, he was anxious to take every opportunity of mixing with men well versed in colonial affairs]; and a dinner presided over by a gentleman who had held a high office under the Crown, and attended by gentlemen connected by property and official experiences with the colonies, appeared to him an especially good reason for doing so. He was also glad to show his interest in the colony, represented by the distinguished gentlemau in whose honor they had met. (Hear.) He felt that a dark cloud overhung the present festivity, by reason of the painful events which had lately occurred in New Zealand. Mr Fitzherbert had told them that he did not look to the future of that colony with despair. Now he was happy to say the colonial office had received a telegram that afternoon from the Governor of New Zealand, which he woutd take the liberty of reading. It was to this effect: —" The rebels on the East Coast of this island who perpetrated the massacre at Poverty Bay have been defeated in two engagements, with severe loss." [Cheers.] "It is now intended, as soon as possible, to concentrate the greater part of the Colonial forces at the West Coast, with the object of putting down the rebellion in that quarter. The so-called Maori King is still quiet, and there has been no fresh outbreak in any part of the colony," Mr Fitzherbert had culled in eloquent terms for the sympathy of this country for New Zealand. He believed that the colony had the sympathy of this coun try to the greatest extent. He was sure that the people of England would all feel the greatest sympathy with the colonists, not only in the misfortune which had befallen them, but also in the steady, steadfast determination and noble self-reliance they were already exhibiting in confronting it. (Hear, hear.) He was sure that so experienced a politician as Mr Fitzherbert would not expect him to put forward any postprandial programme of colonial policy on that occasion, but he had confidence in their Anglo-Saxon fellow-country-men, who in distant lands appeared to display more self-reliance than we could do in our older and more artificial society. He believed that they would surmount the difficulties they had to encounter in New Zealand, which, though suffering from taxation partly caused by the present insurrection, and partly, and he believed to a greater extent, by the commercial distress and panic in this country —had shown a growth which made him feel that in proposing prosperity to that colony, he was speaking not only with hope, but with faith in the great future of a country, so blessed by soil, by climate, and by social organization as thoroughly English as that possessed by any dependency of the Crown. [Cheers.] The noble earl concluded proposing "Prosperity to New Zealand," coupling with the toast the name of Mr Weld.

Mr Weld briefly responded. Mr Monsell then gave V The Colonists present from Australia," which •was acknowledged by Mr Verden, representative of the Colony of Victoria. After a few other toasts the company separated at a late hour,