OUR NEW GOVERNOR.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume II, Issue 146, 13 August 1880, Page 3

OUR NEW GOVERNOR.

Closely following upon the sudden and unexpected announcement that we were about, to lose the services of ; Sir Hercules Rohinsdh is Governor- o"

tlie.se .Islands,' comes the statement that Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon, G. C.M.G., has been appointed his Excel lency’s successor. The new Governor’s name is - already familiar to New Zealanders as that of the able Governor of the neighboring colony of Fiji and High Commissioner and ConsulGeneral,of the Pacific, the duties of which* difficult and important position he has-iCamed out with such marked success. Of Sir Arthur Gordon it may be said that his whole training and antecedents, from his very youth upwards have - been in the highest degree calculated to prepare him for a position of responsible rule and authority. The youngest son of a Prime M inister of Great Britain —George, fourth, Earl of Aberdeen—Sir Arthur Gordon soon found himself drawn into ie arena of politics. In 1854, wh en barely 25 years of age he was elected to the House of Commons as a representative in the Liberal interest for Beverley the chief town of the East Biding of Yorkshire, which seat he retained until the general election of of 1857, when he unsuccessfully contested against Mr Ralph Grey, subsequently appointed a Commissioner'of Customs. Besides this training in the greatest political school of tlie world Sir Arthur Gordon enjoyed in addition, exceptional advantages such as are accorded to very few men for Mastering the more subtle intricacies of the art of government. In the first place, lie was assistant private secretary to his father when the latter was Foreign Secretary and afterwards during his Premiership. When Mr Gladstone went on his difficult and delicate mission to the lonian Islands in 1858 Sir Arthur Gordon was special ■ly attached to the embassy. From his connection with that great statesman, both in and out of Parliament, Sir Arthur Gordon must have gained much : that would be of incalculable use to him in after life, not only in point of knowledge, but no doubt a great deal of his influence also is due to the same cause/ Sir Arthur Gordon commenced his career as a Colonial Governor in 1861, when he was appointed to take chai’ge of New Brunswick. In 1866 he was transferred to Trinidad, and in October, 1870, he was appointed Governor of Mauritius. For his services in these capacities he was, in the following year, created a Knight Commander of the Order of S. S. Michael and George. On 4th February, 1875, Sir Arthur Gordon was appointed Governor and Com mahdCr-i n- Chief of the Fiji Islands, which had been created into a seperate colony, and taken formal possession of by,Great Britain in the pre.vious year. In 1877, he was appointed High Commissioner and Consul-General of the Pacific, a position of very extensive power and authority. Sir Arthur found his new charge at a very low ebb, morally and in every other respect, when he first took the reins of power, but a few months of his vigorous and clearheaded rule sufficed to bring about a very’marked improvement. These services were recognised by the British Government, Avho in August, 1877, raised Sir Arthur to the position of Knight Grand Cross in the Order of S.S. Michael and George. Sir Arthur was married in 1865 to Rachel Emily, eldest daughter of Sir J. G. Shaw Lefevre, Clerk of the Parliament and Vice-Chancellor of the University of London. Sir Arthur was born on 2Gth November, 1829, and is consequently in his 51st year. His present appointment is a pro motion in point of salary, the pay of a Governor of Fiji being .£SOOO a year, while her Majesty’s representative in New Zealand receives .£7,500.