THE PREMIER AND THE MAIDEN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 74, 27 March 1878, Page 4

THE PREMIER AND THE MAIDEN.

This is the conclusion of Sir George's speech at the public meeting at Oamaru : — " On approaching the town I thought; of what name ought to be given to Oamaru — what fit term should be applied to it ? " Well,' I said, 1 from her youth, I will call her a maiden ; she has youth and beauty.' Then es I look . upon your buildings, clcsa here to the sea— to your buildings rising in stone of the utmost brilliancy, of a kind whiob I have never seen before, I thought ' Oamaru is a fair maiden

that sits upon the shores of the sea.' When I thought of the harbor you have created here, and which I must suy your representative has done his utmost in many ways to promote — when I thought of that! I said, « This fair maiden holds the horn of plenty in her hand,' and I ask you all— Was such a horn of plenty ever held by any maiden in her hand before ? You see the cornucopia in England with a few ears of corn sticking out of it. Look at your country here — the whole country groaning with sheaves of wheat us I passed along, iv such abundance that I believe you will find it difficult to get shipping to take it away. Well now, here sits on the sea-shore a maiden fair (none of you can deny this) with a horn of plenty iv her hand, ready to spread her commerce over the whole world, with a prospect before her such as I believe no single town or district I have ever been in has had before, and I would implore you not only to thi»ik of these material advantages, but if she is a maiden of this kind, abounding in plenty, let her pour forth not only the treasures of her wheat, of her minerals, of her wool, to a world so anxious to receive them, let her not only find food for the perishing millions in tnglsnd— • for there is great distress there at the present lime — let her show herself worthy of her deatiny by helping to pour forth freedom upon the world also — let her strive in the gentleness of her beauty to aid in founding a nation under the favorable circumstances in which we can found this nation, and let her show herself in every respect — not only in her produce, but in all other respects, a benefactor to the world without, and to the people of New Zealand, for all time to come.