ADDRESS TO SIR ARTHUR H. GORDON.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 226, 15 November 1880, Page 4

ADDRESS TO SIR ARTHUR H. GORDON.

On the lot h October an address was presented in nis Txcellencv Sir Arthur Q-or^nn hv *he "WpisSpvnn missionaries in "Pi)». Wp pivp the foil winr/ ex tvnrti : -" Tn virw of vnnr Tfcoellenev'e »v»r*r««\pl*'T*iT r^r»nrtviv*» from Ibis onlonv, v.'P flip "W'fpWfln miKpi°narien now in }"pvul*n siPpernKW, rtepire, tn express* rrifP morf> mr Ho-h appreciation of vonr unwp»rieri rff>rts for the ndvanoewenfc of tV>p native wee, nnrl our grateful fenpp. of the public testimony yon have borne to the mine of the v?ovlc performed by our Mission in the pnst. It is perhaps not too much to say that no men in the eMntw are more full* aware of the d 'fn* unities with which vonr "Rxoeilenev h"d to grapple when you firs* took the rpina of government into vnnr hands. T'> unite under one head tribes such na the Fijian, never before pu v j<vt. to one common ruler, Bepnrafp^ from one nno'her aa ther wero by intertribal enmities, and each of the^n torn by intes'ine factions and jealousies innumerable ; to establish on 'authority sue*- fif has availed to prevent the further outbreak of political disorders ; and. a*-ove all, to do this work without calling in foreign aid, by means of the materials to be fotrad among the natives themselves— this is no light achievement, and this ymr Excellency has achieved. Turning from these matters to a subject on which we an mipsionariea are ; n duty bound to apeak, we gratefully acknowledge the widespread influence for good whirb your Excellency has personally exerted iipon the natives. Thus speaking, we refer not merely to that seemly outward decorum of life which is to be expected from one in your Excellency's high position There have come to our knowledge words spoken, and se'fdenying actions doDe by you in private, •which we shall ever remember with ndmiration and thankfulness, as evidencing even mote powerfully than your unwearied devotion to your pubic duties, that you have tbe moral advancement of this people sincerely at heart. By such words and by such deeds you have taueht them that the greatest chief has over him One greater still, whose commandments it is an honor to obey We pray that the blessing of Grod may go with you, and that He may he p you to fulfil your arduous duties in the colony to which J3er Majesty has been pleased to call you, as weil as in guiding the weighty affa ; rs with which you are still entrusted in these islands of the sea." Hia i xcellency replied as follows.: — Mr. Laneham and gentlemen,— l aui deeply grateful to you for the kindness of your address, and for the unsolicited testimony which you have borne to the results of my effortß to overcome tbe difficulties you have so well described. That tesimony is the more valuable because, though at all times eager to acknowledge rnjself tbe great services you have rendered, and desires that they should be equally recognised by others, our opinioi 8 as to what was due on tbe one hand to civil interests, and on the other to religious principles, have on Borne points of minor importance not always been in complete ace rd ; nor have I admitted any claim on your part which I should bave refused to others. Tbe chief attraction to me of duties, in tbe due discharge of which much wds necessarily involved which might well bave induced hesitation as to their assumption, was the belief that an attempt to govern native races through their own agency, and

for their own benefit, might here be made, and made successfully. In this attempt, although far from accomplishing all that I could have desired, some prnctical objects have, I think, been effected, and the fullest proofs obtained, that in the bands of men abler than myself, and with a larger command of material resources and efficient agency than is permited by the present financial position of the colony, the system which has been adopted would display results yet more striking, and ye'i more satisfactory, than those which have been already achieved. To tbe prosecution of 'this work I should have been well content to devote myself so so long as my services appeared to be of any utility, could I have kept around moUie other members of my family without risks to which it was imposMble for me to expose them. This, however, w as not the case, and I have been constrained to adopt the conclusion that if my assistance be desired in dealing with the affairs of Fiji it must be from without the colony. Fiji will no longer be my place of residence, but T rejoice to think that my connection with its fiff-iirs will be by no means wholly severed, and that from New Zealand I shall continue to exercise over those interests which have for the laßt five years bo largely engrossed my attentio , a supervision, of the exact character and limits of which I am not as yet myself fully aware. I leave many things unfinished which I have begun, and many untouched which I had contemplated. Ido so, not without anxiety, but yet with confidence. The future is in the hands of God. If it be His will that the work done here should endure, He will bring it to pass, if it perish, ifc will equally be His will, and therefore still the best.