CIVIC DINNER.

North Otago Times, Volume CVII, Issue 17170, 29 March 1927, Page 3

CIVIC DINNER.

GOVERN OR-GENH t; Al . ENTER- | TAINED. i |

11II> EXCELLEN CY'S STRIKING j 1 SPEEGH j Onc of the most successful soeR functions held in Oamaru was thc • dinner tenderccl to the GovernorRencral (SLr Charles Fergusson) bv the Borough Council in the Queen's ] lotcl last evcning. The Mayor (Mr .). McDiaimid) presided and the guests included members of the Borough Council. representatives of

thc several local bodies and leading citizens, together with their wives, about fifty sitting down to a n excellent repast. Aftcr full justice had been done to all the defectable dishcs provided, a shorL toast list was gone through. Proposing the health of the Gov-ernor-General, after the loyal toast had been appropriately honoured. thie Mayor said they were all gratilied and honouredi to have lxis Exccllency with them, but their pleasure was somewhat dimmed by the fact that her Excelleucy, Lady Alice was not with him. At the sam«a :ime they were glad to know that she was not seriously ill, and they looked forward to liaving her present 011 the next occasion his Excellency visited Oamaru (Applause). They liad heard from his Excellency that afternoon regarding the loyalty of the Dominion and' no one could speak with more authority on that subject than Sir Charles. They could claim that this district Avas iust as loyal as the rest of the Dominion. When they j looked at the political turmoil and ! civil war that was taking place they j realised that nevcr hefore did the j British Constitution stand h'igher in the eycs of the people of the Empire. Therefore, as loyal citizens they welcomed Sir Charles. They knew from their knowledge of liis ; Excellency that he possessed the j. head and minci which fitted him 1 for the high office he held in this | country. Xf they wanted proof of i the loyalty of New Zealand they i only had to recall the way the | Dominion h'ad responded to the call ; in 1914 and also Ihe warm recepi tions to the Prince of Wales 'and ; Duke of York. It was their fervent I wish that his Excellency should ; ]>e long spared after he retired from i office and the speaker hoped that I he would he able to tell the King 1 that nowhere in the Empire were j there more loyal people than in ;■ New* Zealand (Applause). The toast of their Excellencies was then drunk with musical honours. The Governor-General Replies. A round of enthusiastic applause greeted his Excellency when he rose to repfy. He said he wished he could find \voi«ds which would satisfv him that they would be adequate to express his thanks for j the welcome accorded him in Oam- 1 aru. Many kind things had been ! said and he most earnestly appre- j ciated them. . He expressed thanks for the inclusion of her Excellency j 1 in the toast and said she was bit- , terly disappointedl at not being able . to come with him. Since he was last in Oamaru he had seen a lot of the country and he would like to refer to where he had been and what he had seen. Of the more out of the way places in the South Island, Stewar't Island, with its "wonderful bird life and delightful settlers and, 1 what was little known, its marvellous harbours4 had1 given him great 1 pleasure. He had seen the Sounds J and revelled in the beauty of them. j He had vfsited Westland and ! Nelson, with its great fruit orchards, and golden Marlborough. He had travelled over Central Otago from end to endi and there was very little of the South Island with which he was not acquainted. Sir Charles paid a tribute to the work of the settlers in the back country who, he said, were carrying on their labour while still showing the charaeteristics of energy, determination and grit to overcome difficulties. He

had travelled right through the centre of the North Island up to Tauranga, with its wonderful records of Maori wars, and along the coast to Opotiki and Gisborne. He had gone to the Bay of Islands and seen the gum diggers ancl had eonversed with the miners at Waihi. He had also visited Samoa, where New | Zealand^ was carrying on a magnifir- j cent work in its administration | under that great New Zealander, \ General 1 Richardson. That was a ] sketch of his activities during the ' pa'st two and a-half years and he thought the Mayor was justified in saying that he and Lady Alice had made themselves familiar with the conditions under which the people lived, and the problems facing the country (Applause). His Excellency said there had been three points

•..hicii struck him Wiih a. mii\.lion 1 .uid g^eat hUerest. The lirsi wns the ! children. They had seen children I evtry where lhe\ had bei/i and under differcnl conditions. They had seen not only the children in the big centres, but also in thc little schools of 12, 14 and 10 pupils. They had seen how the system of education was carried on away ouL in liie back-blocks and thev had been sliown the children, witli their splendid teachers being trained in loyalty, love of country ancl citizenship. One could understand that in the bigger centres that sort of training would come as a matter of course. but what had struck him was that in those little schools the saine thing was being taught ancl

the same spirit was to he i'ounci. He thought the teachers wero doing splendid work The second thing, continued Sir Charles, was the marvel of the development of New Zealand in the short timo it had taken with a limited number of people to . carry it out. The third point he wishecl to stress was thc spirit of loyalty that pervaded the community everywhere. He had talked to the gum-diggers and miners, visited the factories and had met a fairly representative lot of working men, and he could honestly say, it' did not matter where he was, right down in those people's liearts there was a firm scnsc of loyalty (Applause). There may be a few cranks but taking New Zealand as a whole he had never seen sueh loyalty in any part ojf the world. There were two things he would like to help on and do all in his power to promote. The first was the brin,ging ( up of the children i nthc right way: That • they should be made to realise the heritage and traditions of their race; that they should know what their fathers ancl grandfathers had done and what possessed them to do it. They should also realise the deep religious feeling the eariy pioneers had, their sense of kmI ship and their determination not Tu i he beaten by difficulties. There wa* | no greater part than to make, sure 1 thai, with the splendid material | they had in the children, eyery | nerve was exerted to keep them on j ihe right lines. He had referred that. afternoon to co-operation among all classes. New Zealandwas not yel faced with the big social and industrial problems ihat convulsed other countries. How were they to guard against them? First hy looking after the children. They were living in ari age when things were upside down and when | a steadying hand was needed at j times. He warited them all to know • ihat the characteristics which pull- 1 cd1 them through the war were- the j very characteristics they should show in times of peace. "Speaking as a soldier," said Sir Charles, "I want the spirit of the trenches to pervade the community. There was no class disttnction and a man did his duty. Our one aim was to see the thing through rath-er than let the show down. Can we nol promote the same spirit now?" asked his Excellency , who went on to say that he woukl do all he could to promote comradeship and 'goodwill between all sections of the community. Their salvation consisted of every person doing his work, not for his material benefit, but for the common good. That was the only way they could pull through. "If,

during my time in New Zealand I can do anything to encourage the sreat work of the1 teachers, and freconcile all classe's of the, ► community where friction exicts, then mv time will noi al^ have been wasted. Life in New Zealand for her Excellency and myself had been one prolonged happiness,'* concluded Sir Charles who resumed his seat to the accompaniment of a sustained burst of applause. Mr .T. M. Forrester gave the* toast the "Navy, Army and Air Force" and Mr M. K. McCulloch made suitable acknowledgement. During the evening enjqyable vocal selections were contributed byMadame Winnie Fraser and Mrs M. K. McCulloch. The gathering broke up with a verse of the' National Anthemsand cheers for the Goverrior- General.