VISCOUNT MAYO, LATE VICEROY OF INDIA.

Southland Times, Issue 1559, 2 April 1872, Page 3

VISCOUNT MAYO, LATE VICEROY OF INDIA.

The late Viscount Mayo, more generally known in political life as Lord Naas, and whose assassination in India has just been reported, was the son of the fifth Earl Mayo in the peerage of Ireland, and was born in 1822. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and in 1844 took his M.A. degree at that University. At the comparatively early age of twentyfive he entered political life, and was first elected for Kildare in 1847, for which county he sat until 1852. In 1848 he married Blanche Julia, fourth daughter of George, first Lord Leconfield. On his accepting office under the Derby Administration as Secretary for Ireland in March, 1852, he lost his seat for Kildare, but was returned subsequently for Coleraine, for which town he sat until 1857, when he was elected for Cockermouth, and continued to represent that borough until his elevation to the viceroyship of India. During the whole of Lord Naas's political career, he was a consistent Conservative, and for a number of years was looked upon as the inevitable Irish Secretary of a Derby Government. In the administration of this department his efforts were considered very successful, and if his popularity was not very great, perhaps fewer mistakes occurred under his direction than under that of his immediate successors. In 1867, Lord Naas succeeded his father as sixth Earl of Mayo, in the Peerage of Ireland ; but as this title did not carry a seat in the House of Lords, he still continued to sit for Cockermouth, and in 1868 the Conservative Government being again in power, he was rewarded by being appointed Viceroy of India. Tbe administration of this high office appears to have given general satisfaction. His Excellency had just completed three years' service, but it was anticipated that his term of office would be extended for two years over the period generally allotted to the Governor-Generals. During last year Lord Mayo, in answer to a requisition from the authorities of the Melbourne Library, forwarded a handsome collection of charts and records in connection with British India. Viscount Mayo was the twenty-sixth Governor- General of India since the Battle of Plassy.