MR CONSUL GRIFFIN'S APPROACHING DEPARTURE. Presentation of Complimentary Address.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 80, 13 December 1884, Page 3

MR CONSUL GRIFFIN'S APPROACHING DEPARTURE. Presentation of Complimentary Address.

[From twe AucLland " Star," December 10. ) A large and influential gathering of business men and representatives officials took place this afternoon in the Chamber of Commerce rooms, for the purpose of lending eclat to the presentation of a complimentary address to Mr G. W, Griffin (U.S. Consul), who is on the eve of his departure to Sydney. His Worship the Mayor presided. In opening the proceedings he said :—-Gentlemen, we have met this afternoon for the purpose of presenting Mr Consul Griffin with a farewell address, prior to his departure for Sydney. As you are all no doubt aware, the President of the United States of America has recognised his long service and ability by promoting him to be the Consul for the colony of Now South Wales. I think you will agree with me that it is a promotion in every way deserved by Mr Griffin, and I am sure that all those who have come in contact with that gentleman, either privately or publicly, will join with us in wishing him every success in his new home j and from what we know of Mr Griffin we may be assured that though absent from New Zealand its interests will not be forgotten. His Worship then read the address, and presented it to Mr Griffin , The text was as follows :—

"To Gilderoy W. Griffin, Esq., United States Consul in New Zealand. "Sir,— The President of the United States having marked his appreciation of your distinguished services by promoting you to be Consul in the important colony of New South Wales, we cannot permit you to depart from amongst us without expressing our regret that we shall no longer have the advantage of your ability and industry in aiding the development of the colony of New Zealand, by bringing its resources and its capabilities prominently before the world. " We shall not, however, permit our regrets to prevent us from congratulating you on the promotion you have so well and so justly earned. " To say that your official duties in this colony have been fulfilled with the promptitude and ability so necessary in commercial affairs, may be scant praise ; but when we are enabled to add that your actions towards all classes in the varied relations in cidental to your office have been characterised by the kindly courtesy which distinguishes a gentleman, we are only paying a tribute to which you are fully intitled. " Great as your services in these respects have been to New Zealand, they have had a far wider range in drawing closer the bonds of amity between that portion of the English-speaking race dwelling in Australasia and the fifty millions of English-speak-ing people who are playing so distinguished a part in the Unitea States of America. "We rejoice to think, therefore, that your removal to New South Wales will afford to your energy, to your sympathy, and to your culture, a wider sphere, in which you can not only aid the industrial development of that great colony, but, above all, in which you can foster sentiments of goodwill, and promote a closer union between the dwellers in your new home and 'our kin across the sea,' in your native land. This 'closer union' may be as yet only an aspiration, but evidences are not wanting that in the coming time it may develop into a great confederation of the English-speaking races all over the world. "In bidding you good-bye, whilst congratulating you on your new and wider sphere of usefulness, we venture to say that your efforts can hardly be more appreciated than they have been in New Zealand." [Here follow the signatures of the Mayor of the City of Auckland, the Chairman of the Harbour Board, Auckland, and the Presidents of Chambers of Commerce of Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Wellington.] The address has been very handsomely engrossed and illuminated by Mr W. Gulliver. It is written in antique text, surrounded with a floral border of conventional design, bearing on the right-hand tide Mr Griffin's crest and motto, " Non crux, sed lux" ("Not cross, but light"); on the left-hand side the arms of the U.S. Republic, and at the foot the seal of the City Council. Mr Griffin, who was received with loud applause, said : Gentlemen, — The pleasure I feel in accepting this address is heightened by its presentation at the hands of the Mayor (Mr Waddel), a gentleman whose superior abilities and exemplary conduct have won or him such a large place in the hearts of his fellow citizens that they have twice chosen him almost unanimously to preside over the destinies of Auckland. It is also a great source of pleasure for me to know that the Presidents of the Chambers of Commerce in various parts of the colony have instructed my friend Mr Reid, the President of the Auckland Chamber, to sign their names to this address. I know full well how little I deserve such honours, but I assure you that there is no part of New Zealand in which I will not always take the warmest interest. There is no other country in the world that possesses a finer climate, or one in which the birth-rate is so large and the death-rate so small. The variety of your products is absolutely startling. New sources of wealth are being discovered every day. No matter in which direction I turn, I find substantial evidence of prosperity. Look, for instance, at the vast increase in the postal statistics of the colony. In 1880, the number of letters posted and delivered in New Zealand was 10,963,012. In 1883 it was 17,768,357. The number of newspapers during the same period increased from 10,272,917 to 13,030,563, and the private telegrams increased from 824,737 to 1,379,483. In 1880 the amount of deposits in the Postal Savings Bank was £864,441. In 1883 it was £1,178,474. In the other Savings Banks the deposits in 1880 were £179,802. In 1883 they were £374,879. Of this last amount Auckland alone had £264,516. During the same period the amount of postal money orders sent from the colony increased from £320,260 to £402,555. In this increase Auckland again takes the lead, she having increased her £29,795 Is 9d to £44,184 18s 2d ; while Dunedin, the next highest on the list, increased her £32,661 14s lid to £36,701 13s 6d, The growth of the shipping interests of New Zealand is another striking evidence of her prosperity. Between 1880 and 1883 the number of her vessels that cleared outwards increased from 782 to 851, and the tonnage from 424,041 to 507,565, and her crew list trom 15,633 to 18,291. Of the vessels that cleared outwards in 1883, Auckland had 285, with a tonnage of 129,373, and a crow list of 6,958. Lyttelton had 140 vessels, tonnage 120,328, crew list 3,005. Wellington had 89 vessels, tonnage 70,780, crew list 2,226. The Bluff Harbour had 67 vessels, tonnage 60,533, crew list 1,284. In the list of mortgages, Auokland also exhibits a striking contrast to that of any other district in the colony,

For instance, Canterbury, with a population of about 112,000, secured during the year 1884, by mortgage, £9,003,926 ; and Otago, with a population of 134,000, had £4,999,453 ; whilst Auckland, with a population of about 100,000, had only £2,371,143. In the matter of population, New Zealand has surpassed anj other country in the world. According to the last census, the number of Europeans in New Zealand increased, during the previous decade, from 248,400 to 498,992, or at the rate of 97 per cent. The increase in the colony of Victoria during the same period was only 18 per cent., and that of the United States 25 per cent. To make the subject clearer I will go back still further, and compare your growth with that of Victoria, so long the premier colony of Australasia. In 1857, the total population of Victoria was 410,766, about the same time the total European population in New Zealand was 59,412, and if the aboriginals were added, as in Victoria, the number would not exceed 100,000. Since then New Zealand has increased her population from less than one-fourth of Victoria then to nearly two-thirds of that of Victoria of to-day. A few weeks ago I had occasion to quote from an essay by that eminent statistician of England, Mr Mulhall, in which he cites the amazing fact that the United States possesses 4,008,907 landowners, about l-12th of her population. It will surprise many to know that New Zealand has 62,312 landowners, about l-Bth of her population. These are some of the facts that have given me such faith in the future greatness of your colony, but they are not all. Your new dock at Calliope Point will be completed about the time the Panama Canal will be opened to the commerce of these seas. Thon a canal will have to be cut through the neck of land lying between the Waitemata and the Manukau, which will not only facilitate the trade with the Southern ports, but enable the large vessels from Britain and America to pass to and from Australia without going round the North Capo. In this great work there should be unity of action. Not long ago a small faction at Onehunga objected to tho two harbours being placed under one management, on the ground that the harbour dues would be made higher at one place than at another. The almost universal desire on the part of the people of Auckland to make this a free port is the best answer that can be given to such a complaint. The reclamation of a portion of the shallow south side of the Auckland Harbour is worthy of all praise, but that is only a small part of what the Board has under its control. There is the large opening at Hobson's Bay, containing over 1,000 acres of land, and then there are the attractive bays on the north side of the harbour known as Shoal Bay. These should not be filled in, but utilised as oyster parks. In the State of Maryland the annual value of the oyster fisheries is over one million sterling. As an instance of what a piece of foreshore may do in the way of revenue, I will cite the recent re-leasing of the Yerske oyster beds at the mouth of the Scheldt River. In 1870, they were let for the sum of £1,720 per annum. A few months ago they were re-let for £28, 765 per annum. By reference to my special report on the New Zealand fisheries you will see that there are four varieties of oysters common to these waters, that are unsurpassed in richness and delicacy of flavour by those of any other country in the world. I hope soon to see the cultivation of oysters established here on an extensive scale. I wish also to see another railway through the North Island. I have no objection to the new trunk line, but the country through which it passes is so heayily timbered that the people cannot afford to wait for settlement while it is being cleared. You need not be afraid of having too many railroads. Look at what the railways, with cheap freights, have done towards developing the resources of my own country. But I must hurry my remarks to a conclusion. During a residence in Auckland of nearly six years, where I have made more friends than in all my life put together, and better friends no man ever had, no man will, I had occasion to make several visits to the United States, and each time the people honoured me with some token of their regard ; but then I was always cheered with the prospect of an early return to you. Now I have no longer that hope, and if I did not know that my lot is to be cast in a sister colony, where I can continue the work begun here, I should not be able to think of the separation without a mist in the eye and a throb in the throat. A few weeks ago there was a pleasant interchange of courtesies between the officers of tho U.S.S. Iroquois and the local authorities at Sydney, in which the speakers on both sides dwelt with enthusiasm upon the union of the two great branches of the AngloSaxonrace. ltbonlyfair for for me to say that the honour of first directing public attention to this subject in Australasia belongs to the city of Auckland. Mr J. C. Firth, mor than two years ago, in a speech delivered at a banquet given to me, said :— " I look forward to the time when there shall be a federation of the British Empire and tho United States. It may be said that a handful of Englishmen in these little islands of the sea are forecasting events beyond their ken. I dissent from such a narrowing of sympathy and sentiment. I see before me a broader horizon than that which bounds our little circle." Mr Firth again referred to this subject in a speech of great eloquonce at the Theatre Royal, and his remarks were received with vehement and prolonged applause. I need not te 11 you how cordially I suj port such sentiments, for I love to think the day is not far distant when the two great nations will be united nnder one Government, with the same code of laws and the same free institutions, standing shoulder to shoulder, battling for civil and religious liberty and the cause of human progress throughout the woild.