A PARTING MESSAGE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 120, 18 June 1909, Page 2

A PARTING MESSAGE.

i'UOM Slit JOSEIUi WARD, • iiy leiegraph.—i'ress Association. ' iVellington, Lust .Nignt. Thy Prime Minister addresses the ioi■lowwg message to the people of New Zealand:—"'Tile Motherland, in the great cause of imperial defence, has called to council witn her the free young nations of the Empire, and today, witn the full consent oj both Houses of our legislature, L leave New Zealand to represent you at the great naval conference in England. Igo with both hopes and regrets—regrets that 1 have juot now Lo leave lor u few mouths tuir country and my part in the government of ils a Hairs; hopes that in lue part 1 take in tht impending conference j. mav justify any inconvenience this -country will incur by my absence; hopes also that tlie courageous p;\rt New Zealand has lately declared herself willing to assume in strengthening the British Navv, and tiie loyal unanimity with whiefi that part has been approved by you, will bind us closer still by all the ties ot quickened kinship to the United Jving-| dom; hopes, above all, that througn tlusl conference and the combined assistance I of all the oversea dominions the naval defences of the Empire will be so strengthened and organised as to place that supremacy of the seas for which our forefathers spent so much in blood and treasure beyond questiun by our foes; and all this for the benefit ot a permanent peace, the glory of the Empire, and a closer union with the people of the Motherland, i feel t'nat my mission is a great one. T am fully sensitive of niy responsibilities; hut, with the blessing of heaven, and witn the best of 1 my abilities, i shall endeavor to acquit myself as your representativj in a maimer worthy of your country and mine and of the confidence you have re»i posed in me. In these hopes I bid you a short farewell."