Presentation to Mr and Mrs Seddon.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 252, 6 September 1902, Page 4

Presentation to Mr and Mrs Seddon.

A NEW ZEALAND TESTIMONIAL.

Last Monday afternoon (July 21), at the Ceail Hotel, says the “ Press ” correspondent, there was an assemblage of New Zealanders at present resident in this country, ex-New Zealanders, and those connected with the colony, to present Mr ana Mrs Seddon each with a testimonial. The originators of the movement stated that the recognition was made irrespective of party politics and as an evidence of appreciation of Mr Seddon’s Imperial services.

Designed by Mr Frank Hyams, late of Dunedin, and now of 167, New Bond street, London, the presentation to the Premier was a centrepiece in the form of a statuette model of a mounted New Zealand rifleman in khaki and full fighting kit, standing on a tall [jedestal, at the base of which, on each end of the pedestal, is a dismounted rifleman. On the front is mounted a trophy of the Imperial and New Zealand flags in enamel, enclosing a shield which bears the following inscription : “ Presented to the Bight Hon. Richard John Seddon, Premier of New Zealand, by many friends, in appreciation of his services to the Empire. London, July 15tb, 1002.” This shield was surmounted by the Imperial arms, fully enamelled in heraldic colours. On the back of the pedestal was a similar trophy of flags, enclosing a shield on which a scene on Lake Taupo was embossed, showing a Maori war canoe fully manned. The shield was surmounted by a laurel wreath. At each of the four comers, mounted on projecting buttresses, a British lion has been placed, while between the buttresses four richly chased fruit and flower dishes have been placed. The centrepiece is of solid silver, and weighs some 500 ounces; the whole is mounted on a silver base, which stands on an ebony plinth. The presentation to Mrs Seddon consisted of three diamond stars, which form u tiara, pendants, brooches, and hair ornaments, according to desire ; and these, too,’ were the work of Mr Hyams. The address was inscribed in a volume handsomely bound by Messrs Waterlow, and in this address the subscribers offered to Mr Seddon a sincere and cot dial welcome, and expressed appreciation of his services in the high cause of patriotism and of the manner in which he had given the loyalty and devotion of New Zealanders such ample scope and such an opportunity of displaying to the world the great fact that the British Empire had presented an unbroken front against the Boers during the South African war. It was also added that the presentation was made as a sincere, if slight, recognition of Mr Seddon’s successful efforts to promote ithe solidarity of the relations now happily subsisting to an extent never paralleled in our previous history between the subjects of the King in the British Isles and those in British dominions beyond the seas.