GOVERNOR'S DUTIES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3682, 9 December 1890, Page 2

GOVERNOR'S DUTIES.

Speaking ufc Wanganui, Earl i Onslow is reported to have said ' " The position of a Governor in the ' Australasian colonies had sulked a ' considerable chango during recent years. Not very long ago men of experience in tlia administration of the Government in different parts of the world, who lm<l tendered signal service to the State with pen or sword, looked to the position of 1 Govornor of an Australasian colony as the fitting «uerdon of a long and honoiablo career, These men looked upon their profession, as men do on all other professions, as the means to provide for themselves in old age, and tor their families alter them. In recent years these colonies have so grown in population, the wealth of their people so increased, and the standard of comfort and civilisation hna so risen, that tho leader of society in thera can no longer look to fill that position adequately if he treats it as a profession, It is to bo supposed that as the people's representatives in Parliament have not made such provision as would enable distinguished men such as those to whom ( l have alluded to continue to fill those posts, .the people will not be too critical of the shortcomings of those whom Her Majesty and Her Advisers consider able, as well' as fitted, to undertake the duties of Governor. All men who occupy public positions expect criticism, but in most public positions the men who .hold them are able to meet criticism and to deal with it, It happens that a Governor rarely has an opportunity to give utterance to his own views and tho principle which guides his actions; and lam glad, therefore, of this occasion to give expression to the views which 1 entertain of the duties of tho Goyernor of New Zooland. The altered ciroumstancos in which Hind myself compel ine in a largo degree to cast asido the precedents adopted by former Governors, whioh no doubt wore best suited to the conditions in which they found themselves, When locomotion about 1 the colony was less easy, the Governor resided almost en'irely at the 1 seat of Government, expended such of his salary ag he ohose among the tradesmen of the capital, and in 1 onlortaiuihg those who rcsidod at the seat of Government, but under changed conditions, whou the Governor is not called upon to interfere in the administration of the Execute, tho benefits which he can render to I the Colony nre not bo much to be : reckoned during tho term of his office i there, but rather in what ho can do upon his return to take up his duties fcgtiin in England. It is not likely that anything which a Governor can " do will lighten, the burden of taxation or improve the condition of life in the settler, but a Governor, especially if he is so fortunate as to occupy a posi. tion in pirli&ment where ho ca obtain a hewing, is ablo from po sonal experience to impress on th English public the valuo of the security which ia afforded to the capitalist by tho natural resources of a Colony and tho industry of its inhabitants, and upon the intending settler, not only the i advantages of tho colony generally as afield of settlement, but the part of the colony best auitod to individual capacity, Such statements cannot be mado with authority if they are not the result of personal study throughout the country, or if they aro only the outcome of personal statistics which wight just as well be made in London as New Zealand, It is for these reasons that I have, with the full concurrence of my advisers, do termined to see as much as' possible of New Zealand during my term, and uot tfi confine my visits to mere tours, but to spend a sufficient time in the various centres, differing as they do in population, thought, and interests, so as to boQtunc acquainted in something than a superficial way ww tfco wishes and aspirations, not of a portion only, but of the whole of the peoplo to whom it has tan her Majesty's pleasure tI IB U should be lim representative, Having these objects vjeijf, it will be my earnest , e wav(U' to discharge the somewhat Pited duties of Governor of the colony in the manner in which j#y humble judgment, and subject-(ji Uie advice of my Ministers, 1 believe be the best calculated to piouiote the interests of Now Zealand, the 'solidarity , of hei position in tlio Empire, and the duty owe to the Queen,"

On and after Octobor Tsf the Emperor of Germany will publish a newspaper, to be inspired directly by himself and to be the official exponent of liia views on fill sub jecta—iuilitarv, civil, and {w|itic»|, '' ' '