THE GOVERNOR AFTER DINNER.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 589, 4 December 1869, Page 2

THE GOVERNOR AFTER DINNER.

At a dinner given at Newmarket, Auckland, on the Prince of Wales's Birthday, in connection with the New Zealand Agricultural Society's Show, Sir G. F. Bowen replied to the toast of the Governor. In the course of his speech, and after referring to himself as an Irishman, he said: —I remember the advice of an old friend, an Irish bishop, which adyice I will strictly follow on this occasion. "Avoid," said my old friend the Bishop of , " avoid speeches after dinner; for I assure you that, from long experience, I have found, in the words of the apostle, that then a man sees through a glass darkly."—(Laughter and cheers.) "While talking of Irish Bishops, one naturally thinks of Irish Governors, to one of whom my friend the chairman alluded. —(A laugh.) It is most true that, of the six Governors who have had the honor of being appointed Governors of New Zealand, five have been more or less connected with the Green Isle. So it has been on the other side of this part of the colonial empire, for all the Governors who, till a few years ago, ruled over the Australias, were Irishmen with one exception ; and of Sir Charles Darling it was wittily observed that in his case he had had three wives, and they were all Irishwomen.—(Loud cheers and laughter.) Now, gentlemen, some of you may wonder why I am thus blowing the national trumpet. My object is in the first place to show you that Ireland has her share of the good things of the empire at large ; and in the next, that Englishmen, Irishmen, and Scotchmen, should all in this new country agree to forget their local and sectional differences.—(Hear.) Let us be all faithful fellow-colonists and loyal New Zealanders.—(Cheers.) Sixteen thousand miles of sea roll between us and the passions and prejudices of the old world; the cries of political discord are heard but indistinctly across half the globe. Lord Stanhope, in his History of England, states that George 111. observed that, after so long an experience as his Majesty bad had of public affairs, he never found an Irishman that would speak well of another Irishman, " except with an object;" and that he never knew a Scotchman that would speak ill of another Scotchman " except with an object."—(Laughter.) I think it was the late Mr O'Connell who said that, if you were " to put one Irishman on a spit, you would get another to roast him." However, gentlemen, I think it is the better plan for Irishmen to take a leaf out of the Scotchman's book, and adopt the sentiment of an Irish poet:— Still let the orange lily be Thy badge, my patriot brother : The everlasting green for me, And -we for one another.