ZEALAND TO THE SECRETARY OE STATE.

55

A.—No. la.

standing, it is a matter of peculiar gratification that we have once again the great pleasure and satisfaction of meeting your Excellency in this flourishing and prosperous Colony. Trusting that your Excellency may long be Her Majesty's Bepresentative in the Colony which you have so successfully governed for many years, We are your Excellency's most obedient and humble servants, W. M. Hopper, Provincial Grand Master. A. J. Taldot, Provincial Grand Secretary. Beplt. Gentlemen, — I thank you heartily for your address of welcome, and for your assurances that I find myself in a prosperous and flourishing Colony. Her Majesty will most graciously receive your renewed expressions of love and attachment, and the intelligence of your prosperity and welfare. I thank you for your expressions of personal goodwill to myself, and assure you that your Order will always find in me a steady patron and friend. G. Gret.

To His Excellency Sir George Gret, K.C.8., Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over Her Majesty's Colony of New Zealand and its Dependencies, and Vice-Admiral of the same, &c, &c. Mat it please tour Excellenct, — We, the officers of the United Otago District of the Ancient Order of Foresters, most heartily welcome your Excellency on your arrival in the City of Dunedin, and sincerely trust that your visit will tend not only to give you health and pleasure, but a more personal knowledge and acquaintance with our city and its institutions, which have sprung up since your Excellency's last visit to this Province. We believe the Ancient Order of Foresters is one of the earliest benefit societies formed, and we know the estimation in which such societies are held in connection with those which have come more immediately under your Excellency's observation. We feel assured your Excellency will derive much gratification on your tour in this Province, and that you will everywhere encounter true-hearted loyalty and devotion to our Most Gracious Queen, as also goodwill and respect towards your Excellency personally, and as Her Majesty's Bepresentative. And we have the honor to be your Excellency's most humble and obedient servants, Henrt Brundell, D.C.B. Allan McNaughton, D.S.C.E. F. S. Wilson, D.B. JOSIAH EOGERS, D.T. William Woodland, D.S. Beplt. Gentlemen, — I feel much obliged to you for your address of welcome, and for your kind wishes for my health and happiness. I can assure you that to become acquainted with this city, and with its institutions, will be to me a source of high gratification, and that I sympathise deeply in the progress and success of the inhabitants of Dunedin. I have, as you state, always entertained the most friendly estimation for benefit societies, for I have always found that those who strive to depend on their own exertions and foresight are amongst the best citizens, and most loyal subjects, and it is most satisfactory to derive new proofs that such is the case, from your warm declarations of attachment to our beloved Queen. G. Gret.

To His Excellency Sir George Gret, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over Her Majesty's Colony of New Zealand and its Dependencies, and Vice-Admiral of the same. We, the undersigned Officers of the Otago District Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows' Friendly Society, on behalf of our brethren, beg most respectfully to congratulate your Excellency on this your visit to Otago, and to express the pleasure we feel at being personally able to assure your Excellency of our very warm attachment to the Throne of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and to your Excellency as Her representative in New Zealand. As an important and influential body, numbering over one thousand members in the district, and whose objects are to relieve the distressed of our Order in time of need by the co-operative principle, we earnestly trust that the presence of your Excellency on this occasion may tend still more to the furtherance of the objects we have in view, and still closer to unite us in the bonds of charity and truth, and to the Government under which we dwell. Trusting your Excellency may long be spared to rule over a prosperous and happy people, we have the honor to subscribe ourselves your Excellency's humble servants, A. Burt, P.G.M. J. Gret, D.P.G.M. C. Gret, Prov. C.S. Beplt. Gentlemen, — It is with the greatest pleasure I have read the expressions of attachment to the Throne of Her Majesty, which your address contains. Such proofs of loyalty from a happy and prosperous people cannot but be very gratifying to our Queen. I thank you, as the representatives of so important a body, for the welcome you have given me and for the wishes you have expressed for my welfare. You may rely that it is my earnest desire to see all Her Majesty's subjects, of every race and of every