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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 69

Lord Carrington's Speech

Lord Carrington's Speech.

His Worship the Mayor then said: Before this ceremony is concluded I should like to give expression to what I am sure is your wish, that we should hear a few words from His Excellency Lord Carrington, Governor of New South Wales. (Cheers.)

Lord Carrington, on advancing to address the people, was greeted with loud cheers. He said: With great respect I return my best thanks for the compliment paid to me by this vast assembly: a compliment which I value all the more because I know that it is due to no personal merit of my own, but that it is an earnest of the good-will felt by the people of Auckland towards the colony of New South Wales, with which it is my good fortune and my pride to be so closely associated. (Cheer?.) I believe, sir, that it is a recognised thing that when strangers and travellers come into a country they consider themselves privileged to instruct and to teach. A three-days' visit entitles a man to make a speech—(laughter)—seven days to write a book—(renewed laughter and cheers), I cannot claim to be one of those gifted beings who think that they can take in a nation's future at a glance; yet, in a happy fortnight spent in this happy country, I can clearly see that you New Zealanders, by your industry, your frugality, and your perseverance, are teaching the great lesson that life is not to be lived by proxy. (Cheers.) I have seen Milford Haven (one of the wonders of the world), the Hot Lakes; your four cities of Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland; your great page 57 grazing grounds, your cornfields, and, what is far more interesting than your mountains, the men who hold this glorious country. (Loud cheers.) Surely, Mr. Mayor, your position at the end of the first fifty years of your national life is a grand one. After your early struggles you are now at perfect peace with the gallant native races. (Cheers.) By the exercise of a sage economy, without any loans, you expect a surplus at the end of the year; all your productions are fetching good prices; and to your great credit, 100,000 New Zealanders (for a nation can only count on one-seventh of its whole population as producers) have during the year sent into the wide world nine millions worth of exports. (Cheers.) You live under the greatest amount of freedom ever known, and you have at your back the moral, the material, and the fighting strength of England. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, I offer you my warmest congratulations on the day you celebrate, and my wannest thanks for the compliments which you have paid to New South Wales. (Prolonged cheers.)

The Mayor then called for three cheers for His Excellency the Governor, which were given with great enthusiasm.

Three cheers were also given for Lord Carrington, for Sir J. B. Thurston (Governor of Fiji), for the Governor's other guests and for Lady Onslow and His Excellency's family.