KAIAPOI.

This was his Excellency's first stopping place after driving along the north road in his four-horse ' barouche drawn by a team; of splendid bays. The cortege arrived at Kaiapoi punctually to the time appointed, entering it by Peraki street, then passing along Raven street to the Council Chamber. Here the civic authorities and the principal inhabitants of the town were assembled—the gentlemen in a line parallel with the roadway, the ladies stationed on a raised platform erected in a commanding position. With his Excellency were Captain Smith, A.D.C., his Honor the Superintendent and Mrs Rolleston, the Hon. John Hall, Mr Tancred, and the G. Leslie Lee. When the carriage drew up' the Governor, stepping out, received the following address from the J. C. Porter, Esq.:— To his Excellency Sir George Ferguson Bowen, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael audi St. George, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over her Majesty's Colonies of New! Zealand and its Dependencies, and ViceAdmiral of the same. . ~ _ ; We, the Mayor. and Councillors < of the Borough of Kaiapoi, beg to take this -opportunity of your Excellency's first visit ;to the province of Canterbury, to express on. behalf of ourselves and'burgesses, our hearty congratulations and welcome. : We beg to assure your Excellency that, our loyalty and attachment to the Throne of our beloved Queen, 'of. whom you arefthe* chosen representative, is most heartfelt and sincere. j We trust that your Excellency's visit to this portion of the colony may be accompanied with much pleasure and satisfaction as. to its progress and welfare, and hope that your great abilities and wise administration may be long continued for the benefit of ourselves and the rest of her Majesty's subjects. His Excellency made the following reply :— Gentlemen,—-I rhave., already/received jso many addresses of welcome since my arrival in this province that it is somewhat difficult for mc to vary the expression of my thanks for the loyal spirit in which they are all conceived towards our gracious and beloved Queeniand for the kindly feeling which they all evince towards my family and myselfPermit mc to say that I am much gratified by the peculiarly English aspect of your district, and of theprovince of panterbury generally. It reminds mc of a midland bounty in England; and yet, only twenty : years ago, solitude reigned over the spot where, your prosperous homesteads stand, while the land around them—now the scene of your busy industry, and rich with the. promise of an abundant harvest, lay waste: and silent. I rejoice to observe growing up here by the side of and in cordial harmony with the pastoral settlers (who have done so much for the exploration and improvement of this country) a " territorial democracy "—to quote the apt phrase of one of the most brilliant of English statesmen —bound over to the cause of order and good government by that heavy recognizance, the ownership of land. The valuable properties of prudence and moderation are usually fostered by the possession of fixed property, however small, and by that independence which is the legitimate reward of honourable industry. G. F. Bowbh. The conclusion of the reply was the signal for a burst of cheering. A kind of procession was then formed, and proceeded to the Resident Magistrate's Court; the Governor, the Mayor, and Borough Council going first, followed by the public two abreast. On the centre of the bridge a neat but unostentatious arch of evergreens, toi toi, &0., had been raised by volunteers that morning. At the entrance to the court-house the volunteers of the Kaiapoi and Woodend companies were drawn up under the command of Captains Beswick and Hinge, Lieutenants Coup and Pavitt, and Ensign Craig. They presented arms and three hearty cheers were given for the viceregal party. The levee next took place, his Excellency! receiving those presented, attended by his Honor the Superintendent, the Hons. John Hall and G. Leslie Lee, and Mr Tancred. The following were presented :—The Mayor of Kaiapoi, Councillors ftewnbam, Middleton, Oram, Kerr, and Hall, the Rev W. W. Willock, Dr Dudley, Messrs William Morgan, William Wilson, Charles E. Dudley, James Alexander, James Craig, Henry Hinge, J. L. Wilson, J. Beswick, G. F. Hewlings, John Matthews, Edwin Parnham, J. C. Boddington, Pete to Hon (chief native assessor), Wi Naehira, George O. Black, R. Coup, and A. R. Pavitt. When the levee was over, the Governor exprewng a wish to see the town, was accompanied by the Major and City Councillora along Charles, Jones, and Cass streets, which he traversed on foot, to the Episcopalian Church, with which he appeared to be much j pleated. The procession then took the

direction of Cookson street, over the 2 .bridge and Raven street to the Insti- . tut®, where ih& ctqjeuner was to take I place. As we have not yet noticed the docoratfcmsofthe town, we now do so. From an ) early hour, one flag appeared after another 3 over the housetops, and when all were floating , out to the wind, we never saw the town looh . so gay! The Pier Hotol, the private residence ! of the Mayor, and Mr G. F. Day, were particularly well decked out with bunting ; othei I persona had some capital banners flying. The i only evergreen decorations were the arch on 3 the bridge and the front of the Kaiapoi Hotel. & Comparing.notes, of the- reception given generB ally by the town in honour *>f Sir George ,' Bowen, with those of that given to Sir George I; Grey two yeare ago, that of yesterday was fai jl the superior.. ! About sixty ladies and gentlemen sat dowr b to a superb dejeuner provided by Mr Burnip, a and certainly laid out in a style that did him .'. credit. His Excellency sai at the right of the a Mayor, with Mr RollestOn, the Hon. Johr 1 Hall, the Mayoress, and the Rer W. W. Wii« ; lock; on his left we noticed his Honor the . Superintendent, Mr Tancred, and the mem- " : bers of the Borough- Council. All enjoyed the party much, but none we believe more than the guest. Tht toasts of the Queen, the Prince and . Princeßß of Wales, the Royal Family, and, the t Duke of Edinburgh were drunk with all \ honours. a The Mayob called for a bumper to the toast a of his Excellency Sir George Bowen,. whioh he t proposed in a few appropriate remarks, f The toast was drunk With all the honours. a ; His Excellency, in replying, amid rounds ol i cheering, said he thanked the company with bu P whole heart. He felt the honour paid to hie B ' offioial capacity. He had been exceedingly t pleased with his trip through the rich country t he had passed that :day, where cattle and sheep in numbers, with agricultural prosperity, ; and towns had sprung up within tho lives oi ■ men now living. He then in flattering terms referred to the hospitality he had met with on * his visit; concluding by proposing the health > of his Honor the Superintendent and Mrs j Rolleston. , ; - fc This toast was very heartily received, and his Honor in thanking the company, said * his ExceUency had referred to a statement made by Mr FitzGerald about the two \ Georges—George the Ist and George the 2nd * —and if he would be allowed to make a comi parißonof the less with th& greater he would . refer to the two Williams of Canterbury " [laughter) who held the office of Superin- ■ tendent. William the Ist was generally associated with a locomotive steam engine; "j [laughter]; Wiffiam the : 2nd wa assoc-i siated with another means of locomotion " though of a humbler kind. [Laughter.] The * "Punch" of the. period they would find depicting him as driving a very humble [ means of conveyance [laughter]; butby-and-bye when the times justified he would wilt lingly accelerate his speed [loud cheers], or he j would with cheerfulness 'resign the position hej I held to others more competent to carry out itaj ; duties. Meanwhile he had toi ' thank them for! : the generous appreciation they had shown of ? his endeavours,however imperfect, to .serve; ' them. £Doud cheers;] -■■•-•..» ; 1 His ExoELLENOY proposed the health of the [ Mayor - and '• Corporation, stating hot was ari advocate for municipal institutions. This was drunk with ; all honors, and replied to by the " Mayor. i The company rose when the Governor left the room. After being shown over the In- , statute, and after shaking hands with several [ of the lady guests, his Excellency took his , leave for the purpose of visiting the Maoris. ? MAORI PA. i A dusty drive of three miles over a fair road brought the vice-regal party to the heart ■ of the Maori pa; after passing two triumphal i arches at the beginning of the ; native reserv^ and near the Reiv W. Stack's' house ; •^acoqnip'anied''by a troop of' 1 and Mr Commissioner Shearman's dragoon guards, who formed; the escort the whole j distance. At two p.ml, on the arrival of Sit! i George, the Maoris commenced cheering in their, own style after the most lusty manner; His 'Excellency alighted, rind after acknow: lodging the cheering proceeded to the Rey J. W. Stack's residence. He looked over the native Bchool premises, which are really creditable, everything orderly, neat and clean, the children healthy, and the teacher, Miss Taylor, ihtisi be clever painstaking to drill her 18 scholars (16 girls and 2 boys), to the state ' of perfection shown by ihs exhibitions they gave of their wellkept appearance, tidy copy books, adeptnesa at reading, while some ! plain sewing exhibited was indeed what we'hardly expected to see shown as snesimens jof Maori handicraft in the domestic' line. His Excellency was quite delighted, and took a great 'amount of interest in the school, expressing his approval of all he saw and beard, for he heard one or two reading lessons, besides inspecting , specimens of composition. This being Over the Maoris assembled on the lawn in front of Mr Stack's house, and presented an address, taking rather the form of a petition, in wbieh the Maoris seek the Governor's influence in settling some land claims. He referred them to the Native Lands Court. The law had provided for the settlement of all differences between Europeans and nativesi Governors and Maori chiefs, like the seasons, but the law like the sun remained. , Let them call in the law, and rest assured justice would ' be done. The petition it seemed related to an old grievance that had been referred to the former Governor, and they presented it again,because there was a new Governor. His Excellency then delivered, through Mr Youaff r the following address:— \ Oh my friends, salutations to you all. I am. very glad to have heard your words, words I full of loyalty to the Queen, and of friendship - to jnyself, the representative of the Queen. " Behold I have brought with mc three of the I principal chiefs of the other island, Wi Tako • Tamihana te Rauparaha, and Mete Kingi, men ' who have always been loyal and friendly to Europeans, and who are like yourselves, living ! in peace and quietness with their European * friends. * This is the wordof the Queen, her desire ? is now as it always has been, that there ! should be one law for her Maori and pakeha \ children, so that they may become one people The Queen has sent her son, the Duke of C Edinburgh, as a token of her royal love and I protection for you. It will not be long before * he arrives. fe Oh! my friends; I pray that peace may * grow in the land like the everlasting green of your native forests ; and I pray that He will pour his choicest blessings on you all. o When the address was finished, the Gover- b nor proceeds to vial the l&ureh, with which 1 1!

he was much pleased. Ho then xnoet+Ai\ * Tuahiwi, the site of an old pa in the cent? - the reserve where tho Maoris had conp-j-c/? to honor the distinguished native visiter m accompanied his Excellency's Buito. m ? Kingi and Wi Tako led the Governor h heap of food prepared for them, consi 5 ? potatoes and fish (dried) of sevcralkinds bno sugar, &c. A "pohau" of preaerred mot? 3 birds attracted tho attention of the Govervif this was singled out by Meto Kingi, I quest ed that it might be allowed to m f £ ! his .luggage. la accordance with--an oS custom the fbbd was'presented' td'hio Eih lency,part of which was. accepted returned to the people of tho place ttjitfr" might join in the feast that followed," r Pjf ■Governor then left the Maoris amid cheers and waving of hafe, handkewkieVS? When he had gone the feast took place Vh after-dinner speeches were made-by M f ] Kingi aud Wi Tako, who referred "to £ Ngaitahu at some length, giving detaLYof th war in the North. Wi Tako said tbo reVN were foolish and would not listen to roasoa and so he left them, returning to his allegiaa^, 3 Theygavejup Christianity and civiluatfon «m had nothing to replace them with. ITe Kooti and Titokowaru were dead men W !he looked with anxiety to the Waik-Uo! If the Queen's son would go to TawhaiogT'l make peace then the sun would shine. a '