THE NEW GOVERNOR.

Grey River Argus, 20 June 1910, Page 2

THE NEW GOVERNOR.

sp, 1, •LvJ.jcuJ iSLIiNGION /viNiJ hIS iJbNAxN'ib. (Lyttelton - Times. ) • I LONDON, May 6 | Lord Islington leaves x for New Zealand, ,npxt Monday. He will, spend a tew 'days "in Paris, and joint iKe P) and O. liner .Macedonia at Marseilles on May 13. The King received Lord Islington in audience at Buck'JSuiujoui itep-iajsaA aDßfej; uißtjSui when the hew Governor kissed hands at his appointment. It was one of the last audiences granted by his Majesty before his illness became severe. The new Governor informs me that the members of his staff who will accomrjany him to New Zealand a 1 * ])(*■ "^r.b-^-c"t Kerr Clark (prn- < s-ecr^tn -1 ,<■ ,« T _ i- wife, Lady Bea--nce Jjl- .., j,-Z ~ r 'Z Cnghkm Mait- ! -d~iz •- "''in* G-eop^'fr 'Jt.ird^ I", C ~ ' M.my Lord Islington by 'n-. tpnar'rt-, at Chippenham, was a :o -n».>

new Governor's popularity as a land lord. A gentleman' who spent sever «'il years in Wiltshire tells me tha Lord Islington was regarded as quit a model landlord, in the gene'rou way he studies the welfare and re quirements of his tenants, and the r lations between the latter and thei landlord have been harmonious am 'cordial. His lordship has been con nectcd with the Hartham and Hilmar ton estates in Wiltshire for quit' thirty years.* His estates are notc< for their model dwellings, and nm ongst other improvements a rifle range, a reading-room and a wate supply have been provided at Hil marton by the present landlord. H< helped to start the Chippenham Cot tage Hospital, of which he is presid ent, giving- a large sum of raone 1 for the purpose and he has taken ; Very active part in county affairs, a 1 well as in political. .His tenants had some very mo things to say about Lord Islington Tfhe old name of Sir John Dickson Poynder which they had known s< \vell was- gone, said the chairman but they, had left them the old v per sonality— "the cheery smile, the gen erous heart, the kindly nature, whicl no distance, no vicissitudes of for tune could change." The oldest ten ant at the dinner had. dandled Lor< Islington in his arms when the fut . ure Governor of New Zealand wa< a baby, and to him was entrustec ' the presentation of an address tc r -the guest of the evening, signed b-< ,102 tenants. The new Governor apologised* t( I his tenants for having to be an ab ,sentee landlord for the next fey years. "Let me say," he said, "how much I realise the responsibility .at I Caching- to one who owns propert\ j 'and who, whether from choice or otl ilerwise, finds himself in a position f Ol a* 'certain numiber of years of being an |absentee from that property. The ownership of estates bring even in itftese days, though some people think to the contrary, many friends. There are also attached to the ownership of property many responsibilities and many duties, duties which in. the ordinary course of events should be. and can best be, performed by the owner of the property present upon the ,land. Now that cannot be during the next few years, but, speaking to you as my tenantry of 1 the two estates, I can say that 1 have taken as conscientiously and as carefully as I can every possible precaution to avoid injury to the estates qr to those occupied upon the estates by my absence in a distant land. While he is in New Zealand, Lord Islington will have sent to him at regular and short intervals very full reports of all that is going on übon hi's estates, so that he may still keep in touch with his tenants. "I hope any tenant of mine will write to me in ' New Zealand, and I promise him he will get a' lull response to that letter." Theflgift of a Georgian silver inkstand to Lady Islington from the wives of the Hartham and Hilmarton tenants drew an interesting little speech from her ladyship, bhe loved heir home, she said, and her thirteen years at Hartham had been the happiest of her life. The one litae shdu ow of her hie was that she had no son, but if she had five sons she ..x^n't think she could have been happier in her association with Hartham. ' Islington, the London borough fiom which the Governor of New Zealand has taken his title, was mentioned in the Doomsday Book at the timeiof Henry II: At the end of the v eighteenth century it was still a little village, but now it has between 300,UUO and 400,000 people living within its narrow limits. Lord Islington oc cupies the position of chairman of the Great Northern Hospital in Islington. There is a famous publichouse in the borough called the Angel, ~and this fact has, of course, 'beed seized upon by the wits to apply to ,the new Lord Islington. A feature of Lord Islington's remarkably busy career has been the in mber of 'Government- inquiries aiiu commissions of which he has peen\» member. The following i'tv will give "an idea of his public work out<"de the Hou^e of Commons, wn-;re he fat from 1902 to 1909:— Select Committee on Reoi <orti-a tion of the Yeomanry after South \fncari* War. Royal Commission on London T he. * Select 1 Commission on Housing of the Working Classes (chairman.) Departmental Commission on die Inebriates Act. Commission - on Trade Relations between Canada and the* West Indies. In the middle of it all Lord'lslington was .member -of the London County Council for' five or* six years, and Tie % held the following appointments, all involving responsible "work : — Chairman v 'i"hp:n. Hosuit.l ' v tui.lnaa Cental C\\z~J.o "■ J,a uLurft, yresi<v: R ,itn i, ■ I*l.l. '. rresio _ *- Hospital. - ' - \ It will be'' seen thai L--id Islington has bedh bom to great estates, he has also realised his i esponsibihty to* the full, and given his services freely to Uje community to an extent that piobably f.ew men in pubtu life can equal. Let it also be addrd that iii- T thfc midst of a multitude 01 lotivitres he mode it his duty to serve Jus country in South Africa curing ihf Bfif "'^ ,md earned thue rhe Distm>,i-isL<.d ' ire Order. jh'p ( Iliffh (_'' -loner's leccpuop. v n honour oi 1 " new Governor anil Liif 1 r Islington '* the event of ', A h»" „ among the ".embers of the 1 \, Zr.l.-.ct "roiony'" London. '• n% aue^!.^ jiciaded iin^v visitor* '\bw *t r 1•» ovei n« > ioi ih( - ainox*-', . . addition, to meeting thd new -fjavernoi, there was^ the added interest ol renewing old friend =«hiP7_ auci -eviving pleasant memories, ot the past/ It must have been

|, something of an ordeal for Lord anc . Lady Islington to shake hands wit! X something like four hundred stran c grers, but they bore up nobly, anc s succeeded in looking as though the . liked it. c Lord Islington, with his sunburnec r features and ready smile, gives one the impression of a genial tempera . ment. Neither he nor his wife' hav< any lilcing- for formality, and th( c less there is of it in their new sphere 3 overseas !the better, I imagine, 11 will agree with their tastes. Ladj . Islington's beauty is of the Scotct r type. She was one of the belles oi the seas on her entrance" into soc , iety. Her little daughter Joan is sale to be a charming girl, and an ac complished swimmer.