THE BANQUET TO MR. SHEEHAN.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1866, 24 September 1874, Page 3

THE BANQUET TO MR. SHEEHAN.

We give the following 'report of the re-, marks of' the Chairman (Mr 80-re), in proposing vthe; toast of [Mr Sheolmn's: healjji ab/jthe b.aiiquet on, Tuesday : I evening:— I Mr Howe, after somo'preliminary 6bI.serrations',.said...that, he might, remark, that the'meeting that' evening was 'hot in' '.the strict sense of tho word a political -They ,were not theretpj-night either to approve or otherwise of the. ; action of tho Government, of.tho colony generally, They wereAhdre'-more.-par-ticularly to advocate-andmaintain^ their ;ojvn interests',' and to do lionour iwho had u . assisted., in promoting those j 'jriteresis. '(Cheers'.)" lu'dbihg thatj"lid" adv.erfcv.ery shortly.to. a; J pjortion'qif the, policy of .the. (General [d-q-. Ternuiontiof tueicolony whi.chi was ,being ; | 'carried out at' present. Thatportion was to develop ■• the ■ resources'' of, the' jcolony-by settling peopled upon : the : laud. .While this was v,<being";prb-'-! jceeded "with/it'was their dutyHb : look for to proper means to promote their own in-, I'terests; oTherej.was; ,no. possible; r.eason ; .why those who had r been. settlqd/ia i; the | .colony, most of whom had' come at their •'oWn should (not -Save th'ejr in'terests attended to as well as,those who ■'■were; ; thousands'-' : of- ; 'miles ,a??'ay. ; ' • They 1! did- 'not ; ' se.elc'' to-'iobtain 'this - 1 by f the'-, isaenfice : qf 'the'-interests 5 ; of othersj biit'j ;in dbihg.'what' they 1 proposed-'; to '.dbffiey-sougfit-to:promote 'the general'welfare'of .the colony a§ well. V ('HiparVJ, j There"' was, f n'o ''-doubt' 1 that 1 ' 1 those'-' weife Jcbnscious. that, . for the promotion' ,of the prosperity n'ecessary that the the "district should be' opened, : and ithat; proper jfacili-j ...ties should be'afford'etl ior the set'tleinent 'of tlie peoplei'tliali-werelnere'upoh,those lands. (Cheers!) could'be' '"prosperous - permanently prosperous—,tjiat had to depend upon merely ephemeral interests. . The-'Hriie^'interest'of''-ian'yi country or colony was, to develop its natural resources, and to settle the people ;,upouits-lands.-"(Cheers;) -While he did.ijot wish to go into a fault-finding strain, still he might remark that the .conviction, was very strong'in.tneanfhds bf.-the people" qf this district, that tine Government of 'the colony was not attending to their; 'interests in this direction as they ought i|o have done. (: H:e believed-'that the : | conviction -was strong : "in'" : tW minds 'of. this community that the timb . was now come when the en-' deavours of thei.Goyernmeptr.s.ho.uld be ipat forth in this 'direction; 'and' that' they should make not a small but a very strong effort to open up this district to" the people.-, of-,-the r/ district.,. (Cheers.) There were"'hands'as'strbng and'hearts'as true, and energies that were ready to be put forth in the development of the dis-"" trict as,gppd as.could,be obtained in portion of the '\roM, j'lOheers.), l ffe'vas'' sure th ; ey -would ;him' i, 'tha l t'' Ihose who had sh'dwn' themselves 'ready" io assist them in this'directionlwere entitled to their,, hearty; gratitude. (O'heers.f He was glad'to say; that the guest of the evening (MrlSheehan) had-assisted them to the bestbt his jjoVer by drafting and getting passed the 'Waste- -Lands" Act in the last sesiibn'of the Assembly. (Cheers.) [rh'a't-ic't'was hot quite so-liberal as some t bf them -could have 1 wished, and- it was not so liberal ...as. his. .friend wouldhave made it'if he Had had his bwnway, ibut still.ifcjwas a,considerable 1 advance. on : | any previous Act of that.kind, and, carried, Ijout in a proper spirit it would conduce to |the welfare,, not only'.of the Thames dis-, ! trict, but of the whole province and.the I whole colony. He (the Chairman) had it' from testimony of [were indeb'fe'd for thai; Act,""in""a "great measure,!to .itjie -efforts of ;:Mr : Sheehan.ilonour'was'due'tbHnose 1 who laboured 5 in the public interest, ;andj when'sthey; 'had ; succeeded by their industry and perseverance in the promotion ot' that'l interest/'it,should*:be acknowledgedcas: they were assembled to do that-evening.;! (Cheers.) They were not there that evening to themselves jwith. Mr Shnehan's vieivsj'for in some' respects'they differed from them., ..They, had to attend. totheirwn-intero3ts'and/fPrmi-.their/owh! opinions, and were not to be guided exactly by the opini6.ns;ofJPth'drs. '.He had sdd a few minutes ago that they were a jolly lot of fellows, and further that they were an intelligent lot of fellows, and were .as capable of thinking about•a-subjeot'-'ahdi understanding what was for their own interests as Mr Sheebauor Mr Williamson, or the Provincial •.Executive, ..pr,even the.General Government itself. And he did not know but that.those gentlemen would do. well sometimes' tb'resb'rt to advice. (Cheers.) He would not detain them longer, ; ;: He; thought that-, Mr Sheehan had laboured honestly' and "well, and he .- had succeeded s.p far,.in promoting their ! interests. He 'thought, therefore, that I Mr Sheehan was .entitled, to theirgrati- | tudej and he' was' 'quite : siir'e that "it was I one of the most .pleasant duties he had over performed" to call upon them to drink the toast of Mr Sheehan's health.

'"''-The toast -was -'drunk'' with loud cheer-