The Press. MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 1865. VISIT OF THE GOVERNOR.

Press, Volume VII, Issue 685, 9 January 1865, Page 3

The Press. MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 1865. VISIT OF THE GOVERNOR.

The Provincial Government has invited the co-operation of a number of gentlemen to assist in arranging the programme for the festivities to be observed on the arrival of the Governor, which it is understood will take place on Sunday evening next. It is gratifying to find that the universal opinion expressed on all sides is, that every political feeling ought to be laid aside, and that one only consideration ought to be allowed to prevail, namely, how to receive the Representative of the Queen in a manner most fitting his high station, and most indicative of our own loyalty and devotion to the illustrious lady whom he represents. Sir G. Grey is not popular in the South. There is a general impression that he has mot fairly carried out either one policy or the other. That as a messenger of peace he allowed Domett and Bell to launch him into a war, and after assenting to a very unnecessary and wild scheme for carrying on that war, he frustrated its accomplishment. But on the other hand, the impression is getting spread about pretty widely, that he did not get fair play from the Whitaker Cabinet, and that his position between the colony on the one hand and the Home Government on the other, was an exceedingly difficult one. And though the volume of Sessional Papers which contain the history of the late transactions, do not get into many hands, yet when there is a pretty general agreement in tone on the part of those who have read them, it may be assumed that public opinion is in favour of the view taken by its ordinary exponents. . And in the present case all the newspapers in the Middle Island, however much differing on other points, have exhibited a remarkable unanimity of tone on this. But even had the South much more to complain of than it has, we are persuaded that it would lay aside all personal or political feeling in order to receive his Excellency as the symbol of the connection between the colony and the old country. Tα colonists the Governor is the impersonation of England in the midst of them, and as such naturally becomes the recipient of those feelings of loyalty and attachment which, we are persuaded, even a nominal and legal separation from England would never extirpate in the hearts of her children. A variety "of ceremonials are projected, subject of course to the approval of his Excellency. He will probably land on Monday, at Lyttelton, and will be received in state by the authorities of the town, and will receive the usual addresses. Of course the tunnel and railway works will have to be inspected, and the tunnel will no doubt be illuminated for the occasion. As there are five ships in harbor, all of which will fire the salute of nineteen guns, those who love such warlike sounds will be amply gratified. There will be the usual processions proper to a sea port town, and a dejeuner at Lyttelton in the Town Hall, after partaking of which, his Excellency and suite will enter the carriages provided, and will go round by the Sumner road to the railway station, and thence by special train to Christchurch. On arriving he will be received by the City authorities who, as well as the Chamber of Commerce, will present addresses suitable to the occasion. The carriages will convey him, accompanied by a guard of honor, to Melville House, which has been taken for Ms Excellency's accommodation during his stay in town. Either the same evening or the next morning there will be a levee, and how the amusements of iihe week maybe divided it is hardly possible as yet to say. There will be a grand public ball at the Town Hall, which, we believe, will be open to all who wish to pay their respects by their presence to his Excellency. The races will occupy one, if not two days. A visit to Mr. "Weld's beautiful place at Brackenfield will take two days. The City Council '•are talking of a banquet, to recall the glories of Guildhall; and his Honor the Superintendent will

similarly dispense the hospitality of the whole province; and on Tuesday his Excellency will take his departure, by coach or on horseback, for Dunedin. During the whole week we believe a guard of honor will be supplied by the volunteer companies and the cavalry troop. All those modes of celebrating the visit of a Governor, especially upon his first visit, are customary at all times. But there is a peculiar significance to his Excellency's presence in the South at the present juncture. He has not been south of Cook's Straits since the year 1851. Dunedin was then a small village. At Lyttelton some of the settlers were still living in tents ; at Christchurch a few houses had been built, but nine-tenths of the city was still buried in fern and tutu, and the cultivation scarcely extended beyond the Town Belt. Sheep stations, with one or two exceptions, were unknown. We are persuaded Sir George Grey has no conception of the progress made by the Middle Island. He has seen Auckland, which has become a very large town ; he has seen Wellington, which, owing to various causes, has remained more stationary than any other place. He took up his abode at Wellington in the same old, low-roofed cottage which he lived in in 1851 and 1852. But in the South he will see a new world, and he will then comprehend, what we are persuaded he does not yet realise the weaning of, the feeling in the South that the Colony cannot be governed from Auckland. And if there were I any inducement necessary to stimulate the inhabitants of Canterbury and Otago to give a fitting reception to the Governor, which, however there is not —it would be found in the sense of what we owe to ourselves as well as to his Excellency. It is due to ourselves that we should show what the Southern Provinces are capable of when called upon, on a fitting occasion, to display their power of hospitality. Moreover, we cannot help saying that this visit of his Excellency to the South —considered as the first fruits of Mr. Weld's Government, is a step which cannot but give the utmost confidence in that 'gentleman's future career. It shows that the panic epoch is over ; that we have a Government at last strong enough, and confident enough in its own strength to assert, that it is no longer necessary to the safety of any one part of the colony that the existence of eveiy other part should be ignored. Lastly, it was by far the most graceful way in which the seat of Government could be removed to the South. The Governor travels l'ound the Colony and returns to take up his abode at Wellington, where, by the time he reaches it, he will find most of the Ministers and all the Departments of Government assembled.