VISIT OF BRITISH MINISTER

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27151, 22 September 1953, Page 10

VISIT OF BRITISH MINISTER

Mr Duncan Sandys At Ashburton « A GREAT DAY IN MY LIFE ” “This has been a very great day in my life,” said the British Minister or Supply (Mr Duncan Sandys) when he was welcomed in the Ashburton County Council chambers yesterday afternoon by members of the county council, the Ashburton Borough Council, and other local bodies. “Ever since my earliest childhood i have been told about New Zealand, Christchurch. Ashburton, Methven, and, above all. about Springfield. My mother brought me up to believe—and I think she was quite right—that there was no place like New’ Zealand, and that in New Zealand there was no place like the area around here “I have seen photographs of Mount Hutt and the ranges nearby, and it was a very great thrill for me to see them, to sleep in the old house, and to meet so many people who knew and obviously loved and respected my grandfather. His courage, tion and pioneering grit, about which I have been told by so many during the last few hours, and the fact that he is so well remembered after 40 years in which a great deal of change has occurred, are a source of great pride to me,” Mr Sandys said. When he arrived in Wellington he had noticed that many New Zealanders talked about Britain as “Home.” Mr Sandys said, and he hoped that he might claim a similar right in reverse by talking about New Zealand as home. “Although this is the first time I have been here it is certainly not going to be the last,” Mr Sandys said. He said that he hoped that next time he would be able to bring his wife and son.

“It has been a very moving experience in the last two days, and I take away with me memories of a most wonderful welcome, which I interpret as not so much, perhaps, a welcome to me, as a chance to show what you thought of Duncan Cameron,” he said. Mr Sandys was welcomed by the chairman of the Ashburton County Council (Mr J. Davidson), who presented him with John Brown’s “History of Ashburton” and a booklet by Mr L. L. Aitken on the Lyndhurst settlement. Two booklets on the Ashburton borough and a booklet on its seventy-fifth anniversary were given to Mr Sandys by the Mayor of Ashburton (Mr E. C. Bathurst). Mr R. G. Gerard, M.P., welcomed him on behalf of the Government and the Ashburton electorate, and Mr H. B. Millichamp (chairman) spoke on behalf of the Tinwald Town Board. Mr Sandys afterwards chatted informally with old inhabitants of the borough and county who were present at the gathering. Interest in Springfield Estate A keen interest in the early history of the Springfield estate and in the old identities of the station was shown by Mr Sandys, who spent the weekend there. Springfield was formerly owned and developed by his grandfather, Mr Duncan Cameron, and his mother spent the early part of her life on the station. Yesterday morning Mr Sandys was met at the Springfield homestead by Messrs Davidson, Bathurst, Gerard. Millichamp, and Messrs J. Morgan and A. T. Rawlinson (members of the Ashburton County Council), the County Clerk (Mr C, Campbell), County Engineer (Mr R. L. Lindsay), and Ashburton Town Clerk (Mr H. C. Childs) and was taken to Methven. At the Methven cemetery Mr Sandys was met by Mr J. F. Stone and inspected the grave of his grandfather on which he laid a wreath bearing the following inscription: “In loving memory of Duncan Cameron—some flowers picked at Springfield—from his grandson. Duncan.” He also visited the grave of Miss Kate Leslie, who was governess to his mother and her sister at Springfield.

After a lunch given by the Ashburton County Council, Mr Sandys went to St. John’s Presbyterian Church, where he talked with old identities, including Mesdames W. A. Bascand, H. L. Mangin, Messrs W. G. Breach. D. Chambers, S. Thompson, and W. T. P. Lock, all of whom had early associations with Mr and Mrs Duncan Cam-

eran and their family. Mi's Bascand (formerly Miss Duff) produced a book, old photographs, and a miniature wooden dairy set given to her as a girl by Mr Sandy’s mother. In the church, where Mr Sandys spent some time, was a brass tablet erected by Mrs Cameron and her two daughters in memory of Mr Cameron, who was an active member of the church for 44 years. While at Methven, Mr Sandys talked for a while with Messrs J. Morgan (Mount Somers) and W. J. Burrows

(Methven), who were in the employ ol his grandfather early in this century Mr Sandys then visited Ashburton

inspecting the domain and looking at photographs of early Springfield in the Ashburton Agricultural and Pastoral Association’s rooms. He was entertained with representatives of Ashburton local bodies to afternoon tea at the Hotel Devon.