The Press FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 1957. Vice-Regal Office

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28167, 4 January 1957, Page 6

The Press FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 1957. Vice-Regal Office

New Zealand will be very happy ] ■with the succession arranged 1 for the Vice-Regal office, which , Sir Willoughby Norrie will . vacate in a few months. Viscount Cobham will follow a distinguished line of Governors and Governors-General of New Zealand; and he has the qualities and qualifications to continue the line worthily and with dignity. Of an English land-holding family, Lord Cobham has a background similar to that of most former holders of the Vice-Regal office; his family, the Lyttelton family, has been of long standing in the county of Worcester. Like his predecessors. Lord Cobham is a man of considerable personal attainments and wide interests. He fought for his country at war; and since the war has engaged in an important branch of Britain’s exporting business. He distinguished himself at sport as one of England’s foremost cricketers; he played on New Zealand’s cricket fields as a member of the touring 1935-36 M.C.C. team. The esteem in which he is held in the cricketing world was exemplified when he was elected in 1954, at an early age, to join the distinguished company of

presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club. Canterbury and Christchurch have particular reasons for welcoming the appointment, for Lord Cobham’s family associations with the province go back to its founding. The port of Lyttelton takes its name from one of Lord Cobham’s forbears, and Hagley Park from the family seat of the Lytteltons at Stourbridge in Worcestershire. Lord Cobham will find in this Dominion a nation bent on fulfilling both its individual destiny and its role in the Commonwealth. As the personal representative of the Crown in New Zealand. Lord Cobham will fulfil the many functions of government which constitutionally require Royal participation, and as he moves about the country in manifold ceremonial and social duties he will be the symbol identifying the Crown with the lives of the people. The Vice-Regal representative is an ever-present reminder that the Crown expresses the unity, in freedom and responsibility, of the Commonwealth. New Zealanders will wish for Lord and Lady Cobham and their family a happy stay in this country; and Canterbury people in particular will look forward to welcoming Lord Cobham again.