VICE-REGAL CEREMONY

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 85, 4 January 1930, Page 10

VICE-REGAL CEREMONY

FAREWELL TO LADY ALICE FERGUSSON PRESENTATIONS AT AUCKLAND Dominion Special Service. , Auckland, January 3. A sincere tribute of affection was paid to Her Excellency, Lady Alice Fergusson, by a gathering of women of Auckland, which filled the Town Hall this afternoon.

Three presentations were made, one being from Maori women, and the speeches of farewell expressed deep appreciation of the services rendered by Her Excellency to the causes of womankind. The Mayoress (Mrs. A. D. Campbell), on behalf of the women’s organisations of Auckland, presented Her Excellency with a gold inkwell, set in a block of greenstone, and suitably inscribed. Mrs. Campbell said that the women of Auckland desired to convey to Lady Alice Fergusson. an expression of their very real regret that her stay with them was rapidly drawing to a close. Mention had been made, in official valedictory addresses to His Excellency, of the able and gracious support Her Excellency had afforded him in the discharge of the duties-of, his high office.

“But none can realise as we women do the strain these public engagements must occasion,” added the Mayoress. “Perhaps you may value 1 iu some degree our admiration of the manner in which you have fulfilled the exacting duties you have been called upon to perform, while your courtesy and graciousness have endeared you to all sections of our people.” Mrs,. J. T. F. Mitchell, on behalf of the League of Mothers of the Auckland Province, handed to Her Excellency a memento in the form of a greenstone paper-weight, carved .with figures of a Maori mother and child, as symbolical of what their association represented.

A picturesque ceremony marked the Maori presentation, Mrs. Karaka, bearing a taiaha led five members of the Akarana Maori Association on to the stage, all being attired in Native costume, and they chanted a Maori farewell call which is accorded only to persons of high rank. The gift presented was parchment, on which with appropriate decoration had been ingrained a Maori song of farewell, written and composed by Mrs. Maewa Kaihau. This was sung both in Maori and in English by Miss Etta Harris. The presentation was made by Mrs. Kaihau, and Her Excellency shook hands with the members of the party before they retirefl, and added the Maori form of salutation in returning thanks for the gifts.

Lafly Alice Fergusson said she had not expected such a wonderful gathering, and she had difficulty in finding words adequate to convey her thanks for the very great kindness they were showing her. She understood that fifty women’s organisations were represented, and this day would be treasured in her memory for the rest of her life. What she had been able to do, although It was not half so much as she would have liked it to be, was repaid by the knowledge of the splendid work the women of New Zealand were doing through the Plunket Society, the Girl Guides, the Young Women’s Christian Association, and many other organisations.

The devoted efforts which they were putting into all these would be an inspiration to her in the future. | It had been her privilege to help in the formation of the League of Mothers, which was simply an extension of a much older society, the Mothers’ Union, with which the speaker’s own mother had been associated when she came to this country more than 30 years ago. Referring to the gift from the Maori Women, Her Excellency said she had always taken the warmest and deepest interest in the Maoris since the days when she had travelled about New Zealand with her father. She then said farewell to the Maori women in the phrase of their own tongue, eluded.