DEPUTATION TO HIS EXCELLENCY. PRESENTATION OF FAREWELL ADDRESS FROM THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3261, 30 December 1867, Page 3

DEPUTATION TO HIS EXCELLENCY. PRESENTATION OF FAREWELL ADDRESS FROM THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

A DEPUTATION of members of the Provincial Council, for the purpose of presenting the farewell address adopted during the sitting of the Council, assembled at the Council Chambers at 11 a.m. on Saturday, and proceeded to Government Hou3e, ■where they were received by his Exeelleucy's private secretary, the Rev. Mr. Thatcher. The following gentlemen comprised the deputation :— Mr. Gr. M. O'Rorke (Speaker), Mr. J. A. Gilfillan (Provincial Treasurer), Colonel Peacocke, Captain Fraser, Captain Cooper, Dr. Nicholson; Messrs. O'Neill, Webster, Wynn, Farmer, Maclean, Hunter, Cheeseman, Ball, and E. J. O'Sullivan (clerk). His Excellency waited upon the deputation in the reception room, and the usual compliment having been passed, The Speaker (Mr. G. M. O'Roeke) addressed his Excellency as follows : Your Excellency, the members of the Provincial Council of the province being anxious to express their regret of the circumstances attending the termination of your Excellency's Governorship of this colony, they have waited upon you for the purpose of presenting a farewell address to you upon the occasion. That address they have deputed me to place in your hands. [ The address, ■which has already appeared in our paper, was chastely engrossed on vellum by Mr. Hall.] His Excellency replied as follows :— ' "Mr. Speaker *nd gentlemen, it is with great pleasure that I receive these expressions of your regard and esteem, upon the occasion of my being removed from the Government of New Zealand, an well as your assurances of your belief that it has been my earnest endeavour during my administration of the affairs of this colony in a period of great difficulty to discharge my duty alike to the Imperial Government and to the inhabitants of New Zealand. I have ever considered the interests of (^reat Britain and of her colonies as identical; and I have felt that, in labouring to promote the welfare and prosperity -of that portion of the empire committed to my care, I was, within the proper limits of my duty, doing my best to serve the inhabitants of the empire at large ; and I can assure you that for many years of my life, acting upon this principle, the promotion of the happiness of the people of New Zealand has been almost the sole object to which I have devoted my hopes and labours. " I thank you for your wishes for my future happiness and health. In whatever part of the world I may be, I (shall always watch with anxiety the progress of this province, to the interests of which I have for so long devoted myself ; *nd you may rely that I shall at any time eagerly avail myself of any opportunity which may offer of promoting your welfare. „_, _ "Gr. GEEV. " Government House, Auckland, " December 23, 1867." His Excellency then bade the deputation goodbye, remarking at the same time that it was possible he might see them again before taking his departure. The deputation then withdrew.