MR. SEDDON'S SILVER JUBILEE

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 79, 30 September 1904, Page 5

MR. SEDDON'S SILVER JUBILEE

■ ENTHUSIASM AT BOKITIKA. REMINISCENCES OF THE OLD DAYS. [Bt Telbobapii.] (From Our Special Reporter.) HOKITIKA, Thiß Day. Two loaded trains brought a considerable part, of tho GroymouUi population to Hokitika to share in doing honour to tho Premier on the occasion of his silver jubilee of political life. Tho second train, which carried Ihe Premier himself, was welcomed along tho road. Those who could nqb go to Hokitika were ulong the fences en route, <uid on apparently unlimited number of bonny smiling children waved handkerchiefs and cheered. The number of children that met him everywhere is a standing joke between the Premier and his constituents, and some of Mr. Seddon's frank claims to personal rospousibility are worthy of tho member for Hurnnui. At Kumara the brass band met the train and played "For he's a jolly good follow" and "Tho Wearing of the Green" with noisy enthusiasm. A brief pause was mudo while tho Premier visited the neighbouring hotel with a crowd of admirers, and then tho train proceeded to Hokitika, where it arrived at 1 p.m. A WEST COAST WELCOME. , There he was given the most enthusiastic welcome ho has had on his present visit to tho Coast. The station was packed with a swaying crowd of people, who all wanted to shake him by the hand. "Pub him on your shoulders, and let's have a look at him !" shouted one man at the back, ttnd little- would have been needed to persuade his admirers to adopt the suggestion. He whs to have been officially welcomed by the Mayor of Hokitika (Mr. J. Mandl) and tho Mayor of Ross and Oounty Chairman (Mr. J. Grimmond), but this ceremony had to bo reduced to hurried handshake and a few shouted sentences. Then a small maiden presented a bouquet to Mrs. Seddon and the Premier made his way slowly to the entrance, apparently meeting worm personal friends by tho score. Finally ho managed to escape into, a carriage, which whirled him away to a less demonstrative, but none the less hearty, welcome among private friends. A TOWN EN FETE. Tho presentation ceromony took place in tho afternoon. Th,e town was extensively decorated with ferns and greenery, and arches spanned the main street. People had been crowding in all day, and by 2 p.m. the streets were crowded with a noisy and effusive throng. At 2.30 a procession was formed to march to Cuss-square. Volunteers and cadets in abundance and five bands were in the procession, the rear being brought up "by the school children of all sorts and sizes. There is something in the Coast atmosphere specially suited to the rearing of babies. Tho platform in Cuss-square was surrounded by a dense crowd. The seats provided wero occupied by the more ■prominent citizens and thoir wives. The Premior arrived about half np hour later, and was received with enthusiastic cheers. The ceremony was then commenced, at onco. Tho Coast gifta took the form of a large njlver salver, a silver tea and coffee service, und specimens of gold, greenstone, c-oal, flax, and timber. Tho solver boro the following inscription : — "Presented to tho Rt. Hon. ». J. Seddon, P. 0., LL.D.,- Premier of Now Zealand, to mark the aiiniversury of his twenty-fifth year of election n« member of tho House of Representatives for the people of Weetland. Publicly subscribed- by the people of the electorate. — J. Mundl, Mayor of Hokitika; J. A. Murdoch, Mayor of Kumara ; and J. Grimmond, Mayor of Ross and County Chairman of Westhuid." The Mayor of Hokitika made the presentation, and ho commenced by reading a number of telegrams that had been received. The Government Party in tho Lower House telegraphed warm congratulations and good wishes, and a long array of signatures ended the message. The Legislative Council sent a vorv cordial message, signed by nearly afi the members. Other congratulations camo from the General Secretary of the Liberal and Labour Federation, Mr. E. W. Roper (Chairman of the East and W«»t Coast Railway Committee), Mr, U. Quuno fPre»ident of the Canterbury Chamber of Com. merce), and Bishop Grimes, on behalf of his priests and people, Mr. Mundl said tlmt the messages allowed what the members of the Hou*e thought of Mr. Seddon, and tho gathering present showed what tho W<«t Ooaat people thought of him. Tt Imd been a happjr day for tho colony when he hud knded at liokitika. Tho presentation had been voluntarily subscribed by the people of the Can«t, nnd though tho iutrnj&ic value of the gifts in no measure represented tho warmnciss of their feelings, he hoped that Mr. Seddon would understand the good wuihca which accompanied it. Mr. J. A. Murdoch (Mayor ot Kumara) added Ills congratulations. Other prominent We&t Coasters epoke, and the Hon. M. Holmes, M.L.C., who was Mr. Seddon's political foster-father, said that he had supported Mr. Seddon at tho hustings twenty-five years pro-, viously, nnd hod since had no reason to bo less complete in \m confidence. He had told people t,hat. he never run a deadliorse, and that- Dick Seddon woo a good goer and a good stayer. THE PREMIER'S REPLY.— LOOKING BACKWARD. A roar of enthusiasm greeted tho Premior when ho rose to reply. Ho was evidently very deeply moved. There' wero occasions, he said, in which the lips could not express ull that was in tho heart. The memory of tho honour that the West Coast had that dny done him would last as long as life itself. When ho compared tho days gone by with those of the present, ok) memories crowded upon him and tinged his feelings with sadness. The Coast was very near to .his heart, nnd had been ever since ttfie old days when ho flrat lahded at Hokibifoi and first sought tho suffrages of tho Westland electors. At that far distant time the river had teemed with steamers, and men had been flocking in from all parts of the colonies. They woro men unsurpassed in courage and determination. Before them lay the vast mountains nnd the primaeval forest, but they had come to conquer. Beneath tho mountains was Mm gold, and they wero dotermwod to woo and win it. The ground on which he then stood had echoed with tfeo sound of the axe, hammer, and saw during the long days of labour, and with the sound of rovelhng by night. Tho people who sometimes come to htm complaining about their roads and bridges would bo far lees discontented had they experienced those old days of the pioneers. That day's presentation had carried his memory irresistibly back to THE OLD DAYS, when the streets of Uokitika had been as crowded a« were the streets of Melbourne and Sydney, when sturdy diggers camo into the town to enjoy a rest from their labour, and when the voice- of the temne-ruuee reformer had not been heard vi the land. The Premier then recounted his first appcaranco as a force in local politic*. "Duty beforo all else," no matter what people may «ay, had been his motto, and ho could truthfully say that ho hnd dono unswervingly what ho thought right. It was in 1*869 that he lud been elected Chairman of the Road and. alter that lie hud beeo mixed

ia local politics until he weut to the House of Ropresont«tives. His election platform had induded manhood suffrage, triennial Parliftmcirts, the population basis of representation, fair treatment 0/ Maoris, tlie restriction of Asiatic immigration, and reform of tha Upper House. His idea b»d tlien been that overy time there was on election a certain number of members should drop out, so tltat there might be an influx of new blood. When he made HIS PARLIAMENTARY DEBUT he did not seem to have created much, impression. A member had criticiaed some of Ilia romarks, and Mr. Whifcakev had said a little later : "We know a great deal better than to fire off our cannon to kill mosquitos." He thought that if Mr. Whitaker were tTTen alive he would be willing to udnrit the mosquito had beoomo a veritable whaU. It was on that day twenty-five years ago that he had made his first apcetih in Parliament.. Ho hud not at t&at time thought much of his chance himself, and! he had often, as he sat ia the House, wondered why he was there and what he woe to do. Ho had always remembered, however, tliat he had been sent to represent men who were out-spoken and courageous, aud that it was his duty to consider their honour and interests ob well as those of the colony as a whole. He wished to «ay emphatically that whatever he had done "had been due to the people of tho West Coast, who had! sent him to Parliament and kept him there for twenty-five years. The Premier then referred to lub various chiefs in the House, and paid an eloquent tribute to Sir George Grey. The first measure he had carried through the House after becoming Premier hod been the Tea Examination and Adulteration Prevention Bill. He had always had a weakness for the ladies, and as his Ministry had also secured the abolition of the duty on tea, he could claim to havo assisted the ladies to secure pure and cheap tea. Sirica then ho had dealt with many more controversial measures. There had been a great deal of hard work to be done in all (hose years ; ho had had no influence 'and no wealth, but he had gone sLraigiit ahead, with the idea of proving to the people who had sent him to Parliament that/ they had chosen the right iuuh. Ho felt sufficiently rewarded by the honour done him that day. ■ He could honestly say that ho was a humbler man 1 than when' he had entered Parliament 26 years previously. Some advice to J,he rising generation, who should think lesa of sport and more of tho strenuous life, brought the speech to its conclusion. He ended by saying that what he had been able to do had not been sufficient to repay the people of Westland for all their kindness to him and his, and he hoped and believed that they understood his giatitude and would long remain his close friends. Tho Premior spoke for eighty minute*, and as he neared his conclusion the weather, Avhith had hitherto treated' him generously, began to break. Rain fell iv noavy drops, and as the gathering dispersed a heavy fall commenced. This continued steadily, and it was soon evident thai the notorious Coast weather had once more asserted itself. This to a great extent spoiled the remainder of the day and the evening for most of the assembled Coasters, and although a gallant attempt was made to carry out a projected fireworks programme few had tho courage to watch it except through windows. THE BANQUET— ANOTHER SPEECH The Premier was in the evening entertained at a banquet, followed by a dance. There was a large gathering at tho banquet, which was held in the Town Hall, and after the usual loyal toast the Chairman proposed the health of Mr. Seddon, who, he said, was loved and respected by every man, woman, and child on the Cpast. The toast wjth drunk with musical honours, und the Premier, when he could obtain a hearing above the applause, returned his hearty thanks. He said that he had received from all parts of tho colony and from abroad messages of congratulation regarding hut jubilee, and one of the first I had been from his old friend and opponent, Sir John Hall. In the course of further remarks, Mr. Seddon expressed his desire to see local ! government on a better footing. He would like to sweep away a lot of useless bodies and institutions, to extend the powers of local bodies, and to give them assured finances, thus relieving the general Parliament of a great deal of work. The royalties from flax and timber should go to the local bodies, and a better system of subsidies ahould bo devised. The reception of his Local Government Bill hnd pot been encouraging, but he did not despair of succeeding In a second attempt. Later the Premier attended tho donee. To-morrow ho will attend a ploughing match, and visit Stafford, Wahnea, aud Gokkboro, spending tho night at Greymouth. He expects to leave ChrWtchurch for Wellington by Monday's boat.