MAYORAL BANQUET.

Evening Star, Issue 7162, 16 March 1887, Page 4

MAYORAL BANQUET.

A banquet in honor of His Excellency the Governor, Sir William Jervoia, G.C.M.G., C.8,, was given at Town Hall last evening by His Worship the Mayor (Mr E. H. Leary). The Mayor occupied the chair, and had on his right ; His Excellency and Bishop Nevill, and on his left the Rev. Dr Stuart, Mr A. Gibson ' (the Town Clerk) occupied the vice-chair. Thefollowing gentlemenwere also present:— 'Messrs E. E. C. Quick, P. C. Neill, B, C. Haggitt, Alderman Young (Sydney), J. Oddie (Ballarat), J. R. Sinclair, N. Y. A. . \ffle», E. B. Cargill, the Hon, J. W. Portescue, W. P. Street, A. Lee Smith, G. Esther. Dr Belcher, M. J. S. M‘Kenzie,f. and W. D. Stewart, a-.ijgi, Ramsay, H. J. Walter, A. Solomon, Dr ii'll' ■: 1 1 •’ '

Hislop, J. Robin, M. Fraer, J. Murray, J. Barnes, H, S. Fish, T. Bracken, M.H.R., J. Cramond, J. Carroll, J. Barron, J. B. Thomson, J. Gore, G. L. D-imi-;tm, ,T. P. MaUlcml, A. n. »\V . IV 11, ini. I A. Mvro:r. I •, h- hall V I'icrly va -,., M tor . .... j Cl'V.l’-l'Vl. .*•; 1 i- : i fb.,- '!■■■ 111.. I l.'S ill r.:U- I S'lb ! U-tHI'V li I' 1::'. \V. (I. i I:-.;,’ll.Ill of j tlw ( Tito. An lintel calvicl iu excellent stylo, and the songs and part-songs given 1 between the toasts by a quartet of vocalists, under the direction of Mr A. J. Barth, formed a very pleasant feature of the proceedings. The musical programme was as follows Grace, “For these and all” (Barth); “National Anthem”; part song, “ Farewell thou lovely forest glade ” ; song, “Rank-and-file (Mr W. Deusein) : song, “Tell mo, Mary, how to woo thee” (Mr Chinn) ; part song, “The Rhine”; song, “The Blacksmith” (Mr H. B. Smith); song, “ Vanity ” (Mr W. Fraser). The toasts of “ The Queen ” and “ The Prince of Wales and Royal Family ” having been drunk, the Mayor proposed the health of his distinguished guest “His Excellency Sir William Jervois, Governor of the Colony.”—(Applause.) #n occasions like that it was customary for loyal subjects in the colonies to drink to the toast of Her Majesty’s representative, but the toast must not now be regarded as a formal one, and he asked all to join iu a hearty response which would show their appreciation of His Excellency as a distinguished man and one whom they regarded with esteem and admiration. He had intended to make a few remarks in submitting this toast, but owing to the lateness of the hour at which the programme of toasts was commenced he would not do so, especially as he felt it was quite unnecessary that much should be said to recommend the toast to cordial acceptance. The toast was honored with cheers. His Excellency, in responding, said he could not adequately express his feelings on rising to return thanks for tho hearty manner in which the toast had been received and for the complimentary manner iu which it had been proposed by his friend His Worship tho Mayor. It had often been his lot in Now Zealand to be present at carnival gatherings, but he had never been at one which gave him greater pleasure than the present one—not only because of the kiud manner in which he had been received, but also because of the admirable way in which tho banquet which was spread before them had been conducted throughout. It had been a great pleasure to him to be in Dunedin. There was one difficulty, to which ho had on previous occasions referred, which the Governor of this Colony had to deal with, and it was this : that he practically belonged to four colonics, and could not be in all of them at the same time; and if he was not in one of them the question was likely to be asked why ho was not there, and so on with the others. He had been determined, however, to try if ho could not make the acquaintance of the people of Dunedin, and enjoy the pleasure which he had since derived from their society. Apart from the gratification tho fulfilment of this determination had been to him, he considered it desirable that one who occupied the position he had the honor to fill should know the views and feelings of those with whom ho was, at all events for some years, officially connected. Ho must confess that Dunedin itself was a most desirable place for residence.—(Applause). The country above it was of the most picturesque character, and he was sure that anyone who lived in Dunedin for two or three months, as lie had done, must be gratified by the beautiful drives he could have along tho road to Blueskin or Port Chalmers, down the Peninsula, or in tho direction of Halfway Bush—places lie had visited, probably, a great deal more than many of the gentlemen present had done. He felt he could say, too, and he hoped to do so without doing any injury to the character of any other New Zealand town, that Dunedin stands apart from other towns in the Colony as a substantial town—as one that had In it the finest buildings, and was, taken all in all, a most delightful place for a season.—(Applause.) As during his stay here he had paid a visit to the .Sounds, lie was led to say that in his opinion the sounds and lakes in the south-west of New Zealand would become the great playground of Australasia, as Switzerland was now tho playground of Europe.—(Applause.) Ho had read recently a financial account of the enormous business done by hotels in Switzerland. Not having specially noted the figures at the time ho would not venture to repeat them, but they were very large, and lie believed that as tho time came to have hotels established at tho various lakes, and at the heads of the various sounds—with roads from the sounds to the lakes—the south-west portions of this part of New Zealand must become, as ho had said, the playground of Australasia. He had talked the matter over with some business friends of his with the view of getting them, when the proper time arrived, to establish hotels at tho lakes and at the head of tho sounds, ami ho considered it no Utopian fancy that they might have a large population growing up in those parts of New Zealand who would derive their maintenance from tho tourists who would visit those places. So far as to what he might term this “ sound question.”— (Laughter.) Then he might refer to the admirable educational establishments of Dunedin. There were admirable primary schools, secondary schools, and provision for higher education. There was a magnificent High School under his friend Dr Belcher, and a splendid University. Having adverted to the question of education, ho might say that ho had in common with them all feelings of the deepest regret at the loss Otago had lately experienced in the death of Mr Macandrow, who had done so much in bringing the educational establish incuts to the pitch of perfection they had attained, and who had been engaged in developing the resources of the country from tho time of bis arrival in it. He was sure all would agree with him that Mr Macacdrew had lived so as to be missed.—(Applause.) Having spoken upon several matters, lie might briefly advert to what was very often spoken of as “ the depression,” which was going on in this part of the country and in the Colony generally. This was something which all the world had to deal with, for this depression had been experienced throughout the world. He had often been asked, and had heard others asked, the question: “ What causes the depression?” His idea was that as wo lived in an age when railways, steamers, and electric telegraphs—all the appliances of modern science —were largely used in the affairs of commerce, people throughout the world had got into an abnormal state in commercial affairs, and in that way the depression which prevailed throughout the world had been caused. He believed, too, that he was right in saying we had now touched bottom —(hear, bear)—that we had come to the bottom of our difficulties ; and he could see evidences throughout the length and breadth of tho laud that people were determined to face tho difficulties. By a large expenditure of money the colonial estate had been improved to a certain extent, and now people were disposed to utilise the improvements that had been effected, to bring the different elements into one common denominator, and so produce a general state of prosperity. One tiling that seined requisite was unpopular in some quarters, namely, an increase in the population, but that was necessary in order that the indebtedness of the country might be less felt, aud the resources of the Colony more effectivc 1 y developed. He noticed that nearly .L 135.000 a year was spent in the importation of fruit, and it seemed to him that plenty of fruit for home consumption could be grown in the Colony. This was a matter that deserved consideration, and he was sure that those who had brought this country to its present state of progress would find plenty of means to develop the rich resources of this country, which was capable of holding twenty times its present population.—(Apilause.) With p rhaps the most distinguished poet of modern times, he would say — Men, my brothers, men the worker 3 , Ever weaving somethin' new, That they have dona it but earnest 01 tho things they shall do. —(Loud and continued applause.) The Mayor then proposed “ The Army, Navy, and Volunteers,” which was responded to by Lieutenant-colonel Wales.

Mr K. Ramsay, in proposing “ The Parliament of New Zealand,” said that one thing they must all regret was the great waste of time that seemed inseparable from the meeting of Parliament, and this, he thought, was a good deal due to the very large number of members, and of subjects to be discussed which would better be disposed of by local bodies,—(Hear), He was a firm believer in the Upper House, and in the useful service it had rendered to the Colony in the post, but thought that the number of members was too great by about one-half; and that there was a feeling abroad, moreWer, that the greatest wisdom had not at all times been exercised in selection,' As regarded the House of Representatives, ,

he thought its number was also too great—(hear, and dissent) —and might be reduced by 25 per cent. ; while perhaps an even greater evil was the number and smallof the ooiiitltnfnufo.. Willi lar^m-ov. htiUieiicfi’s we might gut elasq ol n■pivs.t.-ii-tatives wlu> would perhaps take a wider ami im.jiv statesmanlike view of the affairs of the Colony. At present they were taken up too much with what might be called purely local interests, as had been brought prominently forward in connection with the present vacancy for Port Chalmers. The gentleman whom that constituency delighted to honor was one in whom they all had the utmost confidence, and he would make a capital representative, but at the same time the requirements which the members of the constituency demanded of him were somewhat discreditable to them. They simply asked whether he would support this or that local thing, and Port Chalmers was unfortunately not the only sinner in this way, Mr \V. D. Stewart, M.H.R., in responding, said that no doubt the two besetting sins of Parliament were an extreme form of party government and an over-desire on the part of members to “orate.” As regarded the former, he had tried while in the House to consult the welfare of the State as distinct from mere party claims ; and as regarded the latter, one of the functions of a parliament as expressed by the word was to talk, and we had not yet reached the stage complained of by Edward Gibbon in the English Parliament. So far as the numerical strength of Parliament was concerned, the tendency of having a small number of representatives only was towards corruption, because every man’s vote was then worth so much more,—(Great laughter.) If there were only forty or fifty members, local interests would prevail more than at present. We had, he thought, a fairly representative body, and he knew of no member who was not entirely in earnest in promoting the best interests of the Colony. They were, speaking generally, free from all taint of anything improper, except, as Mr Ramsay had said, that the voting was influenced to a considerable extent by local interest?. He was in favor of wide electoral districts in a way ; but directly they got the Hare system, only a few men whose business it was to keep themselves prominently forward would be able to contest elections successfully. The dividing of such a City as Dunedin into four constituencies was, on the other hand, a mistake; but the good must be balanced against the evil. In conclusion, he expressed the opinion that tho present House would reflect credit upon any country in the world, and he could only hope that its successors would be equal to it. (Continued in inside pages.)