REMINISCENCES.

Evening Star, Issue 111556, 15 February 1900, Page 3

REMINISCENCES.

m TO TUG EDITOR. Sir, —The events occurring in South Africa to-day strongly remind me of sometiling that Lird Jehu Russell’SiGoverameut wanted to do. During the reign of this Government Sir Henry Huntley was Governor of Sierra Leone, and the Government wished to annex all that territory from the north part of tho Bight of Benin to Table Lay. They submitted their proposals to Sir Henry for approval, and asked for a favorable report. Sir IT. Huntley was then the bast living authority on the Gold Coast question, and he stood boldly out against it, and wrote a pamphlet on tho subject setting forth that the country was not fit for white men to live in, and that the mortality from yellow fever would render the country untenable by Europeans. This pamphlet touched the hearts of the sentimental part of tho British electors, and at too first general election tho Ruescil Government were defeated. It may be news to your readers that Sir Henry Huntley was the lieutenant that escorted Napoleon to St, Helena. Sir Henry had been relieved from the Governorship of Sierra Leone before the election. Years afterwards ho obtained the Governorship of the Isle of St. V iucent, and later was Governor of Prince Edward Island, now a part of the New Dominion. I was ou board the' Devastation at this time, and coxswain of the gig that Sir Henry on board and landed him. Years afterwards, on mv first visit to Santos as master of an English ship, Sir Henry was the British Consul there on post captain’s pay. It was ou this voyage that the writer shipped the first cotton (thirty-two hags) that wan exported from the 1 rovince of St. Paulo. We landed our cargo of coffee at Berner Haven, and had to warehouse the cotton, failing to get an endorsement otherwise. On my next visit, the following year, I found that Sir Henry had died iu the interval, and the gentleman who had taken his place died while my ship was loading. At the burial the American Consul told me that the grave was in the same plice as Sir Henry Huntley’s. I oauuot help thinking that if SiF H. Huntley had had as much foresight as Lord John Russell t lds war would nos have been. Thanking you in anticipation—l am, etc., Thos. H. Hodge. Port Chalmers, February 13.