A FRIEND AT COURT.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 24 June 1925, Page 4

A FRIEND AT COURT.

It is carrions, and yet not ou.nious .at all, that the regard of New Zealanders for their late Governor-General should be tat lea«b equalled hv the enthusiasm displaced by Lord and Lady Jellieoe for the Dominion and its people. Some Governors' —some GovemorsGeneral, there is no need to beat about the bush—have sailed from New Zealand with a kind, of thank-goodness-that's-over air. Usually they have been gentlemen of ancient family who, hut for that, would have been most ordinary citizens; and the Dominion, breathing a sigh which may have been of relief, liras promptly forgotten them. Lord Jellieoe’is claim to greatness did not rest on the shadowy distinction of some remote ancestor, and from tho moment of his appointment. New Zealanders were sensible of the honour conferred upon them, both by the King and the British Government in making the selection, and by the great sailor himself in accepting office. His five years here passed a,lll too quickly, and there was genuine regret on both sides that a further term was not possible. But, in losing a GovernorGeneral, New Zealand discovered that

she had made a true friend. Some of our previous vice-regal representatives, on their return to, the Old Country, distinguished themselves by nothing beyond the icy silence they preserved concerning their stay amongst us. Their period overseas —possibly to them a period of exile—seemed to be something they would rather not mention, something of a blot on a noble escutcheon. It is refreshing, therefore, to find a really outstanding man like Lord Jellicoe esteeming iff an honour to have been associated with New Zealand, and seizing every available opportunity to urge its claims oil the emigrant and the tourist. This country bias had no more consistent advocate in Britain over the past few months than the ex-Governor-General, and it .its impossible to overlook the effect on the English mind of the glowing words of one. who is both a belted earl land a famous admiral. Also, in view of the service which we see may be rendered by past Governor, s-General, it is pleasing to find that the Scottish soldier who has succeeded the English sailor as King’s representative in the Dominion is already winning golden opinions for the kindly practical interest he is taking in New Zealand and its people.