TRIBUTES TO SERVICES

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 22 February 1935, Page 8

TRIBUTES TO SERVICES

LOUD AND LADY BLEDISLOE. .AFFECTION AND GRATITUDE. fßy Telegraph —TTcbb Association.) ROTORUA, Feb. 21. Tribute to the great services which Lord and Lady Bledisloe have rendered New Zealand during the GovernorGeneral’s term of office was paid by Mr. O. W. Earle, president of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association at the annual meeting at Rotorua to-day. “Within the next few weeks the present occupant of the Vice-Regal office in the Dominion, Lord Bledisloe, with Her Excellency, Lady Bledisloe, will leave New Zealand to return to Brir tain,” said Mr. Earle. “All classes of the community have recognised and in most cases have placed on record their recognition and their appreciation of the great services which Lord and Lady Bledisloe have rendered this country during the years they have been here with us.

“It is fitting that this annual conference representing the newspapers and Press of the Dominion should seize the opportunity to make acknowledgment of the manifold service which Their Excellencies have so ungrudgingly rendered and to express the sense of personal as well as public loss which their impending departure inspires. “It is impossible adequately to measure the value to this country of the active part they have taken in its life and affairs during the period of economic depression which unfortunately has marked their sojourn amongst us. Tt can be said, however, that it would be difficult to find any worthy sphere of activity associated with the daily life and welfare of the people in which they have not interested themselves with beneficial results.

“With practical advice drawn from a vast fund of experience, wise counsel and inspiring example, Lord Bledislne has unsparingly devoted his time and energy and constantly sacrificed what should have been liis personal leisure in his ready desire to serve and assist us in our time of stress and difficulty. He has had a wonderful helpmate in Lady Bledisloe, whose sympathetic interest in the well-being of the women and children of Now Zealand, charming personality and generous-hearted practical help and guidance have endeared her to all. We shall part with them with feelings of affection, respect and gratitude.”