LORD RANFURLY'S HOME-COMING.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXII, Issue 13575, 22 October 1904, Page 10

LORD RANFURLY'S HOME-COMING.

arrival IN dungannon. [FkOII OtJR COBRESrOXDEST.J 1 : : LONDON, September 16. The Earl of Eanfurly returned to h;s , IrLh home. Northianc. Dw,canuon. oa Tuesday, after an absence 01 The hour of hi-' am™ l Sr °f " 0TI "f uncertain, and therefore only au nvtor..-ai reception wan accorded min. at_ i railway station. The nwe town was. however, prettily crowds of people waited tlie arrival m-o lordship’s coming. V -::u Lena stepped on to the platform at the • looking the picture of health hewas gioctUtly a number of prominent local ivsice.t.s. , including several officers of _tne Garrison Artillery- Entering his carnage nr- oro*. *,t once to Northland House, loilo.-.et.- h the hearty cheers of the. large gaLicrnig Bide tie station. His Icrdsnip corriai.j acknowledged the warm welcome oi ms fellow-townsmen. ”He has, ’ snvs a -£ e? * scribe, “ evidently lost nothing in New Zealand of the pleasant frankness which ever distinguished him at Homs. - Lnc.v Eanfurlv did. not accompany her husband, navinc cone with-the other members of the family to visit friends in Scotland’ for a, few days. , A number of pressmen cailea on Loiv Eanfurly at Northland House in search of “copy,” and his lordship good-naturedly gave them a sort of general interview, lie eadd that ho believed that there was a great future for the colony of New Zealand. The .people were for the most part a fine type, of colonial, with any amount- of energy and perseverance and fired-with, a spirit- of enthusiastic loyalty, a This, he added . w.i* tmraistakably ->thown- in the South Airican war. Not-only-had; the New Zealanders volunteered! to: tie number of 6,400. but- at--Jeest 4000 more found- their way to the seat of war; paying their own expenses. Discussing the fiscal; question, he mentioned that a- BUI ha-dr received the royal assent - last year granting preferential trade between the Empire and New Zealand. The Bill gave a percentage to certain nitides only, andrwae really a temporary measure, but its scope would be extended when there was free, trade 'or anything approaching it throughout tie Empire, ft-‘must be clearly . understood that- free trade withirty, the Empire, as far as'the-colonies were concerned, could never ajnean ■ the free admission of goods, because for fiscal purposes they must have funds to carry on the Government. . The Bill-was properly described as a pref- ferential BEI, and at the. present time was conceding an advantage- of about £60,000 a year to the Empire ait a: whole, an amount which in tie course of time would he materially increased. He considered 1 that tie ' country was capable of tremendous development. The life of a Governor of New Zealand, according to Lord Eanfurly, is anything but an easy one. His average annual journey was 3000 miles by s-?a and almost 6000 miles by land. His lordship went on to describe the principal events of his term of office, which are too well-known to need repetition in a- New Zealand journal. Speaking of his -return journey via the United States, he referred to tie kindness shown to him bv the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, whose New York branch feted him prior to his departure for England'. He crossed the Atlantic in the Oceanic, as he always preferred a Harland and Wolff, Belfast-built ship, and arrived at Liverpool on 31st nit. His lordship, in concluding, stated that people generally but little realised! the extent of New- Zealand.' Th-ei islands were 1100 miles long, -and aGovernor’s life was anything bur- an easy one. He had always any amount- of work to do. . Lord' Eanfurly intends remaining at Dungannon for the autumn. Addresses of welcome were presented to Lord Eanfurly at Dungannon, on Wednesday, by the urban Council and the vestry of the town. ’ . ' Lord Eanfurly. in reply, assured them that the'happiest day of the last seven years to him had been the day when lie arrived back home. The years he had, spent abroad were busy years, and during those years ho had met in nearly every .part of New Zealand Irishmen who were doing well. Regarding Ids action -during the South African war, he said that ir was not necessary to arouse loyalty. All the people living in New Zealand called the British Isles the “■Mother Country,” and took the deepest interest in its welfare. When it cam? to a call to arms, the difficulty was not- to get tha men to come forward, but to make a selection from them. Many had a grievance that they .were -refused, and this at one time seemed almost likely to be a cause of trouble, go eager were they to do ; their duty for their sovereign and country. Of these a large- number found their way to South Africa, and joined any regiment or contingent that would accept their services. , ttuey did not go for the sake of pay ; they went to do their duty. (Cheers.) His term; ■ of office, an easy one in many respects, had been in many other ways exceedingly arduous, on account of the vast amount of work to do. But there was one gratifying feature, and that was that the country bad been prosperous. That had helped things to go smoothly. When he landed in New Zealand the country was just- getting prosperous-alter bad times; and as each year followed the other tha prosperity ad- • vanced, until last year the Budget of the colony had a surplus. of something like £400,000, which was always a good sign. It was:-supposed.in this country that the colonies-went in for a-“borrow and bust” policy; but such was not the case. When the people said that New Zealand owed close upon 60 millions' sterling that was put down as a terrible debt, but tllay forgot to smbstract 20 millions or more- invested in railways; bof which 2400 milts had been constructed. -. They also forgot that those railways were paving, and that they could pay a much-larger interest- if the Government would allow 'them to do so. The policy of , theg colonial . 'Government there had been-invariably that- when the railways and other ’Government institutions paid a. certain percentage,they tuould give back to the people yany .reductions possible in way of fares; and charge of merchandise. ■He had that- by doing so they were going toy rum themselves ; but the result had: been: larger financial returns in spite of these reductions, because by encouraging trade they bad' been able to improve and increase it. No doubt the question of the day was the- fiscal question. It had been shown that -New Zealand welcomed an exchange of hands w.th the Mother Country, and wished to trade within the Empire by the passing of the Preferential Trade Act last- quarter. On behalf of .Lady Eanfurly, he ackaowhdged their courteous reference to hsr service, and assured: them that his work would have been ■of very little effect without her valuable assistance. ■ Bonfires were burned in the squares and the principal streets, and local bands . paraded in honour of Lord Ramurly’s return.