OUR NEW GOVERNOR.

Marlborough Express, Volume XIV, Issue 1120, 29 March 1879, Page 7

OUR NEW GOVERNOR.

fc Agriculturalists should feel pleased at the 3 selection made of a successor to the Marquis of 5 Normanby as Governor of New Zealand. Sir . Hercules Robinson, during his extended residence in New South Wales, has displayed a larger and more lasting amount of interest in “ the agricultural welfare of the Colony than any ’ other man who has ever represeneed her Majesty 5 in the Colonies. To his countenance and support may be attributed much of the undoubted ; success which has been achieved by that power- : ful organisation, the Agricultural Society of New South Wa’es. It was true that the Mar--1 quis of Normanby was a professed admirer of * agricultural Shows, and a very good judge of stock ; but the countenance accorded by him to agricultural societies was of that passive nature which, though pleasing at the time, carries with it no lasting effects. Sir Hercules Robinson, on ’ the contrary, has shown that he is capable of taking an active share in the work at pertaining • to the successful carrying on of agricultural Shows. If we are not greatly mistake n, he was one of the promoters of the proposal to hold an , Exhibition in Sydney this year on an elaborate scale, which proposal culminated in the Government of the Colony taking the matter up earnestly, with the result that an International Exhibition is to he held instead, and that the eves of the world are directed to the sister Colony. Sir Hercules, if not the originator of the idea, at any rate presided over the meeting at which the proposal was adopted, and has aided materially in pushing the matter to a successful issue. New Zealand is esscdially an agricultural country, and Sir Hercules Robinson is just the stamp of man best suited to preside over its destinies. Hitherto the farming industry has not received that amou >t of encouragment and support from either the Parliament or Government of the country that it is entiiled to expect; but with the advent of a Governor willing and capable of taking an active part in all that tends to improve the agriculture of the country, we mav fairly look for a change. But Sir Hercules Robinson possesses many other qualifications of a personal character calculated to make his advent to this Colony a matter for rejoicing. He is an ardent sportsman, and a lover of all those out-door exercises which tend to make the rising generation capable of undergoing the toil and tr-uhle incidental to colonial life, instead of frail dandies fitted only for exhibition in the ball-room or the carpeted saloon. By his active participat on in horseracing, Sir Hercules has done much to putd wn. in New South Wales, that swindling which seems to be inseparable from our race courses By his example, many honorable men have been induced to become owners of race-horses, and to take an active interest in racing matters for the sake of the sport it affinals.—Exchange.