LORD NORMANBY'S FAREWELL TO WELLINGTON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5395, 3 March 1879, Page 6

LORD NORMANBY'S FAREWELL TO WELLINGTON.

[P£R "HEBALD" SPECIAL WIRE.] Wellington, Feb. 15. About 100 gentlemen attended the Gover- P nor's farewell levee to-day. 1' The City Council presented an address, s. to which His Excellency replied : —"Mr. a Mayor and Gentlemea, —I receive with p pleasure your address, and the assurance t you give me of your loyalty to her Majesty h the Queen. To one holding the office of t representative of Her Majesty in one of her t colonial possessions, there can be nothing a more gratifying than receiving, on the eve o of departure, assurances of respect and c esteem from the inhabitants of that colony, t have always, wherever I have had the o honour of representing Her Majesty, en- 1 deavoured to identify myself with the best c interests of the country, and promote, as far t as was in my power, the happiness and pros- i perity of the people. Since I landed in ' Wellington, I have seen your city nearly ' double in size, the character of buildings j altering from day to day, and there can be I no doubt that in a few years the city will * present a very different aspect from what it 1 did on my landing, and I doubt not that it 1 will increase from year to year in im- < portance and, I hope, in prosperity. Gentlemen, 1 shall ever cherish in my memory the , years that I have spent among you. I shall ever watch anxiously the progress of this great colony, and doubt not that my anxious hopes for its advancement will not be disappointed. In wishing you farewell, I can only assure you that I do so with sincere regret. My appointment to Victoria was not sought by me. It was offered unsolicited and unexpectedly, and I felt it was my duty at once to accept it; but I can assure you_ that I leavo New Zealand with sincere regret." An address was also presented from the Working Men's Club. In replying to it His Excellency said he was always pleased to encourage anything that tended to raise the status of ivorkiug men, and create an esprit de corps amongst them. He advised members of the Working Men's Club to be wholly independent of extraneous aid, aud. depend only on themselves. He did not deprecate extraneous aid when coming voluntarily, as it should come, but the club should be substantially self-supporting, aud the more the members depended on themselves and their own efforts the better it would be for the club. His Excellency added, that in no part of tho world could working men have such a grand chance of winning independence as iu this colony,—for here it was not the working men who had to seek employment, but it was the capitalists who had to seek employees. It must bo evident that under such circumstances any working man must be able, by liviDg soberly and industriously, to put himself in a position of comparative independence. Judge Johnson will swear tho Chief Justice in as Acting-Governor a3 soon as Lord Xormanbv is out of the colony. His commission'for Victoria has arrived by the mail to-night.