THE UNVEILING OF CAPTAIN COOK'S STATUE IN SYDNEY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5396, 4 March 1879, Page 2

THE UNVEILING OF CAPTAIN COOK'S STATUE IN SYDNEY.

[PER THE ' WHAKATIPtJ ' AT WELLINGTON.] Sydney, February 2S. The unveiling of the statue of Captain Cook was completed ou the 25th. The ceremony was altogether worthy of the occasion. The scene was most magnificent. A holiday was generally observed, and the city was decorated wita flags. The procession, composed of the whole strength of Naval, Military, aud Volunteer forces, and large bodies of the friendly societies, wended its way through the streets. The windows and balconies were crowded with spectators. Arrived at the ground, the members of the societies marched into the portion of Hyde Park fenced off on the northern side, and the other members of the procession wearing uniform defiled into the enclosure on the southern side. A choir, composed principally of children, was in front of the canopy erected for the Governor, Lady Robinson, and other distinguished personages. The spectacle, was grand, and will long be remembered, — tho mass of human faces extending as far as Woolloomoolloo-street in one direction, and over a greater part of the northern portion of Hyde Park in another. The handsome banners of various friendly aud other societies, innumerable bannerettes, moving in the air, formed a sight long to be recollected. Eighty thousand people were present. At half-pa9t four the Governor arrived, and was cheered. He spoke half-an-hour, principally on the history of Captain Cook. He said he was glad to perform the ceremony before taking his departure. Near the close of the speech he said : "Great as has been the progress of Australia in the last hundred years, it is, I believe, as nothing compared with what we may look for in the future. The resources of the country are almost boundless, and its capacity for expansion practically unlimited. At the next centenary of Captain Cook's discovery the population will probably not be less than forty millions. Such a prospect is dazzling, but sometimes gives rise to reflections not altogether free from anxiety. 11 is impossible for any thoughtful mind to contemplate the future without perceiving there are difficulties to be encountered which will tax all your wisdom, prudence, and fairness to surmount. You have established parliamentary government, a machine of most exquisite delicacy, which can be made a permanent success. With a Legislature fouuded upon strict principles of popular representation, and the checks and safe guards of our mixed and nicely-balanced Constitution, it can withstand tho preponderating influence and encroaching tendency of universal suffrage." At the close of the specch the statue was unveiled amid much cheeriDg.