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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4190, 25 August 1874, Page 2

The intelligence that Hia Excellency the Governor, Sir James Fergusson, has resigned hia position, will be received with regret by many persons in this Colony. Sir James, it will be recollected, %vas a captain of the Grenadier Guards in 1854, and after winning his laurels on the blood-stained heights of the Alma, left the army in 1855. He represented the County of Ayr in the Imperial Parliament from December, 1854, until April, 1859, and from October, 1859, to 1868. From ■Tune, 1866, to July, 1867, he was UnderSecretary for India, and from July, 1867, till August, 1868, he was Under-Secretary for the Home Department. Then he was. appointed Governor of South Australia, and was sworn in a member of the Privy Council. From this it will be seen that in the opinion of the leaders of his party at Home, he was qualified, to hold high office. That he should have elected to send in his resignation as Governor of this Colony is* not altogether a surprise to those who have studied the course of politics. The Conservatives have, on more than one occasion, been compelled to put men into office who would not compare in ability with Sir James Fergusson. Mr. G. Ward Hunt, once Chancellor of the Exchequer, and now First Lord of the Admiralty, is an instance of this. As Governor of South Australia Sir James incurred the dislike of the " tinpot " politicians of that Colony, but he was held in high estimation by all classes who were fitted by education, experience, or birth, to appreciate a statesman, nobly born, when they saw him. s There the scope was too Bmall for him. Although it was open to him, in his high position, to encourage and advocate public works of a most valuable description, such as the telegraph line across the Colony, he must have felt himself powerless to accomplish much that he willingly would. Private works of a charitable character, calculated to advance the interests of the community, found in him a generous and willing advocate. When ho left, in two speeches he made, tho one at a dinner in celebration of tho opening of the Transcontinental Telegraph Line, and the other at a banquet given in his honor—speeches which were reprinted in every newspaper of note in Australia and New Zealand—he acquired, a reputation that time could not efface, and that I gained him the estimation of many who had been in the habit of speaking against him. Beforo his arrival here ho had expressed his opinion of the grand scheme of public works in process of accomplishment in this Colony. He admired it as being not ono composed of isolated features, but as being integral. That he should leave tho Colony so soon after coming to it is a matter for the regret of intelligent persons. Hitherto he has been principally occupied in making himself acquainted with our complicated political institutions and the natural features of New Zealand. Doubtless, in process of time, his riper experience would liavo been of immense value.' Also, he would, in social circles, have exorted an influence that could not but bo boneficial. That he pi-eforred New Zealand to any Colony in tho Australasian group is pretty woll understood; and it is simply a matter of public notoriety that lie has opouly expressed his high approbation of the great schemes of the Pre-

mier for rendering New Zealand the Greater Britain of the South. He leaves the Colony with regret, tempered by the consideration that he Will, an all probability, be able, whilst in high office at Home, to use his energies for its advancement, to a greater extent than at the present time. The exigencies of parties must be considered ; and it may well be understood that if the Conservatives, who have, in all probability, a long lease of power before them, require the services of Sir James iTergusson, he would consider it his duty to obey a summons, even if indirectly conveyed.