PRESENTATION OF THE MACANDREW TESTIMONIAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 388, 21 July 1877, Page 2

PRESENTATION OF THE MACANDREW TESTIMONIAL.

(By Telegraph.) Dunedin, July 20,

Mr Macandrew was last night presented with a purse of 1500 sovereigns at a public meeting at the Princese Theatre. Five hundred persons were present, including all the leading citizens. Mr Reeves (Mayor) presided. In making the presentation, he said that more subscription lists were yet to come in, which would increase the amount considerably. He also made a long speech in which he stated that it had been decided thai politics were to be left out of the affair altogether. He reviewed the life f Me Macandrew since he first setted L-.re, and said he had gained the esteem of all his fellow-citizens. The Superintendents of Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch had received presentations, but this was the mo=+ MHoandrew had been identified with the colony for 25 years, and had always assisted its progress. The Public Works and Immigration scheme originated in his fertile brain, and most of the public institutions in Otago were mooted by him. He had always been actuacted by the highest motives, and his name would be handed down to posterity as a household word in the history of Otago. Mr. Macandrew, in replying, expressed his thanks for the great honor done by his fellow citizens. He said the testimonial was not of his seeking, but he was rather averse to it. Still he was proud indeed to roceive it, not for its intrinsic worth (though a small fortune in itself) but as a token of the appreciation of his public service, which pervaded the minds of the community. He believed a greater honor had not been conferred on any other man in New Zealand, and he hoped he would prove worthy of it, and shape his conduct in the future so as not to belie the action of those who presented it. It was now 30 years since he had the honor to take part in the affairs of the Otago Association, under whose auspices this settlement was first formed, and 26 years since he showed i his confidence in its future by casting in his lot with the pioneers of the early settlement. Since then he had devoted himself to public life, and was proud to see that the young sapling his hand had planted was growing up into a stately oak, under whose branches many families had emerged from comparative poverty into affluence, independence, and wealth. He might be pardoned in saying the Mayor was right in saying no one had taken a more active part than he had in the early days, and it would have been better for him if he had attended less to public affairs and more to his own, he would have been richer. However, that was not to be, and he consoled himself with saying, " whatever is, is best." He commented on Parliamentary duties in the early days taking people from business. For a long time it took six weeks to go to Auckland, and they generally found the shortest way back was via Sydney and Melbourne. Nothing was more gratifying to a public spirited man than the consciousness that he had endeavoured to do his duty. He had left some footprints on the sands of time, and had acquired the good opinion of his fellow citizens. He had experienced feelings often (and never more so than now) : that he had been guilty of the sins of omission and commission, but who had not ? But he had never made use of his high official position for nepotism, or for the gratification of avarice. He had ' not a single relation or connection in the public service of the Colony. He had retired from the chief magistracy of the 1 Province considerably poorer than he ' entered it, and that was poor enough. It ' was hard to address an audience at <

length without going into politics. He, along with the Province of Otago, bad been snuffed out, and he would not/bivo the same power now to serve the Province. Ho had, however, the satisfaction of knowing that he was not snuffed out by the desire of the people of the Province, a large majority being against it. He was not going to the House as one of their representatives with less heart and Icbs hope than he had ever gone there before. Ho was no prophet of evil, but could not help feeling that they had fallen upon evil times, and that Otago's geometrical progression would not be as great in the future as it ought to be. He hoped he would be mistaken, and he would earnestly assist, and, and devise measures for developing the resources of this great province. Otago did not want anything at the expense of the rest of the colony, still it did not wish to be the milch cow of the colony. It merely wished a fair field and no favor. If only permitted she could intersect the whole of her province with railways, without any external aid whatever. He hoped the different communities would abandon the wretched narrow-minded jealousies, and that honorable rivalry and public spirit would be diffused through |the rising generation, instead of the political indifference, whose bitter fruits were not all tasted. Ho hoped all would realise what was due to their adopted country, themselves, and their children, and that the watchword of Otago would be as in the past, the greatest happiness for the greatest number. He thanked them again for the honor conferred, but could not find language to adequately express his feelings. Mr. Macandrew was repeatedly interrupted by cheers and enthusiasm.