PRESENTATION TO MR W. CUNINGHAM SMITH.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10036, 30 April 1894, Page 4

PRESENTATION TO MR W. CUNINGHAM SMITH.

A presentation was made on Saturday last to ! Hr William Cu-uingham Smith, who is leaving Dunedin to fill tho office to which he has been recently appointed in Southland. The meeting took place at Bern's Terminus Hotel, Lower Rittray street, aud was attended by a largo number of citizens who had been invited to attend by the Committee of the Otago Agricultural and Pastor? I Society. The chair was taken by the president of the soeitty, Mr Patrick. Mr W. C. Smith occupied a seat to the right of tho chairman, Mr Brydona (an espresident) ono to the left, and the vice-chair wss filled by tho Hon. T. Fergus. Among thoso present wore Captain Boyd, Dr Drysdale, and Mesirs R. Todd, R. Gawn, R. Wilson, James Duthie, J. M. Ritchie, Sydney James, W. Emery, A. Henderson, J. S. Thomson, Keith Ramsay, J. Angus, D. Bacon, C. S. Owen, J. Shiel, A. Bartleman, W. L. Simpson, J. A. Johnstone, W. Stewart, A. Douglas, W. Moore, E. J. Spence, T. Callender, John Mill, K. B. Ferguson, J. Edgar, J, H. Morrison, P. R. Sargood, John Reid, A. M'Farlane, T. G. Young, J. T. Mackerrap, A. Todd, R. Chartar?, A. Bjthgafce, James Hislop, C. Kerr, and E. F. Duthie (secretary).

The Chaibman said that they were met to bid good-bye to Mr W. Cuningham Smith, and he was sure ho but expressed the feelings of all present and of all members of the society when ho said that it was with keen regret that they heard of their guest's intended departure. He (the chairman) felt personally greatly indebted to Mr Smith, for duriDg his term of offioe as chairmau Mr Smith had greatly lightened his duties by kind and generous advice, which had been of the greatest cssistanee, and others with whom that gentleman bad been brought into personal contact could also testify to tha same kindliness of spirit. Apologies for nonattendauce had b*en received from Mr M. Sinclair, Mr P. Pattulio, Mr J. F. Peake, aud Mr John Roberts.

Tho note sent by Mr John Roierts was reid, as follows:—

Dear Sir,—As I cannot be present to-morrow at the presentation to Mr Cuningham Smith, I will fcol obliged if you will kindly apologise for my absence. In Mr Smith's departure from Dune-Jin the O.A. and P. Association is losing one of its most ardent—indeed, I may say most enthusi-astic-supporters, and I fear we will not in a hurry fill his place. ICindly convey to Mr Smith my best wishes for his future welfare.

Mr T. Butdone said : Mr President and gentlemen,—lt seems to have fallen to my lot to perform a duty which I had hoped it would never have been my f jt3 to do—that is to propose the health of our dear ftiend Mr Cuuingham Smith on the eve of bis departure from Dunedin. But for the fact thafc he is leaving v? I should be only too pleasrd to drink his health every dny iv the week. Now that the stern reality has forced itself upon us that he is going away, I feel that a large portion of my pleasure in life depatti with him, as wo have been iv the habit of seeing oeo another several times a day for years past, and always on the most friendly t;rmu. I have known Mr Smith for about r. quait:-r of a ceniur>-, and during the last 20 j-fars we have been intimately associated in lusiness and friendship, and I cau truly sst that daring the whole course of my lifo I have never mit a truer friend in every sense cf the word. Eveiy one cf you kuows his nature— ursclfhh, straightforward, and geueroos to a degree—bufc if I were to ray all that ho deserves should bs ssid of him 1 would probably effend his sensitive nature, aud ion a'l know as well as I can toll you'what ho is." Whafc he hits dono for the Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Society without foe cr reward duriug all these years of monetary etiuj'gle that the society has come through is such as not one man "in a million would have or could hava <J-;r.e. I had a good deal to do with the initiation oE the society, ns you know, but its position b'cimo ho unpromising at one time that I and many others thought ifc would never pull through. Mr Smith, however, never lost courage, aad feeling that ia some, scrae as honorary treasurer he was responsible for its honour, he worked liken Trojan, and inch by inch overcame the almost insurmountable-difficulties, so that cow tho society has hxn steered by him iut i a haven of comparative safety. When Mr Cujingham Smith makes up bh mind to ran a Iking he puts his whole soul into it, aud does not koow the meaning of tho word faiiuro. There is no moral doubt whatever that to him the society owes its life, and any trtbuta wb can pay will fall far chort of oomjisnsating hira fur the tuiouus of work he h»3 doite for it. I know that his shoes will nev«r ba filled, but ho ha 3 ehown an example which I hop-i others will emulat?, and ro keep V/.o society in the prosperous position to wbich he has brought it. In cor-nec'iou with tho frozen' rata1; trade and as gent-rat manager of the N*w Zealand Refrigerating Compauy, Mr Smith ha* made himself a name second to none in tho Australasian colonies. Or this the appointment which, ucfo.luiiattly for vi, he is now aboufc to occupy, is projf; but what i 3 Otago's loss will be Southland's gain. We cannot allow Mr Smith to dcpirfc without expressing our recognition of the great amount of benefit ho has rendered the pisloral interests of the country by his advocacy of the redaction of freights and London charges, aDd in His care taken to ship only first-class mutton, carefully kill-.-d aud thoroughly frozen, that our Otogo shipmtnts might make and keep a first-class name in the Home market). All who havo come in contact with Mr Smith in connection with freezing matters can testify to hi 3 ability in that rcspec', and now that he has seen it wiso to remove to another sphere we have the greatest coi;fidenc2 in predicting that he will csrry with him the success which has atteuded him hero. I will now only refer ta a matter of a more delicito nature whicb you all know of—that of his taking unto himself a wife. When I w.13 a youug man I had Btrong iiiteutioni of getting married, bat as I got older those intentions gradually g;>t weaker. Mr Smith's mind must have been differently cast, for when" I knew him ns a youcg rasn I doa'i thiuk he had any fancy for the girls afc all; but now, later in life, ho has giveu us proof positive that he does like the ladies. A post says that

All other gooda by Fortune's haniis are given j A svife is the peculiar gift of Heaven.

And surely in this iastaL.ca the paefc ia right. We wish Mr and Mm Cuniughom. Smith m'sny years of happitess. Gentlemen, I have oniy to say further that I shall miss Mr Smith's ompanior.ship co much that I hardly dare contcmpUte the conseejacECJ?, end any day you may bear of my having done sototithiug yery, very foolish for au old man. You know same complaints are veiy catching. We shall all mi-s him, whether married or single, and if the day should ever come, as we hopo it may, that Providence should send Litu back again, he cau depend upon getting a very warm w;-lo;me.~ (Applause) Tito Ciiaihman: It is my pleasing duty, Mr Smith, to present jou wiih tho address which has been prepared on behalf of ths Otago Agricultural and P.ister.d Society, I call upon the secretaty to read iii, Mr E. P. Dutiiik read the following i — W. Cuningham Smith, TC.-q. Dear Sir,—Ou holm!/ of the members of lhe Otngo Agricultural and Pastoral Society, wo desire to express our siucere regret that your dtpu'ture from Dnnedin has necessitated your resignation of tho offices of hon. trea&urcraud member of the committee of our society. Wo cannot adequately express our appreciation of the many valuable services rendered by you in furthering tho iuterest] of the society, and our admiration of your energy aud perseverance in safely piloting iho society through its many difficulties. We therefore take this opportunity of presenting you with tbis address as a flight acknowledgment of your long services to tho society, and of rccordit g our many thanks for tbe time devoted ami tbe valuable advice given at all times to lhe commiltfo during the IS yejrs of our co-operation. Sincerely trusting that every success will attend ynu in the future, wo subscribe ourselves yours faithfullr,

Wji. Patrick, president Pat. Pattullo, vice-president Jno Angus, hon. treasurer I'D. F. Du-uue, secretary. 28th April IS'li. The Chairmav .- I have also to present you, Mr Smith, ou behalf of the society aud many friends with this casket as n memorial of good will. It contains 200gs. I wish you prosperity in your new sphere.—(Applause ) The health of the guest was then drunk with I musical honours. Mr Sydney Jam -s said that having worked with Mr Cuningham Smith for a number of years, ho should like to be allowed to say that he had never met with a kinder or more gentlemanly man in all his offices. He (Mr James) was not one to say of any person who was leaving that he could not be replaced; bnt this he would say, because ho felt justified in doing so, that in Mr Cnningham Smith the society had had a gentleman possessing the greatest amount of administrative ability—a quality which he had displayed throughout the whole of his career with the society. He (Mr James) had

had also to personally acknowledge many kindnesses at the hands of the gentleman who was about to leave.

JMr J. M. Ritchie, as one of the oldest friends of Mr Cuuingham Smith in the room, desired to add a w?rd or two to what had been said. He was not given to flattery, bufc could say that he did cot think that anything said afc the table to day could fairly be placed in that category. Mr Smith had many good qualities in a superlative degree, and these endeared him to all who knew him.

Mr C. S. Owen rose to thank Mr Smith publicly for the kindness shown to him when he came as a stranger to the colony. Mr Cuningiiaji Smith was greeted with loud applause as he rose to reply. He said : Mr President^ and gentlemen,—Words utterly fail mo in trying to convey to you the sense of utter unworthiness I feel to be the recipient of all the kind things said of me by Mr Brydone, Mr Ritchie, Mr James, Mr Owen, and others. The testimonial you have presented to me is far too mnch for what I have dona for tha society. It has been a labour of love to me to work for the society. But you must not give me the whole of the credit for pulling it through, because in what has been done I havo b^en associated with Mr Brydone, Mr Roberts, Mr James, and others —with more than I can now tell, of—who have all helped to build the society up. It is exceedingly satisfactory to find that wo have succeeded, and that tha society is now in as good a position as most of the similar societies in tho colony.—(Applause.) When we met in 1876 Dunedin -was not connected with the outside world by rail, and we had to ] content ourselves with a small fat-stock show. Looking now at our ground at Tahuna Park—a ground which for show purposes would be second to none in the colouy if a little more money wero spent on it in tho way of stands and oue or two small improvements,—and looking also at the good the society ha 3 done to the farmers in such ways as getting a stud book for sheep and agitating for other things that aro regarded as of benefit to an agricultural and pastoral community—looking at these thiogs we may well b3 proud of .the position tho society has taken. It must never be forgotten that this society is the mouthpiece of the farmers oil Otago. At the brginning of it 3 history tha farmers did not seem to gsnerally realise that possibility. Thoy were rather iifclined to bang back. They had an idea that the whole object of the society was to hold one show in the year, and that when that was over there was nothing more to bo dona till the show came round again in the ' following year. That notion was a great mistake, as was now generally admitted. The society meets once a month; at these meetings all sorts of matters affecting the interests of farmers are discussed; and now, I am pleased to say, the farmers, seeing the good that is done, are coming in more and more, ntren>thening the society and working for it heartily.—(Applause.) I see around me here some who come regularly every month to these meetings, and help a good deal by their attendance. Mr Charters is one. He, I think, ha 3 not missed one meeting of the society since he was able to gefc about after the illness which laid bim up. I cannot undertake the task of enumerating all tho gentlemen who have assisted in bringing about the delightful state of affairs which wo can now speak of; but there are many of them, and really it is too bad to give me all the credit. Without such backing up as the society has received no mau could have done what little I have bsen privileged to participate in accomplishing. Gentlemen, lam not a good hand at speaking, and my feelings will uot allow me to say any more. I must, however, repeat that I think this testimonial 13 too gcod. I have, also, in concluding, to thank Mr Brydone for the kindly way in which he has spoken of my wife. I sincerely trust that tha prophecy he has' uttered will turn out to ba true, that he will follow my example, aud come to the conclusion that in this as in other respscts the maxim " Better late than nover " is a sound one.—(Loud and continued applause.)

The Han. T. Fergus rose to prop:se a toast which the company would, he was sure, be glad to honour. There must be no heel-taps. Bnt before giving thotoasb he desired to say a word or two on the subject of the meeting. When he was coming along the street he met a man from the south, who said to him it was a sign of tad times in Duuedin when tho city was losing her best man. He (Mr Fergus) replied thafc_ he for one did nofc tegrudge a good men to aid iv developing the resources of the soutb, but all the samo ha felt regret at being called on to part from Mr Cuningham Smith. Those prestnfc would agree with him (the speaker) that the more tho south went ahead tha bitter it would bo for Dunedin.—(Applause). The Daucdin people were n.c so small-minded as to say that tho prosperity of one part of the colony was likely to bs detrimental to other parts. There was no dcubfc that the industry which Mr Smith was 'going down ta-louk after would provo prosperous, aud we wero rejoicid to think so.—(Applause.) Ho had to proposa the health of their worthy prcsideut, who iv se*roa acd out cf sea-ion alwajs devoted himself to pushing oa the interests o. the sacitty.—(Applause,) Tho toa?t waa drunk with enthusiasm; and Mr Patrick haviag briefly replied, tho meeting terminated,