SIR GEORGE GREY MEMORIAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11329, 24 January 1899, Page 3

SIR GEORGE GREY MEMORIAL

PUBLIC MEETING OF CITIZENS.

A public meeting convened by his Worship the Mayor was held in the Town Hall last evening for the purpose ot considering the proposal of establishing a memorial to the late Sit- George Grey. The Mayor presided, and amongst those present were Mrs J. C. 'Brown, Miss Eees, the Hon. AY. M. Bolt, M.L.0., Messrs M. J. S. Mackenzie. M.H.R., W. Barron, Geo. Penwick, W. Hutchison, R. Watson, W. A. W. Watheu, G. L. Denniston, W. Belcher, A. R. Barclay, W Sutherland, John Gore, T. Warren, T Jenkins (secretary Natives' Association, Dunedin Centre), R. Clark, M. Hunt, P H. Campbell, J. Munro, and J. Haig, and Dr Chappie (of Wellington). Letters of apology were received from Mr A. C. Hanlon (president Natives' Association, Dunedin Centre), Messrs T. K. Sidey, and James Smith (vice-presidents of the same association), and E. Withers (vice-pre-sident of the Council of the New Zealand

Natives' Association). The Mayor said: " Gentlemen, —On the 9th inst. a deputation waited upon me with the request that I would take in hand the matter or devising ■ways and means of establishing some memorial in recognition of the many public services of the late Sir George Grey to the

colony With that object in view, I sent out invitations to some 120 gentlemen whom I thought would be willing to take an active part in this matter, to talk over the best method of bringing the project before the public so that it may proceed to a successful issue, and they resolved, at a meeting iieid last Wednesday, to call a public meeting of the citizens. Hence our meeting here to-day. It will not be necessary for me to enter into anything like a biography of the late Sir George Grey, as the main facts of Ms life and labours will be fresh in the minds of you all, but I may be permitted to refresh your memories with the following brief particulars. Sir George Grey, after serving his Queen and country faithfully and with conspicuous success in the army, in South Africa, in Western Australia, and in South Australia, was appointed Governor of New Zealand in 1545. He arrived in the colony in.the month of November of that year, shortly after the outbreak of a Maori rebellion, which, by bis prompt decisive action, he was successful in quelling. After eight years' service as Governor, he left the colony on leave in 1853, and the following year he was transferred to another colony. In 1861. when Native troubles had again

arisen, Sii George was re-appointed Governor of our country, and held office this time for six years, until recalled in 1667. During this period the Maori war was still going on to a more oi less degree, After a visit to the Home country, Sir George settled in New Zealand, making his home in the beau; tiful island of Kawau, and in 1875 was' elected a member of the House of Representatives, ia which he held a seat for 15 years, until 1890. From 1877 to 1879 he held_ office as Premier. This brief summary of his services shows a record fat above that of any other public man in the colony. His 14----years* as Governor and 15 years as member of Parliament, two of which saw him Premier, indicate in themselves that his services ■were freely placed at the disposal and for the welfare of the colony. I need not dwell on • the value of those services. Other speakere will doubtless say a word or two on that point, but I would like to specially mention that SL George Grey was one of those, statesmen who led, and whose place was in the forefront of the mardh of progress—at times seemed to be far too much ahead. Measures introduced by him into Parliament, such as "Manhood Suffrage," "Triennial Parliaments," and others were at the moment of such advanced ideas as to meet with failure, but only for the time being, as their promoter had the satisfaction of seeing most of them placed upon the Statute Book and accepted by the people at large, as being devised for the true3t benefit of the colony generally and the welfare of its inhabitants. Gentlemen, with these : few ■words, I have now to ask your kindly assistance in discussing and promoting the object of this meeting with a view to estab: lishing in New Zealand a memorial worthy of the willing and loving services so freely given to it by the late Sir George Grey.— (Armlause.). The Mayor then mentioned that a letter had been received from Miss Lily Rees, one i of the authors of the book "Sir George Grey and his Times," and requested the acting town clerk to read this communication. The letter was read, and was as follows: . Dunedin, January 21. To his Worship" the Mayor. Sir, —I was delighted to read of the proposal to provide a memorial to Sir George Grey. It is an undertaking m which all who benefited by nis untiring efforts for the advancement and well-being of the colony should join. It is also the duty of all who felt the*noble influence of his .life io^do what they, can to extend that influence, while it is the privilege of all who knew and loved the man himself to help in the attempt to connect his name with the establishment o£ some useful memorial, arid to keep his memory alive in our midst. At the same time it would be worse than useless to attempt to^ erect any monument proportionate to the debt of gratitude we owe him. Sir George himself would have been, most averse to the expenditure of a large sum of money on what might be called a " dead" memorial; ■ while, on the r other hand, •he would have rejoiced in the thought that his name would be inseparably linked with some useful institution, voluntarily established T>y us with the two-fold object of " being an enduring tribute of respect and gratitude to a great man, and also<a living power for good—a perpetual source of help and comfort to the needy or the sorrowful. ■ It seems to me that Sir George Grey's own character and sympathies should be taken into consideration in determining what form our tribute to his memory shall take. If we set some definite object before vs —one that is not too great in its proportions—we are more likely to attain to it than if we attempt too great and visionary a task. I should, therefore, like. to see the people of Dunedin interest themselves actively in- the establishment of some small local institution—something, if possible, in connection with children, for whom Sir George's heart was always overflowing with tenderness. My suggestion would be.-the endowment of a child's cot in the hospital. Ido not know whether such a thing is ever done out here, or whether it would be. opposed to custom or rules. In England, of course, it is quite a common thing. .1 do not suppose the cost would be very great—ibo work would be useful in itself,—and many a Wile sufferer might have reason to thank God that a good and great man once lived among us, who tried to serve humanity, who loved children, who pitied sorrow, and who earned such love and esteem by his life, his generosity, hia self-denial, and his sympathy, that after hi 3 d?.ath his influence still impelled others to deeds of charity and beneficence, So shall it be true for ever of him that " He, being dead, yet speaketh." I must .apologise for writing at such length. My hopes and good wishes are with your effort. Although a comparative stranger to Dunedin, I have ventured to. make this suggestion ;■ but if it is thought impracticable, or if a more appropriate memorial is decided. on, I will try to help forward the movement. I cannot prejtend that I shall be able to do much, as my time for the next few months will be very fully occupied, and my contribution to the' fund must of necessity be so insignificant that it will be utterly useless unless it gives other equally small subscriptions courage to come forward. But anything in my power I will do willingly, and feel that it is a privilege to be associated in such a work.—l am, sir, your very respectfully. • . * Liijr Bees. Mr 0. Haig moved—" That the provincial districts of Otago and Southland combine with the view of getting subscriptions from various sources for the purpose, of erecting a monument to the memory of Sir George Grey." In supporting the motion he maintained that with an active committee there would be no difficulty in collecting funds, and he intimated that in his opinion the erection of the monument would be the-most suitable way of perpetuating the memory of Sir George Grey. Throughout the British Isles could be found monuments to Nelson, Wellington, and other heroes, and he felt sure that if we desired to pay similar honour hers to one. who had done as much for this colony, there would be no difficulty in raising ample funds for the VoseMr Vf. A. "W Wathen seconded the motion, and said he thought it should be adopted, though the meeting was small and the leaders of the community, with few exceptions, were conspicucuis by their absence. He was sorry the meeting was not more representative, and expressed himself as strongly opposed to the suggestion that subscriptions should be raised as a contribution tpwards the erection of a monument in Auckland or at St. Paul's, London. He thoiight that something shoiild be done here, and suggested that the motion should take form as follows:—"First, that' this meeting form themselves into a committee, with power to add to their number, for the purpose of commemorating in Otago the distinguished services of the late Eight Honourable Sir George Grey as Governor and statesman here. Second, that with this object in view a fund be raised in Otago by shilling subscriptions, etc. Third, that the form 'of the proposed commemoration in honour of Sir George Grey—whether by means of a, scholarship in the University of Otago, a, . public library m Dunedin, or a monument in marble, or by all three—be discussed at a future meeting when funds come to hand." He understood that Mr Haig was quite willing to adopt the motion ac he (Mr Wathen) had framed it.

Mr Haig at once accepted the motion in the form suggested by Mr Wathen, remarking that he quite concurred in it.

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Mr W Barron said he would like to say a word or two at this stage, .because he feared they might drift into a, wrong estimate of the purpose of the meeting. He had heard some outside and inside that meeting advocate that some local thing should bo done. One thought they should endow a cot iii the hospital, or a scholarship in the university,- or increase the prize fund. Well, those,- things were all right and well in thei. way^ but they must not forget they had come to do something to the memory of an important British politician, of one of the greatest statesmen of the Empire to winch we were proud to belong. If the people in England desired to do him honour, and invited subscriptions from the people of the colonies in which Sir George Grey -was known to have rendered service, he thought it would he a graceful thing for us to respond to the invitation and to overlook more local considerations —sending what we could for the purpose of erecting a proper memorial to him in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. He did not advocate this absolutely, but said they should not overlook the fact that that would be a proper use of the money, and a proper commemoration of Sir George Grey. He was sorry the meeting was not more representative in numbers, because although many people in the community while Sir George Grey lived had strong opinions that would have prevented them helping him politically, all must now see that he was really a great man. Wo looked so closely and carefully at our politicians that we were apt to get out of- focus and so were unable to see the greatness of a man like Sir George Grey while he was amongst us and fighting in our little political battles. But since death had removed him it was well we should bring the various estimates of his character to bear upon him, and "no fair estimate'of his character could possibly sTiut one's eyes to the fact thaihe was a disinterested statesman anxious. to do all that he could for the coloivy of which we form a part; but who, above all things, was anxious to benefit the Empire that has honoured him, and of which we are proud to say we also form a- part. Mr Scobie Mackenzie also wished to say a few words about this matter, and he said them with diffidence, because ho found himself not exactly in sympathy with some of the gentlemen who had spoken, but rather with Mr Barron, who had just sat down. It was not necessary to say anything more about the worthiness of the object for which they were assembled. The mayor had spoken fully upon that, and Mr Haig had also backed him up pretty'well,'so that further eulogy of Sir George Grey was unnecessary. Ho, himself, had for some years been tolerably intimate with Sir George Grey, in Parliament, and he had the highest admiration and esteem for him. , He did not think that a memorial should be raised specially for any particular service that Sir, George Grey had rendered this colony, but he did. think that they could not overlook the fact that there was a nobility in.the aims of Sir George Grey and a loftiness about his character that would do honour to any colony, or country, and that, though so conspicuous in him, were rarely met with in the colonies.' They ought to join heartily and unanimously in the object An view so far as that was to do honour to the memory of Sir George Grey—(applause) ,—but the knotty question was how that ought to be done. He could not agree with his friend Mr Wathen, nor. with Mr Haig, ably as he had put his case. The question was, What was it they professed to desire to do? Admittedly they wished to perpetuate the memory of Sir George Grey. Then, if they were sincere in that he did not think it could be doubted that the way to perpetuate his memory for ever was to raise a monument to him in St. Paul's, London. That was the centre of the world, where amongst the great dead of England his monument should be raised. He thought they should stick clearly to that aim, and above all things good taste demanded that they should not even appear to bo making use of the name of Sir George Grey and the movement in his honour as a. means of getting . something for themselves, however • desirable in * itself that thing might be. He tho-Tisjht we should not even appear to do something for ourselves under the guise of perpetuating the memory of Sir George Grey. It was perfectly natural and proper to wish to have a monument to Sir George Grey in the colony, but there the difficulty commenced. Where was it to be erected? If there was to be one central fund for a memorial to Sir George Grey in. New Zealand, he must say, and he was very sorry to say it, the proper place for it was Auckland. That had been bis home. He was more closely identified with the city of Auckland than with any other part of the colony, and he, had left a munificent gift in the shape of a library. : It would be absurd to have memorials raised throughout the colony wherever money was contributed, and if they had to make a choice between Auckland arid London, ho could not help thinking that the wisest plan would be to Bend the money we raised to the' memorial in London. He was rather of opinion that a large amount of money would not be raised. In that opinion he.jniglifc be..; wrong,- and--he sincerely hoped that might prove to be the case; but he thought it would be much eaeier to send our contributions Home than to undertake to establish a memorial here. As to a contribution to the fund, he thought that they should , not forget that any contribution sent to England for the purpose of this memorial would be regarded by Englishmen, not in the light of a favour contributed by us, but as a privilege conferred upon us by being allowed to join in perpetuating the memory of a man who had done so much for the British colonies. Amongst other things continually to be remembered about Sir George-Grey was that he was the first Imperialist among the statesmen of the present day. Forty years ago or thereabouts, Sir George Grey urged strongly the annexation of New Guinea, years and years before any other Englishman thought of it, and from the beginning to the end he was a strict Imperialist; his grandest aim, theinaking of the vast Empire we see to-day. He (the speaker) would move as an amendment—"That funds should be raised throughout the province with the view of contributing to a. memorial to Sir George Grey,"—leaving out any 'particulars as to how it should be applied according to the amount of money, which they raised. ' .

Mr William Hutchison said he wished to support the motion, and to say that he differed in toto from his friends Mr Barron and Mr Seobie Mackenzie. It' would, he considered, be a great misfortune for them to have anything to do with' London in this respect. As to the desirableness of doing honour to the memory.of Sir George Grejr, apart from any benefit'whatever to the community, he thought that if Sir George Grey had ever been consulted on the subject he would have said that that was the merest moonshine, and that the way to do honour to his'memory would be to do something that would be useful to, the people he lived amongst, and whom he loved with his whole heart.—(Applause.) He looked with some degree of confidence on this matter, because he had the pleasure and honour of being somewhat closely connected with Sir George Grey for"'a- number of years in Wellington, and he knew a good deal of his mind upon a number of things. He thought that this colony especially; more than the Empire, more than any other part of the world, was indebted to Sir George Grey. It was unnecessary to go into these matters at the present time, but the fact was that in 1846 Sir George Grey received instructions to carry out an act of the British Parliament, which he declined to follow. -That was the first time, he presumed, that any nominated Governor had ever declined to carry out the instructions sent to him by the Government, and Sir George Grey declined to do this because in his heart he believed that to do it would be inimical to the best interests of the settlers here, and because he knew it was inimical to the interests of the Native race, for whom he cherished a very strong feeling of affection. That was a very strong stand for a Governor to take, and it ought to be said at the same time that he was very ably supported in it by Bishop Selwyn and Sir William Martin. The upshot of it was that, instead of the Governor being recalled, the act was suspended for five years, and instructions were given to Sir George Grey to formulate a Constitution for the colony of New Zealand, and he did formulate the Constitution under which we nonlived—the Constitution which has given us all the advantages we possess. There was something very stirring, very romantic, even very pathetic, in the way in whicli Sir George Grey formula-ted the second Constitution. He (Mr Hutchison) remembered Sir George Grey telling them about it at a meeting in Wellington on the anniversary of his eightieth birthday. Sir George Grey then described how he went away xvp to Tongariro, and there, under the shadow of that great mountain, and almost alone, he sat down. He had climbed the mountain a little bit like a modern Moses, and there he formulated the Constitution under which we now lived. If that were the only thing that Sir George Grey had done foi New Zealand he had accomplished the greatest work of any statesman connected with New Zealand or any other colony.i-(Applause.) There was another very remarkable thing which Sir George Grey had done that was entirely contrary to all gubernatorial routine, and that was when he ordered to India the warships that had been sent to China, thus preventing much slaughter and cruelty in India. Looking at it in those aspects, he thought they should adhere to a resolve to do it in their own way and in their own locality. Let Auckland attend to its own affairs, as he had no doubt it would do as well as they could here, and let London do its best also. What would be the benefit of a monument in St. Paul's, London? What we wanted to do was to educate our

children and the public hero to understand that great men should receive honour according to their deserts, and we wanted them to know that there was here something in commemoration of the men who had c one great things for New Zealand, so that others might endeavour to imitato him m thenown way. That would be educational, iie was rather afraid ho must agree with Mr Mackenzie in thinking that probably not much money would be got, but they should do their best, whatever money was obtained, and he thought to adopt the amendment would be an enormous mistake. He hoped the meeting would agree to the motion. Captain Andrew (an ex-president oi tle Burns Club) said he desired, on behalf ot the Burns Club, to express appreciation of the memory of Sir George Grey. Ihere was plenty of money in London for the monument there, and down in the crypt of St. Pauls it would never bo seen. Sir George Grey had lived in New Zealand, and would be remembered by the people of this colony. As probably the only man in Dunedin who knew^ne mind of Sir George Grey upon the question of monuments v. scholarships, he might'be allowed to refer to that question. Years ago, when Sir George Grey came down to assist at the unveiling of the statue of Robert Burns, he (Captain Andrew) had the honour of meeting him. and, in conversation, bir beorge said • " No doubt, when I am dead and gone, the people of New Zealand will wish to cio something in my memory. If you are alive, let the people of Otago know that I have no respect or feeling for dead monuments. If they wish to do something in memory of me, let it be something that will be useful to the rising generation." Those were the sentiments of Sir George Grey, and he expressed regret that Scotchmen, in honour of Burns, had not established a scholarship. He (^aptain Andrew) thought that a Sir George Grey Scholarship should be endowed, and expressed the opinion that, with an energetic committee, there would be no difficulty in obtaining funds, as had been shown by previous experience. Mr Scobie Mackenzie said that as unanimity was very desirable, and a majority seemed favourable to the motion, he thought it better to withdraw the amendment, and the amendment was accordingly withdrawn. The motion, on being put, was carried unamOn the motion of Mr Wathen, seconded by the Hon. W. M. Bolt, it was resolved—" That his Worship the Mayor be appointed president of the* Sir George Grey's Dunedin committee, and that he be requested to communicate with all the other mayors of Otago with a view to having a Sir George Grey Memorial Committee formed in each borough in the provincial district." ■' A vote of thanks to the mayor for presiding brought tho public proceedings to a close ; and subsequently the names of the committee were recorded.