ADDRESS OF WELCOME BY THE CITIZENS OF DUNEDIN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2539, 12 November 1902, Page 31

ADDRESS OF WELCOME BY THE CITIZENS OF DUNEDIN.

At. the Garrison Hall on Saturday night an address 'of welcome was presented by tho City Council, acting on behalf of the citizens, to the Right Hon. R. J. Seddon, Premier, on his reappearance in this part of the colony after his visit to the Home Country. The spacious hall was well filled, only a few rows of seats at the back and a few chairs here and there remaining unoccupied About 10 minutes after 8 o'clock bis Worship the Mayor (Mr J. A. Park) walked on to the stage in his robes o£ office, followed by. the Right Hon. the Premier and Crs Carroll, Scott, Braithwaite, Mnir; Christie, Tapper, M*Donald, and M.iitland. The appearance of the Premier was the signal Jor an. . enthusiastic outburst of cheers and applause, which was renewed again and again,' the Premier acknowledging the compliment by bowing several times. The Mayor said: Right honourable sir, — The, Council of the City of Dunedin/representing the citizens, have taken this opporv tunity - of: presenting you with . an address of welcome on your return to Dunedin. — ■ (Applause.) I am sure that the sentiments expressed in that address will be endorsed by - every member of the oommuEdty. — (Applause.) Sir, your wonderful ability and activity and your marvellous forethought compel friend and foe alike to acknowledge you as a powerful statesman. — (Applause.) I shall now lead to you the address that the citizens wish to present to you tonight: — To the Bight Honourable R. J. Seddon, P. 0., LL.D., Premier of New Zealand. Sir, — We, the Mayor and councillors of the City of Dunedin, desire, on this the first opportunity since your return from the Motherland and the Coronation of hia Majesty as the representative of the people of this colony, to tender you out sincere congratulations on the mannei in which you have maintained the dignity and good name of our colony since your departure from our shores. It was our privilege on that occasion to bid you " Godspeed " : it is our pleasure now to welcome you back. We had no fear that that loyal independence of spirit which is our pride would suffer in your hands." You have fitly and well sustained our prestige, and whilst maintaining among our kinsmen across tho sea the conviction of our devoted and abiding loyalty, have done so with ' no loss of self-respect and in a way to preserve us from the fear of any charge of mere lip service. Under your guidance and ripe judgment the attention of vast numbers, hitherto ignorant of our position and condition, has been attracted to us, justifying as a result of the events of the last few years the statement that the name of New Zealand no longer expresses a mere geographical term, but carries the import of an active factor in the Common pireFor your shire in these notable resuits we have to thank you, and we do so ungrudingly. "We welcome you back with genuine pleasure, and we trust that you and yours may long be spared, and that for you the future may have .many years of useful ar.d solid work in the maintenance and furtherance of that high destiny to which we believe the Almighty has called the British race. The reading of the address was interrupted at several points by loud applause. The Right Hon. Mr Seddon, who on rising was greeted with renewed cheers, said it was only a few months ago — it seemed like yesterday — that he received at the hands of the citizens of Dunedin a send-off that cheered him on his way and strengthened him in the work he had undertaken ; and in returning now he found the same cordiality, the same confidence, and the same goodwill still existed. — (Applause.) They had said " God speed you " to him when he went away, and now they said "We heartily welcome you back, and yon have faithfully represented us." — (Applause.) Words would fail to express his gratefulness for their cordial welcome. When in the Mother Country, when in South Africa, unaided and unassisted — because the circumstances would not permit that — as their representative fearlessly expressing opinions upon great questions naturally he would ask himself whether he had done right, and had he faithfully portrayed the great people he represented. — (Applause.) From the moment he had landed back in the colony it had been a continuous hearty welcome. Ho would fain make a comparison between the present gathering and the thousands to whom he spoke in Edinburgh when the freedom of that city was conferred upon liim. The people of Dunedin — the Edinburgh of the New World — were the same type as those who inhabited Auld Reekie — the Edinburgh of the Old World. There was the same seAtiaaeAfc. IV **a HgOJ&J

Prime Minister of New Zealand they were thinking of. He was the representative of their kindred here in New Zealand; he was the connecting link between them and the sons and daughters of Scotia here, who had parted from all their family associations, prepared to encounter difficulties and dangers in order to* carve out homes for themselves in a new country. - Yet between them and those they left behind there was no severance whatever. The ties of kindred remained as strong and as firm — nay, stronger — to-day than they were when the settlers of Otago left the Mother Country. — (Applause.) So in honouring New Zealand's representative on that great occasion they were paying a tribute to our colony and thinking of their kindred who were there in the new Auld Reekie — Dunedin.—(Applause.) He knew that they were sincere when, in the address presented to him that night, they said that he had represented this colony with dignity — and with profit, he hoped, not only to New Zealand, but to the Empire and to the English-speaking race. — (Loud applause.) It had been to him matter sometimes of astonishment to find how little those in the Mother Country understood and knew what we were doing in New Zealand. He would like to _see the word "Australasia" expunged entirely from the colonial vocabulary. He hoped in saying this he would not caui?e any heartburnings, for he had been received aiifl dealt with in a most friendly and satisfactory manner in Australia, and in Australia he knew that they had a good wish not only for himself but also for this colony. — (Applause.) But the conclusion they had arrived at at Home of the close association between Australia and New Zealand was neither in the' interest of New Zealand nor, he believed, of Australia. The general impression at Home was that all one had to do was to get on board a ferry boat at Melbourne in the evening and be in Wellington or Dunedin the next morning. — (Laughter.) They did not trouble themselves much in the Mother Country about what was going on around them, and it was surprising to him to find how indifferent they seemed to be to th«ir surroundings. Why, in the month of July he was in the County of Kent, and an old farmer to whom he was speaking said : " New Zealand ! Oh, yes ; - you- have sent some _ good men from New Zealand to South Africa." And then he said, "How is the war getting on? " — (Laughter.) This brought him, and it was included in the address, to his representation of this colony in South Africa. There were a number of people who were troubled and could not well understand why the Prime Minister of New Zealand should go in a troopship to South Africa, and he believed there was a little" adverse criticism about it. Well, the doctor ordered it and that was quite enough. — (Laughter.) At no spot where he | .visited was his welcome more cordial than that at Durban, and he thought he had to deliver four speeches that day. From Durban he proceeded to the interior, and it was not long before he was on the battlefields of Colenso and Ladysmith, and ho was' there to obtain information. There was a crisis at that moment that required, in bis opinion, the beet attention of those entrusted with the responsibility in South" Africa, and l he j was not long in finding out that the war was practically at an end. But there was no doubt whatever that claims had been made by the Boers whioh were unreasonable, and it was a time when hesitancy would have been fatal. He therefore took the earliest opportunity of impressing upon those present at the Chamber of Commerce in Johannesburg that the people of New Zealand — he could have spoken with authority, but hesitated in respect to Australia, — but, generally, he eaid this : "A great sacrifice has been made, and rather than* there shall be a patching up, with a risk of what occurred after Majuba in 1880, we are pre- j pared to send another 10 contingents.— , (Applause.) Our monarch must be the reigning Sovereign over this part of South Africa; our Constitution and our flag must be the Constitution and flag of this territory. — (Applause.) In other words, as I have said in New Zealand, it must be unconditional surrender; trust to our generosity, and they will have no reason for regret." — (Applause.) He was glad to say that those conditions were maintained. Our beloved Sovereign was Sovereign over that which was the Orange Free State and Transvaal, our Constitution was the Constitution, and our flag was now flying there for* the protection of both races. — (Applause.) But there were difficulties even then, and there ; were those who thought that at that juncture he had made a mistake. He said- it,' and he trusted without being egotistical, that he made few mistakes. One high in authority had said to him personally that his visit to "South Africa was opportune.—(Applause.) His was the voice of the dominions over the 6eas speaking the mind of those who had made great sacrifices in the emergency that arose in our Empire, and with that assurance the hand of those who were negotiating was strengthened in the position they took up. — (Applause.) His speech in Johannesburg that he had juet alluded to was published in the Johannesburg Star, and they said it was the first free sppech in the English language that had ever been delivered in Johannesburg. After a large number of copies of the paper had been issued, there appeared, as far as he could gather, another censor on the scene, and he said, " Oh, this should have gone to head- j quarters." They were under military rule at the time. The speech was taken out and the next edition of the paper -came out with two blank columns. The publishers were then told that that meant calling attention to the fact that the speech of the Prime Minister of New Zealand had been censored, and that they must fill up the blank space as best they could. This was done, and a third issue of the paper made that day. Everyone knew very well what eventuated whon anything of that sort occurred. The blank column papers were selling at £2 a copy at 5 o'clock in the evening, and everyone wa« wanting to see the speech. When he arrived at Pretoria the next day Lord Kitchener informed him that his (Mr Seddon's) Johannesburg speech would appear verbatim in the following day's paper. He had read that speech over, and if the occasion arose again he belie\ed ho would speak stronger than he did then, and if there was anyone who \ia« captious in respect to it he was quite willing to abide by the verdict, of a Dunedin audience if one of the local papers published the speech in full. There was, however, a brighter side to the picture. Fcr the first time in his life ho found the police taking an interest in hi* welfare, for he received from them a permit which informed him that he would br> allowed to ride a bike — (laughter) — or a horse, and that he could stay out at j^i hou.rs_ of. tlio_ tttg&t-H.Laugh.tflji H,«

found the permit useful on the occasion of attending a banquet given to him at Johannesburg, when .the chairman of the Reception Committee7-«pd the gentleman who presided at the function, was 'Mr George Hutchison, ex-M.ITR. "•* foe -- Patea.—(Applause.) He went next "to - Klerksdorp and Peterstroom, and wae^in s'4he'""Ktter5 '4he'""Ktter place when the New Zealand EigTith Contingent, under General lan HamiHpiik'Teturned after having taken part in" a v^dsive that was historic, inasmuch' as it was* the last drive in South Africa, and the New Zealanders had played a most important part in it. — • (Applause.)- General Hamilton saiu' to him : " I am delighted, Mr Seddon, to have had your New Zealanders under me, and when the history of this country comes to be written the record of their deeds will occupy a golden page." — (Applause.) With Mrs Seddon he also visited the colony's sick in the hospitals, and the suffering ones were cheered by thfe sight of someone from their own New Zealand. — (Applause.) In going through South Africa — and he spoke on this point in Capetown — lie came upoii Britishers who were without that independence and that freedom of thought and speech which he recognised and appreciated in the New Zealanders and in the people of the colonies. He eaid : "It appears to me that continued oppression and the refusal of opportunity, as welt as the environments, have been .such ab really to degenerate those of my own race," and though the war was not over he also said, "Never give way, but battle on ; you belong to us. You are under the same flag and" under the same Constitution. We have now put our hand to the plough, and there will be no turning back. This land is British. We will respect those of the other race, but within a British colony you must exercise your true rights, and if you cannot obtain those rights your countrymen in the dominions over the seas will help you to accomplish that object." — (Aplause.) He left South Africa, and arrived in the dear old Motherland. He could not fully express the depth of feeling, amounting almost to reverence, the people of the United Kingdom had for their kindred in the colonies.— (Applause.) Doubtless, they had already read of the warm hospitality accorded to the Coronation Contingent. He was sorry- the conditions m the Motherland were not the same as those, the people of the colony enjoyed. — (Applause.) "During his visit he saw those with pale faces, but showing evidences of cleanliness and energy and intelligence, but on that pale face were depicted poverty and 'hunger. They saw nothing of that in New Zealand. — (Dissent.) Well, the man in good health in this country who told him he suffered from hunger was a discredit to New Zealand. — (Applause.) Yes, there was poverty evident in the Old Laud, and ho had asked the question, Why should there.be in the Mother Country, which is older and wealthier than the colonies, the great distinctions of extreme wealth and extreme poverty? He hoped the .day would never come in New Zealand when there would be millionaires, with plently, on the one hand, and human beings in the gutter wanting for bread on the other. I—(Loud1 — (Loud applause.) He would also say a word with respect to the Coronation of-- their beloved Sovereign." There was a fear that the King would be taken from them, and in their sympathy and condolence on the occasion no people were more sincere than the people of New Zealand. — (Applause.) When asked by one high in authority, " What are you going to do?" he replied/ "1 came further than any other Prime Minister to see the King crowned, and I intend to remain to see it done." — (Applause.) The next question was, " What do you intend to do with your contingent?" "The New Zealand Contingent," he said — and he informed the Secretary of State accordingly, — '* is at the disposal of the Imperial Government, and lemains here during their pleasure." — (Applause.) Canada had 800 men in London for the Coronation, and they were sent back in the week following the postponement, but the New Zeala.nders stopped and took part in the ceremony. — (Applause.) On tho day of the presentation of the Coronation medals to the troops his Majesty said to him, " What splendid physique have the New Zealanders, Mr Seddon Your New Zealanders fought well in South Africa, and I am deeply grateful for the signal service* rendered " ; and in respect to the Maoris, he said he had never seen anything equal to them. — (Laughter and applause.) Mr Seddon then proceeded to refer to the Imperial Conference and- the leffect the passing of tho resolutions would have upon the future of the colonies and upon the Empire itself. What was wanted, he said, in the interests of the Empire was that we should not allow the Mother Country to be so entirely dependent as she is now on foreign countries for her food supplies. It ought to be impressed from every platform, from the columns of the press, and by all entrusted with responsibility, to remove that reproach now existing. Our kindred at Home could not at the present time live for three months, so closely dependent is phe on other nations. The waterway must therefore be kept free. They should so work that the Empire woidd be self-sup-porting and self-contained ; then the navy, superior as it is to-day, would be maintained, the freedom of the ocean assured, and our grand old flag would ever wave not only over the most superior and most powerful naval force, but also over the feuperior commercial fleet of the world. — (Applause.) The conference decided. that in all Government contrac-ts it was desirable as far as practicable the products of the Empire shall be preferred to the products of foreign countries. Ihe cables in that day's papers stated that a report had been received in Melbourne from the Government commercial agent in London 4hat a clause was beiug inserted in the new army rontracts that frozen mutton rations must be supplied from British colonies. That was in the inteiests of the Empire, and would strengthen the colonies, and he was delighted to see that good fruit was springing from the action of those who were with him at the Imperial Conference. With regard to the question of defence, he said that new conditions were to be given effect to, and he believed they would be approved of throughout the length and breadth of the country. There were to be three cruisers manned by Australian and New Zealand officers and men, proportionate to the population of the two contributors — Australia and New Zealand. At present New Zealand was paying £21,000 annually for a fleet that was to some c\tt>nt effete. The vessels were not tip-to date, and owing to altered conditions wore not suitable, for requirements. The first line of defence was our navy —(Applause.) The Imperial Government did not anter into the treaty

with. Japan without good reason, and on* reason was that Japan had a powerful' navy, and tbat with the Imperial navy in Chinese waters, supported by the navy, of Japan and strengthened by the Australian and New Zealand squadron, that free-* dom of the ocean would be maintained in the Pacific which was essential to the welfare of tha nation. — (Applause.) He wanted the people to deal with- this largo patriotic question in the way in which they dealt with the emergency that arose a few years ago, and not to view it from a selfish standpoint. He was no supporter of a standing army. He believed the colony could trust to its Volunteers. — (Applause.) At the same time, he would be no party to throwing away public money on the establishment of a New Zealand navy. In that respect New Zealand must work with the Mother Country. — (Applause.) - Changes took place and improvements became necessary, and the colony could hot grapple with them. While in the Mother Country he had done his best to express the views of the people of the colony. In respect to the questions of defence, commerce, coastwise laws, preferential trade, and other matters he had done what' he could .to prevent what Mr Shaw, the Treasurer -p'f the United States Administration, said would ensue — namely,, .the 'transferring .of the- 'trade of . the Pacific from the Union Jack ' to the Stars and . Stripes. * And . what did two of the senators say on the Subsidies Bill? They paid, "If.it is an injury, to' England to pass this bill, it must be a benefit to us.". For. years, thY United States ha# Seen -subsidising- steamers to carrjf "'their products and their manufactures to British communities, and in that respect the United States, along with other nations^ had. been doing an . injury to ' the industries of thia colony and to the workers of the colony. Was there to be this transfer, or did ha faithfully represent the feeling of the colony in saying that every endeavour ought to be made in a friendly way to prevent it? Am a ~ matter of fact, he was simply taking, a' leaf out of the book of these nations and applying' it to Great Britain in 'the interest* of the Empire. — (Applause.) He ' had to thank the citizens of Dunedin for their address of welcome. He had done his best; to represent the colony at Home, and. now to find on his return that he- had given general satisfaction cheered him" on and nerved him to still further prove -to the people the earnest desire he' had to improve the condition of -the colony and to lend all aid in promoting the happiness and the contentment of it's people. — (Applause.) ' It was the twenty-third illuminated address he had received. — (Loud applause.) He knew that every sentence, every word, of it was sincere, and he trusted the same feeling would continue: the people showing their confidence in him, 'and he, humbly and to 'the best. of his' ability; serving the- colony and the Empire faithfully. — (Applause.) During his stay, at ' Home he received a handsome and costly souvenir from the "New-Zea-k"»ders in ■ London.- — (Applause.) He would also like to say, without 'being -considered egotistical, that he had been more' than humbled ' by being^made" a freeman of Edinburgh, a freeman ?bf* the. Tallow* ChapdlersV Guild of the South of "London, iffre«--aii! . of 'hi 3 n»tive town ' of St;- Helens-; "ana-a-freeman of* the -Toyat, borough of' ArranJ" whence 1 his dear mother came.— (Applause.) He had also had the honour of receiving the degrees of LL.D. of Cambridge' and LEi.D; of Edinburgh — honours that fell to tha loU of but few men. — (Applause.) They were honours he had accepted for and on behalf: of the people of New Zealand. — (Applause!) They were a token of the honour that the people ct Home desired to do to him as the representative of New Zealand, and when he returned to the colony and found evidence in Dunedin and elsewhere tbat the" people were satisfied with his representation he would say that nothing would be wanting on his part to maintain the present position, trusting that it wonld be for the good of the colony and for the stability of the great British Empire. — (Applause and cheers.) On the call of the Mayor three olieera were given for the Premier, and Mr Seddon moved a vote of thanks to the Mayor and the other members of the City Council, which was carried by acclamation.