NEW ZEALAND WELSHMEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2928, 27 April 1910, Page 65

NEW ZEALAND WELSHMEN.

TRIBUTE TO MR LLOYD-GEORGE. BULLER COUNTY PRESENTATION.. (From Oue Own Correspondent.) LONDON, March 11. A -most, interesting ceremony took place at 11 Downing itreet, the residence of the Right Hon. Davidl Lloyd-George, M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer, yesterday morning, when the Welshman of Buller County paid a. handsome compliment to their fellow-countryman, who has achieved such fame in the political life of the Mother Country*. The central figures at this function, which took place at 10 o'clock in the morning, were Mr. G. S. Munro, who represented the Buller County Welshmen, and the Chancellor himself.

Mr Munro will be well remembered in New Zealand, although he has been living in England for the last year or two. At present he is settled in Liverpool, engaged in the frozen meat trade. Some days ago he received a letter from his friends in Buller County asking him to present the Chancellor on their behalf with an illuminated address and a greenstone paper : kirife. Mr Munro at once communicated with Mr Lloyd-George, and the result was the ceremony of yesterday morning. The Chancellor received Mr Munro with extreme cordiality, and expressed the greatest pleasure at the kindness of his fellow-countrymen in New Zealand. Although the proceedings were strictly informal, there were the inevitable blrief speeches. Mr Munro discharged his mission in the following speech:—"l have a very pleasant task to perform, and one which I esteem an honour. The address and memento which I am about to hand you emanate from your fellow-countrymen in a very remote part of the British Empire—the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The subscribers to the address are all well known to me—in fact, they are mostly personal friends of mine, and far away in little New Zealand they worthily keep up the traditions of their native country. They are honest, hard-working, good colonists, and their pride in you and their sympathy with you in vour great work are something more than can be expressed in the words of an address. I have no doubt that you wili treasure this address and memento, and among other things I hope it will help to stimulate your efforts toward the successful accomplishment of your political ideals. If it serves to do so in any degree I am sure your fellow-countrymen in far-away New Zealand will be very happy indeed l ."

THE ADDRESS.

Mr Munro then read the address, of which the following is a copy: To the Right Honourable David LloydGeorge, Chancellor of the Exchequer, London. Dear Sir, —"We, the undersigned Welshmen, residents in the Buller County in the Dominion of,New Zealand, desire to convey to you our appreciation of your action and efforts in the cause of oiw fellow workers in the Old Land. - - Your courage, energy, and self-reliance have won th© admiration of your fellowcountrymen throughout this district and, we might add, throughout the world. Your high sense of justice, your indomitable courage, and tireless tenacity in the

cause of right at all times, and on occa eions when you had to faceuniversal unpopularitv and desperate odds, have won the highest admiration of all "Welshmen and the masses of the people throughout the British Empire. Your present position as one of his Majesty's Ministers is a fitting reward for your tireless energy and ability shown in fbe cause of Democracy, and in your efforts to BCcuto justice to the working people. Wo, as Welshmen residing in this dis j tant part of his Majesty's Dominion, desire by this short address to show our appreciation of you as a fellow countryman, and also of your sterling abilities and high qualifications as a Statesman. We wish you success in your efforts to right old-established wrongs, and we feel sure that you will eventually, to a great extent at any rate, succeed in doing so. We forwatfd you herewith, as a small token of our esteem, a New Zealand greenstone paiper-knife as a reminder that Welshmen, even in this distant part of the Empire, have a high appreciation of your unsullied character, your fidelity to truth, your abilities as a statesman and as a man whose invincible determination is the uplifting end social betterment of the people. Wishing you. and yours prosperity and future happiness, we beg to remain, sir, —. Yours faithfully, (Signed) T. Simuel,' J. Myers, T. P. Wifc liams, Evan Evans, T. Davis, H. Williams, H. R. Evans, H. Jenkins, Olifiß Thomas, Richard Jones, C. Griffiths, T. Barnes, Mayrian Jones, J.P., D. R. ; Davies, F. C. Evans, Silas Jenkins, H. Thomas, W. Williams, J. Powell, G.Griffiths, Evan Griffiths, J. H. Carew, and E. LI. Morgan. The address is the work of Messrs Twrnbull, Hiekson, and Gooder, of Wellington, and is an exceedingly handsome production. It is bound in leather, with ornamentations in gold and colours, and the address is beautifully illuminated.; There are also views of Buller Gorge, Arthur Pass, and Otira Gorge. The greenstone paper-knife has a silver handle, on which are worked two New Zealand fern leaves, with the following inscription: " To the Right Hon. David Lloydl-George, M.P., from Welshmen, Buller County, New Zealand." THE CHANCELLOR'S APPRECIATION. To say that the recipient appreciated the gift is placing it very mildly. He was, immensely pleased at the action of the Buller County Welshmen, and asked Mr Munro to convey to the donors his most sincere thanks. He spent some time in conversation with Mr Munro, and said that New Zealand was a country in which he had the greatest interest. He always liked to talk with New Zealanders, because the Dominion had already enacted, much legislation which the. Mother Conntry was attempting to. follow, andl be liked to know what residents in New Zealand had to say upon such subjects. . The Buller County Welshmen will be' interested to hear that Mr John Rowland, private secretary to, the. Chancellor, who was present at the ceremony, is himself a native ox Tregarvon, Cardiganshire.