AN EMPIRE BUILDER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 10140, 29 August 1904, Page 3

AN EMPIRE BUILDER.

JOHN ROBERT GODLEY.

A REMARK BY GLADSTONE,

The annual meeting of the Chrisfcchurch Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday was preceded by a luncheon, to which the Premier was invited. Mr Seddon, on rising to respond to the toast of lids nealth, suggested that the walls of th niumber ought to be hung with p u-traits of past presidents, and went on to refer to a proposal recently made m the City Council that the God ley statue m Cathedral Square shonld be removed to make roam for traffic "Tliat." said the Premier, "would be the greatest act of vandalism that could be committed. Why, John Robert Godley, m his day and) time, was one of the greatest of his ago, and had don© much more for the establishment of what was now known as Greater Britain thara any man. His authority for that statement was the late Right Hon. Wm. Ewart Gladstone, when he (Mr Seddoii) was m England. Speaking of the millions of Englishmen over the sea, Mr Gladstone, said that there was a cry that the colonies wished to sever their relations with, the Mother Country, relyling on the tie of kinship only; but there were others who said that' there sliould be one country, one dominant race, and that there would be no cry from the colonies for severance if they gave them freedom, and the greater the freedom the closer they Mould cling to the Mother Country. The one man who consistently advocated this was John Robert Godley, and with him Papineau, of Canada, Lord Russell ,and the great O'Connell, of Ireland. These, Mr Gladstone remarked', were the foremost men m urging this for the good of the Empire. Yet, where was their memory? Were they not forgotten? He (Mr Seddon) had replied that he was proud, as a New Zealander, to say that a statue to the memory of John Robert Godley had been erected m Cathedral Square, Ghristchurch ; that Canterbury at least had done its duty. Mr Gladstone replied that he was delighted to hear it."