HUNTING.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2762, 17 April 1900, Page 4

HUNTING.

PRESENTATION TO THE MASTER.

On Saturday afternoon a few members of the Hunt Club met at the Grosvenor Hotel to make a presentation on behalf of the club to the Master, Mr A. S, Elworthy, in view of his approaching marriage.

Mr S. Higginbotham was voted to the chair, and made the presentation, a handsome and suitably inscribed silver salver, as a wedding present, and as a memento of the members’ appreciation of the manner in which Mr Elworthy had carried out the duties of the mastership during the last three years. The club, said Mr Higginbotham, had been exceptionally fortunate in having from time to time as Masters men who had gone into the thing with zeal and thoroughness, men who had experience In the Old Country, and had given hunting in South Canterbury every possible show. When Mr Elworthy accepted the post be was the youngest man who had ever undertaken it, 'consequently the position must have been rather a trying one for him. Nevertheless he went into the sport from the start with such determination that the members soon realised that theyhad the right man in the right place. (Hear, hear.) He always had his servants well mounted, always saw that the hounds were in the best of fettle, and consequently the members were proud of their Master, and all hoped that he would long see his way to retain the position. Old England had always gloried in hunting, the sport of kings ; English colonists all over the world did the same, and New Zealanders were not behindhand in this matter. There were excellent packs in New Zealand, and it was to such men as Mr Elworthy, men of some position, who have the time and means at their disposal, and who are not afraid of putting their hands into their pockets occasionally, who had made hunting what it is in this colony, and Mr Elworthy bad been no exception, but had assisted the club in a most hearty manner. The members wished to congratulate him upon becoming a Benedici, and they trusted that his future wife would often grace their meeting, and they wished them every happiness. The salver he had the pleasure of presenting on beha 1 ! of the club, they hoped would remind him of the many happy days he had spent in the hunting field in South Canterbury.

Mr E. B. Guinness, Mr D. McLaren, and Mr Studholme endorsed what the chairman bad said, and congratulated Mr, Elworthy upon his approaching marriage. Mr Elworthy’s health was then drunk with three times three.

Mr Elworthy made a brief reply, heartily thanking the members for their beautiful present, and the chairman and other speakers for their kind remarks and kind congratulations. He would always be proud of the memento, as he appreciated highly the good feeling that prompted the gift. A vote of thanks was passed to the chairman, and the gathering separated. The presentation is a very handsome silver salver (obtained from G. and T. Young) and very nicely engraved upon it is the following inscription Presented by the members of the South Canterbury Hunt Club to A. S. Elworthy, Esq. (master) on the occasion of his marriage, April 18th, 1900.”