King's Representative in New Zealand

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19953, 10 November 1934, Page 9

King's Representative in New Zealand

Generally speaking New Zealand has been fortunate in the type of representatives the King has selected to hold office as the link between the Crown and the Dominion. Titular Head of the State By several stages the country has advanced to the dignity of a Dominion, and the successor of Lord Bledisloe will be the fifth Governor-General of New Zealand. Appointed by the Crown in England with the approval, and legally, on the advice of the King’s Ministry in New Zealand, the Governor-General is his Majesty’s representative. His functions are Vice-Regal. The proper channel of communication to the King, he is the titular head of the State. Upon the Vice-Regal representative, is centred, and through him is transmitted, the Imperial loyalty of the people, to whom he has to make himself both acceptable and useful. The administrative powers of the GovernorGeneral, have been gradually whittled away, but his social functions are still real and exacting, and his opportunity for inspiring leadership in thought and action are only limited by the capacity of the holder of the office. The office of Governor-General can be filled adequately and with distinction by a man, even untrained, who is blessed with commonsense and a good heart. Changing Status Turning back the pages of the history of New Zealand, the inquirers will be impressed by the steadily enhanced status which the country has enjoyed. For many years the Governor-General of New Zealand had a direct hand in the country’s government. At one time the functions of the King's representative were autocratic. Such a governor was the first, Captain William Hobson, after New Zealand had been raised from its position as a dependency of New South Wales to the status of a separate Crown Colony. Straightforward, just, sensible and anxious to

so he will be in a position to take more than a layman's interest in the chlei industries of the Dominion. In these days there is a good deal of healthy rivalry among the owners of country estates, and Lady Galway has taken a great interest in gardening, botany, and forestry.. Various private parks are from time to time opened to the public, and Lady Galway has been one of the leaders in this movement in her county. A rockery at “The Mantles” has her special attention. The home, on the borders of Yorkshire and Nottingham, by the way, has been the family seat for 200 years. Previous to that, the Galways were further north in Yorkshire. When Lord and Lady | Galway leave for New Zealand "The Mantles” will probably have to be left in the hands of a caretaker. Lady Galway’s Varied Interests Lady Galway, the daughter of a master of hounds, is herself a good horsewoman, and is interested in other sports. Among these is trout fishing. Both she and her husband visit Scotland periodically for the trout fishing, and they are both naturally looking ] forward to the fishing in New Zealand. I Lady Galway has had a great many other more serious interests in her district, however, and the local newspapers mention that “the family will be very greatly missed in North Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire, in which districts they have taken great interest. The Viscountess has done much work for the Queen’s Institute of District Nursing.” Viscountess Galway was the Hon.

do his duty, with a naval man’s idea of discipline, and a stubborn distrust of the Southern Colonists’ tendency to dispersion, Hobson floundered in a sea of trouble for three years. He was extremely unpopular with the majority of the colonists, and once earned the name of Captain Crimp for carrying away labourers from Wellington to work in Auckland. He died of paralysis at the age of 49, while still Governor. Since those stirring years, New Zealand has made rapid progress and to-day the Dominion enjoys all the privileges of self-government, and equality of status within the Commonwealth of British Nations. The Governor-General Elect The appointment of the successor of Lord Bledisloe, must have occasioned the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs and the Government of New Zealand, much consideration. Lord and Lady Bledisloe have entered so completely into the lives of the people of New Zealand, that their departure will come as a severe wrench to all sections of the community. Nevertheless, the choice of the King’s representative in the Dominion of New Zealand has been so happy in the past, that the coming of Viscount and Viscountess Galway to represent the King in New Zealand, is awaited with pleasurable anticipation. Two Pen Pictures Official biographers of the Peerage recount that Lord Galway is essentially a soldier, and he says he will miss very much his duties as Colonel Commandant of the Honourable Artillery Company, the famous London unit—a position which entails much interesting work with an excellent lot of men. Apart from soldiering, however, Lord Galway has taken a serious interest in farming. He owns land round his home —“The Mantles,” Bawtry, Yorkshire. All his farms are now in occupation, but there was a time not long since —when times were even worse than they now are—that he had to take up the farming of 1500 acres which had no tenant. He has also studied the theoretical side of farming,

Lucia White, younger daughter of the J until her marriage in 1922. Her father Annaly, is married to Lady Lavinia, I third Baron Annaly. She was Maid of was Lord-in-Waiting to King Edward, daughter of the late Earl Spencer, and | Honour to Queen Alexandra from 1919 Her only brother, the present Lord her only sister is the Hon. Mrs J. G.

Lowther. Her aunt on the paternal side is the Countess of Leicester. There will be a very bright little family for Government House, Wei- i lington. The family consists of Mary, born 1924; Celia, born 1925; Isabel, born 1928; and Simon, born 1929. Lord Galway was born on March I 24, 1882, and was the only son of the | Seventh Viscount Galway. After three j years at a preparatory school in Berkshire, he went to Eton in May, 1895, at | Impey’s House. Leaving Eton in 1900 Jhe went to Christ Church, Oxford, | where he obtained a Degree in History, j Family name. Monckton-Arundell. Military Life | Lord Galway’s first experience of j military life was a commission in the | Nottinghamshire Sherwood Rangers j Yeomanry, 1900, of which his father i was colonel. In 1904 he was gazetted | j to the Ist Life Guards, of which regii ment he became adjutant in 1908. J Attracted by political ambition, he ■ i attempted to win the Scarborough ] constituency for the Conservative cause; and contesting both elections in ] 1910, was beaten by 52 votes. Deterj mined, however, to succeed, he continued his endeavour to win the seat, and ! victory seemed assured when August, j 1914, closed the chapter. Distinguished War Service | Lord Galway was one of the first to cross over to France, with the advance : party of the Corporate Regiment of Household Cavalry, and was in the first J train which left the base for the con- j centration area. All through the war | he served in France and Flanders, as 1

staff captain, 4th Cavalry Brigade, 1 D.A.A. and Q.M.G., 2nd Cavalry Divi- | sion, and finally at the end of the War I as Lieutenant-Colonel A.A. and Q.M.G., 2nd Cavalry Division, and obtaining D.S.O. and 0.8. E. (Mil.). At the conclusion of the war, the Scarborough constituency had been altered by the Redistribution Bill, and he never stood for Parliament again, devoting his energy to the Life Guards, faced with the difficult problem of amalgamation of the Ist and 2nd Life Guards into one regiment. He commanded from 1925 to 1929. In 1933 he was given the position of Colonel Commandant of the Honourable Artillery Company, and also made Hon. Colonel 7th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Robin Hood). Other Interests Lord Galway is extremely fond of spert of all kinds, especially riding and hunting. In 1907 he won the Ist Life Guard Regimental Race, riding his own horse Egypt, and in 1912 he won the heavy-weight Army Point to Point, riding his own horse, Chantrey. It may be of interest to Freemasons jto know that he is an enthusiastic j member of the Craft. He was initiai ted in 1908 to the Household Brigade Lodge. He reached the chair in 1919 and took an important part in the . ceremonies when H.R.H. the Prince of Wales was initiated into that Lodge. He became a Grand Senior Warden in 1925, and in 1927 accompanied Lord Cornwallis, the Deputy Grand Master, on the Masonic Deputation to India, j He headed a deputation which visited I the Grand Lodge of Canada in Ontario in 1930, and in 1932 accompanied the Provincial Grand Master, Lord Ainpthill, on the deputation to Sweden. Lord Galway works hard on local administration and is vice-chairman of the Nottinghamshire County Council. | He takes a great interest in political matters, being a strong supporter of I the National Government, and at the / opening of Parliament in November,

1933, seconded the Address in Reply resolution. Laying the Foundation Through the years that have witnessed the emergence of New Zealand from the swaddling clothes of a dependency of New South Wales, to the full stature of a self-governing Dominion with equal status with the Mother Country and other Oversea Dominions, the Vice-Regal representatives have enjoyed varied experiences. Notable, of course among the King’s representatives in New Zealand was Sir George Grey, who was Governor for two terms, at one of the most interesting periods of the history of the country, Captain George Grey, who became Sir George Grey, K.C.8., in 1848, was Governor from November 18, 1845 to January 1, 1848; Governor-in-Chlef over the Islands of New Zealand; Governor of the Province of New Ulster and Governor of the Province of New Munster, from January 1, 1848 to March, 1853; and Governor of New Zealand from March 7, 1848 to December 31, 1853. Later, Sir George Grey became Prime Minister. Coming to the country when the young colony was threatened by internal divisions, he did much lay a foundation for the future progress of the country which relied so much upon his courage, vision and judgment. Sir George Grey’s task was made much more difficult by the failure of his predecessor. The young dependency had a sorry experience under the control of Captain Robert Fitzroy, who had some professional ability but none of the qualities necessary to bring New Zealand clear of the welter of land and native disputes into which it was then plunged. Many distinguished names can be found in the list of the King’s representatives in New Zealand, and as the years have passed, the relationships between the people and the Crown have been more closely knitted by the patriotic services rendered by the King’s representatives who have, in the main, been of a type that recognised they could best succeed by accepting the sound general principles of colonisation upon which the British Empire has been built.