PRESENTATION TO MR W. W. COLLINS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5782, 28 January 1897, Page 1

PRESENTATION TO MR W. W. COLLINS.

A goodly number of the friends and -, supporters of Mr W., W. Collins, including j many ladies, met last night at Hobbs's ; Buildings to present Mr Collins with a ! : substantial token of their goodwill and j ; appreciation of his public services. The chair was occupied by Mr Robert ■ W inter, who announced that the committee ■ 'could fairly congratulate themselves on i 'the 'result of the subscriptions to hand. All the lists had not yet been handed in, < but the amount at present available after ■deduction of all expenses was ,£l7B '4s Gd. < (Applause.) i Mr R. Thompson, in presenting the i cheque to Mr Collins, drew attention to i the fact that subscriptions had come in ; not only from Mr CoUins's followers, but '. even from some of his political opponents. That fact went far to show the estimation in which Mr Collins was held both in --private and public life. (Applause.) 'Tl^pugh Mr Collins had been defeated, his •friends did not for a moment anticipate ■thfct defeat would be final. (Applause.) Whenever the opportunity served those present would do their best to again place him in Parliament, as a worthy representaof the cifjy of Christchurch. (Applause.) Mr Collins, who was received with ap-' plause, said that after seven years' residence in Christchurch it was very gratifying to him to receive the kind treatment meted out to him that evening. (Applause.) Christchurch, he took it, was essentially a Liberal city, and Liberals ought to see that in future they had Liberals to represent them. (Applause.) A defeat was one of the fortunes of political war.andmanybettermen than himself had suffered such defeat. But as the tide turned the defeated became victors in their turn, and he looked confidently forward to his turn again. (Applause.) There had been a good deal of experiment in the matter of elections in Christchurch. Politics were a serious business, and he tlid not think that constant changes among their members was the best way to obtain good government. (Applause). He cordially thanked those friends who had so substantially manifested their friendship. (Applause.) For some twenty years he' had more or less devoted his energies to the amelioration of his fellowmen, both socially and politically. (Applause). In these attempts he had •doubtless made mistakes, but could honestly say that where this had been the case the mistakes were of the head and not of the heart. (Applause.) He had endeavoured to benefit his fellowmen rather than himself. (Applause). Once more he thanked them for their generous conduct, and hoped in future to meet them again in apian of campaign, the result of which might be that Christchurch would once more be represented by that Liberalism to which she was entitled. (Loud and continued applause). A hearty vote of thanks was passed to the Secretary of the Committee for the interest he had taken in his work. A vote of thanks to the Chairman terminated the meeting.