OUR NEW GOVERNOR.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Issue 125, 3 April 1879, Page 2

OUR NEW GOVERNOR.

Agriculturalists should feel pleased at the selection made of a successor to the Marquis of Normanby as Governor of New Zealand, Sir Hercules Eobinson, during liis extended residence in New South Wales, has. displayed a larger and more lasting amount of interest in the agricultural welfare of tlio Colony than any other man who has ever represeneed Her Majesty in the Colonies. To his countenance and support may be attributed much of the undoubted success which has been achieved by that powerful organisation, the Agricultural Society of New South Wales. It was true that the Marquis of Normanby was a professed 'admirer of agricultural Shows, and a very good judge of stock; but tho countenance accorded by him to agricultural societies was of that passive nature which, though pleasing at the time, carries with it no lasting impression. Sir Hercules Robinson, on the contrary, has shown that he is capable of taking an active share in tho work appertaining to the successful carrying on of agricultural shows. If we are not greatly mistaken, lie was one of the promoters of the proposal to hold an Exhibition in Sydney this year on an elaborate scale, which proposal culminated in the Government of the colony taking the matter up earnestly, with the result that an International Exhibition is to bo held instead, and that the eyes of the world are directed to the sister colony. Sir Her- J cules, if not the originator of the idea, at any rate presided over the meeting at which the proposal was adopted, and has aided materially in pushing the matter to a successful issue. New Zealand is essentially an agricultural country, and Sir Hercules Robinson is just the stamp of man to preside over its destinies. Hitherto the fanning industry has not rcceieed that amount of encouragement and support from either the Government or Parliament of the country that it is entitled to expect; but with the advent of a Governor willing and capable of taking an active part in all that tends to improve the agriculture of the country, we may fairly look for a change. But Sir Hercules Robinson possesses many other qualifications of a personal nature calculated to make his advent to this colony a matter for rejoicing. He is an ardent sportsman, and a lover of all those out-door exercises which tend to make the rising generation capable of undergoing the toil and trouble incidental to colonial life, instead of frail dandies fitted only for exhibition in the ballroom or the carpeted saloon, By his active participation in horse-racing, Sir Hercules has done much to put down, in Now South Wales, that swindling which seems to be inseparable from our race meetings, By his example, many honorable men have been induced to become owners of racehorses, and to take an active interest in racing matters for the sake of tho sport it affords.—Exchange.