ADDRESS TO THE GOVERNOR.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXII, Issue 2569, 10 September 1867, Page 4

ADDRESS TO THE GOVERNOR.

lV terms of ih.4 jfeioVutipa "passed* by the Legis* lative Council, on Friday evening, the Hon. T. Bartlay, Sp&aker of the Council, accompanied by | nearly till the members, proceeded to Government ! House on Saturday morning, and presented the , following address : — To. his Excellency Sir George Grey, Knight Commander of the Most Honorable Order of the i Bath, &o, &c, &c. ! Mat it please your Exoellibvot,— We, the Legislative Council of New Zealand, in Parliament assembled, desire to express to your Excellency our sincere regret at the intimation which you have received from the Right Honorable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, ■ that your successor in tho Government of this Colony will be immediately appointed, and to convey to your Excellency the assurance of our regard and esteem. Your Excellency's administration of the Govornnionfc of New Zealand has been distinguished by circumstances of no ordinary character. Twice summoned by our Sovereign to that Government, in times of difficulty and danger, as being especially qualified to meet an emergency — your Excellency has for fourteen years in all — more than half the age of the colony — administ ered itß affairs. During that time your Excellency has used every exertion of mind and body in the consciontioua discharge of your duties, and in the promotion of tho welfare of both races of her Majesty's subjects in these islands. Conversant with the customs and language of the natives, and conspicuous for your influence with them, your Excellency has shown unwearied industry and activity in their improvement, and has cheerfully encounterd peril, privation, and fatigue, wherever you considered your presence among them conducive to their peaoeful union with European settlers, and to their advancement in civilization. We respectfully beg to tender our appreciation of the earnest desire evinced by your Excellency to co-operate at all times with the two Houses of the Legislature, and ef tho confidence reposed by your Excellency in their desire to promote the interests of both races. We consider that the Imperial authorities havo listened too credulously to accusations of the gravest kind, communicated by non-official informants against your Excellency, your Government, | and the colonists generally, and by acting on such information before ascertaining their truth or falsehood, they have been led to reiterate against the | colonists moat unfounded calumnies, and have produced unfortunate results. | We have therefore to express our gratitude for the efforts made by your Excellency during the last three years to protect the constitutional rights of New Zealand, and to defend its character. We lament that the important constitutional questions connected with the Goverument of New Zealand, raispd by your Excellency, should be passed over in silenco by the Imperial Government. In asserting the honor of the Crown, and maintaining the portion of the Governor as representative of tho Crown, and the constitutional rights of the colony, as well as in vindicating its ohacacter from unjust aspersion, your Excellency has put aside all personal considerations, and has not been dismayed by mouaoe or misrepresentation. This spirit of self-sacrifice has well earned for your Excellency the gratitude of the colony, I and we feel sure that whan the passions of the moment have passed away, and personal feuling and prejudice no longer obscure the perception of tho distinction between right and wrong, it. will be universally admitted that your Excellency has, in the interests of honor and justice fulfilled a duty to the Crown which you represented, and to the colony which you governed. Wo cannot conclude this Address without recording our high sense of the services rendered in your private capucifcy to New Zealand. The love of science for which your Excellency ie distinguished, has specially induced you to support and interest yourself in the creation and developpmenb of institutions calculated to encourage intellectual pursuits. Your Excellenny has also imported, at your own cost, valuable animals and plants, for the purpose of acclimatisation in this country. Charity has never appealed to you in vain, and your sympathy has always been with the industrious settler in his humblest efforts to aid the progress of colonisation. ! The history o£ New Zealand is so closely iden- ] tified with yourself, that the retrospect of its progress must, wo are assured, be ever associated in your mind with pleasurable recollections. The few isolated settlements, which, on your first arrival were struggling ifito life, have multiplied, throughout the length and breadth of the land, into numerous thriving communities. Roads, farms, villages, towns, churches, schools, and ail the conditions of civilised life now ocoupy the then untravorsed wilderness, and, above all, the people animated by loyalty to tho Queen, desire to exercise tho constitutional liberty they possess in a manner not unworthy of the traditions of tho great empire to which it is their pride to belong. We trust that on the termination of your Exoelloncy'B second administration, the great services which you have rendered to the Crown and to the people of this colony, may bo rewarded by Her Most Gracious Mnjesty by some signal mark of her favor, and we respectfully beg you to accept our hearty wishes for your future happiness and welfare. His Excolloncy, who appeared deeply affected, made the following reply : — Mb Speaker and Honorable Gentlemen, — I can now only give you thanks for this address. I can no longer promise by public services in your behalf to show any gratitude, but I thank you most sincerely, not only for your address, but for the efforts you have so long made to secure the maintenance of the honor and authority of the Crown, and the welfare of her Majesty's subjects of both races, and to save Great Brifain from an unnecessary expenditure of life and money. None can deny that a great and heroio work has been performed in this country. In the midst of difficulties of a most unusual kind, men — many of whom were distinguished by birth and intellectual and physical endowments of no common order — have each in their vocation, by enterprise, toil, and suffering, continued through long years, laid tke stable foundation of a great Anglo-Saxon nation. Men who have so labored together may well find a present happiness and consolation in their mutual regard, esteem, and admiration, and leave the caao of their fumo and reputation to the grateful millions who will follow them, and for whom they have in truth labored. Associated, as I have been, with you in so great & work for so many years, it is witli sorrow 1 find that the publio ties which have bound us together are to bo rent asunder ; but it will be much to remember that one of your last acts towards mo j has been to present me an address of which anj Governor or ruler might feel proud, and to know J that while I live, I shall havo the pleasure of seeing you still lubor honorably to fulfil your duties to your Queen and your country, however arduous they may be.