The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY. JUNE 11, 1909. THE GOVERNOR’S SPECH.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2525, 11 June 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY. JUNE 11, 1909. THE GOVERNOR’S SPECH.

We do not envy His Excellency the Governor tho task which was set him yesterday afternoon in being called upon to read the address which his “advisers” had prepared for tho delectation of Parliament and tho people of New Zealand. A perusal of the subject matter suggests that His Excellency must havo" been sadly out of breath before ho got through the'speech, for is consists of very, lengthy, involved sentences, each of which would have to bo divided into several parts or else make a very heavy call upon the lung power of the narrator. The composition is s’.ovenly and the natural conclusion to deduct ill considering tho address is that it was rattled off in half an hour by Sir Joseph Ward to his stenographer and was subsequently passed on to- His Excellency without further revision. One conspicuous feature in tho address is that whilst individual sentences are unduly elongated .-the total length is very moderate. However, even this commendation must be modified when the position is closely examined, for having-mado up his mind that the country’s business had to wait till he returned from London, all Sir Joseph had to talk about was the necessity for his taking the trip. Therefore he utilised close on a thousand words in tho assertion of empty platitudes anont the British navy and the necessity of maintaining a united Empire, with some special stress on the importance of the Naval Conference. As to the financial stringency, tho retrenchment proposals, local defences, tho rinemployed difficulty, which is at present extremely acute in the larger centres, the speech ha» never a word, Sir Joseph presumably acting oiv the principle that “least said the soonest mended.”