RISEN FROM THE RANKS.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1037, 18 January 1882, Page 2

RISEN FROM THE RANKS.

J - : • : At the banquet given by the members of the New South Wales legislature to Sir Henry Parkes, the Premier on the eve of his departure for England, Sir Henry was in the happiest vein, and, in replying, gave an interesting resume of his career since coming to Australia. One passage especially was manly in tone, and deserves to be widely diffused. "I am one of those," said Sir Henry, " who think that no man ought to be ashamed of his condition of life; and I think also that occasions may arise when it may be pardonable in him, and even good for his fellow countrymen, that he should state the plain facts relating to some passages of his life.— (Hear, hear-) Well, I arrived in this country in the year 1836, an entirely unknown jroung man. I brought no letter of introduction ; I was known to no person in the country, and lived in New South Wales for two years without seeing a human face which I had known during •the first twenty-three years of my life. On one occasion I remember picking up a sixpence in one of the public streets of Sydney ; that bought bread,, which, if I had not picked up the sixpence, T should have had to have gone without for the . day. I leave this country as Prime Minister, apparently with the confidence of both Houses of Parliament. — (Prolonged cheers,) I mention this circumstance with no improper desire to thrust private circumstances before the publio, but because it seems to me a fitting occasion for pointing out that there is for every man who knows how to use his hands, and who has a brain — (hear, hear) — and sufficient bravery to employ it aright, the opportunity to win his way against the richest and the best and most favoured."