A few words of deep import fell from LOrd Lyttelton
at the close of the public breakfast of the emigrants about to sail for- Canter- bury in New Zealand and their friends. The excellent Chairman spoke of the remarkable and interesting scene before him as one, that was likely to be of annual recurrence for many years to come.. This casual remark encourages the expectation ;that, under the same auspices, some thousand, at the least, of emigrants composed of intelligent and well-conducted members of the educated and labour- ing classes will annually proceed to New Zealand undei systematic arrangements. In other words, the Canterbury Association may be regarded as one of our established institutions. Such being the case, two prominent features of the parting festival are of good augury. The first is, the unexaggerated practical busi- ness tone of the speakers ; the second; the real, unostentatious har- mony and earnest spirit of cooperation which pervaded alike the emigrants of the labouring and proprietary classes, and the mem- bers of the aristocracy present as sympathizers. It may confidently be affirmed that no other body, at present organized-and in active-. operation in this country, presents the spectacle of such sincere and efficient cooperation of all classes in society to promote an object of public utility, as this Association. Nor is it unworthy of note, that of the members of both Houses of the Legislature who ad- dressed the guests at the breakfast, the oldest has only attained his forty-second year. This is at least one symptom that a new race of practical statesmen is coming forward.
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