SPEECH ON THE PRESENTATION OF A PICTURE TO MR. CHISHOLM AS PRESIDENT OF THE

CAMDEN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

(Camden, May 11, 1892.)

MR. REEVES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,—

I thank you most sincerely for the honour you have done both Mr. Cowper and myself by your presence here this afternoon, and for your very handsome recognition of the services I have rendered to our Agricultural Society. It was only on my return from Sydney last evening that I received a copy of Mr. Reeves' address, and I have had no opportunity of preparing a formal reply; but I hope my friends will accept a few words uttered now as a genuine and spontaneous expression of gratitude for their beautiful gift. I am much pleased at being associated with our excellent secretary in this presentation; but as he has had to return thanks on so many previous occasions for well-merited tributes paid to him for past services, I will leave him to make

his own acknowledgments, which I know he will do in more graceful terms that I could employ.

My old friend, Mr. Reeves, need not have made any apology for the part assigned to him in formally making the presentation. I have known him for the best portion of forty years as a most useful and respectable member of our community, who has closely identified himself with all that concerns the social and material welfare of the district, and has taken an active interest in the working of our Agricultural Society ever since its formation. On the present occasion, however, I have a complaint to bring against him-for speaking too favourably of my services, and placing me on an equality with Mr. Cowper, who should have received the lion's share of the honour. It is true I have always felt a warm interest in the Camden Agricultural Society, and in a minor way, have, I hope, contributed to advance its interests; but I have regarded myself as a sort of respectable figure-head to be brought into requisition on special occasions when addresses were to be prepared, or a few toasts wanted at our annual luncheons. The real work of the society, as you all know, has been done by our indefatigable secretary, who has literally made it a

labour of love, and never ceased to urge its claims upon residents of the district. It is to him we are chiefly indebted for the position it now holds amongst the kindred institutions of the country, and for the success which has attended our recent shows. I am glad therefore to have this opportunity of again recognising his past valuable and gratuitous services, and disclaiming any undue merit for the little I have done in the work of the society.

Mr. Reeves, in his address, referred to the efforts of the late Mr. James Macarthur to establish a Farmers' Club upwards of thirty years ago. I am glad to say I attended a meeting which he called in Camden for the discussion of the proposal, and moved a resolution on the subject. The matter, however, never got beyond its inception, though a code of rules was framed and, I think, a ploughing match was held in the neighbourhood of the town. We never reached the length of having a show; but could we then have obtained the services of a secretary like our friend, Mr. Cowper, the society would in all probability have been permanently established, and Camden could have boasted of having one of the oldest institutions of the kind in the colony.

Before concluding my remarks, I must ex

press my pleasure at seeing so many ladies present, for although we have a few enrolled amongst our list of members, we have only been honoured on one previous occasion with their attendance. I cannot say that I am yet a convert to woman suffrage; but I am sensible of the grace and influence their presence lends to all functions of a public or private character, and of their tendency to check disorder and intemperate speech. It will always afford us much pleasure to see them at our agricultural meetings, and I hope many more may be induced to become members of the society. Again I thank you most gratefully for your beautiful gift, which I shall always value as a memento of those friendly feelings which have ever subsisted between me and the members of our Agricultural Society, and the Camden community generally. To Mr. A. J. Doust also, who has so kindly interested himself in the presentation, I would express my sense of obligation.

SPEECH ON THE OCCASION OF A PRESENTATION TO MR. COWPER.

(Camden, March 20, 1895.)

DEAR MR. COWPER,

The very pleasant duty has devolved on me this evening of presenting you with a parting gift on behalf of your Camden friends as a token of their regard, and a small recognition of the many valuable services you have rendered to the district during your residence amongst us.

When it became known that you had received from the bank authorities a wellmerited holiday, and contemplated a visit to the Old Country, it was thought by many of your friends that you should not be allowed to take your departure without some formal acknowledgment of those services-though some little difference of opinion existed as to the form of testimonial which would be most suitable or most acceptable to yourself. Under ordinary circumstances a banquet might have been appropriate; but, considering the long and important services you have rendered to the community, it was felt that such a mode would have been quite in