SURVEY OF THE EARLY SEVENTIES 179 



poured unceasingly. Being a man of far more robust habit than 

 Lord Canterbury, he took a greater part in public social functions, 

 and he delighted to preside at gatherings connected with sport, 

 agricultural shows, laying foundation-stones, or opening railways 

 and other public works. He travelled over the length and breadth 

 of the colony, banqueted by scores of municipalities, and royally 

 entertained by some of the wool kings of the fertile West. When 

 at the end of 1874 he went off to England for a year's holiday, 

 he left a large number of admirers behind, and was boisterously 

 cheered as a typical " Fine old English Gentleman ". It was rather 

 ominous that in the last speech he made he congratulated his audi- 

 ence on the apparent political apathy which prevailed, remarking 

 that "Prosperity and political quietude generally go together". 

 Under the Francis-Kerferd Ministry nothing had called for his 

 interference, but there was turbulence enough in store for him 

 when he came back in January, 1876. The narration of events 

 will show how he dealt with it. 



12* 



