sincere and grateful thanks. The exer-
tions and services of the Wesleyan body
in this Colony have already been so valu-
able and important, that I cannot but
hope that, in co-operation with and in
support of Her Majesty’s Colonial Government, their efforts must tend still
more to advance the general good for the
time to come.

Most humbly do I unite with you, Gen-
tlemen, in your prayer that in His hand
who governs all things I may be the in-
strument of great good to all under my
authority.

I have the honor to be,

Gentlemen,
Your most obedient humble servant,

EDWARD JOHN EYRE.
Lieutenant-Governor.

To the Ministers, Office Bearers, and
Members of the Wesleyan Methodist
Church and Congregation at Wel-
ington.

Wellington, Port Nicholson,
August 13, 1847.

To His Excellency Edward John
Eyre, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor
of the Southern Division of New Zea-
land, &c., &c., &c.

Sir,—Since it has pleased Almighty
God in his Supreme Wisdom to appoint
you to the high and responsible situation
which you now occupy amongst us, We,
the Members of the Port Nicholson Total
Abstinence Society, wish to offer you our
sincere congratulations upon your safe ar-
rival in Port Nicholson, and beg to tender
to you an expression of our loyalty and
devotion to the British Crown and Go-
vernment which you represent.

The character and objects of our Society
is declared by its designation. The bene-
fits which of late years have accrued to
the inhabitants of Great Britain and other
countries from the diffusion of our princi-
ples are known to all, and a subject of heart-
felt gratitude to every Christian.

The use of intoxicating liquors in Port
Nicholson has already been prejudicial to
the progress of the Settlement; and but for
incurring the charge of exaggeration, we
might draw a vivid picture of the state of
things that would now be existing but for
the pernicious effects of this vice. Few
of our Colonists will deny that a very large
amount of property has been squandered
upon it, much mental energy lost to the
Colony, and much bodily vigour prostra-
ted and brought to an early grave. These
things (in conjunction with other wise
dealings of Providence,) have proved a
warning to many who were rushing head-
long to the destruction of both body and
soul. Yet this warning might—and in
all probability would have been lost upon
them, for want of the kindly support and
encouragement so much needed by the re-
forming but weakly resolving prodigal, had
there been no such society as ours in exis-
tence. That friendly support and encour-
agement has been extended to and felt by
them, and our Society has lately received
such an accession to its numbers as greatly
to exceed our most sanguine expectations;
the beneficial consequences of this move-
ment are already beginning to bear very
materially upon the interests of the com-
munity at large.

We humbly trust that your Excellency
will at once perceive the wisdom of foster-
ing an Institution, which has so manifestly
the happiness of mankind for its great ob-
ject. It must ever be the interest of a
Government to foster such a society, even
in a financial point of view, as greatly
tending to the suppression of crime. But
when your Excellency considers the value
of immortal souls, so many of which have
been rescued from the jaws of premature,
and in many instances, probably, of eter-
nal death, and the useful consequences that
must arise from the formation of many
other societies, having for their object the
social and intellectual improvement of the
people, of which this is likely to be the
foundation; we trust that our Deputation
will receive such assurances of encourage-
ment from your Excellency, as to make
them feel that you will be the honoured
instrument of great usefulness in the cause
of Temperance to Port Nicholson and its
vicinity, and cheer the hearts of thousands
at home, in Her Majesty’s dominions,
whose eyes are fixed with eager and thrill-
ing interest upon this distant but no less
integral part of Her Empire.

That your Excellency may be long
spared to witness the good effects of your
timely support, by beholding a happy and
prosperous community of faithful British
subjects rising around you, is the earnest
prayer of your Excellency’s loyal and de-
voted subjects and servants, the Members
of the Port Nicholson Total Abstinence
Society.

Signed on behalf of the P. N. T. A.
Society

John Harding, Vice President.
David Rennie, Hon. Secretary.

Government House,
Wellington, 14th August, 1847.

Gentlemen,—I beg to thank you for
your congratulations upon my safe arrival
in Port Nicholson, and I receive with
much gratification the expressions of your
loyalty and devotion to the British Crown
and Government which I represent.

Deeply impressed, gentlemen, with the
value and importance of the objects of
your Society, I fully appreciate the bless-
ings which an attainment of those objects
must confer upon any community, and es-
pecially upon one situated as that of a
new Colony generally is, where great fac-
ilities and temptations are afforded to in-
dulgence in dissipation, and where few of
those restraining influences which consti-
tute the moral bulwark of an old esta-
blished, more organized, and more popu-
lous country, exist to counteract a ten-
dency thereto.