Page:The life and letters of Sir John Henniker Heaton bt. (IA lifelettersofsi00port).pdf/68

 represent Canterbury in the next Parliament, and I am delighted that you should find yourself able once more to bear the burden and to render further service to the country and the Unionist cause.

You can look back with satisfaction to your past efforts. It has been given to few men to promote reforms independently and to see them adopted in their own lifetime with universal approval. I take special pleasure in the certainty of your return, as I know how warmly you appreciate the importance of drawing the different parts of the Empire more closely together. You have a wide knowledge of colonial conditions, and your support to the policy I have endeavoured to recommend to my countrymen will be of great value.

In the early days the Conservative party in Canterbury was led by Captain Thomas Lambert, a true Tory of the old school. His charming hospitality and the wonderful roses from his gardens made a fragrant memory not soon forgotton. His death was mourned by all the county.

Dean Wace, writing to H. H., said, "You must have felt deeply the death of our venerable friend Captain Lambert. He was a true English gentleman."

Other loyal friends of those old days were Edward Plummer, Sir George Collard, Walter Furley, and lastly Dr Frank Wacher, of whom it might truly be written: