English: The Empire Premiers at Hawarden Castle, Wales, at the time of Queen Victoria's Jubilee. From left to right: Sir Louis Davies (former Premier of Prince Edward Island, Canadian Minister of Marine and Fisheries at time of photo, and later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada), Sir Wilfrid Laurier (Canadian Prime Minister), Right Honourable W. E. Gladstone (former British Prime Minister, and the owner of the Hawarden Castle estate), Right Honourable George Reid (Premier of New South Wales, later Prime Minister of Australia) and Right Honourable Richard Seddon (Prime Minister of New Zealand).

From The Life and Work of Richard John Seddon (Drummond, James; Whitcombe and Tombs Limited, 1907) (Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand Licence):

One of the most interesting features of [Seddon's] visit [to the United Kingdom] was his interview with Mr. Gladstone at Hawarden. He went with Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Mr. Reid, the party being taken in charge by Lord and Lady Carrington. The guests were shown over the library, and had afternoon tea under a shady old hawthorn tree in the gardens.

There is no incident in Mr. Seddon's experiences in England that left a deeper impression upon him than this visit to Hawarden. Mr. Gladstone expressed the pleasure felt by him, on his part, at the presence of statesmen who were helping to build up the Greater Britain that had arisen over the seas. Politics were not touched upon during the visit; the Premiers were the guests of the nation as a whole, and in that spirit Mr. Gladstone received them. [...]

Mr. Seddon, like Sir Wilfred Laurier and Mr. Reid, was greatly interested in the peaceful and happy domestic circumstances of Mr. Gladstone's life in retirement, and by his great physical vigour and his unfailing mental alertness. Mr. Gladstone's kindness prompted him to accompany them to the station when the visit terminated, a mark of courtesy that they highly appreciated.