VALEDICTORY.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 277, 2 December 1901, Page 2

VALEDICTORY.

PRESENTATION TO MR W. DUGGAN. Tukke was a large and representative gathering of all branches of athlotie sport at tho Gisborne Club on Saturday evening lust, when a very handsome presentation was made to Mr W. Duggan, who left for Christchurch by the Moura yesterday. The presentation took the form of a beautiful dressing-ease, a case of pipes, and a silver-mounted tobacco-pouch. Mr A. F. Kennedy, President of the Amalgamated Sports’ Association, President of the Gisborne Rowing Club, and Vice-President of the Poverty Bay Rugby Union, who made the presentation, "referred to the active part Mr Duggan had taken in rowing and football, and also to his connection with the East Coast Mounted Rifles. Mr Duggan, the speaker said, had endeared himself to the hearts of all sportsmen with whom he had come in contact while in Gisborne, and he felt sure voicing the sentiments of all present when he said they were all heartily sorry he was leaving the district. It fell to the lot of very few athletes to receive the handsome presentation he bad been asked to hand to Mr Duggan that evening, and the spontaneous manner in which Tt had been subscribed proved the hi-h esteem in which the recipient was held by the athletes of the district. He assured Mr Duggan that he would carry with him the best wishes of his many friends in Gisborne for his future prosperity, and | concluded a happy speech amid hearty applause.

Mr Duggan, who was enthusiastically received, thanked the donors for their very handsome presentation, which he said he would treasure as a pleasant memento of the many happy days he had spent with the sportsmen of Poverty Bay. Anything he had done for sport in the district had been a pleasure to him. He asked all Gisborne boys visiting Christchurch to look him up, when he would try to prove to them how grateful he wa3 for their generous gift. Lieutenant -J. H. Colebourne, on behalf of the East Coast Mounted Rifles, expressed the regret the members of thceorps felt that Mr Duggan was severing his connection with it. Major 'Vinter and the speaker had looked upon the -uest of the evening as one of the most promising non-coms, they possessed. Mr Duggan had the happy knatk of winning the esteem of the men under him, while commanding their respect. Mr Duggan modestly replied, and assured Mr Colebourne that he was heartily sorry to have to leave the corps, and re- j grettcfl- that he had not had more time to devote to his duties as Corporal of the East Coast Mounted Bifles.

An adjournment was then made to the Masonic Hotel, where Mr Duggan’s health was drunk with musical honors, good-hves exchanged, and the popular athlete wished bon voyage. Mr Duggan will leave behind him a gap that will be hard to fill in athletic circles. Besides being, a corporal in the East C-cas; Mounted Rifles, and one of the most popular members of the corps, he has represented the district on several occasions on the football field, and was one of the finest forwards who ever took the field for Poverty Bay. He held the office of captain of the City Football Club last season. Mr Duggan was also a prominent member of the Gisborne Row-

ing Club, and one of the finest oarsmen in the shed, having been a tower of strength in the representative crews of that shed since coming to Gisborne.

Mr Duggan intends joining his father in the painting business in Christchurch, and we join with his many friends in wishing him prosperity in his new sphere of labor.