PRESENTATION OF AN ADDRESS TO MR DUTTON.

Grey River Argus, Volume VII, Issue 505, 10 April 1869, Page 2

PRESENTATION OF AN ADDRESS TO MR DUTTON.

A. clopuiation. from tho miners on the North Beach met Mr Dutton, late Resident Magistrate at Cobden, and Warden of the Nelson South-west Gold Fields, at Hamilton's Hotel, Cobden, yesterday at, noon, in order to present him with an address from tho body of miners whom they represented. The deputation consisted of Messrs J. Connelly, W. Meates, Charles Fitchet, John Roebuck, John Gould, Robert Scale, — Dodsworth, J. R. Smith, William Godwin, Peter Robertson, and — Sweatman. A large number of the pvincipal residents in Greymouih and Cobden were also present. E. Masters, Esq., Mayor of Greymouth, was called to the chair, and said they had assembled for the purpose of witnessing the presentation of an address from the miners on the North Beach to Mr Dutton. Before calling upon the gentleman who was entrusted with the docament, he might be permitted to state that it gave him much pleasure to be present, and on behalf of himself and the other gentlemen from Greymouth, he thanked them for the honor which had been done of inviting them to be present to witness" the presentation. (Applause.) The character of the preseut meeting must, have shown that the same good feeling towards Mr Button predominated on both sides of the river. (Hear, hear. ) Mr Meates said that some time ago when Mr Dutton announced his aversion to testimonials, the miners resolved that they would not allow him to leave the district without some recognition of the esteem in which he was held, and had been for the last two years, ever since he came to the.district. They wished to give him something by which he could remember them, and they had proposed the following Address : — "To J. Rooer Dutton, Esq., late Resident Magistrate and Warden of the Nelson Souvh-west Gold Fields : " We, the undersigned miners on the. North Beach, regret to learn that your official connection with us has now terminated, and we cannot allow you to leave us without some expression of our appreciation of the valuable services rendered by you to this portion of the district. "We have much pleasure in bearing testimony to the untiring zeal and high ! ability displayed by you in the exercise of your duties. Your decisions have been f just and equitable, giving general satisfaction ; and the interest you have taken in our .wants, as a mining community, coupled with your courteous and kindly disposition, have gained foryou our highest respect and esteem." Mr Meates : I have much pleasure in presenting this address to you, Mr Dutton. Mr Dutton said he was really taken by surprise, for he had no idea that the address which the miners of the North Beach wished to present to him would ' assume anything like its present shape.' Some time ago he was asked by a deputation to accept what was then called a simple address from the miners of the North Beach. It was then- stateci that as he had disapproved of any effort being made 'to collect subscriptions for a testimonial that he should receive a simple address. He replied that he would be happy to receive it, but he had no idea that it would assume the shape of an elaborate and costly work of art. He would not allow any feelings

of surprise to prevent him. returning his hearty thanks for the kind expression of opinion therein contained from the North Beach miners. Allusion was therein made to the ?eal and ability which he had displayed in the exercise of his duties, and also to the justice and equity of his decisions, which had given general satisfaction Such a record as that must ever be to him valuable. The duties of the Warden of this district were onerous, and required a large amount of diligence in the proper discharge of them, But he attached more importance to the decisions Avhich he : ha,d given, for to the miners the decisions of their Warden must be all-im-portant, and he was glad that tho. r? in f rs generally had been satisfied -^*IWhs decisions. There could. i-;"° doubt whatever that when tw considered the number of case? -* icfe came before the Warden, atl( j +idt' there must have been one who L«,u lost the day, and therefore some little displeasure on the part of the losing party, it must be satisfactory to him to find that as a whole the miners were pleased with the decisions he had given. In order to give an idea of the amount of business which came before the Warden of this district, he might mention that he found in preparing his annual report for the Government, that in the Resident Magistrate's Court he had heard and decided 544 cases, involving an amount: of over .£9OOO ; 100 criminal, cases, 120 Warden's Court cases — in all 764 Court cases. Now, it was a great satisfaction to him that in all these cases the decisions he had given had been satisfactory, and he would treasure the record of the miners' opinion very highly. He also found that he had decided 1423 applications for water-rights, 78 for extended claims — in all 22G5 cases which he had decided. That would show that the Warden's work, even without reference .to the Magistrate's work, was no light thing. He would also notice that this address gave him peculiar satisfaction as cpming,froin miners on the North Beach, for lie had all along considered that he had neglected them more than the miners in any other portion of his district. : It was for the reason that they had never had so serious a dispute as to require his presence on their claims. Therefore it was indeed pleasing to find that the portion of the district which he had most neglected, was specially referred to in the address. He would now simply state, with reference to the Grey district generally, that he be, lieved he was leaving it in a much more prosperous state than it ever was before. (Applause.) ' Since he had come to it he had become convinced of the importance of the district, and he believed it was the most important and most durable district on the West Coast. The Grey district comprised a very large area, namely, 25 miles of beach by 75 miles inland, so that it would be seen that the Warden had a large tract of country to watch over. Since he had been here there had been no startling rushes, but gold had been discovered in new quarters. Only two of what might -be called rushes had taken place — one to Nelson Cree's and the other to Napoleon's. The Nelson Creek rush took place at a time of depression, and brought a large population to the creek, who had received steady returns for their labor since. He believed -, that the rush to Napoleon's would prove to be the most important, most remunerative, and lasting that had ever taken place, on the West Coast. (Applause/) He had visited it twice, and could safely say from his observation, that during . next year they would hear of grand results from that district. He was glad to find that during the last year erections had been made in a large number of the beach claims to work them on a different system than hitherto. Attention was now being given to machinery, and some had bsen erected. He believed there was yet more gold in the North Beach than had been taken out of it^(hear, hear)n-and the miners were beginning to understand that to work these beach-heads properly re-, quired both capital and machinery. As to the importance of the district — he used to read in the Government documents, Westport, Charleston, Brighton, and Grey. Mr Kynnersley had told him that he had informed the Provincial Secretary that before three months that order of things would have to be changed, and that the Grey would have to be placed at the head of the list. On his last visit the Provincial Secretary had informed him that the change had been made, and now the Grey occupied the top of the list, and would be kept so. (Applause.) He believed the Grey district was the most productive on the West Coast— -that no startling rushes would take place in it,' but that it would give fair returns for labor, except in the Moonlight district, which had already startled the people. occasionally with its richness. He was glad to say that one of the last pieces of work he had done in connection with his office was an application for quartz-crushing on the Moonlight reefs. The gentlemen of Greymouth had determined to invest some of their spare money in Moonlight reefs, and he believed they would have a fair return for their outlay ; but his opinion was that there was no reef at Moonlight. There were plenty of leaders as at Auckland, and plenty of quartz, and lie hoped to hear of large returns from them. Although leaving the district, he would ever take great interest in it, for ho had spent a very happy time of it here with the miners. He had pleasure in saying that he had never met with a single instance in which the slightest discourtesy had been shown him, but only the greatest kindness. Even in deciding disputed cases on the ground, when the men were naturally exoiked, he had never met with a single instance in which he could complain, in any manner whatever of . their conduct. — (Applause.) They had always showed him much courtesy, respect for his decisions, and a love for law and order. With regard to the crime in the district, with a population of 3800j it ; had been nil during the year, with the exception of one committed for perjury, the theft of a pair of boots, and half-a-dozen assault cases in Nelson Creek. For a time Nelson Creek did become a little notorious, but that was owing to the presence of a few rowdies, who had now been got rid of, and they would hear no more complaints from that quarter. He also referred to the praiseworthy efforts which had been made by the miners on the Nelson side to raise contributions for the Grey River Hospital. When he first became connected with thorn, he heard great complaints that the miners would not interest themselves in the Hospital, and. as he believed that to be a mistaken idea — that the miners only required to be got at— he had guaranteed that his district woxild raise £300. He was laughed at then, but the result showed that they had contributed £403, and the miners arid in-

habitants on : the Westland s^ had con-, tributed £39Q. — (App]»« se -) Another application would s^n have to be made to them on MiaK of that chanty. In conclusion, he would thank them all for the kind expressions of feeling contained in the address, for their attendance that day, and for their kind expressions for hia future happiness: He-Mafttty i i > elii^r3ca"ted those^ feelings,- and herhoped^to bear that the GYey district and its -people con* tinued prosperous, niore especially that the hard-working miners oil the North Beach ■contini."** to receive good returns for their pflorts.— (Applause.) -- Mr Roebuck proposed the health of. Mr Dutton. Mr Connelly wished, before the toast was drank, to state that in all his experience as a. miner and of Wardejft'rii Courts, r he could honestly say that lie. never came across a gentleman who acted with so much urbanity,- and also treated, the miners in so upright and honorable a, way, dealing out justice between man and man as Mr Dutton. -^(Applause.) It required a gentleman of .greafc discerning.powers such as Mr Dutton possessed^ to adjudicate upon the : dinicult rases which were brought before a ? Warden. The miners on the North Beach regretted sincerely Mr Dutton's ;departure, and they wished him every success wherever he* might go. The toast was drank with three, times three. 'V. . . , ; Mr DuTTOir returhed thanks for the honor done him, and proposed the health, of the miners. • Mr Connelly, re,pliecl ; / ; ..- — Mr W. H. Revell, R.M., propopedithe; health of Mr Dutton's ' . successor, Mr Lowe, who was, unfortunately, absent oa that occasion. • ' . .'. - ■■•'>. (The toast was drank enthusiastically.) Mr Dutton responded on behalf of MrLowe; who was then engaged on his duties; at the Ahaura. Mr J. Connelly proposed "The Mer-. cantileinterest.of'Greymouihand^obd^n, coupled with the names of Messrs Masters, Macleariy L'ahnian, arid WilMe^. ll *.ji' Messrs Masters, Maclean, and Wilkie responded, : the latter^ expressing a wisK that a new County might soon be estatn. lished from Razorback to the Teremakau.. The Chairman proposed "HetMaies^ ty's Customs, "coupled with the name of Mr Andrews." ...... „ • Mr Andrews, Collexjtor of Customs at . Greymouth, responded. : ; Mr Fitchet proposed " The Banking Interest, coupled, with the names of Messrs, Lapham and M'Crae." ■ ' r Those gentlemen responded. Mr Strike proposed a vote of thanks, to the Chairman, . . .,-. .< ■ And the proceedings terminated some^ what abruptly, as.it was intended to propose the toast of " the Resident Magis-* trate of Greymouth," " the- Press, " <&c.