THE GREYMOUTH FIRE BRIGADE.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1699, 14 January 1874, Page 2

THE GREYMOUTH FIRE BRIGADE.

The fifth anniversary banquet of "-the; members of the Fire Brigade and their- ; guests took' place at Gilmer's Hotel last evening; The Brigade marched in uniform frpm the; Brigade Hall to Gilmer's,, where all preparations had been made for the reception and accommodation of! the company.. The supper was served in the usual first-olass style pf, Messrs Giimer, and the arrangements reflect credit on Messrs Welhered and King, under whose superintendence the supper was prepared. The hall was appropriately decorated, conspicuous ''among the ornaments 1 being the large silk banner of the Brigade. During the evening the orchestra, under tlie direction' of Mr Hpmberg, discoursed sweet ' music" in the intervals between '^jibspeeches and also in accompanyment to the several gentlemen, who, sang. ■ The chair; was taken' : by. Captain Eissen - hardt, supported on the .right by the Mayor,-".W....5. Smith, Esq.,. Messrs Revell, R.M.,,J, Kilgour, D. Girdwood;" and Capta'tti 'Hamilton 1 V'atid r on 1 the left by tlie;;H;oEi;,H. ..H^hLahman, ■ M 8.C.,; Messrs; Wjc&es,; Mj.Pj.o., . JH psie y toWhß.ll,i Donald Maclean, DrAcheson, and later i .n the evening Mr W. H. Harrison,

\LH.R., and Mr E. S. Lapham. The vice-chair was filled by Lieutenant MacGregor, supported on either side by Mr S. Fraser, the treasurer, and Mr L. Henry, secretary of the Brigade. After the usual preliminary toasts had been given and duly honored. The i "Chapman, "after ; attuaTrigpto the political elections which had taken place during the day, proposed the health of the ne coupled with the names of Messrs Lahman and^Wickes. BotK gentlemen suitably irfSfionded. ~ In reply to the"".tdastrof 'the "" Member* , of Greymouth Fire Brigade," Captain Eissenhabdt, : after thanking the guests and visitors for the manner in which the toast was received, alluded to the absence of any certain or reliable source of income, for want of which the great difficulty arose of keeping the Brigade in that state of thorough efficiency which would render its services really valuable. The .speaker referred to, a .vote of the late County Council, th^ i amount of which had ; never been paid ]io the credit of the Brigade, "although every effort had been made to obtain it, and concluded'by trusting for a continuance and an increase in the support, fraternally arid Otherwise, . which the Brigade had hitherto: retfefrea from the community. The Brigade, to be of real service, wanted money to procure and maintain auxiliary appliances, atfd' it was of the utmost . importance, especially, that the stand-pipes, should f pc kept in perfect order, so that the water supply could be utilised. After!- again. returning ■ thanks : for the . reception of the. toast/ Captain Eissenhatdt resumed hia seat amidst loud applause. Mr J. KtiGOUR proposed the toast of " The Borough Council," In doing so he referred to the serviceai rendered by thafi body from it first iriauguration, and alluded to the difficulties " the earlyformed association had to encounter in performing the uphill work which was now done , so effectually by the present Council. The Borough Corporation f was now spending a good deal of mbn'ey, r? 'aiid' tie truste.d they would continue to, dp ..sqas far as the means at their disposal would allow, for a Borough Council should, not have, any large amount of money lying nnused to it's credit : ! ' The Mayor of Geeymouth responded to the toast; He paid a high compliment to the exertions of former,: Councils, (and dilated upon the immense amount of good they had done with the means at their disposal. He was proud to see that some of the members of those bygone Councils, who he saw present, had that day been raised to new and honorable positions, and he trusted they would fulfil the duties ofthose positions; as creditably to .themselves and as bener i ficially to the public as they had> when>; j members of the Borough Council. With respect to the 'best means of supporting the Fire Brigade, he was of opinion that 'the Borough Council should| take' steps" to. render the independent of casual o£ '■■'altogether voluntary assistance. He ilbokedV'upon this as one of the duties of the Council, as the repre-., sentatives of the owners of property and; the; ratepayers, and he would: .use every., endeavor to give effect to the proposition, that the Brigade should receive public support towards its maintainance. (Cheers.) Mr Foreman Amos,, of the i Hook Ladder Company,: proposed the health of .v "The Hokitika Fire Brigade," and) regretted that there was hot' a -represen-' 1 tative of the sister Brigade present.' - *.' : : ; \ Mr LxTciEN Henky, the Secretary of the , Greymouth Brigadej annoubcedihat^ he had received a telegram from Captain/Shea, of the.; Hokitika ;Brigade, :j apolor gising and giving reasons for , the non-* attendance pf ; any representative' bf ' his Brigade ai the banquet. *'"V.-r.:»".'■','•',- ----• Mr Foreman Robektson, pf No. 1 Coin- * pany, gave " The Commercial Interest oE Grey," coupled with the name of ■ Mr 'F. Hamilton, who. responded j and alluded to the great services rendered to the commercial community by the Brigade on the occasion of the two great fires which but for the exertions of the firemen might have reduced the whole of the town to ashes. He believed the actual position-, financially of the Brigade had only to- ;l be made known to secure the active co- . operation and assistance of the trading community. ; • ; . ■ Mr D. Girdwood proposed ..the f'\yorking Members of the Brigade," which was responded to by Mr J. Greenwood, who said that although he was selected to reply tp the toast he could not perceive the distinction between working and non-working members, for officers and men all worked alike when it becameV necessary to call their services into requisition. ' Mr W. H. Revell, R.M., proposed the toast of " The Mining Interest," and in doing so sketched the history of the origin and progress of the settlement of -the West Coast, describing the process of the i; reclamation of the wilderness Which the first pioneers found the country, 'and ; the great advances made towards permanent occupation. He attributed -the" forward state of the community of Greyraouth to v ;the exertions of the miners, but for whose indomitable pluck and . enterprise none : of them would be there, to-night. The speaker incidentally re-.-ferred to, the services rendered to the community by, the Fire 'Brigade, and counselled the member 3to maintain their present acknowledged high state of efficiency.and usefulness. ■ , '."'-'.)'.':'■,'.]. Mr Hamilton (of Hamilton and Nich'ol) 1 ; responded to the ioas't, and gave } a reminiscence of his experience 1 as a gold 1 ; miner, in following which pursuit he was not,' he said, successful, for what gold he obtained cost him about Lls per ounce. Mr J. KlLGOUß'also responded to the toast, and related an episode in his experience of a miner's life. He had never, as Captain Hamilton did, carried a swag ofseveral hundreds weight, which, according to description, must be a veritable "new chum's bundle," but when the! New Zealand gold-fields were . discovered, •", he made up his mind to give them.a trial.,, Accordingly he sent a pioneer from Vie?, tpria to, spy out the nakedness.; or riches. of) the. land. (A voice •.! "Bravo^ old general") and by this' means he proposed to get such information as would, guide him to a successful prosecution. of ; his intended new pursuit. The tries-, senger never came back and he (the^ speakery went and aaw for himseif:. '.'His]' ;experierice was' that Ne^r Zealancl, , next , to Victoria, was the foremost gold pro- ! during country, and it was yet only.in.^ its infancy. (Cheers.) 1 ;i ' • '-V \ ' MrJ.A. Whall proposed the healtfi of the Retired Officers of the Brigade, saying that from ' His experience as the first Captain of the; Greymouth Brigade it was his opinion that the fact of rel

tiring offices not being re-elected, showed that there was a laudable ambition among the younger and newer members to become officers, and this desire had a beneficial effect upon the personnel of the Brigade. Mr Holder returned thanks for the " Retired Officers," and coincided in the remarks of Mr Whall. He did not seek re-election purposely to give new aspirants to office an opportunity of obtaining promotion, and he trusted and expected this plan would be followed generally. Mr W. M 'Gavin proposed "The Tnsuranee Offices," remarking that a3 Mr Girdwood was the only Insurance Agent present, he would do that gentleman the honor of coupling Kis name with the toast. Mr Girdwood was sensible of the compliment paid him, and appreciated the honor to its fullest extent. It was the received opinion, he believed, that the Insurance Companies should exclusively support the Brigade, and although this was sometimes done in large towns the circumstances of this community did not warrant any such expectation. The number of wooden buildings, the great risk of fire, the limited amount of business done and other causes, would prevent the possibility of the Brigade receiving for some time any greater amount of support from the Insurance Companies than their proportionate share of liability ■with the rest of the commercial community. Mr Daniel Twohill proposeed the health of "The Ladies," coupling the toast with the names of Messrs Donald Maclean and E. S. Lapham. Both gentlemen responded in a humorous manner — the former regretting that his want of experience of the fair sex made him unworthy of the honor of replying to the toast, and Mr Lapham considered it was the happiest day of his life, inasmuch as he was afforded an opportunity of paying a tribute to and dilating on the merits of the ladies. j Dr Acheson proposed the health of llfMr Revell, the Resident Magistrate," WxA that gentleman responded in very appropriate terms. Mr J. Kilqour gave the toast, "The Shipping Interest," coupled with the name of Mr Coates. Mr Coatbs and Mr D. Girdwood responded. A number of other toasts were proposed and duly honored, and the company broke up at an early hour this morning. There was some capital singing, that of Messrs Poole, King, Greenwood, Tnrnbull, Woolfe, Jeffard, Fraser, Robertson, M 'Gavin, Hosie, Bishop, Dr Acheson, and Mr Lahman being well received, and affording amusement and enjoyment.