The Hokitika Guardian MONDAY, JULY 3rd 1922 “POOR, OLD GREYMOUTH.”

Hokitika Guardian, 3 July 1922, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian MONDAY, JULY 3rd 1922 “POOR, OLD GREYMOUTH.”

i ‘‘Poor old Grkymouth,” was the rei mark of more than one reader on Xut- | u relay when the Groyinouth ncwspapei | report of the meeting of the Greylnuutli Ghainher of Commerce was perused. The microbe of jealousy Inis got past the local evening paper and has entered the system of some of the public men, who showed a spiiit as jetty as the newspaper comment in respect to Hokitika. What ever advantage | this town has secured it Inis been won off its own bat, by that meekness of spirit which gives the force to inherit the earth. Hokitika has had always a vision of the future to recur to it when the Midland railway was through, and so for nearly forty years now has been agitating for the line. The public men of this town have never lost hope. BeI ginning away back in the early eighties the leading citizens agitated aggressively for the railway, and the good work then commenced has been carried on by others till the realisation of those early anticipations are at last in sight. A bright and comfortable halo of prosperity settles about Hokitika at the prospect in sight something pjore friendly and more'

invigorating for instance than ‘the barber” which is the halo portion exclusively of Greymouth. At the Chamber of Commerce meeting Mr Kitchiugli.iin senr. appears to have been carried iiwni bv bis own verlial exuberance.

N’eu York may Is.- more important than Washington, hut. the former is not the capital of the United States. Auckland plumes itself at being more important even than Welnigton. but the “Empire City” remains the capital of the Dominion. So Hokitika continues the capital of Westland province—as it has been always and it has never disgraced tin* right and title to the selection by the impartial authorities of othor days. Because of that choice it remains the scat of Government and it tills the bill exceedingly well. Hokitika is as cential as any where else for northern Westland, and as was explained before, toe bulk of future development will be south of the Teremakau. Here are the Government buildings—a stately and substantial building—housing securely

all records, and Greymouth is within easy reach by rail or motor. Mr Kitchingham, knows that the old lxattle for the law courts etc. is of ancient hap. 1 ening, and hi* late partner, Sir Arthur Guinness, left no stone unturned to have Grey month glorified. But Mr Kitehingham is in error when he talks of the Government “giving” Hokitika “a first class hospital." It was the late Member for Westland who gave Greymouth its first-class hospital for nothing. The Westland people are contributing very substantially to the hospital now being erected adjacent to Hokitika, and it certainly will be a first class hospital—thanks to the selfdevotion of the public men who worked so hard to secure it. Mr Kitohinghnnt is also in error about Hokitika receiving “a new railway station.” Nothing so palatial is contemplated. The present station is to he moved and enlarged to accommodate the increasing traffic, and the principal work will be the re-annngenint of the station-yard for the utilitarian purpose of accommodating more carriages and trucks. And the Prince’s visit! Poor Air Kitchinghnni to lie so paltry as to mention such a matter. Surely the occasion has not been rankling in Lls mind lor two whole years! Yes, Mr Kitehingham. the' charming Prince came to a filtn rate town, if you will, but Hokitika gave him a first rate welcome. ' Hokitika, also Mr Kitehingham, is “a mere village”—eompn;e<l to London for iiistniu e—but mark you, the Prince is happiest with the villagers, with the simple, loyal people of his country who by their unswerving devotion are the bickbone of the Empire. The war allowed that it was the response of the v Hageis which made the Empire what it was in that time of stress, and Hokitka will be proud to be classed as “a mere village”—the place where the goad men and true are hied. Mention oi good men' makes it worth recording that when Greymouth wanted a pnliamentary candidate not so long ago, it "as not from its own citizens it sought a representative— but from Hokitika and Hokitika was honoured by the attention given it.