RECOLLECTIONS

Hokitika Guardian, 22 July 1933, Page 3

RECOLLECTIONS

THE MAYORAL CHAIN

(Contributed)

Captains depart, end memory takes

them To /her caverns, pure and deep. —Bay’y

The career of the first Mayor of Hokitika was a very busy one, and much could be said of his general activities. Reference might well be ■made to the Hokitika—Greymo.uth railway—the first sod of which was turned by IMr Bonar. A/ photograph of the event still bangs in the Town Hall. The ceremony was performed in one of Kensin and Moore’s, paddocks beyond the hospital grounds. It wa s agala day for the district, for there were high hopes of the car’y coming of the iron horse. The military .paraded, with band. 'The Jschool children were ' n force and afterwards regaled at the IState School. , For the seniors, a catch as catch can luncheon was provided on the ground. Then began the railway works. But i,u due time a halt cairne. Representations to the .Government elicited the reply ‘‘that the Tai;lway would he kept steadily in v e\\. In the end the people began to blame Mr Bonar for using his influence to hamper the work. Tn a previous note it was mentioned Mr Bonaf was the owner of the Waipara, a handy little steamer which plied .regularly to and from Greymouth. An indignation public meeting was called. But Mr Bonar appeared on the platform, and was ab'e by his tact and suavity to allay the We feelings of the (multitude, and to remove the blame from, himself and place it on the shoulders of the Govarnmenf.? Mir Seddon, 'also, bad to face a hostile audience in the Town Ha’l here to iu-stifv Lis action in fathering the. Kumars deviation cn the •route. He-, too, was successful in countering the opposition, end to hi s efforts in the end were due the coming of the railway, with- the diverted route up the hill to -the Kumar a Junction station. In the original survey the -line followed the. foothills to the Teremakau, avoiding the climb ..now necessary to. get a little nearer to Kumar a, once the home of 'Mr ‘Seddon.

‘‘During M** Bonar’s term rs Mayor, the Governor, Si r George Grey, visited Hokitika, and. was a guest at Govern-; ment House. A.levee was held in the Supreme Court buildbig (now the Soldiers’ HaU) on January 25, 1867. Many notabilities wore hero fo r the occasion, and the great Pro-Consul tend ardent •Liberal, had the warmest of welcomes from the mining population. Sir George in one of his speeches—he was a delightful speaker of easy diction sa-d. “I find around me a thriving and p°pulous town,’ which -has suddenly sprung into existence,..and energetic population, already . cultivating the soil which gives unmistakable proof of its -groat fertility, . an. alpine mountain chain pierced by a .great road, and signs progress and prosperity on every . side. Although Hokitika was but two years old at the time, it sure'y had made some progress. ■Mr Bonar, when Superintendent of Westland, sponsored the Jackson Bay special settlement ' scheme," for which the General Assembly provided .the finance—a portion of a sum of £12,0C0. Mr Bonar went .to the Bay with the Provincial Engineer (Mr G. Mueller), Chief Surveyor (Mr J. S., Browning), raid '.Mr D. -Macfarlane (representing the Government). The settlement comprised 60,000 acres. It was .propoaeu to settle 250 families. In 1876 there was a population of 250, but the ultimate failure of the project was a great disappointment. Mr Bonar had foresight in realising 'something of the prospects of 'South 'Westland ; but the mistake was .made in starting at the extremity. The settlement was .too isolated from markets, and quite out of touch with the world. If the great south road ‘advocated by -this paper, ultimately comes to puss as it deserves to do, J-acskon Bay and that locality will come to the fore. There is a- vast store of timber.' Minerals

of all kind abound. There is .valuable slone and clay, corid other deposits. It ias a storehouse of wealth, waiting fov finance and skilled enterprise to develops a natural wonderland.

In his successive posts Hn connection with Parliament and the province, Mr Bonar 'had opportunities for executive action, and was essentially professional. He was able to .push on reading ami the opening up of the province. This, despite the fact that th e . weaker subdivisions of the colony suffered for the want of money for public works. That slo,te of affairs led to the agitation for the abolition of provincial government, and the return to genera.! government administration. For a full decade from 1866 when, elected first Mayor of Hokitika, to 1876, when he went out. of office as the first Superintendent of'Westland, Mr Bona r had most intimate connection with the loo,.! government tf-or,tunes of fihe district, and he won the praise of press and public for his work. It .must have been , a great pioneering effort to lead the people in those far off days, end re ■quired .genius to accomplish all that was do-re in the ten first yo".rs of the history of Westland. The second Mayor of Hokitika was 'Mr Evan Prosser, a gentleman distined to become identified with a business of Dominion-wide interest which is still in existence, namelv Konapt borne. Prosser and Coy. Ltd. As may be surmised, M.r Prosser was - a chemist who carried on business in Bevel 1 Street where Kennedy’s uphols 1 or y business is now centred. Mr Poosser tvs elec to,l Muyor :, n 1860, and i 1 a ter in the same year stood for the first experimental County Council ;!for a Hokitika seat) but was not elected —the chosen being ‘Mr Boh or and Mr 0. ‘S. Palo. The last named was known r'.s “King” Sale, for he vuled Westland on behalf of the iQaintqub'u'ry Pirovincial Council. Other members were: G-roymouth, W. H. Harrison and y H. H. Lahman (afterwards M.L.C.I; Kanieri, W. L. Pees a lawyer (who went into Parliament for a North Island seat and a noted Welshman! ; Totara, Conrad TToos: .Arahura. ,T. Clarke: P:<ro a , Don Dobs Carreras: Okarito. Ednmrd Banff, v-bo also was elected to Parliament for Hokitika. Mr Prosser was. as may be re'dilv imagined, a capable business man, and it was not. surmising that he couelit larger fields abroad.

(To be continued next Saturday)