BANQUET TO THE HON. THE MINISTER OF MINES.

Kumara Times, Issue 1658, 21 January 1882, Page 2

BANQUET TO THE HON. THE MINISTER OF MINES.

—. + The Hon. W. Rolleston, Minister of Mines and Lands, was entertained at a public banquet at the Public Hall, on Thursday evening. J. O'Hagan, Esq. (Mayor of Kuiuara), presided. At his right sat the guest of the evening, the Hon. Mr Itolleston, supported by J. Wylde, Esq. (Town Clerk), 0. Wakefield. Esq. (Under Secretary for Goldfields), and Gerhard Mueller, Esq. (Chief Surveyor of the Westland District). On the left of the Chairman were R. J. Seddon, E-q. (M.H.R. for Kumara), P. Dungan, Esq. (Conntv Chairman), P. W. Martin, Esq. (Resident Engineer of Westland), and J. Gow, Esq. (Officer-in-chaige of Public Works, Kumara). Altogether sixty gentlemen sat down to an excellent repast, provided by the well-known caterer Mr Gilbert Stewart, and winch was of that good quality and profusion characteristic of the popular host; the tallies also were tastefully at ranged and decorated with such choice flowers as might cause surprise to the strangers who had all day long heen navigating their way amongst huge, boulders and over aiTes of tailings and logs as to where the. lrmdsome bouquets sprung from. However, after the good creature comforts had been partaken of to the individual satisfaction of all present, His Worship the Mayor charged the company to till their glasses for the first toast of the evening—" The Health of the Queen," which was duly honored, and followed by the singing of a verse pf the " National Anthem/' The Mayor then proposed—" The Aimy, Navy, and Volunteers, coupled with the names of Messrs J. S. O'Brien and W. S. Hanna." Song by Mr Jas. Wylde—" Red, White and Blue." Mr O'Brien responded. Song by Mr Seddon—"Our Brave Volunteers." Mr W. S. llanna, said he was almost out of place being called upon. Had he known, certainly he would have prepared a very elaborate speech. He considered the Volunteers, or those who recently risked their lives, were worthy of credit—[Hear, hear.} By teaching

their children in the use of arms they were only doiug that which their fathei 6 have done. Should the services of the. Volunteers ever be required he should l>e one of the foremast to come forward ami offer his service.—[Hoar, hear, and cheers.] The Chairman then said he had much pleasure in proposing "The health of our guest the Hon. Mr Rolkston, Minister of Mines." Unfortunately Ministerial visits were something like angels visits are said to be—few and far between. Bnt he hoped we were entering on a more prosperous era. He attached great importance to the earnestness manifested by the Hon. the Minister of Mines in inquiring for himself; and now, having seen for himself, he would feel convinced that there was no exaggeration in what has been laid before him as to what this gold field required j and he believed he would do justice to the district. Mr Rogers was called on for the song " When we were Boys together."—Sung heartily, with chorus. The Hon. "W. Rolleston, in addressing the Chairman and gentlemen, siid he had to thank them heartily for the kind way in which as a Minister of the the Ci\,wn of New Zealand, they had drank his health. The office held by him was one of considerable responsibility to the people of New Zealand, of whom lie might say that whatever differences of opinion to them he entertained in politics, he had observed that a Minister always had respect shown him.—[Hear, hear.] The office he held was one which was often perplexing, and at times they were overwoiked in the department; but when the people speak plainly as man to man, it pleased him to do his best to redress their grievances.—[Hear, hear.] Plain speakiug showed respect, which was gratifying to every man who is a thorough colonist of New Zealand. He was pleased to hear from his Worship the Mayor that they did not expect so much in promises as to what a Minister was going to do. He did not, for his part, think much of a Minister who scatters promises like notes. The Ministry had a great duty to perform ; they were brought face to face with the fact thai the colony must go on with its public works without extraneous aid. It would be impossiblj to go on with the system of borrowing. From what he had seen he was impressed with the f ict that the resources of this part of the colony were little known. They were asked to take advantage of theje; and they were ou the eve of developing the resources ot the country. As Minister of Lauds, it was h:s business to develop these resoiuces.—[Hear, hear.] It was open to the Legislature to offer increased facilities to open the land without interfering with the mining interests.—[Hear, hear] lie thought his visit would not be unproductive of improving the laws of the colony in reference to mining. He was met by the miuers with the question of why the work of the sludgechannel was not completed ; he took the blame to himself that much of this was not seen to ; it arose chiefly through his prolonged absence and the distance which separated them. But he had that day taken steps to have the sludgechannel gone on with and completed without delay—[Cheers] ; the same witli regard to the dam and the widening of the head-race. —[Loud cheers.] There were other matters which hid been brought forward which would have his consideration when the material to go upon was to hand. There was one matter he wished to nieutio 1, and that was, blame does not attach to those gentlemen who have the superintendence of those works. He mentioned this because of a letter which appeared in this evening's paper, aud which he must say he thought was written under somewhat of a misapprehension ; at all even's he did not take it in the manner which the writer evidently intended to convey. lie would conclude by thanking them very kindly for the way in which they had drank his health.—[Cheers.] The Chains m then proposed "The Mining Interests," and would associate the toast with the names of Mr William Morris and Mr Fergus Burrownian. Song by Mr S. S. Pollock—" The Old Log Cabin in the D de." Mr W. Morris said he need not dilate on the impetus which the goldfieids would receive from the visit of the Minister of Mines. The impression he had formed of that gentleman was that he would help them out of—well, he must call it, a predicament. He thought the miners were heavily handicapped, by their miners' rights, a shilling for this application aud a shilling for that, until about one-third of their earnings were gone in obtaining gold and the right to occupy the ground. He thenreferred to the gold duty and his experiences in Queensland, where the duty was enly 6\l an ounce, and that,

he believed, was simply to provide extra police protection from the aboriginals; and when tliey were sufficiently .nnine,rons ewii t]j;,fc was di's eiiseil yvitl'i, and now there wa* no duty at all in the Australian colonies. Mr F. B.urowman said,the previous" speaker to have taken the- wind out of his sails. However, he was veryglad .the. Minister of Lands was also associated with the mjninginterests) for he would like to point out to him that that there were difficulties in the way of settlement; IF the Government could open up the land so as to enable small holders to fake up ten, twenty, or thirty acres, so that miners could work it in conjunction with their occupation as diggers—[Hear, hear]—that would, he considered, be a popular way of settling the country.—[Hear, hear.! He then referred to his experiences of the grant-of-land systems as Carried out; more particularly in connectiou with the Kararoca settlement. He sincerely hoped that the present visit of the Minister of Mines would bear tial fruit. The miners had been gradually getting into debt during the delays in completing the public works which had been brought under his notice, and. had worked on in the expectation of getting plenty of water.—[Applause.j The Chairman next proposed—" The" Parliament of New Zealand," and would call upon the junor member, Mr Seddon, to respond. Mr R. J. Seddon,- M.H.R., said he was pleased to be present on the occasion and to have the honor of respond-: ing. He paid a flattering compliment to the true gentleman who was their, guest that evening. He disapproved off the manner of nominating the Upper House j and concluded a very able and eloquent speech by saying that he wag sure the result of the Minister of Mines', visit to Kumara would be productive of good.—[Applause.] The Mayor proposed—" The Local Bodies," to which Mr P. Dungan replied ♦ the principal feature of his remarks heiri* his proposal to abolish the Borough Councils of Kumara and "Ross, by doing which he thought the amount realised by gold duty could be dispensed with. The Chairman said he had another equally important toast to propose—- " The Commercial Interests," coupled with the name of Mr Blake. Mr Edwin Blake said it was almost impossible to separate the two interests.Concerning the visit of the Minister of Miues, it h ..1 been jocularly remarked to him—" What do yoil want with him 1 If he cannot see as much in ten minutes an he requires to know, he must be a man of very alow perception; You have got plenty of houses, plenty of business, plenty of Women, plenty of children, and plenty of gold I What more do you want?" Well, they wanted the water to get the gold. He had not the slightest doubt if the £20,000 to' £30,000 which had been expended on two ends of a railway at Greymouth aud Hokitika, which led to nowhere had been expended in supplying water to the goldfields, we should not now have been crying out for water. He did not blame the present or any other' Government for it, though he regarded; tbe construction of that work as premature. It reminded him when he was a; boy of his father drawing a donkey on a slate, and when he asked what it waswas told it was a donkey. This would be the position of Mr Piolleston tomorrow when on his way to Hokitika.He would see big letters"across the road "Railway Crossing;" hut very little would he see of a line of railway ; he might see a few tufts of grass or Scotch thistles growing .thereabouts. This money should have been spent in procuring water for the goldfields. Hehoped three years hence Mr Kollestotf would see the prosperity he had given us.—[Hear, hear, and cheers.] The Chairman then proposed—;" The Press, and would couple with it thename of Mr Janion." Soug by Mr H. Hope -" All that glitters is not Gold."" Mr Janion said it would not be ex-" pected that he should take" up their time in responding to a toast which had become so universal < and yet, when he Considered that we had this day amongst us a gentleman who holds so important a position in the affairs of this colony it seemed only natural that the " Press" should have something to say on such an occasion. - He regarded the present its the most important meeting he had ever had the pleasure of responding to the toast of "The Press/' He regretted to state that through the delay in the construction of works so frequently alluded to many miners had left the district, and he counted among these some of his most intimate personal friends. But he felt assured now that the gentleman who was their guest that evening would do his best to see to the completion of these works, and that apeedily. Be-

Terence had been made to a letter which had appeared in the KUmara Times that evening. He would say that it was with reluctance that editors and Whagers sometimes received letters reflecting on public servants whose pens were not allowed to bo taken up in reply. They must, however, remember that the Press is free—[applause] ] and if Anyone choose to take up the cudgels and reply on behalf of any civil or public servant, the Press was equally free.—[Repented applause.] tie thanked the gentlem-m present for the hearty manner in which the toast had been proposed.—[Applause.] Mr Rbllejitdn proposed “The health of our worthy Chairman," in whom he had found a great friend. He hoped he would have the opportunity of again Visiting this district. The singing of “Auld lang syne” terminated a most enjoyable banquet, during which many valuable suggestions on political econony and .reform were brought out by various speakers, hud all seemed well pleased with the night’s entertainment.