MR MATTHEW PRICE.

Kumara Times, Issue 2017, 15 February 1883, Page 2

MR MATTHEW PRICE.

Mr Matthew Price, who occupied the position of Resident Magistrate and Warden for many years on this Coast, has retired from the Gouernment service. Since leaving the Coast, about three years ago, he has been acting as Resident Magistrate, Native Trust Commissioner, and Native Agent for the Poverty Bay and East Coast districts in the North Island. Mr James Booth succeeds him in these capacities. For many months past Mr Price has been a great sufferer, through a complication of ailments of a painful and distressing nature. Before leaving the Coast his eyesight became seriously impaired, which was greatly the cause of his removal from a district where his duties required constant travelling. As a goldfields’ Warden, Mr Price had few equals. “ Old Mat,” as he was familiarly spoken of by the diggers, will long be remembered by the early residents on this Coast. The Poverty Bay Herald in noticing his retirement from the Bench, concludes some remarks as follows“ Those who have known Mr Price for long years know well, that a kinder hearted, more liberal minded man does not live on the face of God’s earth. He was a great and leading man in his day. Had he not missed his opportunities, he would have been something very much higher than a mere stipendiary magistrate of a distant colony. In the words of John Bunyan, * Peace go with him, and rest upon him, until the close of the fulness of his days.’ ” There are many in this district who have had the pleasure of Mr Price’s acquaintance for years, who will heartily endorse the sentiments of our northern contemporary.—West Coast Times.