VISIT OF HIS HONOR THE SUPERINTENDENT

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 205, 31 January 1873, Page 3

VISIT OF HIS HONOR THE SUPERINTENDENT

On Monrlay nig't when it became known thit- His Honor the Superintendent would really arrive, the next day, a few cnergeiic gcnr.'emon met together to .sac if some token could not "bo held oub to sheiv limv very heartily the. district thpnked liis Honor for liia attention to its interests.

Accordingly it/was arranged thatnluncheon should be provided', and t,hab # a deputation should proceed meet liis .Honor, and escort him to Naseby.

~ At 3 p.m. on Tuesday a large concourse of 'gentlemen met in Mr. George's billi ird-voom. , wlif-re an ample coition had been spread out. Mil. Indeu, in proposing the toast of the day. —"his Honor the Superintendent" —iaid Vie need nob e darg'2 upon the great efforts made by his Honor to further by all . rpeans, the interest of the district and the ■province. These efforts were upon record, '..Hildas I'll* as we fire concerned, the tenders being considered to-d i.y, bear inc. oub,in the assertion—that the best friend the rlistricb has h id, has been his' Honor the Superi itendcnt, whose health he how called upon the meeting lo drink, with all the honors. . Whan the cheers had a little subsided,

Hr.s Honor remarked that ha 'was entirely unprepared for the very cordial recaption he that day had met with. This was neither the time nor the place to go into the question of the faults of tha Superintendent. He, no ! doabb, hadhis faults. He could only say th it thara no man more dasirous for tha raal inbdi*33bs of tha Province than hinnelf, nor no one mora personally The or vtion ha ha I r>aaive I was enbiraly undessrved. (Cries of " No, no.") He had don?, nothing m >re thaii his duty. He was very gla.l that tardy justice had at lengbh baen dona to Mount Ida, and thab now a batber day was dawning for a district that deserved to ba prosperous. Ib mighb not ba out out of placa to say thab Mr. Bastings and himself had accepted a tender for ten miles of the Mauuharikia Kaoe. He wished ha could also say the same about the Channel; bub, at the desire of parties residenb here, the tima for this contract would ba extended. The disbricb would see that tha (Government was thoroughly in earnest. No time would be lost. He had always held that without some such works Naseby must collapse, and ha believed his sbrong rapresentations to the General t iovernmant to that etfecb had had weight in bringing about those desirable results. He was not there to make a speech, and would briefly thank them for the very kind manner in wllich lis had baen met. ((Ireat cheers.) lie would further say, ha viewed with satisfaction .the improvement of the road' to this place; jbub two days' rain ha l given him an i ba what two months' wet might do, and it would remain a matter for consideration to tackle the question as to how to keep the road open. His Honor then said he" should like to pi-opo3e " Prosperity to the Municipality of Naseby." , He regretted that this step had not baen taken when the Provincial Government had power to help. There was an Act which provided thab the Government should give £5i)D to all newly-created Municipalities. This Act did not, however, state where the money was to come from. However, if the money could be found, lis would ba very glad to give effect to the law. This was drunk, coupled with the name of the Mayor elect (Mr. George),' who replied gracefully. Mr. BftEMTEn. proposed "The; Provincial Exec.itive," coupled with the nam3 of 1 Mr. Bastings, stating how wo coul.l all ap-1 predate the energy and peculiar iitness of that gentleman for the position he occupied. . Mr. BASTiNas said thab this was the first 1 time lie had li-M the; pleasure of becoming acquainted with this district. Upon his advent to office lie determined to travel and and.make himself personally acquainted with the requirements of tha districts; and he must express the great amount of satisfaction his visit had given him. lie had at one time entertained a strong feeling of prejudice expenditure of money now taking place at Oamaru.; It was the best thing, ■when a man saw cause to change his views, to say so; and he must say that, since his visit to Oamaru, he was committed to an opposite opinion. He might also say that a considerable amount of discussion was going ou a3 to whether an expenditure of £4U,00 J ia this district was justidable. He thought the money would be just as prudently spant as the proposed ab Oamaru, and quite a' much as some sums proposed to be devoted to railways. (Applause.) If water could be broughb in to let at £,i par Governmenb head per diem of twenby-four hours—and this is the policy he would like to see carried out if he remained in office—the scheme would be a general benefit, and would recoup the Go vernment. M oney in the world was plentiful, and the Government •would be content with bare interest. Mr. f Bastings then reverbed to local matters that will b3°t'onnd in our account of the deputation -on' the pievious evening, and then thanked tha meeting for their kind racepobserved all previous speakers had said they would not make a speech, and yet had done S o—excusably enough, considering the importance of their observations. He would simply g ive an utterance: and it was with very much pleasure he hail to propose the health of Mr. Simpson, the Provincial Engineer—more for. Mr. Simpson than for ihe provincial Engineer. He need only say that the present works were due to Mr. .Simpson's skilful reports. He briefly touched 011 the history of the works, in so far as he could speak from experience, having been the first,

]ie believed, to officially call attention to the requirements now so happily about to be provided.' Mr..' Simpson's health -was'then drunk most heartily. Mk. Snipson briefly acknowledged the cotoplirrnnb,' hrv satisfactory -ib was to him, an.l also to his staff, of whom Mr, Bro7/ii3 was a most energetic inspector. . Mr. Wilson then proposed t.he health of Mr. Warden Robinson, who, lie sai;l,■■.was known to all as most patient, painstaking, an ! pei'sovorinu: officer. JIl3 lloxoii begged to be allowed to say. that Mr. services Avere appreciated,and ■tha b tlie Grovern menb considered ' Mr. Robinson as one of the very besb officers ia the service.

Drunk enthusiastically. Mil. Hoein t son thanked the meeting in feeling terms .'for the very kind way in which hi? name hid been received.

. Mil. Bastings hul very great pleasure in proposing £ 'The Mining Interest,"' coupler! with the name of Mr. J arnes Brown; (cheers, and calls for "Brown).

j\f !t. Biiowx briefly replied. Mif. 1 ndeic then proposed the health of Mr. Browne and the Engineer's S'aff. Mt. BiiCi'W.VK replied, remarking* (hat in a t wi'lvemontli lie hoperl to be in a better, position to deserve such a compliment. 1 Txs [[o.voii then remarked that, he must calJ for filled--glasses in honor oft,he Chairman. lie believed Mr. Inder was an old ilenlify. ■Given .with honor's, and three, cheers for the little Inders.

Mil. Indsr in acknowledging the re' cp-ion he -received,' Suggested to the Superintendent, that a grant of laud be made to him. He heard much. now-a-davs of grants fo;* emigiuiion,' now, he had eight big' boys, 'Colonial muscle, quite as good as imported. (Cheers)' Mil. G-i.kn'X' proposed "The Host's (Mr. George's) Health." (Cheers). Three cheers were also given for Mrs. George. Mil. B vstin'G.3 then Ld off God save the Q.'icen in capital stylo. - Mb.. Cor/LETr interjected" that- the Press had been forgotten, aid the Superintend eut -siid he would supply the dellci ency bv calling" for the Press, in conneclion with Mr. Wi'son. As a.rule, he himself was not much indebted to the Pres.?, . but he believed the local had done a great amount of good, and deserved credit. Drunk wit 1 - applause. Mu Wilson replied. He said that though the 1-ist pi-opo-ecl, lie hoped the toast just drunk wo ill 1 net be the least., in imporance. He had required nearly four years to convince those present of-.t'ie influence of the Press, whi'eh his Honor had allu.lc.'l ' 10. lie wished to svy how arduous wa.,3 the work a newspaper had to do, unassisted bv local bodies, sucli as Mun : c:palities, orMining Assoei itions. A gentleman, Mr. Ilertslet, not, now connected with the local Press, deserved a great deal o.f credit, and he hoped his exertions would not be forgotten.