SIR WILLIAM FOX, K.C.M.G.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14001, 25 March 1911, Page 7

SIR WILLIAM FOX, K.C.M.G.

Fresh from my ordination by the ■ Bishop of. London, I was placed in charge of. Charleston, on> <tha? - West Ciaat, South Island. Like-, its neighbour, Hokitika, Charleston had sprung up—mushroom fashion—owing to tlie discovery and exploitation of alluvial gold. Such names of localities as "Darkies' Terrace," "Candlelight Gorge." "Moonlight," "No Town," "Brandy Jack's," and "Deadman's Creek," tell of the sudden rushes and tho comedy and tragedy of a goldfields district, and the sound of the crushing 'tetampa" and the hiss of the powerful hose pipe, as well as the eight of the ramifying "fluming" trestles 'and troughs bringing in tho water supply, ■were everywhere. If wo had no Lord Robert Cecil as a working miner in our midst, like Australia, we had "Dick Scddon," our future Premier, building his "pub" not far away, and our community ranged from an English baroneb to Tipperary boys from ■ Ire- '■• land and Cockneya from liondon. To this '"'lively" spot came Mr William Fox, then Premier of the colony, .md bent on offering Government assistance for the fuller development of this gold-bearing district. I mefc him at Gilmer's Hotel, just as he had finished, .midday meal, " and his jovial face, merry twinkling eye, and cheery voice, at once put us in good humour with each other. I had one of the happiest quarters of an hour I ever experienced in my life. Tho Oxford man, tJfcso English barrister, and tho already versatile colonist, proved able, well-informed, and, though rather ryiiicaJ, yet a most delightful compnnion. Here was a man in full enjoyment of all his undoubted powers, _, who had reached the colony as far back as 1842; one who had played many Important parts—New Zealand Company's ajjent, member of the first Par-, linment, Attorney-General, three or four times Premier. Strange to say, 3ir William shone best when in Oppo- ■ ' eition. As Mr Gisborne says: "Im« ■ • ijetuotis, vehement, unrivalled in sar<jftsm and in force of invective, and f?*"** B eager for the fray, he had at lus command eloquence, humour, political knowledge, debating power, and ajU.tlie artillery of. attack." No wonder , jro waa dubbed the Hotspur of tho Opoosition. Ho realised for himself, - Burkes fine maxim, "Hβ who trestles with xia strengthens us: our is thus our helper." In two Ways this doughty knicht of tho Dottinion deserves welt of later generations. He irreatly assisted Sir Julius Vojel in 1870 to launch the Public works Policy, for though somo mistakes were ma da in its early stages, s*t on flip whole it has been a boon s - Dominion. Then, in 1880, Sir Trilliam was ono of the Commissioners . ■ *mo unravelled the intricacies of the 2»aori land question, whose final rePPrt was nrcented by Tluroneans and . . natives alike ax a satisfactory settleSr?r 1c wno *° Question. " If Sir William hnd done nothing else but this £? '? .^'! t,v entitled to every honour, air William w:>s an ardent total abstainer, and did much to prepare the *or tho later temperanco" reforms tt j,he Dominion. -