CORRESPONDENCE.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15219, 5 March 1915, Page 5

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE LATE HON. E. RICHARDSON. TO THX EDITOK OJ , "THS FBXSS." Sir, —Aβ both the Wairnakariri Harbour Board and Borough Council at Kaiapoi have held their meetings since the death of the Hon. E. Richardson, who represented the Kaiapoi electorate from 1884 to 1890 in Parliament, and have not chosen to refer to his decease, may I, on Jbehalf of many of the residents, say how much, we valued tho honourable gentleman's services. " He perhaps wag not inclined to pose in the limelight, but he was nevertheless a worker. One '■ of his first acts for the town was to I attend to a grant of £1266 for the j main bridge, and a loan for roads and bridges fund of £3234. As a member of the Bridge Committee, I have the correspondence which passed. In 1885 he assisted mc as chairman of the council to obtain the enrolment of a rifle company that became one of the most efficient in the Dominion, and its influence still survives. A telegram from him to myself announced a crant o f £ for £ to" £250 would be available for the erection of a drill hall. By a bazaar about £300 was raised locally and the hall has been a feature of the town for nearly thirty years. Not only did Mr Richardson assist in that direction, but he caused the land to be reserved for the site, and had an Act passed vesting the hall practically in the control of local trustees. He took a sincere interest in aiding the proposals of the majority of the Harbour Board to have a wharf erected, and a railway sid-. ing made to it. An old "confidential" letter shows how far ho was determined, as Minister of Public Works, to carry this out so soon as the public and persons interested in the river trade came to an agreement. They havestill to come to a proper understanding. He rendered mc no little assistance in assisting to clear up the title of the River reserves, but -here again there was trouble, till a later * date, when the Board was placed in full possession. - There were other matters of which, if Messrs H. Blackett of Ba : ngiora and G. H. Blackwell of Kaiapoi had been still with us, they could haye joined with mc in expressing appreciation of a public man who was at all times anxious to forward the best interests of his constituency.—Yours, etc.. J. LOWTHIAN WILSON.