THE DINNER

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 1, 9 July 1874, Page 4

THE DINNER

Took place in St. George's* Hhll, where an abundant spread had been prepared and very taste fully laid out by Mr Philp, of tbe Commercial Hotel. Two- tables extended almost the whole length of the Hall, with a cross table atthe top, and the seats ;were< pretty well filled. Mr. ScotV President of i tbe Club, occupied the chair,/Hiß . Worship.j the Mayor doing the duties -of croupier. ; After the whetted appetites of the company ;' had been satisfied, an interval of. ten J minutes. was allowed. Upon reassembling, , The Chairman gave the usual loyal ana; patriotic toasts, which were enthusiastically responded to. / The Vice- Chairman next gave "The. Superintendent, and Provincial Cpu-cil,"' which, he said, wag rather an extensive' toast. As sto the Superintendent, many held different opinions as to his political career, but all wou'd admit tbat he had done a great amount of good for the Province. Milton, at least, had no room to complain of his want of attention. Even in the matter of the immigrants' barracks, his Honor, when applied tOj had responded,' and the building was eree'ed at once. Tf the immigrants did not go off so fast a", could be wished,, that certainly was not his fault. Si far as tbe Provincial Council was concerned, another session bad lately been brought to a close, and during it less work had been done st ban in any session since Ota^o had a Council. They hid, however, done something for the district: tbey had promised a railway to the Coal Gully, and he understood a staff of surveyors would shortly -commence -to lay Off the line. He (the speaker), referred to the absence of the member for the district, but said they had the member for Matau, Mr Clark, whom they looked upon as one of the-mselves, and who was always, ready to do what he could for them. He hoped the Councillors would endeavor to lay aside petty differences, tackle in to, their work,, and do what they, could for the best interests of their adopted country. He would couple the toast with the name of Mr Mollison. Mr Mollison, in responding, said if a teporter from the Dunedin Press were present, he would be almost afraid to open his month, . as he would be sure to be misrepresen'e.i. As, -however, these journal- were not represen'ed', be would make a few remarks. As.fo the Superinteodent, although he and others had sometirhfs differed with him in opinion, they gave him full credit for having ; the good of the Province at heart. . The energy with which he set himself to the pe-formance of his duties was apparent to all. As an example, he was la«r wf>ek turning the first, sod of the Western Railways at Riverton; two days afterwards he attended a meeting of the Educa'iou Board, and the following day he was off to Oarnaru to inaugurate, railway works there. As to the Provincial jCounc.il, he quite agreed that they had done nothing last se9fion, but still he approved of Provineiilisio, and cona'dered the ordinances parsed by that body would compare favorably with those passed by the h'-oher legislature. As an example, amongstnthers, he referred to the educational ordinances oi the Province, and compared them with the Assembly's Act. He referred to the pre-. sent Executive, wb*ch he considered a very good one, and one which the Council |was willing'to accept prior to the dissolution. ' ' The Chairman next proposed -• The Judges," who, he said, had, at inconvenience to themselves, come long distances, and had done their work gratuitously. It wap, he said, no easy matter to judge such a field as that of the match of the day,, which, was the best work they had ever see^n in. Tokomairiro. The judgt-p, however, had done their work to the satisfaction of all, the' ploughmen not excepted. He coupled the toast with the name ,of Mr. D. Grant. Mr Grant, in responding, said thejudges had had a difficult task to perform. It was such even ploughing, especially in Class' B^ that it was difficult to. place the. men ; indeed, there was not a bad ploughed: iig on the field. The whole hid been executed in a thoroughly workmanlike-manner^ and' he' was specially pleased with the work of the juniors'. Tbat of the double-furrows was the best he had ever seen deme -by these ploughs. The horses : .and ha-nessj were very creditable tq that .or any other .district.' In conclusion, he proposed the 'Toko- :- mairiro Farmers' Club," ..coupled with" the' name of hi 3 old schoolfellow, Mr J. S." Fleming, the Secre ary. - : Mr Fleming, in reply, briefly summarised the operations of the Club since' its. inauguration nine years, ago. , During that/ time, tbe quality of, stock had very much' improved, and this, he had no doubt, was in great measure attributable tothe!emuiation which the annual shows .; lexcited amongst breeders. The same, he said, also applied to the r ploughing match,', as." the' work performed at e-sch competition was annually improving. He had had much pleasure in the performance of his duties ib connection with the Club during the pa**t two years. . Tn- consequence^ however, of his removal, to .another, sphere.* of. labor, th*»t connection must sho tly cease,' &hl hie, could only express the hope that the .Club would go on and prosper^ and that it would accomplish even 'greater things than what it had yet done. * f The Vice-Chairman proposed " The Successful competitors,". coupled [with the name of Mr. Tait, to'>which.-Mr./:H...Cla>k»'.reT, pponded, and proposed "The .Unsuccessful Competitor*-," to which- Mr. Allison, responded j although, as he said, his ploughs had: that, dav taken two priz -a. -. Mr. H. Clark proposed "The Agricul/ tural and Paa>oral Interests.'' In /the : course of an excellent speech, he characterised these two: as the most irnpoftant interests ol:.- any .-country. , Although /from various Pauses some / antflgotiism chad existed between them iq Otago,; they/re/ally. i were one interest, and he/rejoiced tp/'se*} so many settlers were- nbw".comm/encihg/'^ 1 combine .the-two;:./;;]ri[e./cpuplerl : tf/e/'tb/ast with the name* of ;Mr Edward Maftin^' and to which tha^-geptleman.resppnd/(i. / "~; i •--•-Mr'-R; f.-Murray= pr/opps^d^thet^-C^rnmer;* eial and-Mining: lnteres/ts^and^which' Was responded tp Toy Mr J, r& /HeJidefsoPi / Mr-Lindsay proposed^ T/h/e. Municipality of /-MiltPnif' poupl^e/d-^ithf thW'hame ,pf ; -■ MrrCunninghMme, -Mayor, x(/ / ■ />' r^ . Mr , Cunhibghame^ iii the ipurse of tah eloquent speech, compared thecohdition Jo _ the township when he first enteredl ;--it; / ten

[years, ago, wih wbatit waj nd#-Mlf coh^ sidered : that -if was' nowi. ari-- ; horlo t|riud •: a credit^toall; eoncerncd ; that-it^tl§|Bar , favorable comparison with ahyl-MtQicipal-Uy in Otago, and yet.had norft^pfnny^of . -debt. •:•-• T - ■-;,-■ -■;...-'{' '=" - "The Ladies," was propb^ediby Mr^ Joseph Mackay, and respondeWlo by Mr, - Fraser- ' ; . •;--"/ , . : -/-;^'? : '/; : The Chairman . propo'ed .---The iPress," coupled with the names of Messrs. VPefrier and Fieraing, and to fthichrth'ese/gehtle- '-. men responded. '//,.;./;•;" i "The Strangers," was proposed by. Mr. | Clark, andrresponded to by Mrl ; Craig. '. " Host and Hosttss," by the- Cbairmani ! responded to by r Mr. Philp. '.. '-'-A «m-?- he Chairm:i n," by Mr. Mollison, and "The Vice C.airman," by Mr - were also duly responded to. /i? The tuas s were all well receive/d, gener- , ally «' with all -the honors." -4 ThVcughotit / the evenirjg, numerous songs /w/ere' sung/ / and the utmost harmony and good 'filling / preva-led, and many will long rVcalrT^ith I pleasure. the plehsaut evening^tbey /%ent i^. at the annual dinner of the fpkoihairiro Farmers' Club.