STRIKING TRIBUTE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 68, 22 March 1937, Page 10

STRIKING TRIBUTE

MR. W. H. FIELD'S WORK

SERVICES TO OTAKI

A striking tribute to tfie affection and esteem in which Mr. W. H. Field, who for 33 years represented the Otaki electorate in Parliament, is held was paid at a public function held in the Paekakariki Hall on .Saturday afternoon in honour of Mr. and Mrs. Field. Mr. Field retired from politics just prior to the last election. There were about 150 people present, and during the proceedings Mr. Field was presented with a wallet and contents, and Mrs. Field with a handbag.

Mr. A. T. Bothamley, in the unavoidable absence of Mr. L. G. Lowry, M.P., presided. In making the presentations, Mr. Bothamley referred to the long and 'faithful service Mr. Field had rendered as member for the Otaki electorate, and the substantial amount of good work he had done for the district he loved so well. Mr. Bothamley stated that no man that he knew had left Parliament with so clean a record, and no one, so far as he was aware, had been longer a member for the one electorate. He had been associated with and a warm advocate of all the principal publitj works whicn had been accomplichcd in the district, including the bridges over the Otaki and Ohau Rivers, and, much later, the bridge at Paremata, which gave quicker access to Plimmertor. from Wellington. Mr! Field had never ceased to advocate the through main road, the deviation through Plimmerton and Pukerua fj Paekakariki, and the work now going on would, in a measure, form a fitting conclusion to his public life. INTEREST IN LOCAL BODIES. Mr G. A. Monk, chairman of the Horowhenua County Council, referred to the long and faithful service Mr. Field had rendered as a member of Parliament, and particularly to the manner in which he had always, year in and year out, assisted local bodies of the electorate in regard to their affairs and in the development of road works calculated to advance the district. As member for the district it could be said with truth that Mr. Field had put his electorate first and himself second—he had, always put himself aside when his electorate could be served. His knowledge of the district, the Tararuas, and the native bush was profound, so that he could still be an asset to the country as a member of the Legislative Council, a suggestion which was received with hearty applause. Mr. J. Maher, of Mangaroa, referred to the manner in which- Mr. Field had always given ready and practical help to anything calculated to forward the interests of the district and the people within it. ' Mr. C. J. B. Norwood said that Mr. Field's life was an example to many inasmuch as he had unselfishly placed his services to his electorate first. It could be said that he had given a good deal of the best part of his life for the good and the advancement of the district and the country as a whole. He also referred to the helpful work of Mrs. Field, whose personal influence had always been exercised for the good of the district her husband had served so faithfully and so long. Mr.: P. Tahiwi, of Otaki, expressed the love and affection of the Maoris of the electorate for Mr. Field. He had always been sympathetic to the Maori people, who had always received his ready help and protection. Mr. H. D. Bennett also paid a tribute to Mr. Field, who, he said, at the end of a long political career could retire with the knowledge that his had been a particularly useful life, lived largely for the benefit of his fellowmen. Mr. Field had for a long .time been the pack-horse who had always delivered the goods. He also referred to the value Mrs. Field had been as helpmeet. MR. FIELD'S REPLY. In the course of his reply, Mr. Field, who thanked all concerned for the honour they were doing his wife and himself, was interestingly reminiscent. He said that his father was an engineer and a surveyor, who; with his mother, had pn one remote occasion walked the whole way from Wellington to Wanganui along the beach. His parents resided on the Wanganui River at a time when "the Maoris-were out." He had actually'seen real fighting during that outbreak, a thing that not many alive, today could say. Incidentally, Mr. Field said. that, he had seen, the Maoris in a real haka before going into, battle.. Having recently seen hakas danced at Waitangi, Mr. Field said they were nothing at all compared to the real thing as he had seen it on the Wanganui River. He was with his father on the occasion when the latter blazed the. track from Wanganui to Karioi, which still bears the name of "Field's Track." Mr. Field said that he was the first boy to gain a scholarship in the Wanganui district, a scholarship'which took him to Wellington College (from Aramobo) in 1875, where he became one of the first boarders. It was on the death of his brother in 1899, Mr. H. A. Field', who was member for Otaki, that he contested, the seat and was returned. Mr. Field mentioned the commission which,was sent by the Government to report on the prospects of a railway up the West Coast through the electorate. That commission had reported that the proposition was quite hopeless. It was so hopeless that a little later the project was taken up by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, which put the line through from Wellington to Longburn, and made a signal success of it, and incidentally disclosed to many the richness of the district. Up till that time many in Wellington had regarded the district as more or less barren coastal land He also referred 'to the; many' developmental works which had been given effect to in his time. The through road via Pukerua; which was to cut out the Paekakariki H.ill, was the consummation of an old dream. RAILWAY IMPROVEMENTS. Mr. Field said he fought for years for tbe improvement of the railway service, one very long-needed train, ".Field's express," being named after him; sjso for the Tawa Flat tunnel, no>' complptfid. He took a leading part in obtaining the coming electric railway service between Wellington and Johnsonvihe, and also in securing the promised motor rail service to the Upper Hutt. Among his main ambitions had been the preservation of native bush and birds, tree planting, the prevention of river erosion, and the reclamation of sand drift areas, in all of which he had attained much success.

He added that he had thirty-seven years of active public life to his credit, and though advanced in years, he was still full of energy and of desire to promote the welfare of the district in which h<* had held considerable interests for forty-five years. Though he retired voluntarily he naturally felt keenly th» wrench of his retirement from active political life.

Mr. Field concluded by acknowledging the help he had always received from his wife* and: by thanking those present for the tokens of their esteem.