NELSON’S 60th BIRTHDAY.

Evening Star, Issue 11673, 4 February 1902, Page 8

NELSON’S 60th BIRTHDAY.

A MEMORABLE SCENE. [Special so tub Star.] NELSON, February 5. If those dear boatmen who, as w© are (nl,! by historians* sixty years ago watched l ira the port hills of Nelson the good 'ri: quc Fifeshire slowly sailing down Blind P.iv with the first batch of settlers for :: e province could have seen the harbor ; ;il the city to-day, with what wondering it u,,111(1 have boon. In the harbor, now mo finitely well equipped ns a port, and i great plans for the future outlined, reposed two of His Majesty’s ships of war —the Ringarooroa and the Lizard-—th© Government steamer Tntanekai, and a small fleet of other vessels. Under the hills, formerly bar© and washed by the sea, are shops and factories incidental to a port; on the slopes above prosperous business men have built their homes; and resiling in the sunny valley a little back from the >e:i, and a few minutes’ drive from the wharves, arises a city from the once fern, flax, and scrub-covered soil. Most of those time-honored worthies have been long gathered to their fathers; most cf those 'ivdventuorous early immigrants have cone to their long rest, but their names live in their deeds and in another generation.

Some of the old folk are here to-day—-such familiar figures as Mcsdames Neadon and Lovell, Messrs Berry, J. W. Gibson, ,1. J). Duncan, P. Weir—who landed from the Fifeshire on that eventful Ist of February, 1843, and there is a better represent, ufion of arrivals by later vessels. Some siili appear hale and hearty, and fib to reach ;mother score of years, hut too manv ine bowed down under.the heavy, unsparing iiand of time. Still, they have lived (heir lives, and as one remarked to-day: ” Vve have served our purpose ; wo must iic room for the young folk.’’ The you.ijT generation are giving evidence •"£ iic.iiviry. Great schemes for harbor and municipal improvements are in the air, and 1 1 is promised that within a few years Nelson as the city of the sleepy hollow will be hat a memory. The crit-y of wideawake will arise in its place. Ihe clang of tlio hammer and (he nimble of the wheeled traffic along the streets soon after daylight awoke such of the population as were In bed to (he fact that the day had dawned on a week of festivity for (heir sixty years of existence, hut as the. official programme indicated that the first event would not begin until nine o clock I ho-'0 accustomed to (ho hustle of a commercial life dozed on. When, however, ,-i s.dmo roared out from the iron throats of cannons at half past eight the _ streets weie full of people, and a steady "stream 11. , ed in fiic direction, of the (.linen it ill, 1.. Mie of tho first church service held lac early solders by the Rev. Octavius 11.. Id. afterwards Bishop of Wellington, and upon which the cathedral now stands 1., ;Im fori ideations of tins historic spot p.:.-!,;,.(| at a later period the wives and la of the settle is when the alarm ;l , (in' Walnut massacre spread over the Todav. however, the gathering v. ;i . for praise and privet - . People crowded piV sp.ps leading from Trafalgar stree’, n d spread away right and left along the j,,,,; and tree-bordered slojres. Wedged Pi tile centre of the mass were a. honnv i ole i e ialieni of school children, with banmi cites and bright smiles. The picture finking down into the city ua> equally gav and imposing. Flags Hew everywhere and above everything- Trafalgar street was particularly bright in its festooned garb of bunting, strings of coloret, cioths sweeping right acre's the thorough - fan; and along the verandahs on either vide, while the nikau palm, the pnnga, and I lie forest tree-: yielded their foliage lor tl ,(>'.v of green masts down the centre oi

till: Micct. iu-t at I lie foot. of (he steps were drawn ,»>„ component parts of the procession. sca-Ui red about on all sides were the ,-i i, 11! ii< ius onlookers, man boring some thouThe coaimi-nioraucu service ] eld from the chinch steps, and was devo - j,, n, l l in its character, in h:s address j;: > 1,,,1, Mules touched lightly on the even‘d ,)( the decade, and recalled with tome pride thi! ilie little city had taken no inconsider aid? part in the building of the Empire. Tin - only other address wa.s a short histor'cal sketch by the mayor (Mr H. Baigent) The people's attention was then turned t ■ the procession, "which was jong and \aric i in its character, being made up of tiie mil’*:iry (about 200 strong), representatives -a ill" the branches of friendly societies, the Municipal Fire Brigade, cars crowded with -arly settlers, carriages containing the Premier and the two members of his Cabine 4 ", die mayor and councillors, the mayors <u ■ nbnrban boroughs, the officers of the wardilps, members of Parliament, the clergy, re pi ese iilatives of county councils and local indies, school children, and various visitors. The VV akatu Mounted Riiles formed the escort to the procession on its route through the principal streets of the city to the B> ttiniu.il Gardens. Here, too, the scene was a memorable one. Tile enclosure is in that I ivtty part of the town known as “The \\hlOi'i.” famous for its gardens and its orchar is. It is surrounded on two sides by giair. i d.!,-, cypresses, and oaks, while behind rises i:ri d;c famous zigzag, which every visitor I. ', .Ui.l to daub, if he possesses an eye : - i'.c beautiful in nature. The slopes of the d ; ■ ived the purposes of a dress circle, : It'ii',!: cds found shelter from the tropi--1 "an in the shades of its leafy bowers. ” i main portion of the crowd gathered ■ i the band rotunda, which hud been a.part for the speech-making. The •• t lino limit” was applied to the speakers, so there was no unnecessary use of words. The Premier confined himself mainly to statistics showing the progress of Nelson during tho past sixty years. He referred feelingly to the demise of those who had taken port in the fifty years’ anniversary ~f tho settlement, and eulogised New Zeal amid loyalty in the matter of the Boer war. Mr John Graham, MMI.R-, took advantage of the presence cl three live Cabinet Ministers to put in a plea for greater expenditure of public money in the Nelson district, and, as chairman of the Harbor Board, he approvingly referred to the probable success of the harbor improvement works, a Government measure regarding which be had successfully stonewalled in the dying hours of last session till he secured for the port an endowment which the Minister was eadcavmdnv to commandeer. Sir Joseph Ward was short and pithy, and created a most favorable impression > n his first public appearance in this city. Colonel Pitt, MJLC., spoke as uu ok! identity and one of the representatives d tho district in the good old days of provincialism, whil© the Hon, C. H. Mills addressed the gathering on behalf of the “new uniqnity.” A notable event-of the afternoon was the gathering of early settlers at*luncheon M the Masonic Hall. They numbered altogether about JoO of both sexes, and include! some of the very first arrivals. The proceedings were made as pleasant as possible for these rugged fathers and mothers of a sturdy race. The mayor of the city presided, and the Premier, Sir J. G. War !. and the Hon. C. BL Mills were among the guests, and made brief allasaaa to the splendid work of the early settlers, whose health was enthusiastically toasted, Mr Sougcr, who planted the British flag on Nelson soli by direction of Captain Wakefield, related how Nelson Harbor was first chosen, ami particularly acknowledged the friendliness and kindness of the Maoris to the settlers on ihcir arrival.

(dlier “’aide shows" of 'Che day were a tc ini. tournament, which was begun on the I'iix;!; street courts--; a bowfing tourney, an , \iiiititioa at the Souter Art Gallery, sports gathering at Trafalgar i : . ,i reserve of several acres which some ~ i- ago was famed of material scooped 'ey -mi the adjacent mod flat. io night the weather is threatening, but v mean nothing more than a heat shower i i.e streets of the town, which are iJlununiiied with Chinese lanterns, are full o', J he day’s proceedings wojukl up with i bai.quet to the Ministerial visitors. ruling reference was made by Colonel Tin to Nelson’s Grace Darling (Mrs Julia Martini, who in 1863 showed great bravery in swimming out from the shore and rescuing a somber of the crew from the brigantine Delaware, wrecked near Wakapuaka on her way to Kapler, immediately after icompliment bad been £iaid ihe was es-

corted to the band rotunda in the Botanical Gardens by Mr D. M. Luckie and introduced to the Premier ( Sir J. G. Ward, and others. “Julia” eras dressed in the garb of a Maori chieftainess, with a handsome native mat about her shoulders and a wreath of passion fruit vine round her head. She was undoubtedly the cynosure of all eyes, and held quite a reception of her own among the early settlers present. Julia is still the proud possessor of a handsome gold watch presented to her by public subscription at the time of the Delaware disaster.

On your representative inquiring from one who had taken a prominent part in the Diamond Jubilee movement as to the cause of the day’s gathering, he honestly confessed that it was conceived as a set-off to the Royal visit of last year, when some 5,000 Nelsonians went to Wellington or Auckland to see the Heir-Apparent to the Throne, and it was hoped that a week’s festivities at the present time would result in a counterblast by securing the attendance of visitors from other parts of the colony. Two of the speakers at the function at the Botanical Gardens are natives of the district. Mr John Graham, the member for Nelson City, was, singularly enough, horn just sixty years ago. The Hon. C. H. Mills was christened ami wedded in the Nelson Cathedral, and is. moreover, the first Nelson native to attain to Cabinet rank. Captain Post, the popular skipper of the Tutanekai, claims to he an old settler of Nelson in its early days. He deserted from a ship on which lie was

’ n led, and which called at the poit. Tie managed to elude the vigilance of those who were sent in quest of him.

Motueka boasts of a modern citizen. - This resident kept close to Mr R. M'Kenzie, M.H.R., till an introduction to the Right Ft on. the Premier was secured, and the reason for ;dl the fuss was that the Motueka. man would see “Dick” Seddon in the coronation procession next June. His eye, lighting on the youth and beauty of Nelson, strongly represented in to-day's proceedings, (he Premier remarked that apparently with so many single people in the district it was quite time they had heller means of communication with rim outer world.

In connection with (he Victoria Vnllege site, Mr Graham. M.H.R., announced at last night's Ministerial banquet that the Nelson - College governors had passed a resnlution that they wore prepared to otter, free of co't. six acres of the college reserve adjacent, to the present college buildings for the immediate erection of the Victoria College. The resolution had been sent to the Government, with tho request that the Victoria College Act bo amended tn enab'e the otter to ho given effect to. The announcement. was received with much applause. and the Premier suggested that the proposal should Im forwarded to even' member of Parliament.