THE PRESIDENT OF THE EXECUTIVE.

New Zealand Mail, 3 December 1896, Page 50

THE PRESIDENT OF THE EXECUTIVE.

Mr '■amuel Brown, whose career has been one of selt-reliauce. and in every way worthy of the man. He arrived in Otago as a lad in 1802. and, finding things in a bad state, determined to proceed to Invercargill. The shipping facilities between Dunedin and Invercargill in those days wue indifferent: in reply to a question on the subject a shipping agent told Brown he might g< t to Invercargill in a week or a month, or perhaps not at all. As he wanted to make sure about getting there, however, he determined to make one of a party to u swag it” overland. They ” swagged it” accordingly, a distance of 110 miles, without roads or tracks, rivers and creeks unbridged, and as they were snowed up and short of tucker at times, the trip was a memorable one. Mr Brown commenced business as a contractor in Invercargill, and during the two years lie remained there he saw the place grow from a bush and swamp wilderness to a decent town, where ground rent was as high as .I‘o per foot, and then relapse to such a condition that owners could not give away their buildings. In those happy-go-lucky days ladies’ walking boots were indiarabber boots reaching to the knee. Mr Brown came to Wellington in I '(if. and has lived here since. A year or two afier his arrival in Wellington, he married Miss Emily Pain, a daughter of one of the early settlers. I Hiring the thirty-two

years he has lived in Wellington. Mr Brown has carried out many large and varied contracts in both the North and south Islands, such as the construction of ralwavs fo r the (Tovernment, the Wellington-Manawatu Company, and the Midland Railway Company; roads, bridges, telegraph lines, gasworks, tramways, public and private buildings. He was a member of the Harbour Board for

three years, a City Councillor tor six years, and Mayor for two years. While he was m the Council his engineering knowledge was <>l great service during the period that the waterworks and reclamation construction were proceeding. The pine track at tne Hutt river was built from his sketch plan at a cost of under =£sooo after it was shown that the original design would cost nearly <£12,000. He suggested a scheme by which the Conned could make the reclamation without a loan, get a new street for nothing, and clear £15.000. The Council followed his lead, and Victoria street was made, and the profit: came'to within a small f/action of what he had stated, 'the most important matters with which IVlr Brown s name was identified during the two years he was Mayor were the electric light and the Destructor, both successful works. When, after careful enquiry, the Destructor proposal was decided on and the site fix d, Mr Brown’s action was mo t strongly opposed by nearly the whole Council and residents near the spot, but time has pro\ed that in this as in other matters he understood what he was talking about Now i eople wonder how they would do without what they called *’ Sam Brown’s hobby.” While Mayor. Mr Brown turned his attention to the question of the conversion of municipal loans. He consulted experienced bankers and also Sir Julius Vogel, but saw that no conversion scheme could be carried out with advantage. He endeavoured during his term as to have a by-law passed providing that each dwelling should have a certain amount of air-space about it, this to apply more particularly to the poorer cla-s ot dwellings which arc gradually increasing in mind er, and are being' crowded together under conditions which are likely to interfere seriously with public health. The late .'sir Han v Atkinson considered this so important, a matter in the health ot the city that he offered to give facilities for a Bill on the subject. However, when Mr Brown's term as Mayor expired, tic matter dropped. For some time Air liiown has carried on business ns coal morchaid. Two of his sons are at sea one as engineer in the service of the Union steamship < ompany and another in the shiiw. Suvill and Albion Company’s service He i- the president for the second year ot the Wellington Provincial Industrial Associate u. m dor whose auspices the Exhibition has been organised.