VICTORIAN CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22368, 15 September 1934, Page 10

VICTORIAN CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—The generous invitation from the Lord Mayor and Council of Melbourne to Mayors and Mayoresses of New Zealand cities to be the guests of Melbourne city during the centenary celebrations is a very friendly gesture which will be highly appreciated by the four cities interested, and by none so much as our city, which owes very much of its prosperous condition to the influx of the Victorians, who, during the gold rushes in the early sixties, came over to Dunedin by the thousands every week, some of the clipper sailing ships having 1000 passengers—where they all bunked I have often wondered. The men who came then were the pick of Australia, most of them in the prime of life, strong men- morally and physically, prepared to face and overcome all difficulties in their search for gold or a home on the land. The Rev. Dr Burns, who did not want the Victorians, said that so far as the diggers were concerned the bulk of them were quiet, civil, hardworking fellows. Such they proved themselves to be, and in less than two years Dunedin was transformed from not much more than a village to a bustling and prosperous town, and the back country wag thoroughly explored and proved to be good. Not all the Victorians went in search of gold. Many of them commenced business as merchants, tradesmen, or professional men. I think their high standard of efficiency and uprightness hag been maintained up to ting day. I have penned a list of a few names of men and firms that came over from Victoria in the sixties, many of the men have passed on, but their names are still remembered by not a few. It may interest some of the old timers or their sons to read them. There were Sir John Roberts, whose passing we mourn to-day; Mr Mathew Holmes; Sir George M'Lean; Mr P. C. Neill, who is still with us; Mr Bendix Hallenstein. founder df the H.B. Company; Messrs H. S. Fish, James Gore, and Chai-les Haymes, Mayors of our city; Mr Thomas Bracken, poet and joui'nalist; Sir Julius Vogel, who became Premier; Messrs Vincent Pyke and E. H. Curew, goldfields warden and magistrate: Mr St. John Branagan and his body of mounted and foot police, including Ser-geant-major Bevin; “Ned” Devine, coach driver (“King of the Road”); the Rev. A. R. Fitchett, late dean of Dunedin; Mr C. H. Statham (now Canon Statham); Mr James Macassey, barrister; Professor Ulrich; Sir George Fenwick and Mr W. Fenwick of the Daily Times and Witness; Mr George Bell and Mr Mark Cohen, of the Evening Star; Messrs Whittingham Bros.; Henry Cooke; P. Hayinan and Co.; Mackerras and_ Hazlett, both from Victoria; Messrs Briscoe and Co. (Mr Hugh Macneil); Sargood, Son, and Ewen (Mr Ewen): Ferguson and Mitchell (Mr John Mitchell): Dalgety and Co. (in the early days, Dalgety, Rattray, and Co.); and Mr Hugh Kirkpatrick and W. M'Beath (drapers). I may say that Melbourne has a call of its own to old Victorians, and though I came here as a boy in the early sixties and have not been in Melbourne since 1883 I still take an interest in its doings and welfare. I am sure that we all feel certain that our Mayor and Mayoress will efficientjy and gracefully convey Dunedin’s greetings to the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, and hope that our ambassadors will have an enjoyable time, and that their visit will revive some of the old interest that used to exist between the two cities in the early days.—l am, etc., W. L. T.