THE JUBILEE DINNER

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18179, 29 August 1933, Page 4

THE JUBILEE DINNER

GISBORNE FIRE BRIGADE 50 YEARS OLD PRESENTATIONS MADE The Gisborne Fire Brigade celebrated its jubilee last night by a dinner given to prominent men of the town. It was an outstanding-success. Nearly 200 sat down at the tables arranged in the station, from which the fire engines had beeu removed. The brick walls were decorated with flags, while lengths of hose trailed from the ceiling and ladders occupied a. conspicuous place in the middle of the enclosure as reminders ot; the nature of. the gathering. Superintendent, J. Kane presided. A number of apologies were received, among which was one by Mr. W. D. Lysnar, the only surviving member of the original Fire Board, and Mr. Thos. Morrison, late, deputy superintendent, now of Kntikati, one of the 15'members who constituted the first Gisborne brigade. One of the main portions of the evening was when the Mayor, Mr, John Jackson, made presentations fob valuable services, jeoderod .b.yL brigade 9 mien., v Two presentations were to Custodian T. Morrison, who had completed St) vejirs’ of service, with the brigade, which was proud to have Mr. Morrison present that night. The first presentation, was from the Borough Council and' was in the form of an address inscribed l with the signatures of the Mayor; ajhd . councillors. The other Was a :larg& flatbed photograph of the members of the brigade in recognition of Mr. Morrison’s services, and hoping that he would be spared for many years yet. A third was made to Mr. Morrison’s daughter, Mrs. Sliean, in recognition of the services she had renedered in telephone attendance. A presentation was made also of a large framed photograph to Mr. D. L. FergUsoh, the secretary of the brigade, who, His Worship said, was a fine organiser.

Mr. B. S. Brce, chairman of the 1 Fire Board, also presented a five-year modal to Fireman T. P. Shean and a bar to Fireman W. H. Griffon, the latter having had 19 years’ service. Also, the board appreciated the work of the two honorary surgeons, Drs. H. Angell and W. A. Bowie, to whom , fie presented service medals. In j ( j o , ng , sO , h c mentioned the previous services provided by Dr. C. F. Scott, presentations were made aTso to Fireman D. L. Ferguson and ex-Fireiuan Lcdgcr for t ] le services they had rendered. Mr. T. J. Watts, secretary of the United Fire Brigades’Association, was a j so j n c .} ia rge of the presentations, and j ic ] uinded Superintendent Kane, Firoman D. L. Ferguson, and cx-Fire-mans. Ledger gold stars for 25-years’ f rvicc > congratulating them on their lo "S service. “JOLLY GOOD FELLOWS. ’’ M -; ; Howard Kenway a member of thc Cook HospitaJ Board, in the absence of Mr. W. D Lysnar' proposed the toast to ‘‘Parliament. Bexore doing so, he congratulated the brigade on its jubilee, and said that it was also his own jubilee; this was his fiftieth year in Gisborne. Hc arrived in Gisborne in 1883, and the brigade was formed the sumo year; they were, then, brothers in attainment and ndversity. In a toast, one was supposed to say something complimentary. At thc beginning of the past century, a complimentary toast to members of Parliament would have been totally undeserved, but with the beginning of tho Victorian era elections began to reprosent the true voice of thc people, and now in the British Commonwealth reflected fairly the feelin S s of , thc constitutencies they represented. Parliament now was, m Lincoln ’s words, Government of the people for the people by the people.’’ At this stage, thc speaker told a story of a visitor to cortain Parliarnent buildings while Parliament was in session. The visitor saw the chaplain enter, and inquired of an attendant wll « the cleric was and what ho did. “Oh,” said the attendant, “he comes in and looks round the'members °f Parliament, then goes out and prays for the people. ” Mr. Kenway did uot suggest that the Parliamentary guests that night were deserving of such prayers, but they required tho support 0 f th e people in view of the arduous duties they undertook. PARLIMENTARIANS’ REPLY , Mr. k- S ‘ Williams, M.P., m reply, it was pleasing to hear a large numb °r « sing they are jolly good fellows to members of Barbamont, for he knew that other things ' vore a j so f said - He added that a large amount of work was done by members 0 f Parliament other than what the nevvspapers reported. For instance, much work was done by committees in the mornings before the hot air in the afternoons for the benefit of the press. He said that the Government had a. greater task than the Opposition, because it was easier to construct a policy than to pull one to pieces. The Opposition said, “Wait till wo get in your place, and wo’ll tell you what should be done.” Speaking more seriously, he said tho members tried to do their duty and that politics were very clean, and he knew of no bribery and corruption that had taken place. Mr. D. W. Coleman, M.P., also replied, and said his thoughts went along much the same lines as Mr. Williams’ m regard to the heartiness of the toast. He also agreed that all members of Parliament were doing their duty as they saw it. He was impressed with the fact that while the parties differed' most vigorously in the House at times, a very fi llo feeling was exhibited among members as soon as the House adjourned. If that spirit did not prevail, the life 0 f a member of Parliament would be intolerable. He supported Mr. Wilbams, too, in that there was no bribery a nd corruption in politics. He had been actively connected in local body politics, as well as national politics, and fie Had yet to have an offer of bribery to be made to him. That suggested that politics in New Zealand were very clean both nationally and locally. The life of a member of Parliament was a very strenuous one; on one occasion the House sat continuously for 72 hours. Ho disagreed that the Opposition had an easier task than the Government; the present Opposition was the watchd .°g of the people. The 25 of the Opposjtion had to sit there all tho time while tho Government might leave only a few t° carry on thc debate. “THE BRIGADE”

The Mayor, proposing the toast to the Gisborne Five Brigade, said that in the 50 years of its existence, the brigade had done wonderful and valuable service. Man’s greatest efforts from the dawn of the race were to make a fire by rubbing sticks together, but man’s next task was to put the fire out before it overwhelmed them. Modern equipment was of very recent origin. Early in history before Christ, there was mention of apparatus with pistons to fight fires, but thereafter such apparatus seems to have been lost sight of, and man went back to the backet- brigade-. In the great fire of London, the method used to stay the fire was to demolish buildings in the path of the fire. In 1829. John Braithwayt, in London, worked thc first practical engine, but this was so cumbersome that- it was abandoned until the evolution of the present equipment started about a generation later. However, the best of equipment was of no use without the 'dauntless and efficient inert who worked it. He congratulated the superintendent and men of the brigade for the equipment they had and of the success that had attended their efforts.

Deputy-Superintendent Alex. Thomson, who had 44 years’ service, said the brigade had been fortunate in having fine firemen in its membership, and he ■mentioned several v names, including the late -Messrs. Townley, Faram, McGowan, Johnson, Fraser, and Neill. Then there was “Uncle Tom” . (Custodian T. Morrison), and others who had given long servico, such as Firemen Knox, Walters, Mitchell, and Preston, among others. WAi-ROA’S CQNGRATLUATIONS

Mr. H. 11. DeCosta proposed the toast of the Department of Internal Affairs and the Fire -Board, and said that the department granted the fire brigade £SO a year, but lie thought that hardly sufficient, as the brigade protected all the Government buildings. The department controlled the Fire Board, and the board in turn controlled the brigade, while tho Borough Council also assisted by paying £I2OO a year. He assured his listeners that the council and tho board did their utmost to control the fires, and the brigade itself did remarkable work.

MV. Girliiig-Butcher, inspector of fire brigades in New Zealand, congratulated tins brigade on achieving, its fiftieth year

of its foundation, and also on the wonderfully representative gathering. Mr. B. fe\ Bree, chairman of the. Gisborne Fire Board, said that the Mttrd’s control of the brigade fell very lightly on the shoulders of tho board in view of the efficiency of the officers. Superintendent D. Byford, Wairoa, proposed tho toast to the United Fire Brigades Association. He congratulated the Gisborne brigade, and hoped that many present would be able to attend tho fiftieth anniversary of the Wairoa brigade, which, however, was only yet 7j years old. The U.F.B.A. had been of wonderful assistance in laying the foundations of the Wairoa organisation. Tho insurance scheme under the U.F.B.A. was of valuable assistance to brigadesmen, and without the association some firemen would find it difficult to battle on under the ordinary insurance of tho Fire Board in the case of an accident. He complimented the secretary of the association on the way he had carried on. Mr. T. J. Watts, secretary of the United Fire Brigades Association, said that the credit for tho prevention of the fire losses should go. to the fire brigadesmen; they had very little to thank the Government for.' He heard Mr. DeCosta say tjiat the Government gave- the Gisborne 1 Fire Board £SO a year, hut there were 95 jfiro • brigades in New Zealand who got nothing. There wore M 3 brigades in tho association from Kawakawd in the far north to the Bluff in the south, and it was only the result of a strong endeavor that some small concession was received from the ones he represented. Mr. Williams was one of three members of Parliament who had refused to help in this matter; Mr. Coleman had given his assistance. Ho made an appeal to tho young men to do something for tho community, and said there was no civic service more worthy than being a momber of a firo brigade. The 90 odd brigades ho inspected were doing valuable work. They wore trying to reach tho stage when each member would piss the highest tests in tho use of the modern apparatus. Mr. F. Collin, proposing tho toast to local bodies, said that those of to-day were doing more and harder work than tho pioneer .local bodies. In the more prosperous days it was easy to raise loans, but to-day it was now difficult to

pay interest on those loans already! raised. He congratulated the local bodies of tho town and district on the work they were doing. Mr. F. R. Ball, chairman,of the Poverty Bay Power Board, replied. Ur. W. A. Bowie proposed! the toast to “Kindred Institutions, ’ and said that tho boys would call the brigade a- rotten one, for whenever he, as a boy, followed tho brigade to a five he always found it out before he arrived. Mr. P. J. Allan, fire police, Mr. W. E. B. Froggatt, St. John Ambulance, and Mr. H. F. Forster, sports bodies, replied. . Other toasts wore: “Visitors and En-. tertainers.” Foreman J. P. Weston, with Messrs. W. Kohn, L. Miles and W. Big-1 ncll in response; “The Ladies” Canon ' A. F. Hall ; “The" Press,’’ Mr. T). "L. Ferguson. I An enjoyable musical programme was provided as follows: Orchestral seloctipns; by Mr. Mainland L. Foster’s orchestra; song, Mr. W. Bignell; quartet, A. and B. Allan, V. , Caujton and W. [ Kohn; recitation. Mr. W. Hamilton Trvine; song and. recitation, Messrs. Murphy brothers; song, Mr. A. Seal;! bagpipes selection, Mr.. G. Purvis; recitation, Mr. David Lee; song, Mr..,.,1t Sloan; duet, Messrs. A. aiuDR. Allan,;’ song, Mr. A.' Zacliariah. * ' • > ■ 1