TESTIMONIAL TO MR. CROSS.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 340, 22 January 1861, Page 2

TESTIMONIAL TO MR. CROSS.

Some time since we spoke of the efficient assistance rendered by Mr. J. S. Cross in connexion with the steam service of the Tasmanian Maid, and the intention of the Company to recognise the same by the presentation of a valuable watch to Mr. Cross. This was the occasion of a dinner on Thursday evening last at the Masonic Hotel, the members of the Company and their friends being present. The chairman (N. G. Morse Esq.,) in presenting the gift, thanked Mr. Cross in the name of the Association for the zeal he has displayed, and the gratuitous services he had rendered in connexiou with the Tasmanian Maid from the time of her arrival to her departure from Nelson. In the course of a short but gratifying speech the chairman read the inscription which had been engraved on the dome of the watch and which was as follows:—" Presented to Mr. James Smith Cross, Harbor Master and Pilot, by the Nelson Coast Steam Association in testimony to the valuable and gratuitous services he has rendered to the Association. Nelsoa New Zealand 1860,' the gift is a very handsome gold chronometer valued at £80. Mr. Cross replied: Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen—ln rising to return you my thanks for the rery valuable testimonial which you have this evening presented me with, I feel under Borne difficulty as to how to express myself. You all of 1 you know that I am not much of a public speaker, and should you consider that I do not express myself as fully as I ought, you must imputf it to my want of ability and not to my want of intention. 1 need hardly say how gratifying it must be to me to find that what litile I may have done should find such favor in your sight, and were it not that it would be impolite of me to contradict my friend the chairman, I should say that he had made a mistake, and overated my services. I have only done that which I considered to be my duty, and if whilst endeavoring to do that I have been more fortunate than many, lam thankful. It is not always the good fortune of the best endeavors to ireet such a return as your generosity has this evening accorded me, and if I may be allowed to I say it, the gift will be valued by me, not bo much j on account of its intrinsic worth, as for the very ' flattering inscription which it bears within it. It teaches me a lesson, and will, I hope, teach my ! children also a practical one, and that is, that : years passed in endeavoring to do one's duty conscientiously will be recognised in this world as surety as in the next. Looking back as I can to the very creation of this settlement I see what industry and perseverance will accomplish, and I am proud that it has been my portion to render some assistance in transforming a* wild and uncultivated country into a rich and thriving civilised society. We owe much, if not all, to our own perseverance. The man afraid of laboring will never get on here. I may also mention the difference of feeling towards the natives which exists now to that which existed when I first landed, being, I believe, one of the first white man that ever trod the beach of our harbor. We did so, if not in fear at least in doubt of the natives. And yet from the first day of my appointment as pilot, the crew of my boat has been composed of natives, and I have every reason to speak highly ot the active and intelligent assistance they have rendered me. I have the more pleasure in offering my testimony in favor of those of the Maori race with whom I have been connected, at a time when the turbulent conduct of portions of the tribes of the Northern Island has given rise to the war now ] unhappily raging there. I have been led out of my course a little, and must put about on to my old tack, that is, the feeling of gratefulness I have to you for your kind appreciation of my endeavors ; and to express that as fully as I can. I must beg of you, Mr. Chairman, in the name of the association to receive my thanks, and to tell them that if I have hitherto given them satisfaction, it will always be my endeavor to call forth such feelings on their part. The health of the Secretary of the Association, Mr. 11. E. Curtis, was warmly crank and responded to. The health of the Trustees of the Nelson Trust Funds, to whom the advance of the ;£7OOO which started the Tasmanian Maid was attributable, was also done honor to, with several others. Mr. Everett furnished the dinner in his most excellent and admirable style.