Pen and Ink Portraits.

Observer, Volume 1, Issue 16, 25 December 1880, Page 136

Pen and Ink Portraits.

No. 11.— The New Mayor, James McCosh Clark, Esq. James McCosh Clark, Esq., the Mayor of Auckland, is the eldest son of the late Archibald Clark, one of the pioneers of colonization in New Zealand. The Clark's are descended from an old Ayrshire family of considerable standing. The late Mr. Archibald Clark was a merchant in the town of Beith, and carried on an extensive business before he determined to seek a new home for his family in the colonies, whither he was attracted by the cheapness of the land, the comparative freedom from taxation, and the prospect of extending his business. His wife was the daughter of a wealthy and influential coal mine proprietor in the West of Scotland, named McCosh, from wkomthe subject of this memoir derives the prefix to his surname. His two uncles, on the mother's side, were lawyers of some eminence in the profession, one practising at Ayr, and the other in Dairy. Mr. James McCosh Clark was born in Berth m 1833. He arrived in New Zealand with his father in 1549, so that he is a colonist of upwards of thirty years standing. The late Mr. Archibald Clark established, soon after his arrival in Auckland, the existing firm, and devoted himself to mercantile pursuits with untirin»- industry and remarkable success up to his death, when Mr. James McCosh Clark succeeded him as senior partner. The founder of the firm devoted a considerable portion of his time to the performance of his share of p\iblic duty. In 1852 he served his first term as Mayor of Auckland, under the old Municipal Act, before the Representative system of Government, framed by Sir George Grey, had been introduced. That Municipal form of Government died by a species of political strangulation. The Municipal authorities demanded that a definite sum of money should be placed at their disposal for a period of two or three years for the purpose of carrying out certain works, and this being refused, the Council, against the advice of its Mayor, passed a resolution abandoning its functions, and declining to expend even the amount which was subject to its appropriation. The late Mr. Archibald Clark also contested the representation of Newton in the General Assembly with Mr. Graham, in 1860, and was defeated by three votes. He, however, represented City East in Parliament for two sessions, and Franklin throughout the whole period of another Parliament. His name will be principally held in honour for his active interest in matters affecting the social and moral welfare and advancement of the community. He took a deep interest in the temperance movement as President of the Total Abstinence Society, and he was an active and liberal patron of the Young Men's Christian Association, and a zealous and esteemed member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. J. M. Clark became a partner in. the firm in 1857, and its head on the death of his father.

He has continued to display the same capacity ior mercantile pursuits, and under his skilful direction the operations of the business have extended with the growth of population, and 'the expansion of settlement as far as Napier, on the East, and Wanganui, on the West Coast •of the North Island. Like his father, too, Mr. ■Clark has been called upon to devote a considerable portion of his time and talents to public life. When the volunteer movement began, in 1857, he took service in the ranks, but Avas appointed a non-commissioned officer .at one of the first meetings of the corps, was soon afterwards presented with a commission, and rapidly rose to the rank ■of Captain of No. 6 Company. In September, 1863, during the war in AVaikato, :when the citizen soldiers were called upon to share the common dangers and hardships of ■defending their hearths and homes from attack, <Daptain Clark commanded a detachment of •Auckland volunteers at Wairoa, under Major, now Colonel Lyon, when a determined attack was made upon the post by a strong body of Tauranga natives on their way to sack Howick. The skirmishing continued for three days, and the enemy were compelled to abandon their project. The courage and devotion displayed by the Auckland volunteers during this critical and trying periodwas the theme of general admiration. In 1866, after the war had terminated, Captain Clark resigned the command of No. 6 Company, and in IS7I was appointed Captain of ,No. 3 Company. During this time he presented, for competition, a very handsome champion belt, which is now held by Major Morrow. In 1873, Captain Clark proceeded on a visit to Europe, when he resigned his volunteer appointment, but in recognition of his services, received an equivalent rank in the New Zealand Militia. He has, however, never ceased to assist in fostering the volunteer movement, .and in this he has been liberally seconded by

.Mrs. Clark, who, while in England, sent out the valuable cup, which she presented at the last volunteer review at Ellerslie to the winner, Volunteer Fairs. Mr. Clark has twice contested the seat for City East, in the General Assembly, on the first occasion in November, 1875, with Mr. Rees, when he was defeated by a majority of 36, and in September last against Mr. Speight, when he was in a minority of only 8. These elections, however, took place at times when party feeling ran very high, and when the individual A r iews of candidates were subordinate to a uniform set of political prin•ciples enunciated by the leader of the party. Mr. Clark possessed sufficient independence of mind and such clearly defined political principles •of his own, that, while he was not averse to the main lines of the policy to which candidates were required to give their unqualified and unconditional acceptance, and while also he was .anxious to co-operate with the majority in securing a recognition of the just claims of Auckland, he reserved to himself the right of independent judgment on minor details and questions of colonial importance, and to these •causes he owed his defeat. When pointedly asked in the hall of the Mechanics' Institute if he would on all occasions sink his own personal •opinions and views, and vote as directed by the •chief of the party, Mr. Clark replied AVith a firm "No," and manfully faced an almost certain defeat rather than surrender his inde-, ?endence and right of individual judgment, 'here is no doubt, hoAA r eA r er, that, should Mr. Clark come forward as a candidate for a seat in the next Parliament, in the elections which, will take place in 1881, he will haA^e no difficulty in obtaining one. His fitness for political life has been acquired by long and careful study •of the public affairs of the colony, particularly colonial finance. In a remai'kably exhaustive and lucid statement prepared and published by him last year, he revieAved the financial con-

dition of New Zealand, and ably demonstrated the inadequate share of expenditure from loans appropriated to Auckland, and the balance which, on a scale of equitable distribution, was justly due. The paper attracted much attention at the time, and considerably influenced the action of the Auckland party in Parliament. During the present year he was appointed a member of the Roycil Commission on the railways of the colony, and was occupied from March until July in examining the various lines and collecting information, with a view to the cessation of useless expenditure in unremunerative works, and the speedy construction of lines of a beneficial and necessary character. An elaborate report was presented to Parliament, upon which the Public Works policy of the present Government has been based. There is one important public service which Mr. Clark rendered to Auckland that has hitherto escaped recognition. I refer to his encouragement of the phontiium. tenax industry. In 1868, consequent on the effects of the war, a period of general stagnation came upon the province. Business enterprise was suddenly checked, industries languished, capital was withdrawn from investment, employment became scarce, there was a commercial panic and a crisis, and many classes of the community suffered great want and distress. Messrs. Ninnnis and Purchase had produced a machine for dressing flax, but their experiments had been interrupted by the war, and they were unable to cany them oii. Mr. Clark took up and prosecuted the task as the most energetic member of a committee formed for the purpose, and after a series of experiments succeeded in producing a marketable article. Three sales by auction were held, and the result induced others to perfect different processes, and amongst them that of Messrs. Fraser and Thine, whose machines are now in extensive use. The industry was, however, overdone, causing a glut in the market, and a consequent

fall in price, but, as the supply accommodated itself to the demand, the trade became more thriving and profitable. The value of the fibre does not justify any considerable export to Europe, but for local and colonial consumption it finds ready sale at remunerative prices. Mr. Clark was one of the leading shareholders in the famous Moanatairi Gold Mining Company, took an active part in its formation and management, Avas a director from its establishment, and chairman of the directory for some years. He was a member of the Auckland Provincial Council in IS7O, has been chairman of the Board of Education, one of the Governors of the College and Grammar School, Chairman of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, and general Treasurer of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. His latest and most honourable public office is that of Mayor of Auckland, the largest and most important municipality in New Zealand. The office was not of his own seeking. He was already burdened with a large share of public duties which demanded great personal sacrifice. But when the period of Mr. Peacock's second term of office as Mayor approached its termination, the public choice fell by common consent upon Mr. Clark, and one of the most influential and numerously signed requisitions ever presented to any public man in Auckland called upon him to fill the high post of Auckland's Chief Magistrate, a request to which Mr. Clark acceded. He has since entered upon the onerous duties with every augury of a term of office which will be alike honourable to himself and beneficial to Auckland.

—On Saturday night, when Mr. Proctor referred to the moon as being "painted the colour of lamp Mack," I am very sorry to say there were audible murmurs of "the pig," ' ' Bertie, " ' ' Bubbleyou-Burst, " &c.