HAMILTON'S HISTORY.

Waikato Times, Volume 98, Issue 15294, 24 July 1923, Page 8

HAMILTON'S HISTORY.

NAMING OF THE TOWN, FURTHER EVIDENCE. Mr J. T. Hamann writes as follows to the New Zealand Herald:— " I have read with interest the history of. the Military Settlement of Hamilton as outlined in the Herald's Waikato Winter Show supplement, and in particular the matter under the heading a " Local Habitation and a Name," as to the dual claims on betoalf of Captain Hamilton of H.M.S. Esk and: Colonel Hamilton of the 12th Regiment (East Suffolks) for the honour of naming the new township, with the result that investigation proved the honour to belong to the brave and popular officer of the British Navy (Captain John Fane Charles Hamilton of H.M.S. Esk). In further confirmation thereof, the newspaper records of 'the day (which I have before me) bear evidence of the facts as stated by my uncle, Colonel Moule, at a valedictory farewell dinner given in his honour at the Royal Hotel, East Hamilton, upon the occasion of his departure from Waikato to take command of the Tauranga district. In responding to the toast Colonel Moule stated, inter alia:— ' ' i

" 'lt is now more than six years since I cleared' a spot'near the Crown Farm at Kiriklriroa upon which to pitch my lent. I had the honour of naming the settlement after the late Captain Hamilton, of 11. M. S. Esk, who died whilst fighting for his country and the colonists of New Zealand at the Gate Pa. "He (Captain'Hamilton) had rejoiced to see from year to year the rise of the infant settlement and predieted that in the course of a few years the Waikato district, in which he would always take a lively interest, would be found second to none in New Zealand."

In the course of your narrative of the history of Hamilton, it is stated that where once in the Militia days Colonel Moulo had his little military office, a stately place of worship is set above a thriving town. As Colonel Moulc was so closely identified with the early history of Hamilton, I may mention that he arrived in New Zealand in 1862 as an officer in the Imperial Army, and at once received an appointment in the Waikato Militia, from where he went to Tauranga in charge of the A. C. force. After serving with distinction throughout the Maori War, he went to Wellington as Under-Secretary for Defence and Commissioner of Armed Constabulary, which office he held until 1878, when, in consequence of failing health he returned to England, where he died at his residence in the Thames-side village' of East Molesly, Surrey.