HAMILTON’S FIRST COUNCIL

Waikato Times, Volume 103, Issue 17323, 8 February 1928, Page 9

HAMILTON’S FIRST COUNCIL

ONLY SURVIVOR: CHAT > The only surviving member of the first council that administered the affairs of the borough is Mr Isaac Coates, who now, at the age of 88, resides with his wife in Wellington Street, Hamilton East. Although, like all of us, Mr Coates is not as young | as he used to be, and although he is ' crippled and bent somewhat as the | result of sciatica, he yet retains exj cellent health in other respects. While I his hair has blanched and his sight is | not sc good as it was, his intellect is as keen as it was 20 years ago, and his memory of incidents of the past is quite clear. Despite his aching i limbs he still does all his own garj dening. and prides himself on the | condition of his flower beds. When a Times man called to see him the other day, the old gentle- ' man predicted there would be rain ! soon. His limbs, he said, told him so. i They are a certain barometer. Mr i Coates chattel freely about the past, and said he gained his first impression i of Hamilton after walking here from ! Ngaruawahia. He lunched at the old Hamilton Hotel, which was then kept by one Pennington, and then set out to find the residence of Captain J. Steele, to whom he had a letter of introduction. That was in 1868, and the only means of crossing the river, other than by swimming, was on a framework built on a couple of canoes. This makeshift ferry was managed by a man named Moss. On the day of his arrival a storekeeper named Dyer was holding an auction sale, the auctioneer being Mr John Knox, a subsequent Mayor of the borough. . The clothes and boots of the auctioneer and of the crowd gathered at the sale, gave the new arj rival but a very poor impression of the prosperity of the people. “And well it might be,’’ added Mr Coates, “for I found that money was very scarce, while many of the inhabitants were out of work. This condition of things continued until Captain Steele ' floated the Piako Swamp Company,

WITH MR ISAAC COATES. composed of some of the wealthiest men in Auckland. AMr Simpson was appointel engineer, and as soon as he got a rough survey of the 80,000 acres, mostly swamp, tenders were called for draining the area, and work was found for all who required It. That I think,” added Mr Coates, “was the first step in the advancement of Hamilton.” Maori Bcores. Mr Coates remembers one bag Maori scare which the town received, when it was rumoured that the native mau- , rauder Te Kooti was coming this way. All women were ordered into the redoubt, which was situated where the Anglican Church now stands, and the men were told off to build a new. redoubt beyond Galloway Street in Hamilton East, from which direction the Maori war party was expected. The day was Sunday, and some of the men were busy for many hoars cutting sod* and fern while others were building the walls. Mr Coates worked hard on the sod-cutting and wall-building, and he remarked that the church service that night saw a very diminished congregation ! Some of the first-class militia were sent on to Cambridge to be in readiness for the raiders there, but Te Kooti must have turned op his trail, for the expected attack (fid not take place. When Mr Coates first came to Hamilton there was no local body here, buj after a few years the residents of the West side of the river formed a Town Board, while the East-siders formed a board known as the Kirikiriroa and Komakorau Road Board.. Mr Coates was at this time farming at Ruakura, and he became a member of the board. He later recommended the formation of an East town board, which was carried into effect, and he (Mr Coates) became secretary. The two town boards later amalgamated, and Mr Coates subsequently piloted a movement which led to the constitution of Hamilton as a borough, and he became a member of the first council. He is now the only survivor of those three local bodies. One moonlight night about Christmas, 1877, Mr Coates and his wife were returning from a meeting about midnight, when they heard a great commotion from the direction of the river, about the spot where the punt was usually situated. On going down they found that a man named Moon, of Cambridge, who also had been attending the meeting, had missed the punt with his buggy and pair of horses and had driven in tot the river. Mr Moon, being a powerful swimmer, managed to reach the hank safely, but his two passengers and the Iwo horses were drowned and the buggy was lost.. The old gentleman remembers tbe first meeting of veterans of tbe 4th Waikato Regiment, and his statement goes to clear up the doubt which for years existed on this point. This, he says, look place al Hamilton on August 25.'137 i. He later confirmed the date ■ with Sorgt. .John Knox, who said that only officers and non-commissionad officers of the old regiment attended that meeting, the men holding a meeting a day later. At both reunions a considerable amount of liquor was consumed. Service on Local Bodies. Mr Coates, ever since his arrival here until recent years, has been closely associated with Hamilton's public life. Besides'" being four times Mayor, he served ten limes as a councillor, three times as a county councillor, was three times on the licensing commission, three times vicar’s warden, was for 20 years a member of the executive of the A. and P. Association, of which body he was also president for one year, while he served for three years as a member of the Waikato Winter Show executive. He was only defeated twice for any public office, once by John Knox for the borough Council and also by Sir Alfred Cadman, when Mr Coates opposed him for Parliament. On the latter occasion he was beaten by 41 votes, after a very hurried campaign in a very wide electorate, which he was unable to canvass. To-night Mr Coates and his good lady, who has been his faithful companion through his long years of married life, will be amongst the guests at the supper given by the Mayor, when he will have the honour of investing His Worship with gukt chain tof--office*