A Great Event.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 371, 31 October 1889, Page 3

A Great Event.

WITH SKETCHES BY OUR SPECIAL ARTIST.

(BY OCB LYING REPORTER.) On Tuesday evening a number of our respected and leading aettlers met in the spacious saloon of the Orowaiti, in order to celebrate the event, porteutious to this district, of that vessel utilising the greater than •• the greatest work on the East Coast." The S.S. Orowaiti had come alongside the breakwater pier, laden with minerals of a valuable nature, and it was thought advisable to make that event a rrd letter day in the history of the port, and so this celebration was decided upon. Capacious, however, as the magnificent steamship is, she is not large enough to contain all those who would desire to take part in thia commemoration, and it was therefore necessary to keep the affair secret except from a certain few. Notwithstanding thia privacy, there was a large attendance, and were it not for the continual roar of the breakers as they struck upon the beach, the sounds of hilarity must have reached the town and brought the inhabitants out. It was at first suggested that the Mayor should take the chair, but as it was an occasion on which all claims of precedence should be disregarded it was unanimously agreed that Mr J. T n, late R.E-, should occupy that honorable position, whilst on his right and left hands respectively were the Eng r and the Editor of our contemporary. It may be mentioned here that this arrangement was the result of merit rather than any coincidence of names. After the first courses of good things bad been partaken of, the chairman, clearing his throat, said Gentlemen, fill your glasses to

the brim, for I have a toast to propose which will, I am sure, meet with your hearty approval (cries of “ speak np ”). I will speak up and speak out and I care not who hears me. I am, gentlemen, plain John T. I was at one time a member of the Royal Engineers, but it is not for me on this auspicious occasion to boast of my personal merits. (Cheers), I am a modest man, gentlemen, and I don’t care who know* it, but you win allow me to say, gentlemen, that were it not this celebration could scarcely haw place. Rut as I said before, and I -dBF: care who heard me, I am a modest man (cheers), and I am therefore not going to explain to you how this great work in the Outcome of my brain. My friend the Mini* iter of Marine—and I don’t care who knows, he is my friend,—will pear me out in this. , Were it not for my modesty I could tell you , bow I worked for nights and days at the plana of this great work, and bow I was . robbed of the credit of it, As Sir Harry Atkinson said to ms when he was here—The , plans of men and mica aft gang aglee ; and , there ia no use crying over spilt milk, , (bough I promise, gentlemen, yon will hear , more about it, lam glad to see my plans

work out >o well, and I have now to propose "The success of the Breakwater" (cheers), and I couple with it the names of my friend on the right and my honorable and distinguished fnend Mr D—k—n. You may paint the lily or adorn the rose, but hang my stars ft you can beat our old convert, Thos. ?)— k—n: throe cheers for him, boys ! Prolonged cheering.) The toaet was drunk with enthusiasm, and the Eng—r rose amid applause, and commenced : Mr Chairman and gentlemen, this is indeed a proud moment of my lite. It is vary pleasant, after all the knocks and rebuffs I have had during my supervision of this work, to find all my enemies confounded by this great event. It was said that this pier was nothing but a river improvement, and that no vessel of any consequence would some alongside of it, and yet we have this magnificent representative of the great Union Company's fleet upsetting all their theories, and proving the great value of the work, I am not used to public speaking and therefore cannot express all I would wish, but I have no hesitation in saying that the great nams of Thomson, whether you putin or leave out the P> will go down to posterity as a benefactor of

this port (applause.) Mr D—k—n rose, and said : I thank you, Mr Chairman, for the honor yon have done me in connecting my name with this affair. I confess I was once an opponent of this scheme, but I assure you I am now convinced in its fajor.,. I will admit that I did think the zteach was to be fenced in, end that another fence was to be erected on the other side, possibly toform » paddock where no 1 sharks ’ would be allowed to enter. Seeing, however, is believing, and I am only sorry that our friend, Captain Kelly, of the Wave Queen, has not seen fit to bring hie fine vessel alongside. I understand the only thing he requires is ■Mnritv fnr hin voaaol wViaf Viatter nan ho

got than in this our harbor of refuge ? (Some one here shouted out, * Or a white E ! ’ which Was brusquely resented by the meeting.) Mr D—k—n then proposed the health of the members of the Harbor Board, coupled with the names of the M— y—r and Mr A r. The first named gentleman, in responding, said: How any one conld ever have doubted that this work would be a success, is to me incomprehensible. We have had the repeated assurances of onr engineer, a man of the highest capabilities, who has sacrificed himself to benefit this district, and that for the paltry sum of £l6 per week, And yet some people were not satisfied. After all. as a former Chairman of our Board said, 1 Things are all right when understood,’ and I hope the majority of people will now be convinced that the Board, in following its Engineer so blindly only did what waa right, and the justification

of the Board ia now apparent, Gentlemen, on behalf of the Board I thank you for the enthusiastic way in which the health of the members has been drunk, (Applause.) Mr A—r here rose to speak, and was reoeivad with such enthusiasm that it was Almost impossible to catch a word he laid, but •midst the frequent bursts of applause he was understood to say that though the latest member of the Board he wee no less proud than his fellow members of this ’great work — • work which during his seventeen years' residence in the Bay had never been equalled, J'ore than this could not be heard, and from

.e tone of the interruptions it was evident our reporter) that Mr A—r was either now or would soon be a Parliamentary repreuntatlvs. Ha sat down amidst cheers, but immediately rose to propose success to the - Union Company, The Captain of the Qravpaiti, and Mr P— —y responded, The former egid generally sailors wore superstitions, hot be waa not so, •nd notwithstanding the wreck of the Msitai •nd the collision of the Australia after they had been alongside that pier, be had ventured alongside and would do so as often as he came hers (cheers) and hie employers you|d permit it,' He thought, however, the ugly fishing weir on the other aide of the river should be removed. (Here some one remarked that it waa part of the Harbor works, and the gallant captain sat down smiling.) Mr D y oould not dispute the utility of the works and he had not scrupled to allow the screw steamship Snark to be taken alongside, and this had been done with

perfect safety, Che—mb—re here rose to propose the Press, the merit* of which he recognis°d. For hie part he had always believed in full publicity being given to everything in connection with this great work, and he appealed to hie fellow members and the public to say whether he had ever objected to thia being done, In New Plymouth they 4id otherwise, and tried to hide little things •bout their harbor, but when the Gisborne Standard had told the truth he was the first to uphold its action. The glorious Structure npon which they had now the Opportunity of gazing— Here a disturbance ensued, and warning Waa given that a number of people, having got wind of the affair, were coming down the pier. To throw the " dead marines ” overboard, put all the other things out of sight, and for all the company to get into a boat was the work of a few moments. They were then rowed across to the Waikanae Beach And there disembarked, and, after inspecting the training wall, walked (o town. When those who thought to share in the good things arrived at the steamer they found everything quiet and felt that they had been sold. Onr special artist discovered soon after that many other people would also be sold, for in the hasty break up of the meeting he got his pockets filled with champagne bottles end cigars, and lost his sketches, and we are th erefore unable to produce them, but he says we Can assure our readers that they would have far surpassed in humor the illustrations of ttrnFCMfattoewar... kA