EXHIBITION. COMMITTEE MEETING.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1076, 19 April 1882, Page 2

EXHIBITION. COMMITTEE MEETING.

... : . ■:•.;. '.. ♦. .. — ■ 'According to announcement a meeting of those interested in securing a better! show of exhibits for the Christchurch i Exhibition was held on Monday evening last, at Kater's Hall. There was a very;] fair) attendance, jnost of the leading res- ! idents being present. Mr George Wise was called to the chair and stated the reasons why the meeting was called, viz: — to supplement the exhibits that had already been sent, as it was , generally felt that the district had not I been sufficiently represented. He called; on Mr H. G. Hankin to move the first : resolution. Mr Hankin, on coming forward, said it: was necessary to form a strong committee^ to supplement the exhibits already seirfc,' for, so far, these amounted to nothing,! and would only subject the district to de- ; rision. The idea of only sending three: bricks, a little hematite, and as much coal as would fill an ordinary grate, was absurd. 5 The ratepayers had depended on .the) County Council, but that body had not* done their duty in the matter. It would! be a standing disgrace if such an oppor-i tunity of advertising the resources of the f district elapse, and thus bring it into; N notice. He referred to the abundance of; >$nai;ble, sandstone suitable for grindstones, ; $UEj£ey stone, and other minerals, as well ] as timber, contained in the district, and; appealed to those present to throw all the; energy possible, in their collection for transport to Christchurch. He had no doubt that the County Council would as- ' by furnishing the requisite funds.' He moved fcljs -following resolution, "that; in the opinion of this meeting of rate-; payers it is desirable that the exhibits,; forwarded from Reefton to the Canterbury! Exhibition, be supplemented by samples of the various timber, indigenous to the-jOpast,.-;together, with marble, antimony,; and other minerals, and that the same be 1 provided, prepared, and forwarded out of, the County funds". No doubt money had been expended on objects of a much' /leas worthy nature, and s hundred, or even two hundred, pounds could not be' j better laid out than in thus advertising the; resources of the place. j Mr Stevenson seconded the resolution which was carried unanimously. Mr . Pollings, hA proposing the next : resolution, ; pointed out the Reefton district had been inaccessible, as it were, to capitalists, who, before they invested their money, liked to look at matters for themselves, but the difficulty of getting here had deterred many from visiting them. 1 They required a railway before their resources would be fully developed. He spoke of the vast extent of the coalbeds of the district. and influence on its future prosperity, adclingthat to send a small parcel of coal, as had been done, was altoi gether useless. The ooal got at present was only surface coal, and therefore not so good as that found at a greater depth; but they should send samples from every district to show they had minerals beside gold and timber that were worth making a railway for. If this were done it would do a great amount of good to the place. He deprecated the fainthearted way in which) tlfef Cotinty Council had gone to "work,' but "Copied that now, even at the eleventh hour, every one would put his shoulder to the wheel and assist the move- , ment. He moved "that the following gentlemen form a Committee, with power to and to their number, to carry out the last resolution — Messrs. J. Trennery, B> Brennan, H. G. Hankin, W. G. Collings, , R. Patterson, W. Williams, M. Byrne, J. ■ 0. Craig, A. Campbell, C. Mirfin, W. J. Potts, A. Main, W. Dunn, D. P. Anderson, Thos. Lee, Geo. Wise, W. Hind-* marsh, C. Clifford, T. Crumpton, Win. ' Coehrane, Sen., J. Steele, A. Kater, 4.. McKay, J. Naysmith, Jas. McCallum, M. Levy, J. Watson, R. Fitzmaurice, G. Perrptti, C.^B^lQng,. F. Rooney, H. Currie, Mifeawn^M^PJlole, Jas. Stevenson, j. Connolly, N. Ramsay, W. Irwin, C. Montgeremie, J. Greive, W. Gardner, E. B. Garvin, P. Alexander, and W. Fale)\* Mr Kater seconded and the resolution was carried unanimously. J Mr Lee moved the next resolution as;j follows — "that copies of the foregoing'" resolutions be handed to the Cbuniy Chairman with a view to the co operation of the council " The Council, at the' present time, were deriving a large revenue from the goldfields and would no doubt contribute willingly to such an object. Mr Stevenson seconded and the motidn ' was carried unanimously. :