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HOKITIKA.
Street Nomenclature.
Supplementary Notes from the pen of S. Saunders, Esq., Journalist, Wellington.
In its street names Hokitika has memorials to many public men who have distinguished themselves by generous, patriotic and beneficial service to the district and the Dominion at large.
It is well that we should occasionally recall memories of the pioneers in settlement and achievement as an inspiration and encouragement to all of us, and particularly to our young people, to go forward in their footsteps and with their high ideals and devotion to duty.
I have a list of some of these memorable names before me this evening, taken almost at random, and I propose to remind you very briefly of what the courageous far-seeing men who bore them, did for you and me and the rest of the community.
Tancred Street is named after Henry John Tancred, born in England, 1825, and educated at Rugby. (The great public schools by England did as much for colonisation in those days as Wellington said they did for the nation at the battle of Waterloo). As a very young man Tancred joined the Austrian Army and saw service in Hungary and Italy, and came to Canterbury in 1851, and quietly identified himself with affairs of the young colony. In 1853 he was elected to the Provincial Council, then for first time called together under the Constitution Act. In 1857 he was elected to the General Assembly, and in the same year joined the Sewell Ministry, having as a colleague Mr Whitaker (afterwards Sir Frederick). He took a keen interest in educational matters, and was a member of the Canterbury Board of Education, a Governor of Christ’s College and of Canterbury College, and his association with the West Coast was largely in connection with his efforts to provide facilities for education throughout the whole country.
Sewell Street.—Henry Sewell came to Canterbury (of which the West Coast was then a part) in 1853, and he had been closely associated with Edward Gibbon Wakefield and other officers who took a prominent part in promoting the Canterbury Settlement. On his arrival in Lyttelton he found the new settlement in a state of stagnation and applied himself with great zeal and judgment to the task of putting its affairs in order. Remarkable success attended his efforts, and all parts of the country in which he laboured have good reason to be grateful for his services. He was elected to the first Parliament under the Constitution Act in 1853, and held office in the first Ministry under Mr Fitzgerald. Later he became the head of a Ministry, but resigned rather than give up his demand for full responsible government. He was a very capable lawyer, an effective debater, and a highly cultured gentleman.
Fitzherbert Street.—Mr William Fitzgerald came to New Zealand as a young man in 1842, landing first at Wellington, and a year later he was
