Hall’s political views were not the views of many people on the Coast, but he was an earnest, capable man and rendered great service to New Zealand during the difficult days of early settlement and development, and his name shall remain green with these who are enjoying the fruits of his labour.
Sale Street.—It was Mr Samuel Bealey, when Superintendent of Canterbury, who sent Mr Sale over to supervise the Westland goldfields. Mr Sale a conscientious and scholarly man, full of understanding and sympathy, did excellent work in the promotion of the goldmining industry, and in viewing remote parts of the Coast. He was subsequently appointed to the staff of the Dunedin University College as a professor, and continued in that capacity for many years to add distinction to a name which Hokitika is proud to honour.
Rolleston Street.—No name in the public life of the Dominion is held in more appreciative remembrance than is that of William Rolleston, the last Superintendent of Canterbury, and one of its most honoured sons. After a distinguished career at Cambridge University, Mr Rolleston came to New Zealand in 1858, and took over a run in the forks of the Rakaia River, near Lake Coleridge. But the people of Canterbury soon discovered their need of such a man to help on their various public activities, and he was speedily drawn into the vortex of local and colonial politics. This part of his career, which extended right up to the time of his death, cannot be adequately discussed here. But it is interesting to recall that on the discovery of goldfields on this Coast in 1865, he came from Christchurch to Hokitika with Mr Seed, Mr Rochford, and other officers to organise the several departments of government, They did much for education, for land settlement, for electoral reform, for the consideration of the conditions of the workers, and for any other beneficial reform that was dear to his heart. Though on the opposite side of Parliament to our own great statesman, Richard John Seddon, it is pleasant to know that these two big, able, chivalrous men were close personal friends, and that though they sometimes employed different means to reach the same, their devotion to New Zealand and to its people was their common consideration and the crowning glory of their service. Hokitika has good and abundant reason for honouring the memory of William Rolleston. In doing so it is honouring itself.
Weld Street.—Sir Frederick Aloysius Weld was born in 1823, and after being educated at Stoneyhurst College, and in Switzerland, he came to New Zealand in 1844 with the intention of devoting himself to grazing pursuits. He, also, was a strong advocate of the concession of responsible government, and was largely instrumental in bringing this about. He occupied a seat in the first House of Representatives, and in 1864 became Prime Minister, after extracting a promise from the then Governor, Sir George Grey, that he was to have his own way in setting the grave Native difficulties that existed at that time. In 1865 he resigned and returned to England, but his administration in New Zealand had so impressed the authorities at Home that he was made successively Governor of West Australia, Tasmania, and the Straits Settlement. He held very extensive land interests in New Zealand in connection with the Cliffords, to whom he was related. His name is a great one in the colonising affairs of the
