Page:Hokitika NZ Evans 1921.pdf/16

10 well afford to honor at least two of the men who in official positions did such typical services affecting the foundation of the town to which now we are all so much attached.

And so we pass on to Rolleston St. This it is very easy to decide was named after William Rolleston who was Provincial Secretary for Canterbury at the time Hokitika came into being. Like Sir John Hall, Sir William Rolleston, as he afterwards became, served well into the later years of his political life. A fine monument to deceased is placed in Bealey Avenue, Christchurch, in front of the Museum. Sir William Rolleston was a notable figure in New Zealand politics over many years, and to his credit stands much land and educational legislation.

Davie Street was called after Mr Cyrus Davie who was Commissioner of Waste Lands in 1866 in the Canterbury district.

Edward Jollie was Provincial Secretary to Samuel Bealey, Superintendent, in 1866, when the petition went forward from Hokitika asking for the municipality. From this fact we may take it, Jollie Street received its title.

Hoffman and Livingstone Streets have not been specially associated with any celebrities in those far off days, and it is not proposed of course to guess why the particular names referred to were chosen.

Now comes a group of four streets the names or location of which will be known to but few even in this room. The streets are Harper, Dalton, McDermott and Beswick. They are all adjacent to the Hokitika racecourse on the upper side of Hampden Street. Harper street abuts the racecourse grounds. This street was not named after the first resident Anglican Clergyman as might be supposed, but after Charles John Harper (possibly a relative of the Clergyman) who was commissioner of the Rakaia Road district at the time the town of Hokitika was founded.

The derivation of the name of Dalton Street is not clear, but Beswick Street was doubtless named after Samuel Beswick who was the first Coroner of Hokitika, or Joseph Beswick, who was Secretary for Public Works. The former Beswick is favoured because McDermott Street was no doubt named after Doctor McDermott who (along with Charles Lloyd Morice) appears to have been the first medical men here to submit their papers for registration to Mr Sale R.M. Dr McDermott had his rooms in Revell Street where Mrs Roberts’ sweet store now is, and Joe Sellers still living here, was batman for the Doctor, who was a very worthy and popular figure about the town in those far off times.

[.—D. Stuart Esq. of Timaru writes:—“With reference to Dalton Street, a resident in that locality, Mr Michael Dalton had a hotel in Hampden Street. He was a grand figure of a man. He occasionally gave Shakesperean readings. He was afterwards well-known in Reefton.”]

While referring to the comparatively unknown streets of the town, there are two others, or strictly speaking one, for the second street has been officially closed now for some time. Haast Street and Ross Street are the two referred to. Both were laid off at angles in order it is said to facilitate the driving of stock through the town. Haast St. ran from Stafford Street at the intersection with Davie Street, right across the town to the ocean beach—which was the high-way north in the old days. The name was no doubt derived from Sir Julius Von Haast, scientist and explorer, after whom so many physical