Page:Hokitika NZ Evans 1921.pdf/17

11 features in the South Island are named. Ross Street crosses from Hampden Street at the intersection with Livingstone Street, out to Spencer Street whither a way could be made to Fitzherbert Street which became the highway north as the inland road was made. This street was named after George Arthur Emilius Ross, who became Provincial Treasurer in Canterbury when Mr Sale resigned in April 1865 to take up his work in Hokitika and Westland generally. Probably the town of Ross was named after the same official.

Tancred Street it should have been noted earlier in this paper was named after Henry John Tancred, who was appointed Deputy Superintendent of Canterbury in January 1866.

Hamilton Street so named after William John Hamilton, Collector of Customs, Christchurch. Hamilton street led to the original Customs office here and the earliest photographs show it was not joined as at present to Revell Street.

Hampden, Tudor and Spencer Streets cannot be fitted in with the available records of public officials of the period dealt with, but they are evidently the names of individuals who were considered important enough to be associated with the work in hand.

And so we come to the last street as yet undealt with, and in some respects those who laid off the town must have considered it destined to become one of our most important thoroughfares. The reference is to Park Street which was not named after any individual, but was so called because it led the way to the Public Park of something like 200 acres which the founders of Hokitika placed on the outskirts of the town’s eastern boundary, and which is now a municipal endowment. In addition Park Street leads past Whitcombe and Howitt Squares, each of eleven acres. There are other educational and endowment areas along the route of the street all undeveloped, so that it is clear the thoughtful founders of the municipal area intended Park Street to be the main thoroughfare tapping all sources for outdoor recreation which should be the lungs of the city to be. Out of the Public Park, the Hokitika racecourse reserve was taken, and Hampden Street was developed as the highway to the course and the Park reserve, though the latter has not been developed as it should have been.

Of the two Squares along Park Street the areas likewise undeveloped, Whitcombe Square was named after Henry Whitcombe the fated road surveyor who was drowned in the Teremakau river on May 6th., 1863. He had been engaged in surveying the road from Christchurch. His name is engraved on the Explorers’ Monument which stands in the Hokitika Cemetery though it was first erected in Weld Street where the Clock Tower now stands. It has been suggested that the Explorers’ Monument might be moved to Cass Square, but it occupies a commanding site where it is and is in reverent surroundings. Mr Whitcombe has a monument too in Whitcombe Pass in the high mountains, whence rises the Whitcombe river, the largest tributary of the Hokitika river.

Howitt Square was likewise named after a lost explorer—Charles Howitt who was drowned in Lake Brunner in September, 1863. The exact date is not known; but it is known he was crossing the lake for provisions and later the upturned boat was found and some of his possessions in the way of maps and records encased in a water-tight compartment were recovered. Mr Howitt’s name likewise is engraved on