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5 addressed to His Honor Samuel Bealey, Superintendent of Canterbury. The Provincial Secretary at that time was Edward Jollie, Esq. The petition set out that there was a population of at least 2,000 householders, and that answering the prayer of the petition would conduce to the welfare and advantage of the town. Some 157 signatures were appended to the petition, but of these the only two known to be surviving are—Mr John Solomon, now of Sydney, and Mr Hugh Cassidy (Cobb & Coy.), of Springfield. On May 30th., 1886 the proclamation of the Borough of Hokitika was gazetted, the area consisting of two square miles—one on the south side of the river and one on the north side.

On June 27th 1866 at 4 p.m. a public meeting was held af the Prince of Wales Opera House (where Keller’s sample rooms now stand next to Perry and Coy.), to elect two persons to act as assessors at the election of the first municipal council and for the purpose of nominating candidates for the Hokitika Municipal Council. The Gazetted advertisement convening the foregoing meeting was signed by Messrs Prosser, Bonar, Reeves, Bracken, Munro, Wagner, Hall and Finlay and Coy. Mr George Samuel Sale was appointed Chairman to preside at any meeting called to elect the first Municipal Council.

Those duly elected on November 6th 1866 were:—

John Russell Anderson, merchant. James Alexander Bonar, merchant. Francis Leake Clarke, merchant. Andrew Cumming, storekeeper. Robert Ecclesfield, merchant. James Fitzsimmons, publican. Alexander George Hungerford, timber merchant. William Shaw, printer. Charles Williams, publican.

And so the Borough of Hokitika came into being.

Cornelius O’Regan, a West Coaster, gave promise of being a West Coast poet. Of him it was said he “died in the morning of his manhood,” but he has left some lines which vividly describes the Diggers who rushed the Coast, and helped to lay the foundations of Hokitika upon which the town has been reared. He wrote of the Diggers:—

And of the times he wrote, one Digger talking to a comrade:

The early association of Westland with Canterbury was a very happy circumstance in many ways. In regard to Hokitika in particular the intimacy was of paramount value, for it resulted in the borough being well and faithfully laid out. Canterbury had its settled form of government, and an efficient staff, and as a consequence the professional officers to do the duty of laying off the town thoroughly. It was laid off on old English lines—with a generous disposal of special reserves and parks for the many purposes requisite for a complete civic life. We of this day cannot be too appreciative of the very