Newspaper Article – Tower of Strength

TOWER OF STRENGTH

Tribute to Late Mr Nelson

“I cannot let this opportunity pass without paying a tribute to the late Mr William Nelson for the great work that he carried out in connection with the rivers,”  said Mr. W. G. Jarvis when replying to a presentation made to him at Taradale on Friday night.

“If Mr Nelson had been permitted to carry on the splendid work he was engaged in I am convinced that all the trouble experienced during recent years through flooding would have been averted.  I would like to point out that the work to-day is progressing on the exact lines that he fixed 30 years ago.

“Mr Nelson was a tower of strength, being a man with undoubted vision, which the district then did not appreciate.  He was an inspiration to me, and sometimes when I expressed disappointment at the way things were going Mr Nelson used to say, ‘Keep going, I have been at it a lot longer than you have.’”