History of the Early Gold Discoveries in Otago

Vincent Pyke

First published by Otago Daily Times and Witness Newspapers in 1887

Digitised and made available online by the University of Auckland Libraries and Learning Services.

Epub © 2013 Early New Zealand Books Collection

ISBN 978-1-927289-33-4

[TITLE PAGES]

[Cover]

GABRIELS GULLY IN 1862

HISTORY
of the
EARLY GOLD DISCOVERIES
IN OTAGO.

BY VINCENT PYKE , M.H.R.,
Late Warden and Otago Goldfields Secretary.

DUNEDIN, N.Z.:
OTAGO DAILY TIMES AND WITNESS NEWSPAPERS COMPANY, LIMITED.
1887.

[Page iii is blank]

[PREFACE]

PREFACE.

THE memory of the early discoveries of gold in Otago is fast dying out, and there are few left to tell the tale. It was suggested to me that I should gather together the records which are scattered in a fragmentary form, through newspapers and official documents, and blend them with the unpublished information, acquired both privately and in my capacity as Goldfields Secretary, into a continuous narrative. With this view the present work has been prepared. When a similar history of the Victorian Goldfields came to be written, it was found that, although but a few years had elapsed, only an imperfect sketch could be given, owing to the scarcity of authentic contemporaneous records. This fact so impressed me, that I made a point of setting down each event as it occurred, after my acceptance of office early in 1862. At the same time I collected every scrap of information obtainable respecting those things which happened before my arrival in the Colony. From these sources I have compiled what may be accepted as a faithful, and, so far as possible, a complete history of the Early Discoveries. Valuable assistance has been rendered by some of those who bore a part in the stirring episodes of the eventful times when the golden mysteries of Nature were being forced; and brave men, armed with the pick and shovel of the prospector, went forth in search of fortune amidst the desolate solitudes of the almost unknown interior.

I have thought it best to adopt the narrative form as being best calculated to attract the general reader, to whom it is hoped this record of the rise and progress of an industry which has already contributed Forty-three Millions to the capital wealth of New Zealand may not be uninteresting.

VINCENT PYKE.

DUNEDIN, 4th February, 1887.

[CONTENTS]

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Early Settlers. – Exodus. – Maori Goldfinders. – The Matau. – Mr. Archibald's Expedition. – The Fortifications. – Mr. Ligar's Discovery. – Tuturau. – His Honor's Comment. – Popular Feeling. – Petition to the Provincial Council. – Reward Offered............1

CHAPTER II.

The Chief Surveyor's Report. – Prospecting. – Mr. Garvie's Discoveries. – The Clutha, Manuherikia, and Tuapeka Rivers. – First Practical Proof of Gold in Otago. – Woolshed Creek. – -The Mataura. – Blacklock and Roebuck's Expedition. – Discovery of Gold at Lindis Pass...............8

CHAPTER III.

The Interior of Otago. – Difficulties to be Surmounted. – Rush to the Lindis. – First Goldfields Act and Export Duty Act. – Samuel Mclntyre's Claim for Reward. – Docherty. – Reports of Robert Short and Frederick Walker. – Mr, Stafford's Statement. – Failure. – Gabriel Read's Letter. – Doubtful Feeling. – John Hardy's Statement. – Major Richardson's Message to Provincial Council. – Resolution of the Council..........15

CHAPTER IV.

Letters about Gabriel's Gully. – -Mr. T. B. Gillies Prophesies. – The Rush. – "Off to the Diggings." – Major Richardson's Visit. – The Chief Surveyor's Report. – Munroe's Gully. – Waitahuna. – Captain Baldwin's Account. – Wetherstone's. – The Woolshed. – The Superintendent's Address to the Provincial Council.......22

CHAPTER V.

Black Peter. – Who are "Discoverers?" – Victoria and Otago. – The Woolshed and Tuapeka Stream. – Black Peter's Claim. – Mr. Forster's Letter. – Mr. Gillies' Statement. – Mr. Munroe's Statement. – Peter's Own Story. – The Reward. – The Superintendent and Provincial Council. – The Goldfields' Committee and Black Peter..............31

CHAPTER VI.

Read as a Prospector. – Waipori. – West Molyneux. – Additional Reward. – Major Richardson's Troubles. – Arrival of Police from Melbourne. – Dinner to the Chief Constable. – Iron Sand at Green Island Beach. – Dr. Stuart's First Sermon on the Goldfields. – Bogus Rushes. – The Beaumont. – The Blue Mountain Rush and Sam Perkins. – "A Man named Jack".............39

CHAPTER VII.

First Escort. – False Reports in Melbourne. – Rush from Australia. – Wellington's "Great Expectations." – Cost of Provisions. – Fear of Maori Migration. – Gold at Terawhiti. – Roads to Tuapeka. – Maungatua. – Waihola. – Mount Stewart. – Exploration of the Molyneux. – "Sticking Up." – Garrett's Exploits. – A Military Force. – Special Legislation. – Reactionary Movement. – The Superintendents. – Cautionary Notice. – Petitions from the Unemployed...........46

CHAPTER VIII.

Dunstan Creek. – Kyeburn. – Mr. McCrae, Prospector. – The First Gold-mining Regulations. – The First Chief Officers. – Decrease in the Yield. – Stampede of Miners. – Winter in 1862. – Gabriel's District Mining Board. – Organisation of the Goldfields Department. – New Regulations............56

CHAPTER IX.

Small Discoveries. – "New Diggings." – Eighty-seven Pounds Weight of Gold. – -Hartley and Reilly. – Reward of £2,000. – The Dunstan Goldfield. – Government Prospectors. – Stebbing. – The Manuherikia. – Personal Narrative...........65

CHAPTER X.

Hartley and Reilly's Account of their Discoveries. – The Genuine Prospector. – Reilly's Beach. – Hartley's Beach. – Personal Narrative. – The Dunstan on Hartley's Visit. – Mr. Keddell. – Troubles of a Goldfields Commissioner. – Value of Wood. – Proclamation of the Dunstan Goldfield..........71

CHAPTER XI.

Conroy's. – Butcher's. – Blackman's. – Bannockburn. – Bendigo. – Nokomai. – Nevis. – Fox's Rush. – Cardrona. – The Arrow River Original Discoverers. – Maori Jack. – W. G. Rees. – McGregor and Low. – Cormack's Party. – The Shotover. – Arthur's Point. – Scarcity of Food. – Exports of Gold...........79

CHAPTER XII.

Moke and Moonlight. – Copper Ore. – The Story of Maori Point. – Value of Claims. – Blacks. – Mount Ida. – Serpentine. – Mullocky and Hindon. – The Story of Hamilton's. – Mining Population in 1864. – Gold Found near Dunedin. – Chain Hills, Waitati, and Mary Hill. – Beach Workings. – The Blue Spur and Tinkers. – Old Prospectors..............86

ADDITIONAL CHAPTERS.

CHAPTER I.

Black Peter's First Mate. – A Cosmopolitan Party. – Mr. Gascoigne. – Experiences of an Early Pioneer. – "California Jim." – My First Official Visit to the Goldfields.................95

CHAPTER II.

Episodes of the Dunstan Rush. – Campbell's Gully. – The Old Man Range. – The Molyneux. – The Nevis. – Snow Poles. – Scurvy. – Frost-bite.............101

CHAPTER III.

How Fox was Found. – Mr. John Cormack. – Gabriel Read at Dunstan. – The Arrow. – Fox's Lair. – One hundred and ten Pounds Weight of Gold in Four Weeks...........105

CHAPTER IV.

Goldmining, Ancient and Modern. – Sluicing. – Dredging. – Quartz Lodes...........110

APPENDICES.

A – Maori Names for Gold.......... 121

B – Gabriel Read's Narrative......... 122

C – Waipori Bush Reserve.......... 131

D – Hartley's Victorian Miner......... 131

E – Official Report........... 132

F – Jackson's Bay........... 133

G – Water Races at Blue Spur......... 135

H – Blue Spur............ 138

I – Snow Poles............ 140

K – The First Mining Conference........ 141

L – Nuggets............ 145

M – Agricultural Settlement on the Goldfields... ...146

N – West Coast Exploration......... 148

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

GABRIEL'S GULLY IN 1862 ........Facing Title

VINCENT PYKE...........32

MAJOR RICHARDSON.........48

GABRIEL READ... ......64

CAPTAIN BALDWIN..... 80

BLACK PETER..........96

MEMBERS OF FIRST MINING CONFERENCE... 144

CHAPTER I. Early settlers...

HISTORY

OF THE

EARLY GOLD DISCOVERIES IN OTAGO.

CHAPTER I.

Early Settlers. – Exodus. – Maori Goldfinders. – -The Matau. – Mr. Archibald's Expedition. – The Fortifications. – Mr. Ligar's Discovery. – Tuturau. – His Honor's Comment. – Popular Feeling. – Petition to the Provincial Council. – Reward Offered.

THE French proverb – "Man proposes, but God disposes" – has never, perhaps, been more strikingly exemplified than in the history of Otago. The gallant company of pioneers – "The Pilgrim Fathers," as they are sometimes not inaptly designated – who landed at the Heads in 1848 from the John Wickliffe and the Philip Laing, under the leadership of Captain Cargill, and the pastoral charge of the Rev. Thomas Burns, made the brave venture (and a very brave venture indeed it was in those days) of expatriating themselves from their native land, with the sole purpose of founding a settlement where they might worship freely, and freely dwell, after the manner of their forefathers. The Association, of which these voyagers were the first outcome, was an offset, if I may so phrase it, of the Free Church movement in Scotland. Peace and security were the chief objects they sought when they went out from the country of their birth to seek a home and an abiding place in the remote and savage wildernesses of the Pacific. We may be quite sure that no expectation of possible Goldfields was in their minds when they sailed away

from home and friends. There is ample evidence in the records of those early days to show that such an event as the discovery of gold was not only very far from their thoughts, but that it would have been exceedingly distasteful to them if they had foreseen it. But all unwittingly they alighted on a golden country – a circumstance which some of "the Identity" – a phrase first brought into use by Mr. Edward Cargill – still profess to regard in the light of a calamity.

It happened, however, that within three years of their arrival the wonderful story came slowly over the sea that, in the neighbouring colonies of New South Wales and Victoria, gold had been discovered in abundance. A number of the young men of the "Settlement," as Otago was then termed, being suddenly seized by the auri sacra fames, made their way across to the new Dorado, heedless of many admonitory shakings of the head, and much excellent advice lavished upon them by their elders. Most of these venturers returned, after a while, to New Zealand. I cannot learn of any of them that they came back bearing sheaves with them. But they certainly acquired some knowledge of goldmining; and from their temporary exodus, and subsequent return to the "flesh-pots" of Otago, may be traced, in part, the subsequent events which I propose to narrate.

Something also is undoubtedly traceable to information gathered from the Natives by the early settlers. That the Maoris were aware of the occurrence of gold, before the arrival of European colonists, is a tolerably well established fact. When making inquiries on this subject in 1862, I was informed by Mr. Palmer, an old whaler, then resident at East Taieri, that, many years previous to the settlement of Otago, he was told by a native chief, whose name he gave as "Tuawaik," but which I suspect was really Tewaewae, that "plenty ferro" or yellow stone, such as that of which the watch-seals of the white men were made, and which had attracted the old chiefs attention, was to be found on the river beaches inland, and that the Matau or Molyneux River was the place where it principally occurred.

To avoid confusion, I may say here that "Matau," "Molyneux," and "Clutha" are diverse names for the same river. The Maoris call it "Matau " – a name still retained for one of its branches at Inch Clutha; Captain Cook placed it on his chart as the "Molyneux," so named after one of his officers; and finally Mr. J. T. Thomson, when chief surveyor, dubbed it "Clutha."

Other Natives freely made similar statements when they observed the value that the new-comers seemed to place upon golden coins and ornaments. One party of settlers made an effort to verify these statements in 1852, and started up the Molyneux to attempt the discovery of El Dorado. The chief promoter of this expedition was Mr. Thomas Archibald, formerly a resident at the Pomahaka, who was good enough to acquaint me with the circumstances under which it took place, in a letter dated 29th September, 1862. From this letter I make the following extract: –

"Nearly all the Maori residents at the Molyneux at the time of our excursion were strangers, having been only a few years in the place. There were only a man and a woman who knew the country between the mouth of the river and the lakes. The man, Raki Raki (sic), had resided on the Wakatipu Lake, but had left many years ago. He left a brother, who had two wives, behind; and who, he said, were the only Maoris in the interior. He told me he once picked up a piece of 'simon' 1(gold) about the size of a small potato on the banks of the Molyneux, but did not know its value, and he threw it into the river. They told us they had seen the small simon on the sides of the river, where their canoes had been lying. On seeing a small sample of gold (which, I think, Mr. Meredith brought down from Tasmania, about the beginning of 1852), the natives were the more convinced we should find it in the sands of the Molyneux. As some of us were on the eve of starting for Australia, we thought we would give the river a trial first, more especially as we had the services of a Californian miner, who had left a whaling vessel in the Bay. We made a party of five, and started up the river in March, 1852, in a whale boat which I brought from Dunedin. We prospected the bars and the banks of the river, as far as a creek now named the Beaumont. As none of us knew

anything about gold-seeking except the American, and getting nothing more than the colour, we resolved to return after having nearly a three weeks' cruise; the more so as the river seemed a succession of rapids, which it was difficult to get the boat through. If our Californian miner had been the practical hand he represented himself to be, I have no doubt we would have been successful in getting a good prospect."

Mr. Archibald, the writer of the above letter, was subsequently, and for a brief space, an officer of the Goldfields Department at Roxburgh, then known as the Teviot.

Gold was found by the settlers in many parts of the Province; but the facts were either suppressed, as being considered likely to lead to mischievous results, or neglected as of trivial import.

In an article which appeared whilst these papers were going through the press, Mr. James Mclndoe states that "the first indication of the existence of gold was communicated to Captain Cargill by northern squatters who were on the search for grazing country, and was as follows: –

'Good wood, 27th October, 1851.

'Sir, – Under the impression that the prompt communication of the discovery of auriferous quartz in this neighbourhood will be of importance to the Otago settlement, we beg to enclose you specimens which we have found in various localities in order that you may give all the publicity which you may think proper to the fact that gold exists in the Southern Island. Most of the specimens sent you were picked up on the property of Charles Suisted, Esq., of Goodwood. The specimen of gold dust is from his estate. We hope to have the pleasure of seeing you before we return to Wellington. In the meantime, we remain, etc.,

'C. J. PHARAZYN
' C. J. NAIRN.'

"Captain Cargill handed the specimens to Mr. David Macandrew, who, having applied the tests, reported that 'the specimens indicated gold.' The veteran captain was not very sanguine, nor was he desirous that his community should be diverted from the even tenor of their way; and the editor of the newspaper sagely cautioned the people against leaving their ordinary occupations, concluding a leader on the subject with the trite remark, 'Flour is more necessary than gold, and may be more profitable."

The late Mr. John Hyde Harris showed me a small quantity of fine scaly gold, which he informed me was obtained in 1853 in the neighbourhood of the remarkable chert rocks, designated "the Fortifications," not far from Mount Hyde, and consequently in the vicinity of the Hindon workings. There seems to have been a vague impression existent, that there was gold in Otago, though nothing certain was discovered.

But in 1856, Mr. Charles Ligar, at that time Surveyor-General of New Zealand, and who afterwards held the same office in Victoria, fluttered the dovecotes in Corioli – otherwise Otago – by an official intimation of the actual existence of auriferous deposits. As an interesting record of the past, I reproduce his letter in its entirety: –

"Otago, 1st December, 1856.
"His Honor the Superintendent, Otago.

"Sir, – As I deem it the duty of every one in the community to increase the stock of information relative to the resources of this our adopted country, I hasten to inform your Honor that in my recent visit to the South part of the Province of Otago, I found gold very generally distributed in the gravel and sand of the Mataura River at Tuturau, and that from the geological character of the District I am of opinion that a remunerative Goldfield exists in the neighbourhood.

"I have, &c,
"CHARLES LIGAR."

If Mr. Charles Ligar had thrown dynamite, in its most diabolical form, into His Honor's office, it is questionable whether he would have created greater consternation. Captain Cargill appears to have had a very lively, and perhaps not altogether unnatural, dislike to Goldfields, "diggers," and everything connected therewith. He was not at all singular in this respect. The more solid of the early settlers were entirely with him in entertaining "holy horror and pious dread" of the discomforts and troubles attendant on a "rush," or anything calculated to distract the population from the slow but sure progress of settlement, which he and they were engaged in steadily building up,

and which would have been endangered by any precipitate movement, such as the discovery of gold was likely to engender.

The Provincial Council assembled on December 2nd – the day following the receipt of Mr Ligar's communication, which Captain Cargill specially referred to in his opening address, in the following terms: – "A letter from Mr. Ligar, on the existence of gold, will be laid before you for public information. It is right, however, to observe that gold has been found for years past in Auckland and Nelson, but hitherto quite unremunerative; and that in no circumstances would it be advisable to allow any searcher to go upon a run without leave of the lessee, or upon a native reserve without leave of the Natives."

Notwithstanding the Superintendent's discouraging notice of the prospect opened out by Mr. Ligar's discovery, and his deprecatory reference to the "unremunerative" character of the Nelson and Auckland fields the people of the Province seem to have been of opinion that a Goldfield would be rather a desirable thing for Otago to possess. All the more so, perhaps, because at this time the Government, failing to secure a sufficient influx of population direct from Britain, were making strenuous efforts to entice immigrants from other colonies. Besides, the reports from Nelson at all events were very satisfactory. Mr. William Fox, the Premier and Attorney-General of the colony, had stated in the House, in reply to the anxious inquiries of Mr. Stafford, that "there was no doubt as to the discovery of gold, for a sample had been sent to the Governor; and there had been a rush to the Goldfields, of some three hundred persons or more." And he thoughtfully added the assurance that – "There was as yet no reason to apprehend a breach of the peace."

The good folk of Otago, having had time to ponder over all these things, prepared a petition on the subject of a remunerative Goldfield, which was signed by 138 "inhabitants of the Province," and duly presented to the Provincial Council on November 4, 1857, by Mr. Stevenson, who then represented the East Taieri district in that body. This petition is now an historical document, and I append it in full: –

"Unto His Honor the Superintendent and the Provincial Council of the Province of Otago.

"The Petition of the undersigned inhabitants of the Province, humbly sheweth –

"That many of the labouring population have already left this Province for the Nelson Goldfields, and many men are preparing to do so, to the serious loss and manifest injury of the Province.

"That the advantage anticipated from the Government Assisted Immigration will be neutralised, and become a source of loss, unless some attraction, such as a local remunerative Gold-field, be discovered, by which means we may hope to retain our population.

"That the existence of Gold in this Province is a well-ascertained fact; but from various causes private enterprise has not hitherto been systematically directed towards proving whether Gold exists in payable quantities.

"That your petitioners consider it to be the duty of the Provincial Government to take immediate steps towards ascertaining the Gold capabilities of this Province.

May it therefore please your Honor and the Provincial Council, immediately to offer a handsome reward, under proper conditions, for the proof of the existence of a remunerative Gold-field within this Province.

"And your petitioners will ever pray."

The petitioners, or their arguments, were successful; and the sum of £500 was voted in the Appropriation Ordinance of the year as a "Bonus for the Discovery of a Remunerative Gold-field within the Province of Otago."

1 See Appendix A – "Maori Names for Gold."

CHAPTER II. The Chief Surveyor's Report...

CHAPTER II.

The Chief Surveyor's Report – Prospecting. – Mr. Garvie's Discoveries. – The Clutha, Manuherikia, and Tuapeka Rivers. – First Practical Proof of Gold in Otago. – Woolshed Creek. – The Mataura. – Blacklock and Roebuck's Expedition. – Discovery of Gold at Lindis Pass.

CERTAINLY the petitioners were justified in asserting that the "existence of Gold" – -always written with a capital G – was a "well-ascertained fact"; for small quantities of the metal were occasionally brought into Dunedin for sale or inspection. But the "finds" were casual and inconsiderable. Information respecting the geological resources of the country generally was very scanty and imperfect in those early days. Thus, in an official Report, dated June 2, 1857, Mr. J. T. Thomson, the Chief Surveyor of the Province, says of coal, that its "existence has often been hinted at," but that there are not "sufficient indications to warrant the retention by Government of any tracts of land on account of the supposed existence of the mineral." Yet of gold he writes with greater certainty: – "The existence of gold is undoubted: a fact first brought to light by Mr. Ligar, Surveyor-general of New Zealand. The principal specimens yet found have been obtained in the gravel of the Mataura River, near Tuturau; but I am credibly informed that indications are everywhere met with in the Waiopai and Mataura Plains. I have nowhere yet known of any individual success at the occupation of gold-washing or digging as a business, nor have I seen above the small fraction of an ounce in the hands of anyone. Knowing that gold had been found, I paid some attention to the subject at various localities. The spots where I actually tried the sand and rocks for gold were on the Upper Mataura to

the North of the Dome Mountain; on the Aparima near Taringtura Hill; in the Orawia near Grassburn; and on the Waiau, near the Limestone Gorge. The trials (and they must be admitted to be very imperfect) were made by washing the sands in our pannikins, these being the best utensils for the purpose in our possession, and by digging in the chinks of the rocks, and scooping out the sand and mud with our knives. In all our attempts we were unsuccessful in finding the metal; but I must not omit to mention of one of my assistants having reported the obtaining of one speck in the Waiau sands."

Mr. Thomson then goes on to "point to the districts of the Hokonui Hills, to the Slate Ranges, and to the valleys of the Mataura and Waiau as being probably auriferous"; and particularly recommends "the North Waiopai Plains and Upper Mataura as being the most promising fields of trial. The objection" (to quote still further from the Report) "that I have heard stated by practical 'diggers' as to the successful pursuit of the metal is, in 'washing,' the frequent freshes; and, in 'sinking,' the depth of the bottom and porous nature of the strata to be gone through. These difficulties, no doubt, were sufficient inducements offering, ingenuity and perseverance would overcome; but the process appears to call for greater means than are generally possessed by individuals in this Province."

It is to be feared that the "diggers" encountered by Mr Thomson were not so "practical" as they assumed or he supposed them to be. But what is most remarkable is that the localities indicated specially in his Report, are precisely those in which, up to the present time, gold has not been found in appreciable quantities, unless the Waikaia and Nokomai may be considered as coming within the reference to the Upper Mataura. Science, in fact, has done little or nothing towards assisting mineral discoveries in Otago, and subsequent events furnish another illustration of the truth conveyed by Charles Reade's notable saying – "Men without a polysyllable to their tongues have found all the gold and all the silver that ever were found." It is only

fair to Mr. Thomson, however, to add that he did not prefer any claim to geological knowledge.

More ample confirmation of the presence of gold was at hand. In the months of October and November, 1857, and during the early period of 1858, Mr. Alexander Garvie, then Assistant-surveyor, executed a reconnaisance survey of the South-eastern Districts, and in his very full and complete Report, dated 15th July, 1858, he remarks that –

"The eastern portion, from the coast to Manuherikia, appears to be composed almost entirely of rocks belonging to the mica schist systems. Towards the south-west, clay-slate and altered rock appear, as at Tapanu, the lower part of the Pomahaka, and the Clutha, below the Tuapeka.... Traces of gold were found in the gravel of several of the streams and rivers. The trials were all made on the very surface, at such odd times as would not interrupt the proper work of the survey, by one of the party who happened to have previously visited the Australian goldfields. The gold found was in every case small and scaly, varying from the smallest specks to about the roughness of bran. It was found in the Clutha River, above the junction of the Manuherikia, and in the Tuapeka stream, in sufficient quantities to make it probable that it would pay to work if set about in a proper manner, with some wholesale system of washing, such as sluicing. Specks were also found in the Manuherikia, Pomahaka, and Waitahuna, and it will probably be found also in some of the tributaries of the Mataura."

The person – "one of the party" – of Australian experience referred to in the foregoing extract was a Mr. Buchanan, long resident in Dunedin.

The italics are mine – inserted to more fully direct attention to the fact that in this report Mr. Garvie exactly indicated the sites of some of the most famous and profitable of the gold workings afterwards discovered. In my first official report, as Commissioner of Goldfields, dated 1st October, 1862, 1 wrote as follows: –

"I cannot but regard this as the first practical demonstration of the mineral wealth of Otago. Earlier explorers had merely ascertained its existence, yet here was sufficient evidence to have satisfied the most incredulous. The announcement was, however, unheeded at the time, and it was reserved for Mr. Gabriel Read

and Messrs. Hartley and Reilly to develope the hidden treasures of which Mr. Garvie undoubtedly intimated the presence, although he was probably unaware of the importance of his discovery."

Writing now – – twenty-four years later, and possessing much fuller information of early events than I then had – I am not disposed to modify that expression of opinion. I am still at a loss to understand how it was that no effort was made at the time to test the accuracy and value of these important discoveries. As illustrating the utter calmness of the official mind, it may be mentioned that Garvie's, or rather Buchanan's, prospecting was done in February and March, 1858; his report was sent in in July; it was forwarded by the Chief Surveyor to the Commissioners of the Waste Land Board in August; and finally published in the Otago Provincial Gazette at the end of September. Buried in the pages of that respectable periodical it fell dead on the public ear – probably was never seen beyond official circles; and no action whatever followed. Yet all the time there was a bonus of £500 proffered for the discovery of a remunerative Goldfield!

In a foot-note appended to Garvie's report, Mr. Thomson stated that "the best sample of gold yet brought into town was found in the Tokomairiro River (south branch). This sample indicates a workable goldfield." The exact locality referred to is better known as the Woolshed Creek, where goldmining has been carried on continuously, and at one time extensively, from 1861 to the present date. It was there that "Black Peter," otherwise Edward Peters, a native of Bombay, was in the habit of washing small quantities of gold from the sands of the river. Mr. Thomson informed me that it was Peter who had shown him the gold in 1858, and acquainted him with the place whence he obtained it. Peter also found gold in the Tuapeka Stream, under circumstances which will be referred to hereafter.

In the same year – 1858 – the Chief Surveyor himself discovered gold in the Lindis River, a circumstance to which he referred in a public lecture subsequently delivered in Dunedin.

Some small finds were also made about this time in the sands of the Kuri, a small stream which flows into the sea near Hampden. These and other similar discoveries furnished quite sufficient evidence of the "existence" of gold, and show that, at least in a desultory way, search was being made for it in many directions. But the time was not yet.

The first systematic effort to develope the auriferous resources of Otago was made in 1860, when a small "rush" took place on the banks of the Mataura. It was announced in the newspaper press that the reward for the discovery of a payable goldfield was claimed in June of that year by some "residents in Invercargill" for alleged discoveries in the neighbourhood of that town. A paragraph in a letter from Invercargill which appeared in the Otago Witness of July 21, 1860, evidently has reference to that somewhat vague announcement: – "It has long been known that the 'precious metal' existed in and about the Mataura River; but a proper search never having been made, the matter lay dormant till a few weeks back, when Messrs. James Blacklock and Roebuck, of Invercargill, started off on a prospecting excursion, and returned a few days after with a fair sample of gold, which they had obtained with the aid of a knife and tin dish. They expressed themselves certain of obtaining it in large and payable quantities, and having provided themselves with a cradle and the proper tools they went back again on Wednesday last."

Mr. J. P. Joyce, M. H. R., informs me that he knew Blacklock and Roebuck, and remembers their prospecting expedition. "They worked," he writes, "on the Mataura, and a little below the native reserve at Tuturau, partly in the bed of the river, which was then low, and partly by stripping a portion of the bank. Other parties, among which was one headed by Sinclair, an old resident of the Bluff, and, I think, Jabez Hay, of Invercargill, also worked there. The result of their united labours was about two pounds weight of gold, the getting of which must have cost them about a couple of hundred pounds at least." Mr. Joyce had himself previously found gold at the same place, and had given a small quantity of

it to Mr. J. T. Thomson, then Chief Surveyor of Otago. Since then various parties have at different times obtained a little gold. Tuturau is the place where Mr. Ligar also claimed to have discovered gold in 1856; and at a later period it was the scene of a "bogus" rush instigated by the notorious Sam Perkins, to which fuller allusion will be made in due chronological order.

Notwithstanding many failures, the search for gold was still continued by a number of persons, whose faith in its existence survived repeated discomfitures. Their constancy was at length rewarded; but, strangely enough, it was by accident, and not design, that the first workable goldfield was eventually found. Vague rumours of this discovery reached Dunedin, by way of Oamaru, in March, 1861; but the earliest definite account appeared early in April, in the Lyttelton Times: –

"A party of men, employed in road-making by the Otago Government, picked up some nuggets in the River Lindis, a tributary of the Molyneux, where they were engaged making cuttings for the main road to cross. Mr. M'Lean. on whose run the gold was found, saw some gold in possession of one of the men. It weighed about 4oz., and consisted of some waterworn nuggets from the size of a grain of wheat to that of a bean, and apparently of a very fine quality.... As the stream where the gold was found is small, and close to the hills, it offers no prospect for a large field sufficient to induce diggers to proceed there from any distance at this time of the year."

So little was known of the interior of the Province in those days that the Otago Witness newspaper, after having variously described "the new Goldfield (a phrase invariably used, as though Goldfields had been numerous and well established) as being 70, 60, and 90 miles distant from Dunedin, finally declared – "the precise locality is quite a mystery."

The exact scene of the discovery was in the upper Lindis Gorge, situated on the north side of Lindis Peak, the southern-most termination of the Grandview Mountain range which overlooks Lake Hawea, and extends its vast ramparts to the Ahuriri River. Beyond the Lindis are the valleys and pastures of the Upper Clutha and its tributaries, where, in the early days of settle-

ment, some enterprising colonists had found or forced their way, bringing with them their flocks and herds. The only available route to this country was then by way of the Waitaki Valley and through the Lindis Pass, at the head of a branch of the Ahuriri, and of a small creek flowing into the Lindis Stream. The Pass being then wholly inaccessible far wheeled traffic, the pioneer runholders, prominent amongst whom was the Hon. John M'Lean, now of Redcastle, sought the assistance of the Government in the formation of a road. Their request was granted, but it was made a condition that the Government should employ the roadmakers. To this circumstance probably the discovery is primarily due; for amongst the men so employed, there were some who had been on the Australian goldfields, and it was in the prosecution of their labours that they found gold scattered through the soil, and subsequently discovered it in the sands of the streams.

CHAPTER III. The Interior of Otago...

CHAPTER III.

The Interior of Otago. – Difficulties to be Surmounted. – Rush to the Lindis. – First Goldfields Act and Export Duty Act. – M'lntyre's Claim for Reward. – Docherty – Reports of Robert Short and Frederick Walker. – Mr. Stafford's Statement. – Failure. – Gabriel Read's Letter. – Doubtful Feeling. – John Hardy's Statement. – Major Richardson's Message to the Provincial Council. – Resolution of the Council.

THE reader who is unable to draw upon memory and personal experience, cannot possibly conceive more than a very faint idea of the absolute solitariness which in those days pervaded and enveloped the Interior of Otago – the solemn loneliness of its mountains; the ineffable sadness of its valleys; the utter dreariness of its plains. The weary traveller pursued his lonely way from point to point, always viewing around and before him a continuous and apparently interminable expanse of lofty hills – range succeeding range in monotonous uniformity, everywhere clothed in a sober livery of pale brown vegetation, relieved only by grim, grey rocks of fantastic form, sharing the desolation to which they contributed – backed by distant mountain peaks, which bounded and encompassed the horizon in every direction, piercing the blue ether, and clad in dazzling snows – an expanse diversified by no pleasant forests; devoid of animal as of human life; where the profound stillness was painful in its prolonged intensity; and the only sound that greeted the ear from dawn to dusk was the melancholy wailing of the wind among the tussocks.

Such was the character of the country through which the gold-seekers of that time had to find or make their way, unaided by roads of any description, and seldom assisted even by "tracks"

of a defined character. To this account must be added the uncertainty prevailing as to the locality of the "new" goldfield, the length of the journey, and the inclement season of the year. The news reached Dunedin at the end of March – that is to say, at the commencement of winter. That the country was then covered with snow is apparent from the frequent warnings, having reference to this form of danger, which appear in the newspapers of the period. The provisions also were scarce and dear on the field. Lindis was far away from the ports where ships discharge cargoes; and cultivation was in its earliest infancy, and flockowners had only stock sufficient for breeding purposes – the hoped-for foundation of future fortunes – when the remote solitudes were suddenly invaded by a host of people, all athirst for gold. So meat sold at a shilling the pound, and flour at the rate of £60 per ton. The only other items of diet of which [find any record are – Sugar, one shilling; butter and cheese, two and sixpence the pound; and pickles, three and sixpence per bottle. These seem to have exhausted the possible bill of fare at the Lindis.

Nevertheless, and in despite of distance and doubt, of snow and dear food, there was in some sort, a "rush" to the Lindis. Before the end of April it was reported that there were 300 persons at the "diggings." And then we read in the newspapers of the day that – "The discovery of gold has caused much alarm amongst the runholders, especially those in the neighbourhood of whose runs the precious metal has been found. The alarm is natural enough; but the Goldfields' Act has made provision for compensating a runholder whose run may be declared a Goldfield."

This assurance was well founded, for the legislators of New Zealand were wise betimes. An "Act to Regulate the Gold-field" was passed in 1858, before any well-defined Goldfield had been discovered. And in the same year, still taking time by the forelock, they also passed an Act imposing an export duty of 2s. 6d. per ounce on gold, extending (unless the clause is wrongly punctuated) to foreign coins, and "articles of plate jewellery or

ornament actually worn upon the person or made elsewhere than in the colony."

And now, having become possessed of the long-desired Gold-fields, the settlers regarded their new acquisition with something like dismay. "Gold," writes the Editor of the Witness, who, no doubt faithfully reflected the prevailing opinion, "is not an unmixed blessing.... We are not of the number of those who look upon the discovery of gold as the greatest of blessings."

But circumstances do not halt for opinions. For a brief space there was a very general stampede to the Lindis, though it does not appear that the number of working miners actually on the ground at any time exceeded 400. Letters from well-known settlers began to appear in the papers. Mr. Edward M'Glashan writes of the possible resources of the field in terms of great expectation. The same gentleman forwarded to the Superintendent a document, claiming the "Bonus" offered for the discovery of a "remunerative goldfield" on behalf of Samuel M'Intyre. I have thought it worth while to reproduce this paper, which runs as follows: –

"We the undersigned Diggers in the Lindis Valley hereby certify that Samuel M'Intyre was the first discoverer of this Goldfield, and that he is entitled to the reward offered by the Government, the field being a payable Goldfield.

Lindis, 15th April, 1861.

J. Angus M'Donald
John Falconer
Edward Wm. Wilkins
John Jones
John Wilson
James Cotter
W. Campbell
C. Grant
George M'Rae
Edmund King
John Jerrold
Edward Jones
William Scott
Charles Horner
C. W. Zlieber
Wm. Sims
J. M'Donald
W. H. Patterson
Charles Reese
David McCartney
John M'Cormack
William Docherty
James Kerby
John Hunt
W. Hunt
A. Winton
William Adams
Thomas M'Ray
W. C. Baudinet
G. Pope
D. M'Connochy
George Butterworth

James Gairn
James Beattie
James Spence
Edward M'Cartney
Alfred Mears
Edward Jackson

James Ferguson
E. Forsyth."

The consideration of M'Intyre's claim was postponed for the decision of the Provincial Council, and ultimately it was altogether set aside, in favour of a claimant whose discoveries completely eclipsed and overshadowed all others.

In Mr. M'Glashan's letter he says: – "Two men, Docherty and Falconer, who have been working together for several weeks, assured me that they had averaged over an ounce per day each." Docherty, whose name is appended to M'Intyre's petition, is the well-known prospector of Dusky Sound. I have not been able to ascertain what has become of any of the rest. Others testified to the value of the field; and amongst them Mr. Robert Short, an officer of the Land Department, declared his opinion that it was a "payable Goldfield" of very great extent. "The country in every direction is literally teeming with gold" – writes Mr. Frederick Walker, a member of the Provincial Executive. In the General Assembly, the Premier, Mr. Stafford, stated that "with respect to Lindis Pass diggings the Superintendent of Otago thought it likely some thousands would be attracted there after the winter." The wildest reports gained easy credence. It was gravely stated that the Goldfield was "calculated to cover forty square miles." Some portions of the country which have never yet produced an ounce of gold were pronounced, on what appeared at the time good evidence, to be richly auriferous. A shepherd had picked up some gold in a creek flowing into Lake Wanaka, and therefore, it was argued, all the country between Wanaka and the Lindis must be gold-bearing. And so the rumours ran. But the earlier forecast of the writer in the Lyttelton Times proved to be correct. The field was an exceedingly limited one, and early in July the Witness was enabled to state, with an approximation to accuracy that the Lindis was a "complete failure."

Before that time came, however, the people of Otago had

been thoroughly aroused by the following letter, which appeared in the Witness of the 8th June, 1861: –

Tokomairiro, 4th June, 1861.
To Major Richardson, &c.

Sir, – I take the liberty of troubling you with a short report on the result of a gold prospecting tour which I commenced about a fortnight since, and which occupied me about ten days. During that period I travelled inland about thirty-five miles, and examined the ravines and tributaries of the Waitahuna and Tuapeka rivers.

My equipment consisted of a tent, blankets, spade, tin dish, butcher's knife, and about a week's provisions. I examined a large area of country and washed pans of earth in different localities. I found at many places prospects which would hold out a certainty that men with the proper tools would be munificently remunerated – and in one place, for ten hours work with pan and butcher's knife, I was enabled to collect about seven ounces of gold.

I have now had constructed proper machinery and tools, and will be able in the course of a few days to report with more certainty. Mr. John Hardy, the Member for this district, will accompany me, and on his return, communicate personally with your Honor. His earnestness in favour of a Goldfields discovery has so pleased me that I have been induced to make him my confidant, and he has kindly placed his time at my disposal.

Had I made anything like an exhibition of my gold, the Plain would have been deserted by all the adult inhabitants the next day, and the farmers would have suffered seriously from a neglect of agricultural operations at this season of the year.

Although the being able to work secretly for a time would greatly benefit me, I feel it my duty to impart these facts. To know that the stream of population must set through Waihola rather than Oamaru, I consider it important for you to know.

These communications are made in confidence that my secret is safe with Major Richardson, but if a disclosure is of any benefit to the public interest, you are at liberty to treat this as a public communication to the Superintendent. Mr. Hardy will be in town in the course of a week, and I think you might perhaps do well to await his return, when he will impart the result of his trip. At all events, I leave myself as a client under your Honor's patronage, convinced that by so doing I take the most certain course to insure the benefit to which I may some day be considered entitled for this important discovery.

Mr. Hardy will be able to show you what I think may be specimens of copper ore; if it is so, there is a great quantity in the mountains, and rich seams of coal in its vicinity.

I have the honour to be,
Your obedient servant,
THOS. GABRIEL READ.

Read's statement was at first received with incredulity. The news seemed too good to be true. Prospectors had been seeking gold for ten years, and reputed discoveries had been numerous and frequent; but nothing had come of them. The Lindis had indeed raised expectations to a high pitch. For a time it promised well, but already it was apparently failing. And now this letter of Gabriel Read's opened up prospects that dazzled only to bewilder the people. He was represented, and truly so, to be possessed of Californian and Australian experience; but after all, there might only be a small "patch" of payable ground. There was a brief period of suspense, during which none but the bolder spirits went up to Tuapeka, while the prudent and wary waited for more sure information.

It was not long in coming. Mr. Hardy – referred to in Read's letter – returned from his trip, and on 28th June he announced the result of his investigations. From his place in the Provincial Council Chamber he told the members, who with eager attention and bated breath listened to his words, that in company with Mr. Read, he had prospected country "about thirty-one miles long by five broad, and in every hole they had sunk they had found the precious metal."

On the same day the Superintendent – Major Richardson – transmitted to the Council a message which, following upon Mr. Hardy's announcement, must have greatly exercised the public mind. In it he stated: – "The accounts received late last evening from the Tuapeka and Waitahuna districts indicate, in those neighbourhoods, the existence of gold in large quantities and easily obtainable. These Reports bear all the evidence of truth, and necessitate the adoption of immediate and active measures

for the preservation of order, and the safe conveyance to Dunedin of the gold accumulated and accumulating."

The Message then proceeds to ask that the Superintendent may be invested with general powers, in the following terms: –

"Under these circumstances, and with the prospect of more extensive discoveries, and the probably resulting influx of population from beyond seas, the Superintendent asks the Council to invest him with such powers as the urgency of the case may from time to time demand him to exercise, in order to protect property and open out communication."

It was further suggested that it would be expedient to secure the services of an Inspector of Police and a contingent of experienced constables from Melbourne.

The glad and gratified Council was not slow to respond. Before rising, a resolution moved by Mr. Cutten was unanimously assented to, empowering His Honor to "take such action in the various matters as may to him seem fit, and cordially placing in his hands the necessary powers, confident that the necessary provision will be properly made, and no unnecessary expenditure of public money incurred."

The confidence of the Council was not misplaced; for the practically unlimited powers thus unreservedly entrusted to Major Richardson's disposal were wisely and judiciously exercised during the critical period that ensued.

CHAPTER IV. Letters about Gabriel's Gully...

CHAPTER IV.

Letters about Gabriel's Gully. – Mr. T. B. Gillies Prophesies. – The "Rush." – Off to the Diggings. – Major Richardson's Visit. – The Chief Surveyor's Report. – Munroe's Gully. – Waitahuna. – Captain Baldwin's Account. – Wetherstone's. – The Woolshed. – The Superintendent's Address to the Provincial Council.

IN compliment to Mr. Read, the valley in which he made his famous discovery was named "Gabriel's Gully," and as such it is still known. Early in June it was visited by many well-known settlers, amongst whom were Mr. John L. Gillies, the present Secretary of the Otago Harbour Board, J. Burnside, James M'lndoe, Edward Martin, and Thomas B. Gillies, now Judge of the Supreme Court. The columns of the two weekly newspapers – the Witness and the Colonist – soon teemed with correspondence, descriptive of the journey which was then regarded, not without reason, as a feat worthy of record – and with exciting accounts of the richness of the gully. In a letter, dated 28th June, highly extolling the Goldfield, Mr. M'lndoe strongly counsels the working men of Dunedin to "at once make a start." It is better, he urges, for them to risk their chance than to go idly about the streets of Dunedin." One passage in this letter must here be quoted: – "In crossing the Waitahuna River on our way down, we tried a handful of the sand from the banks, and found several small pieces of gold, plainly indicating its source to be an auriferous country." A very readable and interesting letter from the pen of Mr. T. B. Gillies, occupying two columns of the Colonist, gives an exhaustive report of the Goldfield and its surroundings, in the course of which a curious illustration of the sober demeanor of the gold-seekers is thus rendered: – "The deep gravity, almost solemnity,

on every visage, struck me as very peculiar. Men whom I had never met before save with a smile on their countenances, and a joke on their lips, I met there, grave and solemn, as if the cares of a nation were centred on them – they could not even appreciate a joke." Evidently, the getting of gold was a very serious business with them.

Mr. Gillies, in this letter, prophesies of future results, and not unwisely, as events have turned out: – "A railway from Dunedin, through the Taieri, Waihola, and Tokomairiro, to the Tuapeka, which is quite practicable, will be required at no distant day, and will give an immense impetus to the agricultural, as well as mining, pursuits in those districts. With such a work, and the Harbour of Dunedin improved, as has been so long proposed, it is not too sanguine an expectation to look forward to the Province of Otago taking the position of the first Province in New Zealand, and New Zealand taking a first place among the colonies of Britain."

The census returns show that, in December, 1861 – when a considerable addition to the population had already resulted by the immigration from other colonies, caused by the gold discoveries – there were only 27,163 people of both sexes and all ages in Otago, and the whole colony only numbered 99,021 European inhabitants. In December, 1860, the population of the Province was estimated at 12,700; and, judging from the immigration and emigration returns, this number had sustained very little increase in June, 1861 – the date of Mr. Read's discoveries. Mr. Gillies' vaticinations, regarded in the light of 1886, must therefore be accepted as a bold and very shrewd forecast.

These letters, and the continuous favourable reports from Tuapeka, had an immense but not surprising effect. The "rush" began in earnest. Everyone hastened to enrich himself with the golden spoils of the earth. Mr. William H. Cutten, the Commissioner of Lands, was then connected with the Witness, as editor or contributor; and in a leading article which appeared in that

paper on July 6th, we discern "the touch of a vanished hand." Thus it runs: –

"Gold, gold, gold is the universal subject of conversation. The number of persons leaving town each morning is quite surprising. The fever is running at such a height that, if it continue, there will scarcely be a man left in town. An anecdote is told of Geelong, that, upon the breaking out of the Australian diggings, there was but one man left, and he had a wooden leg, which the ladies threatened to saw off if he attempted to get away, as they were determined not to be completely deserted. As things go there appears every probability of the Dunedin ladies coming to the same pass. The Tokomairiro plain is positively deserted. Master and man have gone together on equal terms, leaving their farming operations under an agreement to return to reap crops; but, if the fever continues, there will be little crop, we should think, to reap. The men having left the plain, there appeared no remedy; and we are informed that the women and children in numberless cases have gone also. On the last Sunday the congregation at church consisted of the minister and precentor."

Rhymesters also found the subject irresistible. "Off to the Diggings" is the title of an essay in verse, by J. B., Kaikorai; which setting aside literary considerations, affords a vivid portraiture of the prevailing excitement: –

Some wha at a spade wud kick,
Or turn their nose up at a pick,
Are off to dig throw thin and thick –
Off to the Diggings.

Deacons wi' pistols at their belt,
Wha ne'er before ha'e pooder smelt,
Have left the church helter skelt,
Off to the Diggings.

Where are all the debtors gone?
(Creditors – Ochone! Ochone!)
Like to swallows they have flown
Off to the Diggings.

What's to come o' women folks?
Bar the windows, turn the locks,
Off and join your swains in flocks –
Off to the Diggings.

The very editor's afraid
He'll have to quit the writing trade,
And wi' his shovel and his spade
Off to the Diggings.

A'label on the office door: –
"Otago Witness gone ashore
On a reef of golden ore –
Off to the Diggings."

And so on through sixteen doggerel verses, in which fact appears to dominate over fancy. "Never since the foundation of the Settlement," says another writer, "has there been anything like the excitement produced in the Province by the recent discovery of the Goldfields at the Tokomairiro, or rather the Tuapeka."

It is from contemporaneous writings such as these that the character of great social movements is most accurately gauged. Newspapers furnish the best of all possible materials for history, because they embalm the actual events of the immediately present time – the transient impulses of the hour – presenting affairs from many points of personal observation, and illustrating the various moods of many minds. If I do not more largely avail myself of these sources of information it is not from lack of matter, but because it seems undesirable to over-lay and interrupt the progress of the narrative by a too diffuse introduction of circumstantial details.

The excitement spread rapidly, and daily increased in intensity. It animated all circles and disturbed all men's ordinary avocations. It infected the Provincial Council, and even invaded the sanctum of the Executive. The business of the session was hurriedly concluded. The Speaker, Mr. T. B. Gillies, vacated the chair, and Mr. Rennie was quickly appointed in his stead. On July 6th the Superintendent prorogued the Council, after a sitting of only twelve days, during which time there had been initiated, considered, and passed, eleven important measures – including an Executive Council Ordinance, an Education Ordinance, and a Road Board Ordinance; and a Loan for £34,500 had been sanctioned. Conspicuous amongst the items of the Appropriation Ordinance of that session is one, which then appeared for the first time, of £1688 for the "Goldfields Police Department."

No sooner had the members departed, and the doors of the Council Chamber been closed, than the Superintendent, attended by several of his officers, himself proceeded to Tuapeka on a tour of inspection. It is to be regretted that Major Richardson has not placed on record any account of the impressions he received on that occasion. One of his party, however – Mr. J. T. Thomson, Chief Surveyor – wrote a very detailed account of the visit, and gave particulars of several claims inspected by himself, which duly appeared in the Dunedin newspapers. In this report it was stated that Gabriel Read's party of three men had obtained 112 ounces in fourteen days; John Jenkins' party of five, 49 ounces in four days; Peter Lindsay's party of three, 30 ounces in three and a-half days; Burnside and J. L. Gillies, 8 ounces in six days "with a spade and tin dish." Cargill's party of four washed out 10 ounces in a single forenoon; and Peter Lindsay gathered 7 1/2 ounces in five and a-half hours. Such news, so authenticated, could not fail still further to heighten the gold fever with which the people were inflamed. The position may be summed up in a few words – society was temporarily unhinged.

Other discoveries followed in quick succession. A few days, in fact, after Read's great "find" at Gabriel's, a woman – Mrs. Munro, wife of a shepherd on Davy and Bowler's run – found payable gold on the other side of the dividing range, in what is known as Munroe's Gully. And on Friday, the 19th of July, the Waitahuna Goldfield was discovered. Again Gabriel Read was the pioneer; but on this occasion he was accompanied by one whose name is familiar to the reader. In the Witness of August 10th, there appeared an article headed "Prospecting." The suave syllables of the introductory sentences are strongly suggestive of the probable writer; and from these we seem to catch a faint glimpse – one of the few afforded – by Major Richardson of his view of the situation: –

"We are indebted for the following graphic description of the result of a "prospect" to a gentleman who has been a successful digger on the Tuapeka, notwithstanding his education and habits of life being such as apparently to disqualify him for

manual labour. The energy with which gold-digging is pursued, and how little is cared for personal comfort in the excitement of a prospect, is shown by repeated instances of persons gently nurtured, bearing the wet and cold of such weather as we have had lately, for the pleasure of being the discoverer of a new Goldfield."

The correspondent referred to then proceeds as follows: –

"The next few months must either prove or refute – not the existence of a workable and payable Goldfield, that has been already decided – but its extent and durability. This is now the great and all-important problem, on the solution of which depends, to a certain extent, the future of this Province, and is involved the interests of the whole Colony – a solution, therefore, pregnant with mighty events and replete with vast results, changing the existing order of things, placing Otago in the van of the New Zealand Provinces, and, perchance, either establishing a separate Government for, or removing the existing one to, the Middle Island.... My purpose in writing is to give you, in accordance to promise, a brief account, 'a plain unvarnished tale,' of the prospecting expedition recently undertaken by Mr. Read, in order to ascertain the real character of that country lying towards the head of the Waitahuna Flat, and which he kindly invited me to accompany."

The writer of the letter from which I have thus far quoted is Captain Baldwin, who has kindly furnished me with a more vivid account of this prospecting expedition than appears in the published report. He writes as follows: –

"Early in June, 1861, about the 9th I think, I started for Dunedin. I was living up the country at the time, near the Teviot, on a station I had just purchased from the late Mr. J. S. Worthington, afterwards gold receiver at Queenstown. I stopped at Mr. Gairdner's the first night, and the next evening I made Peter Robertson's. Mr. Robertson was at that time head shepherd for Musgrave and Murray, and his hut – midway betwixt Tuapeka and Waitahuna on the old short track – was a regular stopping place for all of us up-country people. My friend Peter himself was a sociable body, very fond of a friendly crack, and always brimful of news. He was supposed to live within the limits of civilisation, and you were always sure of finding the Witness or Colonist lying about, containing Dunedin news of not more than three weeks old; and, mind you, in those days this was something to remember. After I had unsaddled and tethered my horse I came across my host. When the usual

greetings were over he asked: 'Did ye hear naethin' of this gran' discovery of gowd up in yon gully at Tuapeka as ye passed by?' 'Gold,' I asked; 'what gold?' ' Eh! mon but it's a fac'. The mon was here himself last nicht – a red-shirted chap called Read. Ye ken him fine, mon, and he showed me a bonnie fine handful of gowd. By my certie, but the sight of yon turned my head a'most.' This was the first intimation I had of the discovery of Tuapeka. I need scarcely say that I slept but little that night, and equally needless for me to add I was ready to retrace my steps at daylight next norning. I made Bowler's hut at breakfast time. After breakfast, the head shepherd in charge, a man named White, walked across the low spur that separated the hut from Gabriel's Gully. We found Read camped here. His tent was pitched by his claim about midway down the gully, very near that narrow point where a spur running from the westward juts into it. It is a leading spur that runs close into the banks of the creek, and had naturally been used by Mr. Bowler's sheep and cattle as a crossing place from one side of the gully to the other. Its frequent usage in this way had laid bare the bed rock at the creek, and here Read had "fossicked" out his first find. As I camped with him that night he told me the whole story. His life had been an eventful one. Soon after Marshall had discovered those shining flakes at Sutter's mill in California, and his cry of gold awoke the world, Read was on the spot and worked there a few years. He saved some money. Then he purchased a schooner with his savings and traded amongst the islands of the Pacific. But he was wrecked after a little on the Island of Hawaii, the largest of the Sandwich Island group, and then, after various adventures in the Pacific, he betook himself to his home in Tasmania. From thence he passed over to the Victoria Goldfields. But he was a restless man, and from Victoria he had drifted across to New Zealand. This was the substance of his adventurous life as he told it to me in his tent that night. The next morning I started home to bring back my station hands and some provisions. Before leaving, however, I pegged off a piece ground adjoining Read's claim, and this he undertook to look after and protect during my absence. When I returned some four or five days later the place was rapidly filling with people, and Read's mate, a young fellow named Brookes, had joined him.

"About six weeks afterwards Read suggested to me that he and I should go on a prospecting tour. The party was to consist of Read and myself and a man named John Cargill, who is, I fancy, at present a fisherman at Blueskin. Read was anxious that nothing should be said of our intentions, but somehow or another it leaked out, and our movements were strictly watched.

We started on the evening of the 18th of July, 1861, but were followed by a number of persons, and had to return again. Towards four o'clock the next morning, however, we managed to get away unperceived. We had our dinner at the old Waitahuna crossing place, and then turning to the left we followed up the river for about a mile or so. Here we decided to camp for the night, intending the next morning to follow the river up to its source in the Waipori ranges. Read was a great believer in the auriferous character of these ranges, and as it afterwards turned out, was quite correct in his belief. Before camping, however, I ran up to the top of an adjoining spur and saw that we were at the mouth of a great big gully, and that this gully had some nice scrub in the middle of it. It looked a tempting place to camp in, I thought, and I persuaded Read accordingly to camp there. It was full of wild pigs, I remember, and I also remember how I was scared out of my sleep that night. I was suddenly awakened by finding something cold poking its nose against me. Thinking it was one of the wild pigs we had disturbed, and fearing he might be looking out for a soft place for the purpose of having a good bite at me or thrusting his tusk into me, perhaps, I jumped up and ran out, to find it was my horse. He was an old favourite horse we had packed, and felt cold I suppose. At daybreak next morning I was awakened by Read. He rushed excitedly into the tent, exclaiming, "I have found another Goldfield. Get up and dress yourself quickly. I want you to wash out the first tin dishful of stuff. It will be something to say hereafter." I dressed and followed him up the flat – up to where the little creek came rippling down through a small gorge, and just immediately before the gully began to expand and widen out. The hole Read had bottomed was only about 18 inches or two feet deep, but the bottom seemed a yellow mass of shining flakes. From the two tin dishfuls of stuff I washed out, we got I think about three quarters of an ounce of gold. I pegged off my own claim for myself and my party a little lower down the creek. Both Read and myself I remember expected it would turn out something wonderful. The ground contained a natural rocky reservoir some eight or ten feet deep into which the creek emptied itself by a small waterfall. The only outlet was over the top, and the place seemed a natural pocket for all the gold that had been brought down the gully for ages before. Well, we returned to Tuapeka, and shortly afterwards my party, augmented by Messrs. John and Joseph Borton, of Oamaru, and James and the late Robert Fulton, of the Taieri, started for Waitahuna, and for weeks and weeks we worked at that blessed reservoir. And we took out of it, what? Well, I think some three or four ounces for all our labour and trouble – if so much."

There is just one circumstance omitted from Captain Baldwin's letter – written from memory, be it remembered, after an interval of twenty-five years – which appears in his report of 1861, and this I shall supply. Speaking of their arrival at the Waitahuna ford, he says: – "Mr. Read, putting a shovelful of the top-sand into his dish, washed it out, and, much to my surprise, pointed out some light specks of gold lying in the bottom."

Other payable gullies were discovered about the same time. Wetherstone's, so named after the original prospector, was soon found, it being but an offshoot of Gabriel's, immediately beyond the low range separating the two valleys, although I find no mention of it in the press till November, in which month a paragraphic notice gave the information that a large rush had taken place to Wetherstone's during the preceding week, with the addition that there was "more gold than in Gabriel's." The Woolshed diggings also were being wrought for months before the first reference was made to them. In August the Marawhenua river was successfully prospected, and a confiding newspaper published the information after this fashion: – "Our informant states that he saw a shepherd washing, and that the gold was scaly and as large as his finger nail!"

Thus, in many ways, the permanence of the Otago Goldfields was now assured. It was not without sufficient justification that the Superintendent, in referring to the events of this episodical period, addressed "The Speaker and Gentlemen of the Provincial Council" in the following terms, when they reassembled in October: –

"When I last had the pleasure of addressing you, scarcely four months since, I communicated the intelligence, which had reached me from sources on which I could rely, that we were on the eve of important gold discoveries. The dim foreshadowing of that hour has changed into the well-established reality of the present. Whatever may be the character, extent, richness, and remunerative nature of our Goldfield, I have no doubt that for many a day to come it will yield to industry a fair return for labour, and to capital a fair return of profit."

CHAPTER V. Black Peter...

CHAPTER V.

Black Peter. – Who are "Discoverers"? – Victoria and Otago. – The Woolshed and Tuapeka Stream. – Peters' Claim. – Mr. Forster's Letter. – Mr. Gillies' Statement. – Mr. Munroe's Statement. – Peters' Own Story. – The Reward. – The Superintendent and Provincial Council. – The Goldfields Committee and Black Peter.

THE story of the Tuapeka Goldfield would not be complete without a reference to Edward Peters – better known perhaps as "Black Peter." The question has frequently been raised, both in Australia and New Zealand – Who is entitled to rank as discoverer? Is it he who merely finds, or he who actually develops a Goldfield? In Victoria, men who found gold, or even indicated its existence, were, in some cases, rewarded by grants of public money. How nicely the various degrees of merit were regarded by the Victorian Legislature may be gathered from the following extract, taken from Mr. Brough Smyth's "Goldfields and Mineral Districts of Victoria": – "According to the Report of the Select Committee of the Legislative Council, on the claims for the discovery of gold in Victoria, dated 10th March, 1854, the amount of £5000 recommended to be given to Mr. Hargreaves was for his discovery of gold in Australia; that to the Rev. W. B. Clarke (£1000,) for his researches into the mineral wealth of the country; that to Mr. Esmonds (£1000) as the first actual producer of alluvial gold for the market; and that to Dr. Bruhn (£500) as an acknowledgment of his services in exploring the country, and diffusing the information of the discovery of gold in Victoria."

If the mere fact of "finding," accompanied by the public communication of the fact, is to be accepted as a "discovery," then undoubtedly Mr. Ligar was the earliest discoverer of gold

in Otago – probably in New Zealand. Mr. Garvie ranks second; and Eward Peters third. But for all practical purposes, Gabriel Read must be held entitled to the first place. His claim to this position is two-fold. It was he who first gave life to goldmining in Otago by practically demonstrating the existence of gold in payable quantities; and the valley in which, by a strangely fortuitous combination of circumstances, he made his first essay had never before been prospected by anyone.

Peters had been getting a little gold at the Woolshed Creek for some years. Reference has already been made to the circumstance that in 1858 he had shown samples of the gold procured there to Mr. Thompson, the Chief Surveyor of Otago. 2 He had also found gold and wrought for it on the Tuapeka Stream, the precise spot where he worked being not far from where the main road now crosses it. He had not made any secret of his discoveries, for he openly exhibited his gold – sold it, in fact, to storekeepers, and freely informed inquirers where it had been obtained. To his frankness, indeed, Read's success is undoubtedly due. Peters had persuaded a man named Jenkins to accompany him in his gold-hunting expeditions, and for some time Jenkins "fossicked" about the Woolshed, whilst Peters went further ahead. The fact that gold was being obtained at the Woolshed was generally known, as is evidenced by the constant references to the "Tokomairiro Goldfield" in newspaper paragraphs, and its occasional mention in the proceedings of the Provincial Council. At this distance of time it seems strange that such little notice should have been taken of these circumstances. But the fact remains that they did not attract any attention until Gabriel Read startled the quiet little village – as it then was – of Dunedin into sudden, spasmodic activity with his marvellous story of "Ten Ounces in Seven Hours." But Read, as we are told by Captain Baldwin, was possessed of Californian and Victorian experiences, and knew how to give effect and purpose to his discoveries. Edwards was a native of India, and, like his

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VINCENT PYKE

comrade Jenkins was in very humble circumstances, and neither of them had the wit or intelligence to compel public attention to their discoveries. Evidently they wasted grand opportunities, and it is on opportunity that the fickle goddess of Fortune waits. It might be said of Peters that his work benefited nobody. This, however, can only be accepted with a limitation; for indirectly the labours and practical researches of Peters were the means of guiding Read to his famous discovery. I have been careful to ascertain the exact circumstances in connection with this interesting episode in the history of Otago, – indeed, it may be truthfully regarded as that of New Zealand; because amongst the Victorian miners who were drawn hitherward by the splendid reports of Gabriel's Gully, there were those who afterwards became the pioneer miners of Wakamarina, Hokitika, and the Thames.

That Read was the first and only discoverer of the gully that bears his name is indisputable. That he was induced to prospect the locality by the account of Peters' discoveries never has been, and cannot be, disputed. The following letter will show that Peters had put in a claim for the reward, or "bonus," offered for the discovery of a payable Goldfield, some time before Read made known the auriferous wealth of Gabriel's Gully: –

"Kaihiku Falls,
"Waiwera Bridge,
"July 8, 1861.

"Sir, – A man of the name of Edward Peters, working near here, has asked me to write to your Honor to say he put in a claim for the discovery of the Gold Diggings on and near the "Tuapeka" and "Waitahuna" Rivers, and also near "Tokomairiro," many months ago, and he now considers he is the person who is entitled to the reward offered by the Government, and not Mr. Read, as it is well known to many in this neighbourhood that he obtained gold from the above locality. Peters showed the gold to several parties, and I remember myself the discussion it created. He took one man of the name of Thomson with him to show him the districts, who is a respectable man, and corroborates Peters's statement.

"As it is only just that the first discoverer of the Goldfields should have the reward, I must ask your Honor to inquire into

the case, and should there be any informality in Peters lodging his claim, I should feel obliged on his behalf that your Honor will direct that a proper form be forwarded to me, which shall be duly filled up.

"Edward Peters is an East Indian and comes from Bombay, and is, I think, a half-caste.

"I am,
"Your Honor's obedient servant,
"JOHN FORSTER.

"To his Honor the Superintendent,
"Dunedin."

I have seen this document. It is officially "memo'd" – "Received 12th July, 1861. – Disposed of. "

Mr. John Lillie Gillies has kindly furnished me with the following information, which constitutes a valuable record of those times: –

"Prior to 1861, traces of gold had been found by various parties in different parts of the Province; but up to the time of Gabriel Read's discovery no payable field had been discovered. 'Black Peter,' as he was called, was fossicking about the Tuapeka River, and a party known as Jenkins' were doing the same at the Woolshed – Tokomairiro River – during 1860; but all that was proved by them was that there were auriferous deposits in these localities. I therefore come at once to the incident that led Mr. Read to go in search of gold to Tuapeka. In the beginning of 1861 there was a contested election for the office of Superintendent, the two candidates being the late Major Richardson, and the late Mr. M'Master, runholder. At a political meeting held by the latter in Tokomairiro, the candidate made certain statements in regard to the Squatters' Association in Victoria, which I, as one who had resided for some years in Victoria, felt compelled to dispute, and in consequence the meeting got very sultry. In the midst of the wordy duel, a stranger stepped into the arena, who soon made it plain that he was fully master of the subject, and was able to give dates and detailed data for the statements I had made in a general way, and completely silenced my opponent. After the meeting I naturally looked up my supporter, and found that he had come over from Victoria, and was working with Mr. John Hardy, then of Tokomairiro. This was Gabriel Read, whose brother's station – Lal-Lal, near Buninyong – I knew well. We had a 'corroboree' over our digging experiences on Ballarat, Fryer's Creek, Mount Alexander, Bendigo, Mount Korong; and during our conversation I told him that some months previous I had been up to the Tuapeka country after some strayed horses

belonging to my father, which were discovered by Mr. James Whyte, shepherd on Messrs. Davy and Bowler's station, and that, with Peter Robertson, still of Lawrence, I had spent an hour or two with Black Peter, and I showed him two or three pennyweights of gold I had washed out with the tin dish, and informed him that a neighbour, Mr. Miller – another Victorian – Mr. Peter M'Gill, and one or two others intended, as soon as we could spare the time, to go up to test the ground properly, as Peter was only hen-scratching on the edges of the creek. We then arranged that as soon as I returned from a Road Board meeting, to be held in Dunedin the following week, I would go up with him. A day or two afterwards he came over to Riversdale (my farm) and said he could not wait – he had been over to where Jenkins was working, and had caught the fever, and he must go. I gave him a letter to Mr. Robertson, who took him to where Peter was working, and up to Mr. George Munroe's. where he stayed that night. After breakfast next morning he climbed up to the top of the ridge, and down into the next gully, and before nightfall had washed out several ounces with his tin dish, establishing the fact of a payable Goldfield. I cannot close this" – Mr. Gillies continues – "without remarking that had Read been of a selfish disposition, he might have worked there long enough, even as Black Peter had done on the Tuapeka River, and kept the secret of his find for many a day, as that district then was in the wilderness – on the outer borders of occupation – and you could have counted all the inhabitants for 50 miles round on your ten fingers."

Mr. George Munroe – referred to in Mr. Gillies' letter – is still residing in the Tuapeka District, and in response to my inquiries he has favoured me with an interesting account of Gabriel Read's first appearance on the scene: –

"I came to Tuapeka in January, 1857; and in March of the same year 'Black Peter' came, he being employed at that time by Messrs. Davy and Bowler. I was also in company with Peter when he got the first gold in the Tuapeka Creek, at what is now called Evans' Flat being the first gold that either of us had seen in its natural state. Some short time afterwards, Peter went to the Clutha, and was joined by a man named Thomson, who came back along with him, and set in mining in the same place – viz., Evans' Flat, – where they worked for about six months. During that time a good many people came and stayed with both Peter and myself, and tried their luck, but found nothing to pay. The prospects were good, but none of them knew how to work it. Amongst others, was Mr. J. L. Gillies, who maintained that it

was a payable field. But what Peter and Thomson found was small, so they had to give it up, after a hard struggle. It was in June, 1861, that Read came, and I met him at the foot of what is now called Munroe's Gully, when he accosted me, saying – 'Can you tell me, mate, where Black Peter was working?' I gave him the information required, and asked him to come and stay with me for the night, which he did. Next day he accompanied me to the head of Gabriel's Gully, and while sitting resting he told me if there was gold to be got in the district "he would find it there" – meaning Gabriel's Gully. He found it there the next day. I came upon him working in the creek, when he sang out: 'Hullo, mate! – I have got him.' And so he had. Both of us worked hard for a week or so, and got a few ounces with a tin dish. Read stayed with me during the time. He wanted me to go 'mates' with him and find him in 'tucker,' and we would keep it quiet for a few months; but as I was employed by Mr. Smith, now of Greenfield, I could not comply with his request. Therefore he went down country and reported the discovery. I might mention that Read was only a few days away when he came back. I went down to Tokomairiro with a flock of sheep, and during the time I was away, my wife discovered payable gold in 'Munroe's,' where I took up a prospecting claim, which did not pay very much. I may also mention that Black Peter did not come back to the diggings."

Mr. Read's own narrative of these events is embodied in a letter which he kindly sent, at my request, for the purpose of this "History." It was not received in time for insertion in the original publication of this chapter, and it is therefore printed in the Appendices. 3

One thing more is required to complete this chapter of the great gold discovery at Tuapeka, to which all others are subsidiary – namely, Peters' story. Very recently I heard it from his own lips, and it is, in effect, as follows: – Peter is, as has been said, a native of Bombay. He knew nothing of gold except by report. But he is a man of sharp, shrewd intelligence, and when he was shown a small sample of natural gold by a Californian, whom he chanced to meet at Balclutha, and had learned from him that gold was usually found where white quartz prevailed, Peter bethought himself of the

Woolshed Creek, the margin of which he had often seen strewn with quartz pebbles. Upon this hint he wrought, and thus blundered upon a discovery of the greatest possible moment.

In the end Read was awarded £500 by the Provincial Council under the following circumstances: – On November 4th, 1861, the Superintendent sent to the Council a "Message" (No. 4), couched in significant terms: –

"In placing the sum of £500 on the Estimates as an acknowledgment of the services of Mr. Gabriel Read, the discoverer of the first remunerative Goldfield in the Province, the Superintendent was guided by the formerly expressed opinion of the Provincial Council at a time when it was deemed advisable to offer a bonus for such discovery. Since that period, and the effectual working of the Tuapeka Goldfield, the neighbouring Provinces of Canterbury and Southland have each offered £1000 for a similar service.

"Considering that Mr. Read placed his discovery immediately and unreservedly in the hands of the Government, and also his gratuitous services as a prospector at their disposal, when fears were entertained that Gabriel's and the adjacent gullies might soon be worked out; and taking into consideration also the vast advantages already reaped from that gentleman's discovery, and the offered bonus of the other Provinces, the Superintendent feels assured that such a recognition of Mr. Read's service will be made as will be honourable to the Province, and a fitting reward for such disinterested and generous service.

"J. RICHARDSON,
" Superintendent. "

The hint thus delicately conveyed by Major Richardson was disregarded, as the following extract from the records of the Provincial Council – November 7th – will show: –

"The item for 'Bonus to Mr. Read' (=£500) having been moved, Mr. J. L. Gillies moved – 'That the vote be £1000.'

"The amendment having been put, the Committee divided, when there voted – Ayes, 6; Noes, 7.

"The original motion was carried."

The claims of Edward Peters were altogether ignored by the Provincial Council. Money was scarce, and generosity was a scarce commodity in those days. It was not until 1885 that any public recognition of his services was made. In the session of

that year a sum of £50 was placed on the Appropriation Act by the Government for his benefit, on the recommendation of the Goldfields' Committee, "conditionally on an equal sum being raised by public subscription" These niggardly conditions were assented to by the public; the necessary sum was raised, and by a judicious investment of the money the future years of "Black Peter" have been secured at least against absolute want.

2 See Chapter II.

3 See Appendix B – "Gabriel Read's Narrative."

CHAPTER VI. Read as a Prospector...

CHAPTER VI.

Read as a Prospector. – Waipori – West Molyneux. – Additional Reward. – Major Richardson's Troubles. – Arrival of Police from Melbourne. – Dinner to the Chief Constable. – Iron-sand at Green Island Beach. – Dr. Stuart's First Sermon on the Goldfields. – "Bogus" Rushes. – The Beaumont. – The Blue Mountain Rush and Sam Perkins – "A Man named Jack."

THE mention in the Superintendent's message of Mr. Read's "gratuitous services as a prospector" has reference to the circumstance that, still bent on more discoveries, he threw away his chances of a profitable claim at Tuapeka to roam the country in search of fresh Goldfields and new auriferous valleys. Read's letters to Major Richardson about this time exhibit the true spirit of the explorer, "to the manner, born." That he was highly elated by his successes is evinced by the following extracts from this most interesting correspondence: –

"A month or six weeks back, there were at least 100 men who had discovered diggings in as many different parts of the Colony: the present crisis has tried them, and they now hide their diminished heads. The whole responsibility rests on me..... At the period I arrived in the Province there were dolorous articles in your papers, 'What shall we do to stave off destitution?' After I had the pleasure of seeing you in the front ranks fighting nobly for the cause of humanity, a fortnight had not elapsed from that time when I became the sole possessor of a secret which provided a panacea for the evils which were impending over the Province. I believe in the daily interposition of an over-ruling Providence; I felt I had been His agent, and took the course which has led to the present results."

Gabriel Read was one of those enthusiastic individuals without the occasional advent of whom the world would make very slow process. But the flame of his enthusiasm was of the kind

that is only sustainable by success, and it easily flickered out before the chill breath of disappointment. Writing in November, at the end of his prospecting tour, he says – "I beg to say that I don't think myself sufficiently qualified to prosecute further inquiries relative to new Goldfields, and I request the Government to relieve me of my further duties in connection therewith." And in another letter, forestalling the comic dramatists of the present era, he mournfully declares that – "The life of a prospector is not a pleasant one."

Read's first prospecting expedition was on the north-western fork of the Waipori River, of which he reported – "We invariably found gold where we washed a panful of earth, but at no time in sufficient quantities to justify my making a report which would induce a multitude of people to resort thither.... I had only opportunity for a cursory examination."

It was reserved for others to discover the true auriferous character of the country around Waipori. At that period the road over Maungatua, by "Roy's Cutting" – which was regarded as a marvellous piece of engineering, worthy of special mention in a Superintendental speech to the Provincial Council – was generally preferred, as being the shorter track to Gabriel's Gully. It is the habit of miners, when "on the move," to try any "likely" gully they chance to traverse; and it was in this way that the Waipori Goldfield was discovered.

On the 17th December a man named O'Hara, and his mates, arrived at Tuapeka with the report of the discovery of a new Goldfield. They had with them 34 ounces of gold of a coarse nuggetty description, "interspersed with quartz and conglomerate." It had been found on "one of tributaries of the Waipori on the West Taieri road, about 8 miles north of the ferry." The tributary stream referred to is the Verterburn – afterwards called Post-office Creek by the miners.

Subsequently Read prospected the country west of the Molyneux, and around the Pomahaka River, in accordance with a suggestion conveyed in a letter from Major Richardson, dated September 11th: – "Perhaps gold might be discovered where the

mountains on the right bank of the Molyneux abut upon the river, above the Pomahaka." The Major, in this instance, assuredly "drew his bow at a venture." Read went, as he was in duty bound to go – the Provincial Government having granted him £150 for expenses. The result may be briefly summed up by a few excerpts from his report.

"I found gold in small quantities on the Waipahi, near its junction with the Pomahaka, and also on the latter river.... At the Landslip Hill I could wash fine gold in every place I tried, but was not able to attain to the slate-bed rock.... I am of opinion that the hills to the north of Landslip will some day be valued for their auriferous treasures.... Passing to the right of Mt. Wendon, I struck the Leithen. In the slate laid bare in the bed of this stream, very minute gold may be washed out in every pan."

This was the end of Gabriel Read's work in connection with gold discoveries in Otago. His services were not, however, forgotten by Major Richardson, who was a staunch friend to those whom he honoured with his confidence. In a message to the Provincial Council, dated 5th May, 1862, he pointed out that "Mr. Read unconditionally, and with a generous confidence, placed his discovery at the disposal of the Government. He gratuitously acted for several weeks in adjusting claims and settling disputes; and subsequently, at the request of the Government, he prospected without remuneration" and with the single desire to complete his work... The Superintendent commends this subject to the favourable consideration of the Council.

Mr. Thomas Dick, who at that time occupied the conjoint offices of Provincial Secretary and Provincial Treasurer, moved that £500 should be granted as "a further remuneration to Mr. Read." Mr. William Hunter Reynolds, also a member of the Executive, seconded the proposal, and a Council, slowly convinced of the value of Read's services to the Province unanimously assented. And thus the pioneer of the Otago Goldfields was finally rewarded by the gift of £1000 – well deserved, and well earned, and gained by his capacity for practically utilising information.

In some inexplicable manner, for which the public records

neither afford any clue nor furnish any justification, Major Richardson seems to have undergone some tribulation in connection with the course pursued by him in relation to the new development of the resources of the Province; for in a letter to Read dated 12th August, 1861, he writes as follows: –

"I have been well abused lately. I rather like it; it is a sign that I am doing rightly. It is when the waters are stirred that they become muddy.... The world may frown or approve, if I retain what I cannot part with, my self-esteem, and if I can look upward with confidence as regards the purity of my intentions."

I have one more reference to make to Gabriel Read. On August 20th the first detachment of police from Victoria, sent for by the Superintendent, arrived in Dunedin. They were five in number – St. John Branigan, in command; Jackson Keddell, Peter Sheridan, Hugh Bracken, and Alexander Aitchison. Fifteen others arrived on the 28th August, and 12 more in October of that year. Of all these, only three now remain in the "Force." These are: – Inspector Moore, Sergeant Finnegan, and Constable M'Clusky. Some are dead, and amongst these it is our misfortune to include the leader. Many of them have chosen to retire into private life, and a few still occupy other positions in th e public service, – as, for instance, Jackson Keddel, who is Resident Magistrate and Warden on the West Coast, Michael Cleary, who was a member of the first detachment, and is now Gaoler at Hokitika, and Benjamin Bailey, who occupies the position of Superintending Inspector of the Stock Branch.

On the arrival of the Victorian Police the Chief Constable under the old regime – Mr. Shepherd – laid down his baton of office. His departure from the official arena was marked by the compliment habitual to our people – a public dinner, accompanied however in this case by the presentation of a gold watch and appendages and a purse of sovereigns. The late Mr. James Paterson presided as chairman at the festival, with Mr. W. H. Reynolds as croupier, and on that occasion for the first time, "The Mining Interests of Otago" was proposed as a toast, by Mr. James M'lndoe. Gabriel Read in

responding – I quote from a contemporary record – "stated, with becoming pride, that the Otago diggers were the most orderly and well-conducted men he had ever seen upon any Goldfield: not a single delinquency or personal combat having taken place as yet upon a field where there were probably nearly 4000 diggers."

And thus Gabriel Read passes off the scene and others appear on the stage – some of them impostors, as must necessarily happen; others genuine, which is also a necessity.

Though not immediately connected with the subject of this history, it may not be out of place to mention a discovery of valuable iron-sand at Green Island, made in August by Mr. Jeffcoat. A paragraph in the Witness speaks of the washing of sand from the beach, which yielded, when cleaned, 33 1/2 per cent, of "steel-dust." This is one of the early discoveries which went unnoticed in the days of the gold excitement, and has passed away into oblivion in intervening years. But the sands are still there. "We have no doubt," remarks the Witness in commenting on the discovery, "that at a future day, with coal in abundance in the immediate neighbourhood, a highly profitable manufacture of steel may be established." But the prophecy has not yet been fulfilled.

On the first day of September the first religious service was held and the first sermon was preached on the Tuapeka goldfield. The preacher was the Rev. Donald Stuart, and his text was singularly, and perhaps intentionally, appropriate: "And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds."

Some "bogus" rushes occurred, and the first of these was to the Beaumont. The matter of itself is scarcely worthy of notice, but the account given at the time of its origin is so thoroughly characteristic of the mode in which "rushes" are only too frequently caused, that it deserves transcription.

"Some man applied to the Commissioner for a double claim in some gully which he described as lying N. W. from here (Tuapeka) and distant about four miles and a-half. The Commissioner, being at the time engaged, asked him to wait a short time, but he could not afterwards be found. This conversation having been heard by the bystanders, of course spread rapidly, and hence the result. I have just heard that this person was

quietly sitting in his tent whilst hundreds were many miles off rushing frantically in search of him – and others confidently asserting that he was on his way to town with fifty or sixty-pounds weight of gold."

It is only necessary to add that, in the words of the Witness correspondent, "they" – that is, the multitude – "searched the entire country of the Beaumont, but in vain. No indications of gold, or if any, very little, having been observed."

The auriferous desires of the miner are insatiable. Hence it is that he is so often and so utterly deluded. The Tuapeka miners were impatient, and fell into every snare laid for them. In the early part of November it was reported that a miner had come in to Tuapeka with 303 ounces of gold, "to fetch his mates." What could be more natural? It was soon ascertained that the apocryphal miner, as he turned out to be, had come from the direction of the "Blue Mountains," as the Tuapeka miners named the Tapanui Ranges.

A day or two afterwards it was rumoured that the owner of another claim had "struck rich gold." Upon such slender foundations as these the goldminers – always excitable and excited when a new "field" is announced – went off in haste to the Blue Mountains. "The rush is tremendous," writes one contemporary narrator of the event. "Three thousand persons are computed to have already left Tuapeka and Waitahuna for the new Eldorado." The locality was variously described as being "in the neighbourhood of Mt. Valpy"; as being "15 miles from the crossing place of the Molyneux river"; and generally as "the Blue Mountains." One amusing paragraph in the newspaper correspondence of the period gravely stated that "a gentleman of respectability" vouched for the fact that "one party had washed 70 ounces of gold out of one dish." That such extravagant statements were accepted in good faith is not surprising to those who are intimately acquainted with the miner – pure and simple. The consequence of these reports was a "rush." Samuel, better known as Sam, Perkins, was the reputed discoverer, and he rashly volunteered to lead the crowd to this "new Eldorado." The result is best given by the following extract from a letter, dated Tuturau, on the Mataura, 24th Nov. 1861: –

"The rush to this place, headed by Sam Perkins, has resulted in proving it a heartless hoax, and he has met with a very wild, but just, reward. The miners, in number about 4 or 5 hundred, arrived here on Thursday, and a deputation of 10 men were sent with Sam to where he was to point out the new Eldorado and the land of glory. Upon arrival at a small gully he said, "This is the place." No gold was to be found. He then told the men to shoot him; but they brought him back and tried him by a jury, found him guilty of misleading them, and he was sentenced to two dozen lashes, which he then and there received, and had his hair cropped off. I believe he received one dozen lashes this morning, but about 8 o'clock the Southland troopers came up, and took him into their charge, intending to deliver him to the first constable they could meet for transmission to Tuapeka. The miners behaved very quietly and orderly and are now in full retreat.... A man of the name of Rogers, said to be the originator of the rush, also got his hair cropped, but was not otherwise illtreated."

Mr. Joyce, now member of the House of Representatives, was at that time residing at Tuturau, and in a letter to the writer he speaks of the "palmy days" when Sam undertook to lead five hundred diggers on to fortune, and got a round dozen with a cartwhip, and had his head shaved for his pains. Sam derived some slight satisfaction from the fact that he was permitted to administer a similar dose to a storekeeper (Rogers?) who was suspected of having been a party to Sam's deception. The whole five hundred did not get an ounce of gold between them, and soon made their way back to Tuapeka.

In connection with this silly "rush," one incident is recorded of an infinitely suggestive and melancholy character. "A man named Jack" was drowned while temporarily left in charge of a boat by which the miners crossed the Molyneux. "A man named Jack." What more? Well, he is described as being of a certain ordinary weight, with "very little if any whiskers," as "stout-built" and having "brown hair." And that is all. He was and is only "a man named Jack"; and the mother, the sisters, the sweetheart it may be of "the man named Jack" will have wondered and sorrowed all these long weary years; but they will never know what became of their darling – the "man named Jack."

CHAPTER VII. First Escort...

CHAPTER VII.

First Escort. – False Reports in Melbourne. – Rush from Australia. – Wellington's "Great Expectations." – Cost of Provisions. – Fear of Maori Migration. – Gold at Terawhiti. – Roads to Tuapeka. – Maungatua. – Waihola. – Mount Stewart. – Exploration of the Molyneux. – "Sticking Up." – Garrett's Exploits. – A Military Force. – Special Legislation. – Reactionary Movement. – The Superintendent's Cautionary Notice. – Petitions from the Unemployed and Others.

MAJOR Richardson organised the first escort from the Tuapeka Goldfield during his visit to Tuapeka, and it arrived in Dunedin on August 21st, under the charge of the late John Scott Worthington, bringing 5050 ounces of gold. A further considerable quantity was brought down by private individuals. In all 7826 ounces were exported in the month of August, of which quantity 5827 ounces were sent by the Oscar steamship to Melbourne. Thereupon a report was put forth in Victoria that the yield of the Otago Goldfields was merely a delusion, fostered by the shipping interests. "It is openly stated," wrote the scribe of the Melbourne Herald, "that the gold brought by the Oscar is the produce of Victoria, and that it was smuggled to New Zealand, and re-shipped to evade the duty." At that time I was residing in Melbourne; and I can testify to the fact that the general feeling there was in favour of the correctness of this ridiculous rumour. The astute Victorians forgot, or possibly they did not know, that the export duty on gold was the same in New Zealand as in Victoria, and those who were aware of the fact chose to ignore it. Only 3150 passengers came over from Victoria between the middle of August and the month of September; but when another ship arrived at Melbourne with a still larger quantity of gold from Otago, and the utmost researches of the Customs officers had failed to detect

any trace of such bi-fold smuggling as the Melbourne press had suggested, the miners there set at naught the solemn warnings of the Press and resolved to inquire for themselves – as they always do, even unto this day.

A great "rush" ensued. The following is an extract from my first official Report, published in October, 1862: –

"The excitement soon became intense. Thousands were bitten by the gold fever, and abandoned their ordinary pursuits to "try their luck" at the diggings. The contagion spread to the adjacent Provinces, to the North Island, and finally to Australia and the Australian colonies. The rush to Otago soon assumed enormous proportions. Then commenced one of those startling revolutions which under the direction of an all-wise Providence is everywhere wrought out by the discovery of gold. In a few months Otago was elevated from the position of a comparatively unknown settlement to the foremost rank amongst the Provinces of New Zealand. In 1860 only 69 vessels were entered "inwards." In the following year 256 vessels, many of them of large tonnage, arrived at the Port. The population, computed in December 1860 at 12,691, had increased by December 1861, to 30,269 souls. The Revenue (Provincial) advanced from £83,046, the amount received for the financial year ending September 30th, 1861, to £280,097 in 1862; whilst a comparison between the half-year ending 31st March 1861 (prior to the discovery of the Tuapeka Goldfield) and the corresponding period of 1862, shows an increase of £128,234, the exact figures being – in 1861, £33,509, and in 1862, £161,744."

And now the Provincial authorities began to feel alarmed. Like Fear in Collins' famous Ode – they "back recoiled, they knew not why, even at the sound themselves had made." That the agricultural and pastoral condition of Otago at this period was such as to arouse grave apprehensions of the consequences of a sudden influx of population, may be gathered incidentally from a paragraph which appeared in the Wellington Independent. "We may calculate," says the writer in commenting on the result of the Otago discoveries, "on a demand for potatoes, butter, timber, fat cattle, and other produce from Otago in consequence."

No doubt provisions were scarce and consequently dear in those days. I have before me a "List of Prices" for the month of August 1861. In Dunedin the four-pound loaf cost 1s 2d, and

flour sold at from £44 to £52 per ton. "Butcher meat," as it is termed in the press of the period, ranged from 10d. to 13d. Tea was 4s. per lb.; butter 2s. 6d.; sugar 9d.; potatoes 10s. per cwt., and other necessaries of life in proportion. At Tuapeka of course higher rates prevailed. Meat was sold at from 1s. to 1s. 6d. The price of tea was 6s. per lb., of sugar 1s. 6d., of tallow candles 3s. 6d., of flour 1s. 10d. (equal to 7s. 4d. for the four-pound loaf), of butter 3s. 6d., of potatoes 6d. per lb. Shovels were retailed at 14s. each and picks at 16s. It is worthy of remark that articles of clothing were sold at about the same prices as prevail at the present time.

Another beneficial result which the people of Wellington expected to derive from the discoveries of gold in the South Island was based on the presumption that the Natives – who were then very troublesome in the North, furnishing Mr. Fitzgerald with material for one of the best speeches ever delivered in the New Zealand Parliament – would be tempted to migrate southwards in search of fortune. An expression of opinion to this effect was given utterance to by the Wellington Independent; and it seems to have rather alarmed the southern members. Parliament was sitting at the time, and Mr. Thomas Dick – one of the representatives of Dunedin City anxiously put a question in the House, to the Commissioner of Customs: – "Whether in the event of the Maoris going to the Goldfields in the Middle Island any means would be adopted to prevent their taking fire-arms and ammunition with them." The Commissioner – Mr. Reader Wood – pacified the member for Dunedin by the assurance that the Governor would exercise the power to do so. As a matter of history it may here be stated that no such migration ever took place.

Just about this time, gold was found in a gully near Cape Terawhiti; and the Wellington public were divided between the expectation of profitable exports to Otago, and the fond hope of possessing a Goldfield within their own borders.

The necessity of finding a fairly good road to the Tuapeka Goldfield was a source of much anxiety to the Provincial authori-

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

MAJOR RICHARDSON

ties. The newspapers of the day are crowded with letters from angry disputants, each eagerly advocating the construction of his own pet line of travel. "Red-coat" Graham figures largely as the advocate of the Maungatua-Waipori route, which was the shortest, but most mountainous, and was frequently blocked by snowstorms. The road ordinarily chosen was that by Waihola and Mount Stewart. The East Taieri plain was then little better than a quagmire, and so bad were the roads that loaded waggons frequently sank to the axles in endeavouring to pass through it. Flax, laid transversely, was an ordinary expedient for easing the passage of drays through this district. It is not therefore surprising to find in the newspapers advertisements signed by Israel Moses, "Manager of the Forwarding Agency," announcing that "the shortest route to the Goldfields is by water, commencing from Dunedin Wharf." This service went round to the Taieri river, "discharging cargo at the Government wharf, Waihola Lake, and thence forwarding merchandise to and from the Goldfields and interior." It was asserted by the advertisers that this route afforded "the cheapest, quickest, and safest mode" of transporting goods to the diggings. The locality which constituted the "head of the navigation" in those days is known as Clarendon, a township of which great things were anticipated, because of the scarcely passable nature of the country between the Chain Hills and Waihola Gorge; but of which it cannot now be said that it possesses even a ruin. Major Richardson conceived the idea of finding, or making a near passage to Tuapeka by way of the Clutha river. Taking with him the Harbour-master, Captain Thomson, he started on an exploring expedition, and with his usual and determinate perseverance he forced a passage up the river to a point described in Captain Thomson's Report of September 11th as being eleven miles above the Tuapeka mouth. The "shallow extending right across," spoken of as having stopped their further progress, is no doubt the rocky bar just below the junction of the Beaumont stream. The Major and his Harbour-master seem to have had some unpleasant experiences, resulting from sunken snags, rocks, and sand-bars, and during their trip a rumour was circulated that

their boat – the "Pioneer" – had been wrecked and lost. In the course of this adventurous voyage, Captain Thomson, who is noted for having always "kept his weather eye open," observed that "about one mile above the Tuapeka, there were found several specimens of quartz, apparently with gold, on the banks of the river." He showed me a sample of fine gold obtained during the trip, by simply thrusting a hand into the river, about the vicinity of the Ecclefechan rocks. The project of clearing the navigation from impediments did not however come to any practical issue, and for some years the main traffic was by way of Tokomairiro and over the desolate summits of Mt. Stewart.

The practice of bringing gold down by private hand speedily received a severe check. It gave encouragement to that species of highway robbery, which is popularly known as "sticking up." The first event of this kind is recorded as having occurred early in October, and the record is not without a touch of peculiar humour. A man, with his face blacked, rushed out of a gully near Musgrave and Murray's station at the Woolshed, presented a pistol, and stopped an old Otago settler, from whom he took £3. "The person robbed was so much astonished at the novelty of the proceeding that he could not give the police any information or description of the offender."

A few days later the public were alarmed by a daring outrage, perpetrated in broad daylight, at West Taieri, on the road that led over Maungatua to Waipori – first proclaimed a Goldfield on the 16th October. In the course of one day, fifteen persons were "stuck up" by the notorious Garrett and his gang. As each was caught and robbed he was "placed in a gully out of sight from the road," with hands and feet tied to prevent escape, and securely bound to a tree. No other personal violence was offered to the captives. Indeed the robbers behaved courteously to them – cutting up tobacco for their use, lighting their pipes, and even supplying them with grog and bottled porter, which they had "looted" from a convenient store. Towards evening, the thieves having disappeared, one of the victims managed to work his hands free, not without considerable detriment to the

cuticle, and then liberated his fellow-captives, who then proceeded to the house of the nearest settler – Mr. James Fulton – by whom they were kindly and hospitably received, and forwarded to their several destinations. Amongst the sufferers by this exploit was Mr. Matthew Miller, now of Hawke's Bay, who had twice before undergone a similar experience in Victoria. Garrett was vigorously sought for by the police, but he contrived to effect his escape to Sydney, where he was subsequently arrested with Mr. Miller's watch and chain in his possession.

These robberies, and the continuous in-pouring of people from the Australian colonies, appear to have created a temporary panic. The Superintendent applied to the General Government at Auckland for the support of a military force, and 110 men of the 70th Regiment were sent down under the command of Major Ryan. It is needless to say that their services were never required.

In his address to the Provincial Council – delivered on October 23rd – Major Richardson drew attention to the "sudden influx of population, which," he said, "though of a most orderly and highly respectable character, had been accompanied by a class of an entirely opposite description, whose sole object is to prey upon society." In order to meet this emergency, and nip the evil in the bud, he announced that Bills had been prepared which would "arm the administrators of the law with powers equal to the occasion."

One of these Bills was "An Ordinance to prevent the influx of Criminals into the Province of Otago," which rendered it a penal offence for any person to come into the Province who "at any time" had been found guilty of any "capital or transportable felony" by a court of competent jurisdiction in the United Kingdom "or any British Possession." It was swiftly passed by the Council and assented to by the Superintendent; but it was clearly beyond the power of a Provincial Legislature to make such an enactment, and therefore it was disallowed.

The alarm felt at the posture of affairs is not surprising. Notwithstanding the ever increasing yield of gold, and the con-

tinuous opening up of fresh ground, a feverish reactionary movement had set in. Many who too rashly hastened to seek sudden fortune at Tuapeka, at Waitahuna, and at Waipori, were insufficiently provided for the purpose, and hurriedly returned to the familiar streets of Dunedin; whilst numbers who had come over from Melbourne and Sydney, were deterred from proceeding further by the gloomy tales of unsuccessful diggers, and never quitted the vicinity of the Jetty, until they reembarked for Australia.

At this critical juncture Major Richardson issued a "Public Notice," of a semi-official character, its publication being confined to the newspaper press: –

"The largely increasing Immigration to this Province from the adjacent Colonies, notwithstanding the appearance both in Australia and Dunedin of such accounts of the Goldfield as should have induced intending immigrants to act with greater caution, and to await the fuller development both of the character and extent of the Otago Goldfield, makes it imperative on the part of Government, as they were anxious to prevent the inevitable consequences of so injudicious a movement, to come forward with an authoritative declaration.

"The Government cannot doubt the existence of a valuable Goldfield of considerable extent, capable of affording remunerative wages to a large population; but they desire that it should be known that owing to a scarcity of wood for fuel and for slabbing purposes in many localities, considerable difficulties and expenses will have to be encountered in the prosecution of the miner's occupation. It should at the same time be remembered that the greater portion of the gold hitherto extracted has come from one or two gullies, which may shortly be exhausted; and though the amount brought by escort continues to increase, it must be considered that the mining population – almost trebled within the last week or two – is spread over a much larger area than formerly, and that the diggings are mostly of a shallow, alluvial character, very few nuggets exceeding an ounce in weight having been found, and but little gold embedded in quartz.

"In presenting these considerations to the public, which the Government have abstained from publishing in a strictly official form until in possession of information of a more decisive and reliable character, they consider it a duty to protest against those exaggerated statements which are represented to have been

circulated in Australia, and which are likely to be productive of so much suffering. The Government have every confidence in the auriferous capability of the Province. They feel assured that for many years it will afford a highly remunerative yield to capital and labour. They will gladly welcome their fellow countrymen to these shores (there being abundance of available land in the market, and the country being well adapted both as regards climate and soil for agricultural and pastoral pursuits, presenting many attractions to a settled mining population, and affording a reasonable prospect of employment to labourers on public works); but they cannot, even tacitly, sanction a movement which, arising from delusion, may terminate in suffering.

"J. RICHARDSON,
"Superintendent of the Province of Otago.
"Superintendent's Office,
"Dunedin, September 28, 1861."

This thoughtful and candid document was copied into the Australian papers, and to quote from my Report of 1862: – "The result was a diminution of immigration; but there is no doubt that the Goldfields progressed all the more favourably from the consequent absence of undue excitement. A sufficient number of miners remained to test the ground; and on the 9th of November the escort attained an aggregate of 74,000 ounces, affording indubitable evidence of the capacity of Otago to afford remunerative employment to a large mining population."

Notwithstanding these facts, however, and despite the prudent course pursued by Major Richardson, a glut of population ensued. "The poor" – for which may be substituted the euphemistic modern phrase, "unemployed" – we "have always with us." There is nothing very remarkable in the circumstance that in June 1861, before Gabriel Read's great discovery, a petition, signed by 22 "Tradesmen and Others," alleging that "many of them have wives and families to provide for, with nothing but starvation staring them in the face," should have been presented to the Council. There is evidence in the records of the period that things were then in a very distressful stage. But it seems strange that in the palmy days of the Goldfields, when gold was being picked up almost on the surface, and new

ground was continuously being opened out, such a petition as the following should have had 1010 signatures attached to it: –

Petition from Unemployed Workmen.
(Presented October 24, 1861.)

"To the Honorable the Speaker and Members of the Provincial Council of Otago.

"The Petition of the undersigned humbly sheweth –

"That in the deliberate judgment of your petitioners a new era of advancement and prosperity, under the blessed providence of God, is beginning to dawn in the year 1861 upon the colony of New Zealand.

"That your Petitioners regard the discovery of the precious metal as the grand magnetic influence employed by God for attracting streams of the Anglo-Saxon race from the United Kingdom and the adjacent Colonies to people this fine Colony, develope its resources, and found an empire destined to exert healing influences over the remote and numerous isles that spangle the bosom of the South Pacific.

"That your Petitioners feel it to be their sacred duty to approach your Honorable House, to urge the Otago Representatives to bestir themselves to seize the golden opportunity now offered for the development of the natural resources of Otago by vigorously setting afloat public works, and by employing all hands able and willing to work, but unable, from want of resources, to go at present to the Goldfields, at the very least at the rate of 7s. per day.

. . . . . . . . .

"That your Petitioners are confident of the practicability of obtaining temporary loans of money for the purpose of opening up highways into the interior, and improving the harbours for the facilities of commerce, so that the Waste Lands may be bought up and cultivated, and thereby an abundant supply of capital may flow into the Provincial Exchequer.

"That your Petitioners, in conclusion, humbly but firmly would remind the Council that this is no time for trifling with public affairs; for, if they will not prove themselves equal to existing circumstances, abler, honester, and more adventurous men will inevitably supersede them."

One does not know whether most to admire the stilted magniloquence of the language employed in this singularly unique petition, the equal faith in Providence and practical loans

displayed by the petitioners, or the masterful truculence disclosed in the final sentence. The wonder is that the Council consented to receive it at all; and that having received it, the only point debated in connection with it should have been the amount of wages to be given. But the problem is solved by previous events. Increase of appetite had "grown by what it fed on." In the early part of the month the Provincial Government had issued notices that "persons in want of work" would be employed on public works at 5s. per day, with tent accommodation in town, and firewood in country districts. The Witness says – "Not many persons have availed themselves of this offer." But the offer seems to have encouraged more excessive demands. I am, however, inclined to regard the petition as an emanation from persons who hoped to profit by the expenditure of public money, and who were neither miners nor working men, but simply waiters on Providence, hopeful of a rise in the value of real property. As the electoral law then stood, only the latter had the power to give effect to the threat conveyed in the Petition, and therefore none but they were likely to make it.

CHAPTER VIII. Dunstan Creek...

CHAPTER VIII.

Dunstan Creek. – Kyeburn. – Mr. M'Crae, Prospector. – The First Goldmining Regulations. – The First Chief Officers. – Decrease in the Yield. – Stampede of Miners. – Winter in 1862. – Gabriel's District Mining Board. – Organisation of the Goldfields Department. – New Regulations.

IT is not surprising that the discoveries of Gabriel Read should have started a number of explorers on a similar pursuit. Thus Mr. John Jones, a well-known merchant of those days, sent out a party in search of gold, with instructions to prospect the Coal Creek run, then held by him, and to proceed further afield if they thought fit. This party was headed by Mr. Peyman, afterwards a photographer in Dunedin, whose report I once saw and read many years ago, but of which I am now unable to find any trace in the Government offices. Amongst other places, Mr. Peyman prospected the Dunstan Creek, or Stream, as it was then termed, and there he stumbled on a great discovery without knowing it. Neither he, nor his party, nor his employer, could have known much about Goldmining; for he reported having found wash-dirt yielding about a pennyweight to the dish, which, he said, would not pay for working. It was reserved for others, at a later date, to prove the value of this – one of the richest fields in proportion to its area in Otago, perhaps in New Zealand. I find the following reference to this locality in my report, dated October 1862: – "Recently a party of miners were discovered working on the Dunstan Stream, near its junction with the Manuherikia." These workings were at first called "Welshman's Gully," but they now bear the more refined name of "Cambrian."

Another narrow avoidance of a valuable discovery was effected about the same time. Towards the end of September

"the Superintendent received from a Justice of Peace residing in the northern part of the province" – such is the cautious wording of the announcement – information of the discovery of a "new Goldfield." It was stated that a rich deposit had been struck in "the upper part of the north-east feeders of the Taieri Lake." The gold is described by the Superintendent's correspondent as being of a very "fine description" – "not much waterworn," and "half-pea nuggety." The discoverer was a Mr. Leggatt, and his statement was that the new field would in his opinion "pay three ounces a day." The faith of the un-named Justice of the Peace in the validity of this report was evidently genuine. He writes: – "As soon as the discovery is made known there will be a rush to this field.... Having; a conviction that the new Goldfield will be a permanent and paying one, I have considered it my duty to give you timely notice of what will positively take place."

The creek on, or in, which Leggatt found the gold, was afterwards described as being "situated on the middle fork of the northern branch of the Kyeburn, about twelve miles above M'Master's station" – Padan-aram. It is now better known as the "Upper Kyeburn," and is a very payable Goldfield. And it is not difficult to surmise who the anonymous "Justice of the Peace" was. The anticipated rush was checked in a peculiar manner.

There was at that time in the employment of the Government a professional prospector, of doubtful Victorian reputation in that capacity, by name M'Crae. This person was sent up to test Leggatt's statements, and failed to find anything payable. He says that he prospected Leggatt's claim in several places, and that the gold obtained did not exceed 10 grains. M'Crae further reported that there was "no payable Goldfield in the Taieri Lake or Shag Valley districts."

How unfit M'Crae was for the work of a prospector is apparent from a general Report furnished by him to the Provincial Government in November. It is too lengthy and not sufficiently valuable to insert in full, but it states that he and his party pro-

spected the interior from Shag Valley to Lake Wanaka, traversing the Manuherikia Valley, trying the Poolburn, the Bannockburn, Ida Valley, and the banks of the Molyneux river, and did not succeed in discovering payable ground anywhere. Yet in his report he states that he obtained "from eight to twenty specks to the dish" on the banks of the Poolburn; "several specks of fine gold to the dish" in the Manorburn; "several fine specks of gold from the surface wash" on the Molyneux; "several specks of fine gold" at the Bannockburn; "fair prospects" at the Lindis; "nice prospects of fine gold" on the Mareburn, and so on throughout. If he had understood his work, he would have known that he was treading on gold all the way; but he failed for want of the knowledge by pretending to the possession of which he had persuaded the Government to enlist his services as a paid prospector.

No further discoveries of any importance were made during 1861. The country commanded by the Tuapeka watershed and within the basin of the Waitahuna was proclaimed a Goldfield on August 1st, 1861; and the boundaries were extended so as to include Waipori on the 8th October following. The Woolshed was not included until July 21st, 1862.

The first Goldmining Regulations were issued on October 7th, 1861. They were exceedingly scanty and imperfect, and would seem to have been copied from some code prevailing in a well-timbered country, for one regulation provided that "works are not to be injured by the careless felling of trees"; and directed that any person felling a tree should remove it out of the reach of floods. As the only "trees" to be found on the Tuapeka Gold-fields were Te-matau Kauri (better known perhaps as "Wild Irishmen") and Tutu bushes, of not very exuberant growth, the law in this respect went ahead of the facts. The size of single claims was fixed at 24 feet square; and there was a condition that a partition wall of three feet in width should be left in its natural state between each claim. Another curious condition was – "a person desirous of taking up a claim" shall do so immediately adjoining a previous one with the usual passage (3 feet) or leave at least a complete claim and passage between."

We can afford to laugh at these mistakes now; but it should never be forgotten that the knowledge of gold-mining does not come by nature, and that in every country similar errors have occurred at the outset. For instance, when auriferous quartz reefs were first discovered in Victoria, a claim for four men was only 24 feet square, and it therefore happened that in some of the richest claims on the Sailor's Gully Reef at Forest Creek the surface claim-holders knocked the bottoms out of their shafts at a depth of about 20 feet – a result which will readily be understood by all who are acquainted with the ordinary angular direction of the "dip" in quartz reefs.

Here it seems desirable to place on record the names of the chief officers who were first appointed to the charge of the Otago Goldfields. In doing so I must premise that for some unexplained reason the title of "commissioner" was at first assigned to these gentlemen in place of that of "warden" as directed by the Goldfields Act. The proper and correct designation was however afterwards bestowed.

Mr. Alfred Chetham Strode was the first Commissioner. His appointment is dated 20th July, 1861. He did not long hold the office. On 7th October following Major Croker was appointed Commissioner for Tuapeka, and Captain Baldwin for the Waitahuna district. Mr. Charles Worthington was appointed to the Waipori division of the Goldfields on January 23rd, 1862; and these were all re-appointed as Wardens in the following October.

In the second quarter of 1862 there was an alarming and continuous decrease in the yield of gold. The quantity exported during the quarter ended 31st March was exceptionally large, amounting to 170,770 ounces, thus exceeding the record of the immediately previous quarter by 6,252 ounces. But in the next succeeding quarter, ending 30th June, the export returns fell to 81,205 ounces, being less than half the amount for the earlier months; and in June, 1862, only 16,513 ounces were exported as against 74,176 ounces in November, 1861.

Then the cry arose that the Otago Goldfields were worked

out, and large numbers of the miners left by every outward-bound vessel. Actuated partly by the non-discovery of new fields, and equally, if not more, by the severity of the weather – -so strangely unlike anything they had been accustomed to – they rushed back to the happy hunting grounds of Australia with the same inconsiderate impetuosity as they had quitted them.

The most was made of these circumstances by our Victorian neighbours, who were unable to witness the exodus of the mining population with equanimity. I find the following reference to the subject in Mr. Brough Smyth's work on "The Goldfields of Victoria." 1869. (68-9): –

"By the end of September, 1861, it was estimated that 10,000 miners had left our shores; and at that time every vessel laid on the berth for New Zealand was besieged by anxious men, who were bent on seeking their fortunes in the new country. Many of our miners who had previously been obtaining from £4 to £6 per week sold their claims and appliances to Chinamen for just such sums as would enable them to pay their passage to New Zealand. According to the returns published by the Government, it appears that 13,255 persons arrived in Otago during the fifteen weeks preceding the 25th October, and those who departed numbered only 1,500.

"Profitable Goldfields were opened up. A great many miners succeeded in finding gold; but the great cost of provisions, the inclemency of the weather, the want of shelter, the difficulty of procuring firewood even sufficient for cooking their food, and the wetness of the ground, very soon turned the minds of the immigrants towards the country they had so hastily forsaken. At this time it was proposed that the Government of Victoria should send vessels to Dunedin to bring back the people who had so foolishly abandoned our Goldfields for the inhospitable mountains of New Zealand. But wiser counsels prevailed. The people were in no danger of starvation. They had left voluntarily, and it was thought right to let them make the best of the circumstances in which they found themselves."

This movement is alluded to by Major Richardson in his opening address to the Provincial Council in April: – "Though there is a decrease in the amount of gold brought in by the Escort, owing chiefly to temporary causes, I have no doubt whatever of the character of our Goldfields. Many of the miners have returned to Australia for the winter, having been deluded, by

interested persons, into the belief that the coming months are times of peculiar trial, whereas it is often the case that our winter is the best season in the year. Many of these miners, however, design returning in the spring."

I have already explained that there was absolutely no timber on the Goldfields; and although mention is made in contemporaneous records of the discovery of lignite, it does not appear to have come into general use; nor could it in any case afford a satisfactory substitute for the wood fires in the Australian bush. At the heads of the gullies, on the ranges between the Tuapeka and Beaumont streams, and also towards the Clutha, there were some patches of scrub, mostly manuka. 4 The mode in which this was obtained and utilised is very well told in the following extract from memoranda furnished by Mr. John Mouat, formerly a Blue Spur miner, and now a barrister in Dunedin: –

"Fuel was scarce and dear. It formed a heavy part of our Sunday's work to gather dead manuka in the gullies, and carry it to our tent for the week's fuel. It could be bought in bundles, big enough for a man to carry, at some of the places in the township. The bundles were brought down by sledges from the ranges. The price of a bundle varied from 7s. 6d. to 10s. They were chiefly purchased by people living in or near the township, as those who lived at any distance had to carry the bundles, so that it was as well for them to go to the ranges and pick up the wood."

Another extract from the same source vividly portrays the manner or life which then fell to a miner's lot.

"As winter set in the weather got very cold. Tent life was miserable. No fuel for warmth, only for cooking; and when the billy was boiled the sticks had to be put out and saved. Snow fell and lay on the ground, and the temperature went down to Arctic coldness About the beginning of July a heavy fall of snow took place which lay until the second week of August. The cold was intense. Boots and clothes were frozen like boards in the night-time, and had to be taken under the blankets and thawed before being put on in the morning. We had excavated places for our tents – cuttings in the hill-sides. This secured them from being blown away, but did not mitigate the cold.

The sides of the cuttings froze, and when a thaw came the water flowed in and froze on the floor. Work or bed were the only alternatives. On Sundays, the spare time available from cooking, washing, and carrying firewood was devoted to the Australasian and the Witness, which were procurable at 2s. 6d. a copy. Saturday evening would occasionally be passed in a public-house, cowering over the miserable shadow of warmth diffused by a stove fuelled with bad lignite, emitting a most disagreeable sulphurous stench."

Of course all discomfort, whether of heat or cold, but most in the latter case, are intensified by living under canvas; and the Tuapeka miners had a very bad time of it in the winter of 1862. But it was an exceptional season, and nothing like it in the way of winter weather has ever occurred since.

As to the climate, although the comments of Major Richardson are in the main correct, it is certain that in the winter of 1862 it was execrable, both in Dunedin and on the Goldfields. The streets of Dunedin were some inches deep in half-melted snow for days at a time; and at Tuapeka, as Mr. Mouat tells us, frost and snow held undisputed sway for several weeks.

As an illustration of the severity of the weather, the following extract from the Daily Times of July 21st may be quoted: – "The Waihola Lake has been completely frozen over, and in parts the ice would bear for skating. People have skated from Clarendon to Waihola, a distance of about two and a-half miles. Cobb's boats have continued to pass up the lake with the mails, but the ice had to be broken for that purpose."

No doubt it was a season of exceptional severity; and nothing like it has occurred since, nor is likely to happen again; because the progress of settlement and cultivation has materially tempered and ameliorated the climate.

The road between Saddle Hill and Tokomairiro was desperately bad – a mere slough, in fact, – and the Provincial Government subsidised a small steamer of 25 tons burden, called the Betsy Douglas, built at Port Chalmers by Mr. William Douglas, to run between Scroggs' Creek and the head of Waihola Lake for the conveyance of goods and passengers. An effort was also made to reach the Goldfields by way of the Clutha River, for

which purpose a small stern-wheel steamer was built by Captain Murray, a Canadian hailing from Victoria in British Columbia. It plied on the river for some time, but was not successful in reaching much farther than Balclutha, owing to the obstructions in the channel and the force of the current.

The Goldfields Regulations, already referred to, remained in force with slight alterations until May, 1862. In the meantime their unsuitability to the requirements of the miners and the circumstances of mining in Otago became obvious. The Superintendent was therefore requested to bring into operation the clauses of the Goldfields Act, 1858, which provided for the establishment of Mining Boards, the members being elected by holders of Miners' Rights and Mining Leases. Accordingly on the 5th March the Superintendent proclaimed "Wetherstones and Gabriel's Gully and the land adjacent thereto" a district for the purpose of forming a Mining Board. It was ordered that the first election should take place on 24th April, and future elections on "the last Thursday in the month of April in every subsequent year." But there was not a "subsequent year" in this connection. The first election was duly held at the appointed date, and the following were elected members of the first and only Mining Board in New Zealand: –

George Brodie (chairman)
J. H. S. White
James M'Master
Colin Campbell M'Intyre
Robert Clarke
John Savage.
P. L. Caples

On the 6th May the Board framed and issued Rules and Regulations for conducting their business; and then they rested from their labours. On the 28th October following they were relieved of their functions, by the revocation of the Proclamation instituting the Gabriel's Mining Board District. And thus began and ended the experiment of introducing local legislation amongst the New Zealand miners. Having had very considerable experience of the working of Mining Boards in Victoria, I hold the opinion that we have escaped much trouble and great confusion by the early collapse of similar institutions here.

The causes which led up to this result are easily explained.

Waitahuna was not included in "Gabriel's District," and fresh regulations of a satisfactory character were made for that portion of the Goldfields whilst the members of the "Gabriel's" Board were wasting time in fruitless discussions. While on a visit to New Zealand in pursuit of health, overtures were made to me by the Provincial Government to organise the Goldfields Department. I accepted the office, resigning my seat in the Victorian Parliament to do so, and on 28th May, 1862, I was formally gazetted as a "Goldfields Commissioner" – an office and title entirely unauthorised by law, but which, for some incomprehensible reason, was greatly favoured by the Provincial Government at the time. In my own case, it was subsequently changed for that of "Goldfields Secretary" – an office which I held until 1867; when, as one result of an unhappy conflict between the General and Provincial Governments, my office was abolished, and I was reduced to the rank of Warden.

The first thing I was called upon to do, after my acceptance of office, was to frame mining regulations for those portions of the goldfields that lay outside of Gabriel's District. I did so; and the new regulations drafted by me were approved and adopted by the Government and proclaimed by the Superintendent as being in force in those parts of the Goldfields "not included in the Tuapeka Mining Board District." "Tuapeka" is here used for the more exact term "Gabriel's," but the men of those days were not nice in phraseology if only the desired end was attained. These regulations, and their subsequent amendments, constitute the basis upon which the mining laws of New Zealand are founded. With slight variations the main provisions, and (which is of more importance) the principles set forth in the early Otago mining regulations, of 1862, are in force throughout the Colony to this day.

The miners of Gabriel's thought so well of them at the time that they besought the Government to perform the "happy dispatch" for the Mining Board; and as the Board had no sufficient argument for its existence, it was forthwith abolished and the operation of the new regulations was extended to all the Goldfields.

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

GABRIEL READ

4 See Appendix C – "Waipori Bush Reserve."

CHAPTER IX. Small Discoveries...

CHAPTER IX.

Small Discoveries. – Eighty-seven Pounds-Weight of Gold. – Hartley and Reilly. – Reward of £2000. – The Dunstan Gold-field. – Government Prospectors. – - Stebbing. – The Manuherikia. – Personal Narrative.

SOME small discoveries were made during the winter months, chiefly in the neighbourhood of Highlay Hill, which occupies the divide between Shag Valley and the Taieri. Timbrell's Gully was the scene of the first of these discoveries; then there was a small "rush" to the Filly burn and other adjacent tributaries of the Taieri River; and another to Deep-dell Creek and Coal Creek, affluents of the Shag River. Lower down the latter, and near Dunback, Murphy's Gully was also opened up.

But at the end of July, 1862, no new Goldfield of any extent, or affording promise of a prosperous future, had been discovered. The Victorian miners hastened to quit a country possessed of such an uncongenial climate. I am aware of my own knowledge that in some cases they absolutely abandoned good claims because of their dislike to the winter weather. They left Otago in more or less numbers by every vessel that sailed for Australian ports. The general aspect of Dunedin was that of extreme gloom, and the prevailing opinion was that the Tuapeka fields were exhausted and there were no others in Otago. Just at this juncture the Provincial Government, by my advice, granted a sum of money for cutting a flood-race through Wetherstone's Flat, and by this timely action not only was a large area of previously unworkable ground rendered available for mining operations, but the flood of emigration was also stayed.

This work was done in July; and in August a new dis-

covery startled the community. In the Otago Daily Times of August 16th, there appeared a paragraph headed: –

"NEW DIGGINGS
"Near Mount Watkins.
"Eighty-seven Pounds Weight of Gold.

"Yesterday afternoon two men went to the Treasury, Dunedin, and deposited a bag of gold weighing eighty-seven pounds. They declined to say where they had obtained this rich parcel, but stated there was room for plenty more men where they had been working..... Although the owners refused to state where they had obtained their gold, we believe there is no doubt that it is from the neighbourhood of Mount Watkins, near Waikouaiti."

The origin of this belief will be shown presently.

The names of the fortunate depositors were Hartley and Reilly – the first a native-born American, the latter a Yankee Irishman. The site of their discovery was in the Dunstan Gorge, on the Clutha River, about a mile below the junction of the Kawarau, at a spot still known as Hartley's Beach. This information was only given after they had secured the promise of a substantial reward.

Here again this history necessarily assumes the form of a personal narrative.

As I was leaving my office on the afternoon of the 16th I met the Deputy-Superintendent, Mr. John Hyde Harris – who was acting in the absence of Major Richardson at Auckland. That gentleman informed me of the gold as stated having been that day brought into town by two strangers and deposited – not at the Treasury, but with Mr. J. B. Borton, the Gold Receiver. Mr. Borton, at my request, showed me the bag containing the gold, and I observed that a few small flakes had fallen out through the badly-stitched seams into the tray on which the bag was placed. Their peculiar character at once attracted my attention. They were thin, worn, and scaly, and I at once came to the conclusion that they had been subjected to the prolonged action of water amongst pebbles and boulders. On mentioning this subsequently to Mr, Harris he told me that I was mistaken,

as he had good reason to believe that it came from the neighbourhood of Mount Watkins. I adhered to my own opinion, and added that I felt convinced it had been obtained somewhere in the neighbourhood of Lake Wanaka. As at that time I had never been farther than Tuapeka into the interior, my opinion was not unreasonably held in small esteem. But, in addition to the evidence yielded by the appearance of the gold itself, I had good reasons for maintaining the conclusion I had arrived at. The first was that some time previously – in the month of March, when at Balclutha with Captain Murray of the old stern-wheel steamboat Tuapeka, or "steam wheelbarrow" as Thatcher termed it – we had washed some of the river sands in a saucepan lid, and found several specks of light scaly gold. Murray said the Clutha reminded him of the Fraser River in British Columbia, and expressed his conviction that gold in quantity would be discovered higher up the river. In fact we had arranged to explore the Upper Clutha together, but circumstances prevented us from carrying out our intention.

Another thing, which directed my attention to the immediate neighbourhood of the Dunstan, was that information respecting the geological character of the country, given to me by Mr. William Anderson Lowe, who then held the Galloway Station, near the present town of Alexandra, satisfied me as to its gold-bearing nature, and I remember telling Mr. Lowe, early in 1862, that he dwelt in the middle of a Goldfield.

But the most convincing arguments of all to my mind, knowing, as I had occasion to know in Victoria, something of "the ways that are dark" in which Government prospectors indulge, were conveyed in the following occurrences: –

The Provincial Government equipped three parties of prospectors and sent them forth on a mission of discovery. One of these, under the leadership of a Mr. Stebbing, explored the country north of Tuapeka. In July they returned to Tuapeka and reported to Mr. Commissioner Croker that they had found payable country in the neighbourhood of the Knobby Ranges, but wished to test it further before disclosing the exact locality. They

obtained an extension of one month's time from the Commissioner, and returned, taking with them timber for making sluice-boxes. When their report was transmitted by Major Croker, the inference to be drawn from their proceedings was so palpable, that I immediately instructed the Major to send out Mr. Drummond – the Mining Surveyor – in search of Stebbing's party. Some delay occurred in Mr. Drummond's departure. Writing from memory I believe it was caused by Major Croker's reluctance to interfere with Stebbing's proceedings until the month for which he had given his word had expired. At any rate Mr. Drummond did not go in quest of the prospectors, and before Stebbing's month was up Hartley and Reilly came to Dunedin with their gold.

Two days later – namely, on August 18th, 1862 – Stebbing officially reported to the Warden at Tuapeka, that he had discovered "a payable Goldfield extending from the head of the Teviot stream to the junction of the Clutha and Manuherikia Rivers." Of course this description is quite incorrect, for the "head of the Teviot stream" is in the Dismal Swamp, and the mouth of the stream must have been the locality intended to be described. However, by his injudicious and questionable suppression of information in his first communication to Major Croker, Stebbing very properly lost the reward which otherwise would have been his, and Hartley and Reilly gained it. It turned out afterwards that these latter hurried into Dunedin for fear of being forestalled by Stebbing's party, whom they had discovered working at the junction of the Manuherikia, where they had a rich prospecting claim granted to them for their discovery. The site of Stebbing's claim was nearly twenty miles lower down the river than Hartley's Beach; but of course the one included the other as a discovery, because of the nature of the workings.

The banks of the rivers at the junction of the Manuherikia and the Clutha – where Stebbing made his discovery – were exceptionally rich in gold. One whole street in the old township of Manuherikia has been literally sluiced away, and it is believed that the present town of Alexandra is built upon a valuable goldmine.

These circumstances, namely – Captain Murray's assurances – the trial washing at Balclutha – the appearance of the gold obtained there – the information given by Mr. Lowe – and my convictions that Stebbing had found gold in the direction of the upper waters of the Molyneux, led me to the conclusion that Hartley and Reilly had obtained their gold in the vicinity of "the Lakes," or Upper Clutha, as the far interior was familiarly termed.

After some consultation it was agreed by the Deputy-Superintendent and myself that the reward to be offered to the owners of the bag of gold should be exactly proportioned to the results. As I anticipated, they made the first overtures. Early on Saturday morning they came to my office and hinted that they would disclose the locality of their workings if a sufficient reward were offered, and after a little beating about the bush they named exactly the sum which Mr. Harris and myself had agreed upon, namely £2000. The terms were conditional on 16,000 ounces of gold being brought down from the locality by escort within three months. As the export duty was then 2s. 6d. per ounce this quantity represented the amount of duty that would be received, so that the Provincial Treasury could not possibly be a loser. And it was further arranged that one of the prospectors should accompany a Government party to the scene of their labours. There were other conditions as to the distance from other known workings, very necessary to guard against imposition if such were intended, but which need not be here recapitulated.

Hartley was very cool and circumspect during this interview, but Reilly was in a very excited state. I remember that in the course of conversation I incidentally remarked, by way of testing the accuracy of my notion as to the locality, "The place where you got that gold was not far from Lake Wanaka"! Immediately Reilly jumped up, and cried out – "Oh ! We didn't come here to have our brains sucked. Come away, Hartley!" And he made for the door. Hartley got up, but hesitated. "Sit down, Mr. Hartley," said I; "I have no desire to suck your brains; but Mr. Reilly's conduct convinces me that I am right, and if you go out of this room before the agreement is signed, I will go straight to

the place where you got the gold and you shall never have one penny of the reward." Hartley sat down again silently; so did Reilly, and the business was quickly concluded.

In the Otago Daily Times of August 20th I find the following memorandum of a circumstance which would otherwise have escaped my memory: – "The men stated that they were discovered and tracked by a Victorian miner to the very spot where they were getting their richest yields on one of the river-bars; but so ignorant was he of the system of working that they succeeded by doleful statements of disappointment, and by saying that they were only just' making tucker, to disarm the suspicions of the man, and he left them without suspecting the richness of the place." 5

5 See Appendix D – Hartley's "Victorian Miner."

CHAPTER X. Hartley and Reilly's Account of their Discoveries...

CHAPTER X.

Hartley and Reilly's Account of their Discoveries. – The Genuine Prospectors. – Reilly's Beach. – Hartley's Beach. – A Personal Narrative. – The Dunstan on Hartley's Visit. – Mr. Keddell. – Troubles of a Goldfield's Commissioner. – Value of Wood. – Proclamation of the Dunstan Goldfield.

THE account given by Hartley and Reilly of their prospecting tour is recorded in the Otago Daily Times – the first daily newspaper published in Otago, and which was then under the superintendence of Mr. (now Sir) Julius Vogel, its originator and editor. It will be seen that the art of "interviewing" was not entirely unknown in those days.

"We started on a prospecting trip about the 1st February last, crossing the Molyneux at Oliver's, and striking it again about twenty miles above Pinkerton's. We here obtained sufficient prospects from the banks of the river to justify us in believing that we should find rich diggings higher up the stream, or as soon as we came to a favourable place. About twelve or fifteen miles below the junction of the Manuherikia we first obtained payable prospects. We tried a number of small bars that we thought would pay about an ounce a-day by working with a cradle. The river was very high at the time, and but little of the bars being out of water, we could not tell much about it. There are, however, for ten or fifteen miles below where we obtained our prospects, flats, and what appeared to be old channels of the river. We attempted to prospect several of them, but having no bucket or rope, and besides having the misfortune to break our shovel so as to render it valueless for sinking, we were not able to bottom, and were obliged to push on. The rich part of the river where we obtained the gold is between the Manuherikia and Upper Clutha Valleys. By the time we arrived here our provisions were exhausted, and our tin dish broken by a fall on the hill-side, so that we could only wash a few handfuls of dirt at a time. We bought a little flour and borrowed a tin dish from one of the stations in the Manuherikia.

Valley, and panned out forty ounces in a week. We then went up the river as far as the junction of the Kawarau, and having satisfied ourselves that there was plenty more gold to be had, we started for Dunedin to get pack-horses and an outfit for a winter campaign. We returned by way of Waikouaiti and the Shag Valley. We did not cross the river at the old place, as we wished to avoid the people at the station who had seen us before. Our object was to work only the riches spots, as we did not know how soon we might be discovered and "rushed." For the first month or six weeks we were well satisfied with two or three ounces a day each, but as the river became lower and we learned more of the nature and extent of the diggings, we did not wash anything unless we thought it would pay about a pound weight a-day – that is six ounces each. The best dirt we found was the surface dirt on the bars. We did not usually wash more than from three to six inches of the top dirt – a loose sandy gravel easily washed -but in some places we took from one to two feet of it. We had nothing to do but to set the cradle at the edge of the river, and keep it going from morning till night, as one could get dirt and feed the cradle as fast as the other could wash it. The gold is very fine, and accompanied by a great quantity of black sand. The gold we got on the bed rock is heavier, but we did not work any scarcely after the first month or so, as we found that we could not expect to make more than one to four ounces a-day, although we did find several good crevices, from one of which we took over twelve ounces in a few hours."

In this succinct but sufficient narrative the spirit of the true prospector is plainly evinced. Just as Gabriel Read started to prospect Tuapeka, equipped only with "a spade, a tin dish, and a butcher's knife," so Hartley and Reilly went forth with a tin dish and a shovel, and when the first was broken and the latter destroyed, they still went on their way, and eventually discovered the riches of the Clutha River with no other implement than the broken shovel, and the aid of their own hands. This has been the experience of all genuine prospectors. Hargreaves was no better equipped when he found the premier Goldfields of Australia at Summerhill Creek, in New South Wales. It is the useless and incapable professional prospectors who require "outfits and rations" and "subsidies" to enable them to make the venture.

Already doubts have arisen respecting the precise localities of Hartley and Reilly's original discoveries. It may be well, there-

fore, to place on record the information obtained from themselves at the time. They first prospected the western bank of the river; and it was under the lofty rocks situated about two miles below the Kawarau that they made their first "find." This they named "Reilly's Beach." Further up the river they observed on the eastern bank a series of long rocky bars projecting into the stream, about a quarter of a mile below the junction of the Kawarau, and immediately beneath the site of the present Cromwell brewery. Their Californian experience taught them that these bars, acting as natural "ripples," afforded promise of yet better yields, and that in their clefts the richest deposits would be found. This place was subsequently named "Hartley's Beach." I may say here that until within the last ten or twelve years the bars on Hartley's Beach were generally exposed to view in the winter season, when the head-waters are chained up in their ice-bound sources; but latterly they have been obscured by the flow of tailings from the workings opposite the town of Cromwell.

Retracing their steps, they crossed the river at Fraser's station, and to avoid any wandering prospectors from Tuapeka, they went up the Manuherikia Valley, and across the ranges to Waikouaiti, where they obtained supplies, and returned by nearly the same route. It was this circumstance that gave rise to the impression that the new field was in the neighbourhood of Mount Watkins, past which the first part of their road lay. Everyone was then on the look-out for new discoveries, and their coming and going had been noticed and discussed; for the nature of their purchases, which necessarily included mining implements, indicated their business. When they got back to the river, Hartley's Beach became the scene of their labours, and it was there that they obtained the bulk of their famous "Bag of Gold," the news of which had done so much to "fright the isle from its propriety."

The following narrative of the first official visit to the Dunstan, is from the facile pen of a gentleman who was intimately connected with the events described, and has been written for the purposes of this history: –

"One morning in August, 1862, Dunedin woke up to experience a fresh excitement. The Otago Daily Times announced in sensational type the arrival of Hartley and Reilly from the Dunstan range with 87 lb. weight of gold. This news confirmed the flying rumours of the previous evening; there was no room for doubt or conjecture, the gold was deposited, and the Provincial authorities had received the prospectors' claim for the reward, £2000. The importance of the discovery lay in the fact that the locality was so far distant from the older diggings. Nothing but 'Dunstan' was spoken of. Here was a discovery before which Gabriel Read's faded to insignificance – it proved such a vast area of the Province to be auriferous, and the days in which the old identities had prophesied 'the gold would be all scratched out' seemed to be very remote. Where was Dunstan? Very few had even heard of it – it was the Ultima Thule. The three or four squatters who had migrated there with their flocks and herds rarely visited Dunedin in those days, and they alone knew. It was described by Hartley as on the banks of the Clutha above the Manuherikia Junction; the distance was estimated at 150 miles from the city, and though this matter was exaggerated, it was difficult to overstate the dangers and troubles of the route. But whatever the distance, and however perilous the journey, before that week had ended half the town had made up its mind to start for the Dunstan. An impetus was given to all business that could in any remote way be concerned in equipping men for mining life – picks and shovels, blankets, tents, pack saddles, provisions, &c, &c. Old horses, whose owners had long since given them up as past work, were exhibited for sale, and sold at prices far exceeding their value in their prime, and before the week was over it was hard to find a steed at any price. But if the citizens of Dunedin felt the fever, imagine the effect of the news at the diggings at Tuapeka. Cobb's coach arrived as usual in the evening, the moon was bright, and the snow-covered ground, broken by the deep shades of the workings, and bright lights in the miners' dwellings, was an interesting feature. All was still – but within an hour of the arrival of the papers the whole diggings was astir. The news was read from the vantage ground of a barrel, or a dray with the assistance of a bottle lantern, to attentive audiences, and in a very short space of time hundreds had made up their minds to try these 'fresh fields.' Some indeed started that night, though where this Dunstan was, save that it was 'up the river Molyneux,' they knew not. The name was heard by them the first time that night. The season was not the most favourable for the exploration of the interior. The winter was the most severe one ever known to the European settler. The Molyneux had never been, and has never since been seen, so low – a sure proof of the severity and continuance

of the frosts which retained in the vast mountainous basins that feed Lakes Wakatipu, Wanaka, and Hawea, whose common outlet is the Molyneux, the heavy snowfalls that had whitened the landscape since May. The pastoral district of Dunstan, the whole Clutha Valley, was held by five or six squatting firms. There was not a store, except those attached to the squatters' homesteads for their own people.

"There were two routes by which the Dunstan could be reached from Dunedin: by the West Taieri, the Lammermuir Range, and the Rock and Pillar; the other by Waikouaiti, and Shag Valley. The former was the most favoured, being more direct and shorter; while the longer route had the advantage of being of an easier gradient. They both joined at the Maniototo Plains. The miners of Tuapeka had served an apprenticeship to the difficulties of New Zealand, or rather Otagan travelling; they had missed the abundance of fuel common to all Australian bush life. The want of it would be considered a hardship even in that mild climate, and its scarcity during the winter of 1862 at Tuapeka had proved the greatest privation encountered there – but it was only scarce; it was to be had at the cost of some little trouble. But the region they were about to explore was absolutely treeless from the time they turned their backs on the West Taieri, and the snow lay deep on the high lands. Everyone recalled with regret the memory of the rousing fires which added so materially to their comfort when camping out in Australia; how much more was it then needed under these circumstances.

"Another and greater difficulty lay ahead, which could not be foreseen. As may be imagined, when the necessary outfit of the miner is considered, tools, blankets, clothing, billy and frying pan – these absolute necessities, – there was little margin left for more than a week's supply of the simplest provisions when all had to be carried over a rough road. In the whole Dunstan District there were not twenty bags of flour, and no replenishment of this stock was necessary for the requirements of the few settlers' establishments, until the wool drays had taken the coming season's clip to Dunedin, and returned with stores. The journey to Dunstan occupied pedestrians about a week, and by the time they reached Mr. Shennan's station at the Manuherikia, if indeed they held out so long, there commissariat was exhausted. Of course many were fortunate enough to have a pack-horse, and were able to lay in a larger supply; but the staff of life was very soon in demand even amongst them, and none was to be obtained. Few drays with stores accompanied the advance party of miners, nor for some time indeed, in any proportion to the consumers – but to this I will refer again presently.

"The departure of such a number of people from Tuapeka and from Dunedin, with the intention of mining at Dunstan,

placed the Government of the Province in a serious dilemma. All the land was leased to pastoral tenants, and no Goldfield could be proclaimed until the land had been resumed by the Crown, and compensation awarded the lessees. Now, at this juncture, the Governor's delegate (the late Sir John, then Major, Richardson) was absent at Wellington, where the experiment of holding the Parliamentary Session was being tried. The days of telegraphy had not arrived, and indeed there was no possibility of obtaining a reply from the General Government under a month or six weeks; and the Deputy Superintendent, the late Mr John Hyde Harris, avoided the error committed six years afterwards in Auckland, when the Thames Goldfields were proclaimed by the Deputy Superintendent. Meantime the rush had commenced, and the tide of miners flowing towards Dunstan could not be stemmed, and yet no lawful occupancy of the land could be offered them. The Provincial Government adopted the wisest course under the circumstances....... Mr. Keddell, the officer commanding the Escort, was nominated Commissioner in charge, and he proceeded to the West Taieri en route for Dunstan on the Saturday following the report of the discovery. The duties of a Goldfields Commissioner on a new rush are always more or less difficult and arduous; but this officer's task was unusually perplexing, on account of the false position of authority under the circumstances Mr. Hartley accompanied the Commissioner and the party of mounted police up to Dunstan, reaching Shennan's on the following Tuesday, and the next day accompanied the Commissioner to the Molyneux, and proceeded up the gorge to the prospector's workings, known then and after as 'Hartley's Beach.' A number of miners were then occupying the eastern bank of the river, and some had commenced operations on the spot where the prospectors got their gold. On the whole the miners were dissatisfied, and openly expressed themselves so in unmistakeable terms. This class of working was unknown to the majority. Alluvial workings on the shallows or bars of rivers were understood by the old Californian diggers, but nothing of this kind had been found in Australia, where for the most part the Otago miners had served their apprenticeship. They crowded round the prospector and Commissioner, and expressed very plainly their disbelief in the former's statement. Hartley was a fine type of the American gold-seeker, and the excitement of the crowd had no effect on his nerves – a timid man in his place might have provoked unpleasant consequences. The men were disgusted, fatigued with the toilsome journey, and disappointed at finding the country so different to former experience of a 'rush' Here were no prospectors' shaft or paddocks – nothing to indicate a claim from which such a large quantity of gold had been extracted, but

Hartley in a few words explained the mode of working, and his self-possession and evident truth prevented further trouble. 6 Some of the men were very violent of speech, proposing – though these suggestions chiefly emanated from individuals at a distance in the crowd – to 'throw him in the river,' and 'give him fifty lashes.' On returning to the mouth of the Gorge where the township of Clyde now stands, there was a further demonstration of the same kind, but no unpleasant result occurred. Work was commenced at once, but for some days by no other means than the tin dish. Timber was not to be had, and to illustrate its scarcity I may mention one anecdote well known to many who were amongst the early arrivals there. At Shennan's Station the head shepherd was a married man, and had then one little child, a girl, of a few weeks old, and her cradle was improvised out of a J D K Z gin case. This piece of furniture took the eye of one of the miners who was in the house making some purchase of food or what not, and he immediately bid the sum of £5 for the cradle. The little occupant was quickly hoisted out, and the property changed hands at this unusual figure, and I never heard that the lucky purchaser repented his bargain. At any spot between Clyde and Cromwell that winter, where the low waters of the river exposed any sandy beach, gold could be obtained in considerable quantities – even with a tin dish the men washed fairly good returns, but with the aid of a cradle many ounces of gold were obtained for a day's work. The great difficulty was the want of timber to make the cradles, and many strange means were resorted to to supply this want. One adventurous miner, whose ideas of meum and tuum were not in accordance with generally received opinions on the subject, abstracted the door from one of the out-buildings of the Mount Ida station, and carried it over the Raggedy Range on his back to Dunstan, followed by the irate manager, revolver in hand; but the chase had been determined on too late, and the thief and the stolen property were lost in the crowd by the time the proprietor arrived at the young township. The weather was for some time very favourable to the miners; time was everything; the first warm winds and rains of spring, it was generally believed, and rightly, would raise the river; the most favourable spots for mining, as I have stated, were the shallow bars, or beaches. On these, the rising of the river one inch in perpendicular, the water would cover for a foot or more. At Hartley's Beach there were very soon some dozen parties in active operation. At this spot, now obliterated with shingle and boulders, was the most extensive bar or beach. The miners, knowing the importance of 'making hay while the sun shines,' strained every effort to obtain the

auriferous 'dirt,' and stacking it on their claims, leaving the washing up and 'cradling' to be done when the getting more dirt was impossible. The 'regulations' under which those claims were worked were those in force at Tuapeka – i. e., the claims were marked out as ordinary alluvial claims. These regulations were very unsuitable to the new condition of affairs, and were speedily amended. On this flat beach, every night the river would recede some feet, owing to the cold air of the night checking the supply of the lakes – the heat of the day caused the river to rise slightly, and thus the river boundary of the claims would be always shifting. As the prospectors' beach was known to be highly auriferous, it was a daily struggle between the original owners of the claims and other parties who, when any ground was uncovered below their pegs, marked it out. This boundary was always debatable ground – it was always imperatively necessary that claims should be 'pegged out,' and this rule was of necessity 'more honoured in the breach than in the observance.' Pegs were not to be had, unless imported, and when introduced stood a great chance of helping to boil the neighbour's 'billy.'"

The Dunstan District was legally proclaimed a Goldfield on September 23rd, 1862, and Mr., now Major, Keddell was gazetted as the first Commissioner on October 1st.

The account of the effect of this discovery is not at all exaggerated in the foregoing narrative. Indeed it presents but a faint picture of the excessive excitement that prevailed. The people of Dunedin and Tuapeka, and indeed all Otago and New Zealand, were thrown into a condition of mental and physical feverishness. Clerks quitted their desks, and shopmen their counters, workmen left their ordinary avocations, and even Government officers abandoned their comfortable chairs in their haste to be rich. The news was quickly carried to Australia, and a new "rush" of unprecedented magnitude set in from Sydney and Melbourne.

6 See Appendix D – Official Report.

CHAPTER XI. Conroy's, Butcher's, Blackman's...

CHAPTER XI.

Conroy's. – Butcher's. – Blackman's. – Bannockburn. – Bendigo. – Nokomai. – Nevis. – Fox's Rush. – Cardrona. – The Arrow River Discoverers. – Maori Jack. – W. G. Rees. – M'Gregor and Low. – Cormack's Party. – The Shotover. – Arthur's Point. – Scarcity of Food. – Exports of Gold.

BEFORE the termination of 1862 upwards of 70,000 ounces of gold were sent to Dunedin from Dunstan by escort, and a considerable quantity was also taken down by private hand. Towards the end of September, the Clutha River, flooded by the melting of the snows on the mountains at the head of Lakes Wanaka and Hawea, covered the "beaches" and drove the miners from their claims. They then began to explore the surrounding country, and numerous rich gullies were discovered. One of the first and most prolific of these was Conroy's – so named after its discoverer. Butcher's and Blackman's gullies, lying respectively to the north and south of Conroy's, were next opened up, with some others of lesser note. All these head from the Obelisk Ranges – the "Old Man" of popular parlance. The auriferous character of several creeks and gullies heading from the Carrick Ranges and flowing into the Bannockburn and the Kawarau, was also developed about this time. Bendigo Gully was discovered on the northern flank of the Dunstan Range towards the end of the year; and Drybread and Tinker's, both on the southern slopes of the same mountain-chain, were opened up early in 1863.

In September, 1862, another discovery was communicated to the Provincial Government by Mr. James Lamb, one of a party of six Victorian miners who brought to Dunedin about 28oz. of coarse, nuggety gold, obtained at Moa Creek, on the Nokomai river, – a tributary of the Mataura. This eventually led to the

discoveries at the Nevis, which falls into the Kawarau – the two streams rising, the one on the east and the other on the west side of a low saddle lying between the "Remarkables," or Hector Mountains, and the "Dome," or Garvie Ranges – the first mentioned being the popular, and the latter the official designation. The Carricks – a bold and lofty chain of mountains – separate the valley of the Clutha from that of the Nevis. Three miners crossing this range, discovered payable auriferous ground on the western watershed, near the short track to the scene of Lamb's discovery at Nokomai. With a shovel and tin dish they obtained two ounces of rough gold, and reported the circumstance to the Warden at Dunstan. As usual, a rush took place. Some exceedingly rich finds were obtained, and the locality received the name of Potter's Gully in honour of one of the prospectors. It was afterwards known as "Potter's No. 1," to distinguish it from "Potter's No. 2," and "Potter's No. 3" – the two latter being subsequently discovered near the head of the Waikaia River, in the Umbrella Ranges, on which river rich Goldfields of some extent have long been, and are still being successfully wrought.

But a much more important discovery was yet to be disclosed before the end of the year. In the month of October it was rumoured that a miner named Fox had found a Goldfield of surpassing richness in some remote and unexplored region, and this rumour was confirmed by the statements made by Fox himself during a hurried visit to the Dunstan township. Numbers went out in quest of the new field, but for a time their search was baffled, and the disappointed miners began to regard the report as a delusion. One party, however, whilst roaming through the country on this errand, accidentally lighted upon auriferous deposits of considerable value and extent.

The site of this discovery was on the upper waters of the Cardrona River. The circumstances under which it was made were thus narrated in a letter addressed to the Warden by Michael Grogan, one of the fortunate miners who lit upon it: –

"On the 9th November, whilst a crowd of diggers were

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

CAPTAIN BALDWIN

camped upon the banks of the Cardrona, Mullins and myself took a walk to see how that part of the country looked, and in walking along the river, where what I call a "slide" had occurred, there had been a track formed by the cattle. I being a little further up the creek, sat down until he came up, and he immediately told me that some person must have lost some gold, and produced about four pennyweights that he got on the cattle track. We still continued up the creek, until we thought it time to return to our camping ground; and on our way back he showed me the place, and on searching for more gold we could get none; and from the appearance of the black soil we certainly thought it must have been lost by Fox or some person.... On Tuesday, 11th, after receiving some information as to the whereabouts Fox was working, myself and mates were ahead of the others, and on coming to this place I took my 'swag' and laid it on the bank. 'There,' said I 'is where the gold was got;' and on breaking up the surface, the first thing I discovered was a bit of about 3 dwts.; and that afternoon we nuggeted out 9 oz. 6 dwts. 3 grs., which all hands which were there could see."

An expression used by Grogan, in referring to the site of this discovery, accurately describes the appearance of the locality as it then existed, and accounts for the peculiar circumstances under which the discovery was made. The valley of the Cardrona is characterised by a number of "slides" or landslips, by some of which the lower strata have been projected to the surface. It was in one of these that Mullins first observed the gold, which had been washed bare by water oozing from the hillside, and was lying bright and clean, about shoulder-high.

Many miners hastened to the new field; but in the meantime Fox had been tracked to his haunt, and the fame of the Cardrona was speedily eclipsed by far greater attractions. At that time Dr. Hector, then Provincial Government Geologist, was on a tour through the country, and he happened to be a spectator of Grogan's discovery. Following up the Cardrona to its source he crossed the Crown Range, on the western side of which he came upon Fox's party and "about forty others" quietly working in a secluded gorge of the Arrow River. A few days after Dr. Hector's visit, a large party of miners, pursuing nearly the same track, observed the smoke of camp fires; and following the clue thus given, they suddenly presented themselves on the scene of

operations. Secrecy was no longer possible. The news was rapidly circulated, and an extensive migration from other fields ensued. The Arrow and its tributary gullies were thoroughly prospected, and very large quantities of the precious metal rewarded the toil and industry of the miners. 7

The frequent association of Fox's name with this discovery has caused him to be regarded as the original discoverer of the Arrow Goldfields. Such, however, is not the case. The first persons who developed the auriferous resources of the locality were a Mr. McGregor and his mates, who commenced mining operations on the 4th October. Five days later Fox's party tracked them to the spot. But in truth the real discoverer was a Thames native – Hatini Whiti, otherwise Anthony White, but who was best known as "Maori Jack." I was always aware of this, but to strengthen my memory, I applied to persons who were veritable actors in the events I am going to narrate. The first of these is Mr. W. G. Rees, now resident at Timaru, who was one of the earliest and most energetic explorers of the country around Lake Wakatipu. This gentleman, who discovered and took up the Wakatipu country in December, 1869, got his sheep up there in 1870; had his first shearing in December, 1871; and has very kindly sent me the following interesting notes: –

"I think it was early in August, 1862, that Maori Jack and a companion made their appearance at the station, ostensibly with the intention of making their way to the West Coast to look up some other Maoris said to be there. Jack, on the evening he arrived, showed me a sample of gold, which he said he had washed with his shovel from the bed of the Arrow. I then felt certain (for I had been at the Turon, N. S. W., in 1852) that it was only a question of a few months before I should be surrounded with diggers.

"At the end of September McGregor and party found gold in large quantities at the Arrow, just at the back of the present township, I know for a fact that McGregor got a hint about Maori Jack's find from a cadet I had at that time. McGregor and party were getting at least 20 oz. a day with cradles alone.

"Fox and mate were next on that spot, and gradually some thirty men were at work there; but no 'rush' set in, as I managed

quietly to supply all with tucker, even whilst my shearing was going on; and not one of my hands betrayed the fact to the shearers. I was most anxious to get my bit of wool off before the rush, which I knew must set in. Fox however, like a fool, must needs go to the Dunstan; and the consequence was that he was watched and followed."

Mr. John Cormack, of Tuapeka, who was one of the first on the ground, has also furnished me with a version of these occurrences, which differs only in detail from that of Mr. Rees: –

"The party of miners of which I formed a unit, found the diggings in the Arrow River in October, 1862. Three parties were then at work, viz.: – -McGregor and Low's, who were there first; Fox and party, who were second; and a party headed by an American named West. We were nearly three weeks there before any more miners came; and had it not been for the station flour running short we should not have been found so soon. The proprietor of the station sold us flour at 1s. 6d. per lb. and mutton at £3 12s. 6d. per sheep, which we had to kill and dress, leaving the skin. The bullock-driver, who was called Maori Jack, was sent to Invercargill for a load of flour; but did not get back in time to prevent our having to go to what is now Cromwell. This led to the finding of Fox, whose partners, Mellody and another, had left for Australia, after working a short time, and who did not quite conceal the fact that Fox was getting plenty of gold. Maori Jack was the first who found payable gold in that quarter, and informed McGregor and Low, who were looking for sheep country.

"The fact that we were liable to be 'rushed' at any time, and our claims limited to 24 feet square did not affect Fox's or West's parties, who only worked eight hours a day, with frequent 'spells' and Saturday half-holidays. The other two parties worked early and late, taking their full quantity of unbroken ground every night. Each party did well. Fox's got 40 lb weight in two weeks, before Mellody left; McGregor's got 82 lbs, as I was assured by Stewart, one of the partners; and we – 'New Chum party' – in a little over four weeks got 110 lbs, of which we deposited 100 lbs with Sergeant-major Bracken on his arrival there. We cradled 109 ounces in one day."

In another communication Mr. Cormack writes – "We should no doubt have been discovered much sooner, as there were many hunting for Fox, but the river filling the gorge, left no track to show where we were; and the 'rush 'ultimately came through

what was called Bracken's Gully, and over a 'saddle' into the Arrow."

The attention of the miners was next turned to the Shotover river, fourteen miles beyond the Arrow in a westerly direction. The fortunate prospector of this locality was Thomas Arthur, who, with three mates, obtained 200 oz of gold in eight days, by washing the sands of the river beach at what is known as Arthur's Point. He showed me and Mr. Charles Worthington a tin dish full of gold, which he had lying under his "stretcher" in a tent in the month of November. Mr. Rees says – "Arthur, one of my shearers, found gold on the Shotover one Sunday afternoon, washing out 4oz with his tin dish in three hours. So rich was Arthur's Point that he and his mates secured £4000 worth of gold before they had been at work two months." This was in November, 1862, and no secret was made of the discovery. The largest rush that ever occurred in Otago set in to the Wakatipu district. Owing to the remoteness and inaccessibility of the district, provisions were extremely scarce and dear. "My stock," says Mr. Rees, "being at that time nearly all ewes and hoggets, I had to give Trotter at the rate of 1s 3d per lb (wholesale) for mutton to supply the diggers. Fortunately for all hands, the first Nokomai rush proving a failure, the drays from there pushed on to the foot of the lake; and I had to pay £100 per ton for flour for the diggers, and often had 200 to 400 men waiting for my whaleboat to come up from what is now Kingston, to get a few pounds of flour each; and so hard set were some of them, that they would then and there boil their flour in 'billies,' not being able to wait for baking."

I can testify to the correctness of all these statements; and I may add that I have known Mr. Rees to leave his bed at 3 o'clock in the morning when the flour-boat came in, and immediately proceed to serve out the flour to the hungry crowd.

Before the arrival of the police Rees was the general custodian of gold – as much as 5000 ozs being often left in his charge; without weighing and without receipt. It was in his famous whaleboat that the first escort with 25,000 ozs of gold

went down to the foot of the lake; and for some time after, all the gold produced was conveyed in the same way. There was no way in fact of getting stores up to Wakatipu, or of sending gold or wool to the coast, other than by the lake, and Rees's boat was the only craft upon those dark waters until the police were supplied with a boat for their special use.

The immediate result of these discoveries was that the exports of gold, which had fallen to 10,375 ozs in July, advanced to 37,260 ozs in December, and to 72,000 ozs in the following February. In all 332,430 ozs were exported in the year 1862.

7 Official Report of the Goldfields Secretary, 1863.

CHAPTER XII. Moke and Moonlight...

CHAPTER XII.

Moke and Moonlight. – Copper Ore. – The Story of Maori Point. – Value of Claims. – Blacks. – Mount Ida, – Serpentine. – Mullocky and Hindon. – The Story of Hamilton's. – Mining Population in 1864. – Gold found near Dunedin. – Chain Hills, Waitati, and Mary Hill. – Beach Workings. – The Blue Spur and Tinkers. – Old Prospectors.

BEFORE the end of 1863 many other gold-bearing creeks and gullies were discovered in the tributaries of the Arrow and Shotover Rivers, and in the streams of the Richardson mountains, abutting on the eastern shore of the upper, or northern arm of Lake Wakatipu. Of the latter, the Sixteen-mile Creek and the Bucklerburn were the most famous at the time, but there were many others of lesser note, and the Rees River, flowing in the eastern valley of the Earnslaw, was also prospected with some success. On the Arrow, the Eight-mile and Bracken's Gully were wrought. On the Shotover, two considerable streams, named Moke Creek and Moonlight, the united waters of which join the main river at Arthur's Point, were explored with favourable results, yielding very rich returns. At Moke Creek an extensive lode of pyritous copper ore was discovered at an early period. I find it first mentioned in my Official Report, dated September, 1863. Samples of the ore tested in Dunedin have yielded 24 per cent, of metallic copper, and some years ago a company was formed to work the vein; but it still remains unwrought.

The passage up the Shotover was impracticable beyond Arthur's Point, owing to the lofty and precipitous rocks which hem in the channel on either side. Indeed the river flows through an almost continuous gorge for nearly forty miles of its course. But undaunted by difficulties – rather perhaps stimulated by

natural obstacles – the miners who had invaded those hitherto unexplored solitudes, traversed the lofty mountain ranges that hemmed in the golden river, descending to the beaches wherever a break occurred in its rocky margin. In this way the whole river was prospected, and many a rich claim rewarded the hardy adventurers.

One of the most remarkable discoveries effected in this manner was that of Maori Point, about thirty miles above Queenstown. The discoverers were two Natives from the North Island – Dan Ellison, a half-caste, and Hakaria Haeroa, a full-blooded Maori. I had heard the story when on a visit to the district in the winter season of 1863; and on my return to Dunedin, I persuaded the Harbour Master – Captain Thomson – to take me in his boat to the Maori Kaik at the Heads, where we found Hakaria. His narrative, as interpreted by Mr. Rehmenschneider, and recorded at the time in my official report, is as follows: –

"As Dan and Hakaria, with other miners, were travelling along the eastern bank of the river, they found some Europeans working with great success in a secluded gorge. On the opposite shore was a wide beach of unusually promising appearance, occupying a bend of the stream, over which the rocky cliffs rose perpendicularly to the height of more than 500 feet. Tempting as this spot was to the practised eyes of the miners, none of them would venture to breast the impetuous torrent. The Maoris, however, boldly plunged into the river, and succeeded in reaching the western bank; but a favourite dog that had followed them was carried away by the current, and drifted down to a rocky point, where it remained. Dan went to its assistance, and observing some particles of gold in the crevices of the rocks, he examined the sandy beach beneath, from which, with the aid of Hakaria, he gathered twenty-five pounds weight – 300 ounces – of the precious metal before nightfall."

My first visit to Maori Point was necessitated by a complicated dispute, originating in the institution, by the Warden, of imaginary boundaries in the flowing water. In the course of the hearing before Mr. Nugent Wood and myself, a Maori waded into the river up to his armpits, and plunging a shovel into the rapid current, he succeeded after a few failures in bringing up a fine

show of heavy gold on that implement. The letter V will serve to explain the dispute. The point of the V, and that only, was agreed to by both parties, and the problem presented for our solution was from which limb of the V the boundary line should be extended – or as the surveyors say "projected" – to the opposite bank of the river. There was a deep crevice exactly in the disputed ground; and I am afraid to say how many thousands sterling it was sworn to be worth, in the estimation of the disputants. We had to decide the case however with only one acknowledged peg to start from, and I am happy to say that both parties – winners and losers – came up to the police hut, under the shadow of the rocks where we held the inquiry, to thank us for the manner in which we had dealt with it.

On that occasion I examined the beach and its surroundings carefully; and between the layers of a huge bolder of mica schist lying on the beach, thin flakes of gold were rather plentifully bestrewed. But those were the days of large things, and nobody minded such trifles.

Many other beaches and gullies were subsequently opened up. The chief of these was Skippers, which, besides yielding enormous quantities of gold from the gully of that name – from the once celebrated "Terraces" – and from the beaches of the river, has been proved to be rich in quartz lodes. Beyond Skippers, the Shotover river has been wrought with more or less success up to the dividing ranges, within thirty miles of the West Coast.

The following items from my official report of 1863 may be of interest as reminiscences of those days: – "One party of miners working in the river at Maori Point valued a disputed portion of ground, only five feet in width, by twelve in length, at £3000, and subsequent results have proved that the estimate was not exaggerated. Another party was averaging two pounds weight per day from beach workings, and in a third instance, one man, with the assistance of a hired labourer, was obtaining four ounces per day from the river bed by the rudest appliances. At Carmichael's, above Skippers, 6 lbs and 8 ozs were obtained from a

single dish of wash-dirt; and a solitary miner, working with a cradle in the rotten slate, informed me that he could get from six pennyweights to half an ounce, and occasionally an ounce per day, by that process."

On the Arrow River also the workings long continued to be largely remunerative. In July, 1863, Mr. Warden Beetham reported that from the 1st to the 4th – three days – l76 ozs were taken out of one claim – six dishes of earth yielding 72 ozs; and that 2000 miners had forwarded by escort a monthly average of 6000 ozs of gold.

"In April, 1864, a rush took place to the Manuherikia Valley, near Black's head-station.

"More important discoveries were made in May. The first of these was at Campbell's Creek, which runs from the Obelisk, or 'Old Man' range, towards the Mataura.

"The next discovery was that of the Mount Ida Goldfield. On may 20th a miner named William Parker (a son of the Victorian Protector of Aborigines) and his mates found payable prospects on the Hogburn, a small stream which takes its rise in Mount Ida, and joins the Taieri River above the Taieri Lake.

"In June, new workings were reported as having been discovered in some of the branches of the Serpentina Creek, a tributary of the Taieri River, having its sources in the Rock and Pillar ranges.

"On the 16th July an application was made to the Provincial Government by Simon Fraser for a prospecting claim on a creek which rises in Boulder Hill in the east bank of the Taieri, and about six miles from Dunedin. This creek was afterwards named 'Mullocky Gully.'" (Report, 1863.)

Campbell's Creek has proved immensely rich. It is one of the head branches of the Waikaia River, and quartz reefs have recently been found in its vicinity. Reference may here be made to the workings at Switzers on the lower Waikaia, between which and Campbells there is a thick "bush" or forest, the area of which is estimated at about eighty square miles.

Parker's discovery resulted in the opening up of numerous gold-bearing streams and gullies now embraced in the Mount Ida Goldfield, which may be said to extend from Cambrians on Dunstan Creek, and to Hyde at the head of Strath-Taieri –

including within its limits Macraes, St. Bathans, Hamiltons, Kyeburn, and the celebrated Mount Burster workings. The terrace at Hamiltons was extremely rich, but much gold was lost there in the earliest days of its discovery owing to the unsuspected presence of cinnabar in the washdirt. Hamiltons was named after Captain Hamilton, on whose run it is situated, and consisted principally of a series of "made hills" and landslips on the northern face of the Rock and Pillar ranges. Its auriferous character was discovered in October, 1863, by a miner named Brockleman and three others, whose attention was attracted to the peculiar appearance of the place, whilst working at the Hogburn, on the far-away opposite side of the Maniototo Plains. They determined to prospect the ground as soon as their means would allow them to purchase a pack horse. Two months, however, elapsed before they were able to effect this purpose, when they started with four weeks provisions, and commenced working up towards a landslip. Fifteen holes were sunk with poor results, the average yield being a quarter of a pennyweight to the dish, with from six inches to one foot of washdirt. On the third day their perseverance was rewarded by the discovery of some payable ground. Probably these were the deepest gold workings in Otago, the sinking in the best ground being from 70 to 80 feet.

Fraser's application led to the discovery by Nicoll and party of the Hindon Goldfields on the western side of the Taieri, some parts of which were remarkably productive. At the head of Sailor's Gully the gold was very coarse, and so nearly on the surface that I saw it shaken from the roots of tufts of grass, pulled out by the hand, in the presence of Mr. Hyde Harris and Mr. St. John Branigan, in company with whom Mr. Frederick Moss and Dr. Alexander and I visited the ground at the time of the first "rush."

From 1863 onwards many small discoveries have been made in various parts of Otago, and also in that portion of the Provincial District which is designated Southland; and many localities where gold had been found in the early days, and which had been abandoned as not being sufficiently rich to satisfy the

expectations of the discoverers, have been re-opened and wrought to more or less advantage. But nothing equalling the great discoveries of Tuapeka, Dunstan, and Wakatipu has since occurred. The feverish excitement of 1861 and 1862 has gradually died away, and gold-mining is now as much a steady, plodding industry as any other pursuit.

The number of miners in Otago attained its greatest height at the beginning of 1864. By the census returns of December in that year the total population of the Goldfields was enumerated at 15,700 persons; and of these it was estimated that 10,000 were actually gold miners. But in April, May, and June over 6000 miners left Otago for the Wakamarina rush in Marlborough, whence many proceeded to Auckland, and others returned to Australia, but the majority went over to Hokitika and the Grey River, and laid the foundations of settlement on the West Coast. As the diggings there extended, still more followed them, and on the 31st March, 1865, the total number remaining on the Otago Goldfields was estimated at 7000.

The nearest point to Dunedin where gold has been obtained is on the property of Mr. Stevenson at the Chain Hills, close by the railway line, where in 1864 some miners wrought a small shallow gully, finding gold in remunerative quantities. They worked there some time before they were discovered by the land owners and compelled to abandon their operations. A sample which they bought to my office in Dunedin was of a coarse rugged character, indicative of the presence of a quartz lode in the immediate vicinity. For some time gold was, and is I believe still, being wrought for in the Waitati Valley near Blueskin. And in a gully running out of Mary Hill, at the head of Lake Waihola, (or, as it should be written, Waihora), some fine nuggety specimens were obtained in 1864; but although the land was withheld from sale in consequence for some years nothing further has been heard of from that locality.

The seabeaches along the eastern coast from Moeraki to Te Waewae's Bay have been proved to be auriferous, more or less, throughout. The gold is always accompanied by iron sand, and

in some places with minute zircons and garnets, such as occur also in the upper waters of the Taieri River where it enters the Strath. The supply of gold in these beaches seems to be perennially renewed, and practised beach-workers appear to know when to recommence their labours on each part of the coast.

It may be said, in general terms, that the whole of Otago from the sea coast to the western provincial boundary, is auriferous. 8 There are large tracts in and over which gold has not yet been found, but the metal is so generally distributed that the process of discovery, though slow, is persistent and continuous. It is found in the beds of rivers, and on the terraces by which they are bordered; deep in the soil of the valleys, and on the tops of mountains 2000 and 3000 feet above the level of the sea. At the Blue Spur, of which I will write more fully in the next chapter, it permeates the newest and the oldest tertiaries, and both there and at Wetherstones there is an incalculable area of auriferous "cement" continuing to a depth that has not yet been fathomed. The same may be said of the workings at Tinkers, at the foot of the Dunstan Ranges. Twenty and more years of constant mining operations have not caused any sign of exhaustion; indeed the yield of gold found in these mines is apparently as great as ever. Probably there are not in the world alluvial mines of a like constant character; for this is a feature peculiar to Otago.

The wonderful "finds" of the early days are not likely to be repeated; but I am quite confident that the auriferous resources of Otago are not nearly exhausted, and that many rich fields yet await exploration, as was illustrated by the recent discoveries at Mount Criffel. A few prospectors of the old sort would find payable ground in many untried places, but most of the old prospectors are gone, and those who have not "joined the majority" are unfit to endure the necessary toil, and there are few young miners to supply their places, possessed of the energy and perseverance that characterised the Victorians of the early Fifties, and the sturdy Otago mining pioneers of the early Sixties.

8 See Appendix E – Jackson's Bay.

CHAPTER I. Black Peter's First Mate...

ADDITIONAL CHAPTERS.

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ADDITIONAL CHAPTERS.

CHAPTER I.

Black Peter's First Mate. – Experiences of an Early Pioneer.

IN all the accounts of the early discoveries of the Tuapeka Goldfield that I have seen, no mention has ever been made of Black Peter's first mate, and co-explorer. I confess that even his name was unknown to me, until it was accidentally revealed to me by a relative – a lady residing at Balclutha. Acting on the hint obtained from this source, I wrote to Mr. John Thomson, asking for information, and in reply I received the following interesting letter and enclosure: –

"Waipori, Otago,
"January 6th, 1887.

Dear Sir, – I enclose an account of my first experience in gold digging with Black Peter, and hope it may prove of some slight use to you in compiling your interesting work on the Early Gold Discoveries in Otago. I have only given my own experience prior to the discovery of Gabriel's Gully, as I have already seen good and faithful accounts of the events subsequent to that published in your narrative in the Witness.

"Yours truly,
"JOHN THOMSON."
"VINCENT PYKE, Esq., M. H. R."

The narrative of Mr. Thomson's connection with the discovery of Tuapeka is given in his own words: –

"In the autumn of 1858, whilst I was working at the Molyneux Ferry, better known now as Balclutha, I one day met with Black Peter, who showed me a small quantity of very fine gold (about a grain), which he told me he had obtained whilst building

a shepherd's hut for Messrs Davey and Bowler, near the Tuapeka River. I had been engaged in boring for minerals for several years in the old country previous to my coming to New Zealand, and had acquired some little knowledge of mineralogy, which I suppose led me to take a stronger interest in Peter's discovery than the other people about the Ferry; for though Peter had no hesitation in showing his gold to any one, the majority merely regarded it with curiosity without showing any inclination to go and look for more. I immediately caught the gold fever – which might in my case be classed as an incurable complaint, for I have not got rid of it – and made arrangements with Peter to go back with him, see the place where he had made the discovery, and if I thought sufficiently well of it, to procure a load of provisions, &c, for the purpose of going properly into prospecting. Just then a heavy flood set in, which prevented our getting away for two or three weeks, but at the end of that time we started on our journey. The distance was about 40 miles, and we managed to do it in two days. On the evening of the first day we met with a lad who was employed as a shepherd, and we passed the night in his tent. Wild pigs were plentiful in those days, and our young host had just killed a good fat one, a part of which we stowed away very enjoyably after our tramp. Whilst on our way during the second day we fell in with Mr Peter Robertson, who was sowing grass seed on some ground torn up by the pigs. We had a yarn with him for a while, then proceeded, and towards evening landed at Messrs. Davey and Bowler's shepherd's hut, where we were kindly welcomed by Davy Falconer. The following day Peter and I went down to the flat beside the Tuapeka River, where he had first found the gold. On the banks of the river we observed a formation of pipeclay carrying wash on its surface; we washed a few dishes, and though the prospects obtained were not exciting ones, I considered them to be very fair in themselves, and sure indications of something better, for the strata showed a decided decline into the flat, and consequently we expected deeper and richer ground further in. Our expectations in this latter respect were well proved to be correct subsequently by other more fortunate diggers, for the place we were then trying with only a shovel and tin dish, a few years after became known as Evans' Flat. We wanted provisions and we wanted tools, so we held a council of two and decided that Peter should return to the Ferry and bring up a bullock load of necessaries for which I had made arrangement before we commenced our journey. Whilst Peter was on this errand, I passed the time in prospecting such shallow ground on the flat as I could get at with the shovel; everywhere I tried, I got gold; sometimes about a grain to the dish, sometimes less. At the end of eight days, Peter returned with the bullock load, and also brought with him another man to join our pros-

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

BLACK PETER

pecting party. This new arrival was a big American negro who had been cook on board the Strathfieldsaye. Like myself, he had caught the gold fever from Peter, and having paid his footing like a man, Peter took him into the party. We immediately turned to and built a cabbage-tree hut to live in, and then with the new set of tools determined to tackle the deep ground in the flat. I think we only got down a little more than three feet, when the water began to come in on us; but the other two assisting at the baling, I managed to keep digging down with the shovel, and after a little time, though the water was gaining fast, we struck the wash and got out a dish full. Out of that dish we obtained a 1/2 dwt. speck and 1/2 dwt. of fine gold. Our spirits were considerably raised, and we expected to do well. That night, after supper, we sat outside the hut talking over our good luck, and, warming with the subject, the big negro gave us a sort of a triumphant song and dance. It was as comical a thing as I have ever seen. I represented the audience and Peter played an accompaniment on the camp oven with an iron spoon.

We had been counting our chickens before they were hatched. Our expectations of wealth were not realised; the water proved to be an insuperable obstacle, for we had no pump and no material to make one. We tried several other parts of the deep ground with the same result. Then we fell back on the shallow ground for a while, putting the washdirt through a sluice box which Peter had brought on the bullock dray. The gold was fine, and we did not at that time properly understand how to save it; I believe we lost more than we gained. At any rate, we found it would not pay, so we started around the gullies prospecting. Among other places we tried the head of Gabriel's Gully, but the ground was too deep and the water too plentiful. Provisions and money getting scarce, I made back to the Ferry, obtained work there, and commenced saving money to try and start a properly-equipped prospecting party. Whilst I was still preparing for this, news came down of Gabriel Read's discovery, and a fortnight after I had a good claim pegged off in Gabriel's Gully."

Another of the early mining pioneers – Mr William Gascoigne, who is yet a resident of Wetherstones, near Lawrence – has sent me an account of his experiences in the early days: –

"On arriving in Dunedin, on the 11th of September, 1861, I proceeded to Gabriel's Gully by the Maungatua route. Having reached the Taieri River, and been piloted across in a dug-out, by Donald Borrie, at the small charge of 2s 6d, it being night, a man arrived there with two bullocks and a sledge, making a bee-line for Dunedin. We met his mate next day on top of Maungatua, who informed us his name was M'Donald, and he was taking

a considerable amount of gold on the sledge to Dunedin. It was taken out of a claim, known as the 'Five Lever Claim,' in Gabriel's Gully. This claim was situated at the foot of a small gully, now called Welsh's Gully. This claim was the richest one then known, and it was believed that about £5000 worth of gold was taken out of it. We succeeded in reaching the Waipori about dusk, where about 300 men were stopped, not liking to attempt to ford the river. The party that I was with picked up a ship's lead-line on the road, and one of our party swam the river with one end of it. By stretching it tight across the river 30 or 40 were enabled to cross that night, myself among the number. Jock Graham appeared on the scene on horseback bound for town. His horse was immediately brought into requisition. He charged 5s for each one who crossed on the horse, and as there were people crossing from each side he made a considerable lot of money. After a while his horse took the shivers, and he cleared out for town. We camped that night near the O. P. Q. Company, and proceeded next morning to Gabriel's. We met a man on the road next day who had a very useful mate with him – 'a Maori woman.' He was carrying a billy, and the Maori woman carried blankets, tent, &c. I asked him if he would part with his mate, and he said, 'No; she wasn't for sale.' He gave a very poor account of Gabriel's, saying there was very little gold to be got. We arrived in Gabriel's the third day after leaving Dunedin. We found the wages 30s per day, and keep yourselves, or £1 a day and found. Shovels were £1, picks £1, buckets £1, flour 1s per lb, mutton 18d, Captain Cook (wild pig) 1s. After rambling up and down the gully stock-taking, there was still plenty of ground in the vicinity of the spur not worked. I and my mates took up a claim at the foot of the spur, bottomed the hole, and took 6 ozs off the bottom.

"Waitahuna was then being rushed, and our ground being very wet, we decided to leave it and go to Waitahuna, where we again struck gold in a claim yielding us about £20 a man per week (five men). We made about £120 a man in six weeks. The price of timber at the spur was 5s. per foot. After working out our Waitahuna claim, I went to Waipori rush, where my brother and Frank Melbourne got a few pounds weight of gold out of a small gully. While there I conceived the idea of forming a company to bring water on to Wetherstones, and left Waipori for the purpose of doing so. Having formed the company, eight in number, we marched to cut a race about the 8th of March, '62. In nine weeks we had the satisfaction of seeing the water running into Wetherstones, having constructed four and a-half miles of water race and built a reservoir. The Phoenix Company now own the same property. The first water race made in Otago for gold-mining purposes was commenced at Waitahuna by some men

from Ovens (Victoria); ours was the second, and went by the name of 'Gascoigne's.' White and party, now known as the Otago Company, was the next completed, and it sent water into the Blue Spur. I think that White and party were the first to commence ground sluicing on the Gabriel's side of the spur, sometime in June or July, 1862. The Nelson Company was next with the water race on the spur. The company were all Nelson men, except two. Hales and Hind were also making a race at the same time. James Graham, well known as 'California Jim,' was the first man to commence ground sluicing on the Monroe's side of the spur, in a gully known as 'Holy Joe's.' He had a small water race coming out of the head of Munroe's. I believe from what I have heard that he got from 130 oz. to 140 oz. for a few weeks' sluicing. I should look upon 'California Jim' as the father of ground sluicing on the Spur. 9 He also was connected with the first big water race brought in from the Waipori River, being the principal mover in bringing it in. He had some slight disagreement with his old mates and sold out. Having done so he made another move and fetched the other race in. There was another man called Meehan, now on the West Coast, who did great service on these races. The shaft that you referred to in your note was sunk by two men named Cameron and White, in June, '62."

The reference to a shaft mentioned in my letter to Mr. Gascoigne is connected with the early history of the famous Blue Spur. In the month of May, 1862, upon my acceptance of the office of Chief Commissioner of Goldfields, I was instructed by the Superintendent, Major Richardson, to pay a visit of inspection to Tuapeka, in company with Mr. Thomas Dick, then Provincial Secretary, and Mr. Alexander Willis, clerk to the Superintendent. A very miserable journey it was, through sloughs and quagmires, denominated 'roads,' and over the dreary summits of Mount Stewart. So fearfully bad were the roads in those days, that on the return journey to Dunedin, the coach, driven by Langley, an experienced Victorian 'whip,' started from Tuapeka at 4 o'clock in the morning, and after 'slogging' through the stiff mud all day only reached Dunedin at 1 o'clock the next morning. Whilst at Tuapeka we visited the 'Blue Spur,' as it was even then named, for the reason that miners were working – or rather scratching – at the foot of the Spur in the old blue tertiaries. We climbed to

the top of the Spur, and there we found a man hauling at a windlass. A deep shaft had been sunk from the crown, and the men were seeking for gold after the Victorian fashion by sinking. In reply to our inquiries we were informed that 'the colour' of gold was found all through the soil, but nothing payable. This was before the notion of sluicing the ground had entered into the minds of the miners. Very little idea had they then of the enormous wealth lying dormant in the Spur, which has been proved to be the richest and most permanent alluvial mine in the world, and is still being wrought with profit to the fortunate claimholders. The history of its development and progress demands special description, for which I have been favoured with valuable information from authoritative sources. 10

9 See Appendix G – Water-races at Blue Spur.

10 See Appendix H – The Blue Spur; also pages 111 and 112.

CHAPTER II. Episodes of the Dunstan Rush...

CHAPTER II.

Episodes of the Dunstan Rush. – Campbell's Gully. – The Old Man Range. – The Molyneux. – The Nevis. – Snow Poles. – Scurvy. – Frostbite.

MR. H. W. ROBINSON, now Resident Magistrate at Oamaru, was the first Warden of the Teviot Goldfield. He afterwards held the same office at Clyde, and later still at Naseby. The episodical events narrated in this chapter have been obligingly contributed by him, for the purposes of this History: –

"It was, I think, in the winter of 1864 that it was reported that there were 500 men snowed up at Campbell's Gully, and the question was how to get at them. The numbers were exaggerated, and the danger of starvation where they were was not perhaps so great as was thought. Still the hardships were great enough and the outlook sufficiently dismal for the poor fellows who saw themselves surrounded with snow in that remote region. Many of them made their way over to the Teviot and others to Alexandra. Relief parties were organised at the Teviot and at Alexandra. It will never be known how many men were lost on the ranges in that dreadful winter, but the number at the time was estimated at 30. I was at Clyde – not long removed from Teviot.

"One incident of very tragic interest was the case of a party of four men who started together for Alexandra. First one lost heart and soon he dropped behind. Then another could not keep up, and he had to be left by the other two. These two kept on manfully together until they also could proceed no further and took shelter from the storm behind a rock. The weaker of the two could not keep on his feet, and his friend lifted him up when he fell and propped him against the rock, trying all he could to keep the poor fellow from yielding to the drowsiness which he knew meant death. At last the faithful friend could keep him up no more. He sank down and the other had no strength left to rise him. Still the last man kept himself up – at length day dawned and the storm abated – and the solitary watcher by the

dead saw that he was within a quarter of a mile of the shanty, where all could have been safe if only they could have seen and reached it.

"The bodies of the three men were never brought down, but when the track was once more opened they were found and buried where they lay – (at least I believe such was the case). There was no inquest, but I held an informal magisterial inquiry at Alexandra. I remember I was greatly struck with the manly demeanor of the survivor whose statement I took down."

Several of the men who perished in this disastrous storm were buried in one common grave, on the side of the range at Deep Creek, on the road between Roxburgh and Alexandra. At this place a number of packers had located a camping village, which from its position was called Chamcuni, and the rude remains of which are still to be seen. A roughly carved stone commemorates the resting place of the men who fled from Campbell's Creek only to lose life in the bewildering snowdrift.

"The same winter there was a rush to some gullies in the 'Old Man' Range, somewhere about the head of the Earnscleugh. A curious incident in connection with this was the subject of an assault case heard at Clyde. The assault arose out of "removal of land marks" – the old cause of quarrel – and blows were exchanged and some blood let flow – on closer enquiry it appeared that the place where the fight occurred was five feet deep in snow. I naturally wanted to know how the ground was pegged, and was informed that the marking was done with tussocks carried to the spot and laid on the snow. At this enquiry I was credibly informed that some men were working in the bed of a little creek in one of the deep gullies under the snow which formed a sort of arch over their heads – the water in fact flowing in a snowy tunnel.

"The first rush of miners to the Molyneux was in 1862, when Hartley and Reilly startled the people of Dunedin by bringing in 87 lb weight of gold as the result of one winter's work. The eagerness of people to go was almost beyond belief. 1 was in Dunedin at the time and remember seeing a waggon loaded with men's swags – for the freight of which, at a high rate each, it was said the carrier was to get £600.

"The hardships of the way and the want of necessaries on arrival have been often told – how flour was sold at 2s 6d a pannikin – and how the very floors of the homestead at Galloway Station were torn up and sold to be made into cradles.

"When matters had settled down a bit the miners spread themselves along the river, getting gold almost everywhere on

the beaches, and following it in until they stood up to their thighs in the stream 'blind dipping.'

"The people made themselves dwellings in many instances by scooping out chambers in the sandy banks. Some of these were by no means uncomfortable, especially when they took the trouble to sink small shafts from above to serve as chimneys. I remember one of these in particular which was surmounted by a very neat chimney top, built of the sandy sods, and with the date 'A.D. 1863' sharply cut upon its surface.

"Most of these dwellings were however placed too low, and when the river rose, as it did very suddenly, most of them were swamped out.

"One of the most interesting and least known of mining districts was the Nevis. When first I visited the place it was in winter, and the snow was from a foot to eighteen inches in depth in the Nevis valley. There was a considerable population, and plenty of disputes. I was kept there three days – busy all the while. There was no accommodation to be had for money, but the one constable stationed there had a tent in which he made me welcome. As for my horse, there was no stable, but I got him covered with bagging and sheltered to some extent behind a sod wall. The residents simply let their horses go, to take their chance. There was no building to hold Court in, only a tent of single calico. This, when I entered it, and got in a table and a chair, seemed at least clean, for the earthen floor was hard frozen, and a kindly Irishman brought a bullock hide for my chair to rest on. All went well, though coldly enough, until the people who quickly filled the little tent to suffocation had been a little while in the place. Then the ground began to thaw, and the clean floor became noisome, filthy mud; the hard, stiff bullock hide became soft and flabby, to say nothing of its stinking, and the legs of my chair sinking down into the swamp I had great difficulty in keeping my position. Not a bit of board was to be had to put under the chair, and I had to manage the best way I could by frequently shifting the chair.

"The life of miners at the Nevis was a very hard and desolate one, living in so remote a place with absolutely no 'social privileges,' not even what Mr. Bird o' Freedom Sawin had in prison, 'a one-hoss stern-wheel parson.' Yet during four years that I continued to visit the place the same men seemed to stick to it.

"There was one gully known as the 'North Pole,' where two men worked all the summer; when winter came, and work was not to be thought of, one of them moved into Clyde, but the other elected to stay where he was and watch the claim. He accordingly made an arrangement with 'German Charlie' at the Nevis Ferry to take him provisions once a fortnight, as weather would permit, one bottle of rum being always part of the packload.

"That German was a very bold mountain traveller, and on the very last occasion that I visited Nevis he volunteered to be my guide on the return journey. I believe if I had attempted the journey alone I should have been lost, for there was a frightful storm and the track was entirely obliterated.

"The first snow poles were put up on the track from Tuapeka to 'the Portuguese' (Captain Macil's) below Miller's Flat; these were only Manuka poles. A similar lot were erected over the Knobby Range, most of which were pretty promptly pulled down. Some were cut down and burnt on the spot to boil billies, and some were carried into Alexandra to make ridge poles and rafters for tents. Afterwards some stone pillars were erected, roughly built of the schist rock.

"After the horrible winter of 1864, it was decided to erect on Campbell's Gully track substantial snow posts built round with stone, and as a further security, because in the blinding storms no man could see from one post to another, it was proposed to connect these posts with strong galvanised wire. This it was thought would, when the snow was deep, be of great assistance to travellers in guiding them from one post to another. A contract was let and reported as completed. Mr. Coates, Mining Surveyor, went to inspect it and found that the snow and sleet had frozen on to the thick wire and broken it down, and that it lay in short lengths on the ground. He picked up a piece about two feet long and brought it with him to Clyde and showed it to me. I sent it to the Secretary of Goldfields at Dunedin. When summer came again the wire was gathered up and brought down off the mountains and sold for what it would fetch. 11

"The hardships which the miners had to endure in the early days of the Dunstan were very great, not the least being the entire absence of fresh vegetable food. Flour and bacon were the most portable provisions, and on these they chiefly subsisted, with the consequence that, like sailors in similar circumstances, they began to suffer from scurvy. In the Dunstan Hospital there were forty beds; all were full, and several patients had to be billeted out in the township of Clyde.

"Another serious difficulty or trouble of the adventurous miners was frost-bite. Cases were not uncommon of men losing portions of their feet. I have not heard of any cases of late years. The last I know of, that was at all serious, was that of Mr. Flynn at Naseby, who lost half of one foot and some toes of the other. The half of the foot simply mortified and came away. But he recovered and is still at Naseby and at work."

11 See Appendix I – Snow-poles.

CHAPTER III. How Fox was Found.

CHAPTER III.

How Fox was Found.

THE workings on the Arrow River were originally called "Fox's," owing to the circumstances narrated in the text chapter XI. As is elsewhere stated, the incautious proceedings of Fox, when visiting the Dunstan, directed attention to the fact of his being at work somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Lakes. But before anything was known or heard of Fox, one party of prospectors discovered his whereabouts, and shared in the golden harvest; and strangely enough they were indirectly guided to the locality by Gabriel Read. The story of how they found Fox is graphically told in the following interesting sketch, which presents a vivid picture of life on the Goldfields in the halcyon days of discovery. The writer – Mr. John Cormack, of Tuapeka – was one of these early mining pioneers.

"In August '62, when Hartly and Reilly made known their discovery of gold at Dunstan, I was engaged on the Government Survey near the Horseshoe Bush, my mate being from the same parish in Caithnesshire, Ben Sutherland by name, and about the same age, 24.

"When the Otago Witness containing the report reached us it was carefully read, and you may be sure it made a strong impression on us, so much so that neither of us could sleep until towards morning; and by the first streak of daylight I awoke to find that the load of gold I dreamt I had such difficulty in carrying was my mate Ben, who was lying across my chest, and who was also in dreamland.

"Next day we resolved to try our luck at gold-digging, and left, with the approval of our 'boss,' for Dunedin, buying an old pack mare to take our swags. A few days in Dunedin enabled us to get all we required by way of outfit, and we also got from Mr Ross, then Chief Surveyor, sketches of the best plans then in the office of the Upper Clutha and Lake Districts.

"Our experience on the survey enabled us to make quick time on the journey to Dunstan, passing all we came in sight of, and meeting hundreds on their way back, who of course found that the rush was all a delusion and a snare – in fact, I have heard nothing yet from the Kimberley half so bad as they told us about the Dunstan. We reached the place where the township now stands on Sunday evening, and found a lively row going on between some rough fellows and a storeman about a load of flour just landed, and which he wanted too much per pound for, and they (the miners) wanted for less. At last one or two began to help themselves, when the storeman jumped on to the dray, and, pulling out a pencil, told them to take what they wanted and give him their names, with which he would be satisfied. This stopped the row; the better disposed left, and the others soon followed. We camped on the band of the river half a mile south of the Gorge, and there must have been some hundreds of tents all round us. When about to turn in we heard our nearest neighbour take possession of his tent just behind ours, and soon after someone came and spoke to him, but was not well received, and we expected a fight; but when the man in the tent turned out the other made off, leaving the tent-owner using strong words, and declaring 'he would fight Old Nick or any other white man.' Now nothing in the strict religious training of my partner, and myself was so thoroughly ingrained in our minds as the perfect blackness of the character mentioned, and painting him in white looked so ridiculous that we could not help laughing right out, whereupon a head was thrust into our tent to ask what we laughed at. We offered some excuse, which was accepted with the remark: 'Well, I'm Gabriel Read, and I don't care for any man.'

"On Monday we prospected up the river, next day down the river, unsuccessfully; and on Wednesday bundled up our swags, tied them on the old mare, and when ready to start we took advantage of the short acquaintance we made with Mr. Gabriel Read on Sunday night to go to his tent and ask his advice as to which was the most likely direction to take. This he gave us in a very kindly manner, and it was nearly as follows: 'You go right up the river, and when you go about eight or nine miles you will find a large river joins this one on the opposite side. Now the gold comes down that river (Kawarau) from the slate ranges round Lake Wakatipu. Try and cross the Molyneux when you get beyond Kawarau, and make for those slate ranges; it's there the gold is, and I believe plenty of it.'

"We thanked him, and started, but could find no means of getting across till we reached Wilkin and Thomson's station, at the junction of the streams from Lakes Wanaka and Hawea. We were the first miners there, and getting across, made back towards

the Kawarau with the intention of following up that river, as advised by Mr. Gabriel Read, but when within about eight miles of what is now Cromwell we met a Mr. Hill, who had something to do with putting punts on the rivers, and learning from him that if we wanted to get to Wakatipu we would cut off a long journey by going over the mountain, we started to climb, and after being stuck on the top of the range for three days of heavy rain, we crossed the Roaring Meg at what was afterwards the upper ford, and camped at the head of the Gentle Annie. That same day we went to look for the Kawarau, and finding it, we tried some prospects on the top of what was almost a bare rock, the result being over 6 oz. of very rough gold from a few dishes of stuff. We were told by two sailors who had got so far that the three days' rain when we were on the top of the hill had raised the river over ten feet, and thinking from the prospects we got that something handsome could be done when the river subsided, we resolved to stay. About a week after, there being little signs of the river going down, and having got a little more gold, I started for Dunedin, expecting to meet relatives of my partner and myself from Home, and take them back with me. As they did not arrive I returned, taking with me a 'new chum' named George M'Kenzie, from Tuapeka, and two men from Teviot – Dan Sutherland and Harry Bowman. On getting back to where my mate, Ben, was (I believe it is called the Horseshoe Bend now) on the Kawarau, it was arranged that, the river being still high, two parties should go prospecting; and Dan Sutherland and M'Kenzie started for the Nevis, going over the natural bridge on the Kawarau, and Ben Sutherland with Bowman started for Wakatipu. I was left to rest after my journey to Dunedin, and to get fresh supplies from Cromwell. In about a week the Nevis party returned unsuccessful, and the next night, just as I had lit a candle, my mate, Ben, rushed into the hut, and I was about to welcome him when he put his hand on my mouth and blew the candle out. This was in consequence of a party who had tracked me from Cromwell, and had pitched their tent near us. Ben directly left the tent, asking me to come after him by-and-bye. Our neighbours heard something unusual, and came in to have a yarn, but left about 10 o'clock, and soon after we had Ben's secret of finding Fox. By 12 o'clock we were on our way for Arrow River, leaving our tent standing, and also 50 lb of flour we could not carry. But I must return to relate how Fox was found. A similar incident is narrated in 'The Story of Wild Will Enderby.' – Book 3, chapter 3.

"The second day after Ben and Bowman left for the Wakatipu they struck the Arrow, and prospected up its banks. When they got to the gorge where the river comes on to the flat, they found that the water extended from side to side, and consequently

concluded that no one was further up the river. Two or three horses grazing on the flat gave them reason to think people were not far off, but they might belong to the station, and under that impression they started for the lake.

"By following the Arrow up to the gorge they missed seeing Lake Hayes. When they got to the station (Mr Rees') they had some dinner, and while discussing it the cook, who was very talkative, said: 'There must be diggers working on the quiet somewhere on the run. There was far more flour and other provisions going from the station to the hut at Lake Hayes than the two shepherds could use,' &c, &c.

"Sutherland and Bowman followed the Shotover to where it comes on to the flat, did some prospecting, and could do well but were not satisfied; so on Saturday they left their tent, &c, and went to see the horses mentioned before, having learned from the station cook that they did not belong to the station. Not seeing anything of the owners, they went on to the top of a small hill standing on the flat, and sat down to have a smoke. While so engaged one of them noticed two men walking down the river up to their waists in the water, and when they got on to the flat they came out of the water each with a piece of rope in his hand, and walked down towards Lake Hayes. My mates lay down, and in about two hours saw the men return, each with a carcase of a sheep, walk into the water, and disappear up the gorge.

"My mates returned to their tent at the Shotover, and next day (Sunday), taking their tent with them, they removed to the Arrow, and on going up about a quarter of a mile through the gorge came on the camp where M'Gregor and Low were camped. Fox was there, and some questions were put by him as to how my mates found the place, how many mates they had, &c, after which he said: 'Well, we are doing well here, and do not wish a rush to take place, and to prevent you from leaving we must tie you up. We will give you plenty to eat, and treat you well, but we cannot allow you to leave.' Sutherland asked him on what authority he would hold them, and the answer was: 'I am Fox, and will take it on myself to prevent your leaving.' Sutherland said: 'You are not Fox. I know him, and had a yarn with him at Kawarau Junction.' This led to a lot of questioning about what like the man was whom he met at Kawarau, during which Sutherland saw the man who said he was Fox coming down the gully, and said: 'Oh, here's Fox!' This was really West, head of the third party working on the Arrow. Fox and West had some warm words about the latter personating Fox, winding up, however, by West – who had met us twice or thrice before, and who had got a rough sketch of our maps from us – speaking in our favour, and ultimately it was agreed that Sutherland should be allowed to bring his mates, but under a severe penalty if he,

brought any more. Hence the precautions taken by us in getting away from Kawarau by leaving our tent, &c.

"It took us four nights to reach the Arrow, as we had to hide all day, and we were very ill from the effects of eating beef, which through ignorance, I had hung exposed to the moon's rays.

"We worked about three weeks before the crowd found us, although two or three parties came just before the crowd, through the rations falling short, and some of us having to go to Kawarau Junction for supplies. We were a very happy lot of diggers. Fox was appointed Commissioner, and gave each man sixty feet frontage to the river. Jumping was not allowed under penalty of having to fight Fox. No secret was made of the quantity of gold got, and each thought he had the best claim. M'Gregor and Low's party, who were the first on the ground, were very quiet. The greatest want was tobacco, and the old tea leaves were carefully sun-dried and smoked. One of my mates, who had managed to preserve a piece of tobacco about the size of a penny, actually refused to give a pipeful for a pipeful of gold.

"We should no doubt have been discovered much sooner, there being a great many hunting for Fox, but the horses being shifted on the flat, and the water filling the entrance to the gully, left no track to show where we were; and the rush ultimately came through what was afterwards called Bracken's Gully and over a saddle into the Arrow. Our party was at the foot of the saddle, and when the first crowd of about twenty got on the saddle and saw us, they came rushing down, but were so excited that they could not speak – they only stared with eyes and mouths open, and after a time gasped out – 'Are you Fox?'

"After the rush, and when all the ground was taken up, we took things easier, only working eight hours a day. The time our party was taking out 110 lbs. weight was four weeks and three days. We lost much gold by our way of working, and the next party who worked over the ground was reported as having got 40 lbs. weight. The third party who worked it came with me from Kawarau Junction – one Robert M'Donald, and the other James M'Kay. They cleared £400 each. I have been told that M'Kay is the same who is now the American millionaire, but there is possibly no truth in it. He was a decent, quiet man – a native of the North of Ireland."

CHAPTER IV. Goldmining, Ancient and Modern...

CHAPTER IV.

Goldmining, Ancient and Modern. – Sluicing. – Dredging. – Quartz Lodes.

THE following extract from Mr. Brough Smyth's "Goldfields of Victoria" is both interesting and instructive: –

"Gold was got in Egypt about 2000 years ago from veins of quartz in exactly the same way as our miners get it. The miner apparently followed the underlie of the veins, and excavated sloping shafts, and made galleries of great length. The workmen, carrying lamps on their foreheads, dug and toiled under conditions which would not now be borne. The stone when taken out was pounded in mortars, washed on sloping boards, and the rich residuum treated, if with less metallurgical skill, certainly with ultimate results not much inferior to those now obtained.

"Pliny's account of goldmining operations in Spain, might, with a few unimportant alterations, be accepted as a fair description of the method of working some of our mines. Vein mining, the modes of washing auriferous earth, the system of races (some of them 100 miles in length), and the timbering of drives were but little different from what may be seen now.

"At every rush the miners are obliged very often to work in the same manner, and resort to the same contrivances for getting gold as were common in the times of Darius, the son of Hystaspes (B.C. 521).

"Comparing one epoch with another, and confining ourselves to the ordinary modes of the occurrence of gold, there are few changes to note. And as regards the laws, the ordinances of Ferdinand and Isabella contain paragraphs which are nearly word for word the same as occur in many of the statutes, mining bye-laws, and mining regulations which are now in force. Like difficulties call for the like remedies; and the sharp texts of the Spanish rulers have to be reproduced now to check irregularities of the same kind, and due to the same causes, which operated to the disadvantage of the miners four hundred years ago." 12

All this is very true. Nevertheless, there are many variations of the modes of mining necessitated by geological conditions. The experience of the Victorian miners was of little use to them when they marked out claims at Tuapeka. As an illustration, I may mention that some old Bendigonians started puddling machines, after the Bendigo fashion, to wash the soil in some gullies running into Wetherstones. But the circumstances were so different that the least consideration should have taught them that the experiment would be a failure, as it proved to be, because the soil was so largely composed of gravel. In fact, there was nothing to "puddle" – anything like the stiff clays of Bendigo being non-existent.

Another mistake arising from the application of Victorian experience was evidenced in sinking shafts in pursuit of deep leads. I have already narrated how the celebrated Blue Spur was first wrought after this fashion. There were many fortunes in the ground, but the ordinary mode of working it was unsuitable. Few of the first miners knew anything of sluicing, which was very little practised in Victoria except in the Ovens district. First, a rich deposit of gold was found, and wrought only at the foot of the Spur. The Witness of the period records that "the first party who sank in the "Blue Point," at the head of Gabriel's Gully, could scarcely get the colour from the bottom of their shaft, and consequently abandoned it. Another party took possession of the hole and commenced driving; and before they had got in two feet they came across a patch as rich as any of the far-famed 'jewellers' shops' at Ballarat. As much as 1200 and 1400 ounces were taken out of the claims adjoining the original prospectors." Then, as Mr. Gascoigne tells us, "California Jem" brought in water for sluicing at Munro's Gully, and very soon his example was followed by others. Mr. John Drummond, mining-surveyor, writing in 1864, says: – "From careful calculations, and taking the average depth at 100ft. (which is below the average depth), I find that there is over 29,000,000 cubic yards or tons, and supposing each party of four to be in full working order, and working 280 days in the year, and each party putting through

150 tons per day, gives us, as a result, that it would take four hundred miners seven years to work that small portion of ground out. There can be no doubt that the Blue Spur forms the nucleus for the supply of Gabriel's Gully on the one side, and Morris' Gully on the other; and should mining operations progress as at present, it bids fair in a short time to rival some of the gigantic workings of California." And he adds, "I have no doubt that, when the hill has been washed away, the present tailings will be re-taken up, and either passed through a mill or re-sluiced."

Mr. Drummond's forecast has been proved to be correct in all particulars. The average number of miners working on the Blue Spur may be estimated at from 80 to 100, and nothing like the quantity of earth specified has ever been put through. For nearly twenty-five years the miners have been working away, and still the large surface area of forty-five acres remains, for the bottom has not been touched, save at the edges of the rocky basin, within which this vast auriferous deposit exists. It is the opinion of Dr. Hector and Professor Ulrich, and also of Captain Hutton, that the Blue Spur occupies the site of an ancient mountain lake, or tarn, through which the waters of some river once poured in remote geological times. At present there is no sign of the exhaustion of the auriferous deposits. The tailings have been, and are being, taken up and re-wrought, as it was predicted by Mr. Drummond twenty-three years ago they would be, by a company formed for the purpose.

There are other deposits of a similar nature at Matakanui, on the slopes of the Dunstan ranges, where alluvial claims have been wrought for twenty years and more, and are still richly productive, without any true bottom having been found. I believe that the resources of Otago in this respect are almost inexhaustible, and that only capital and energy are requisite to render the alluvial Goldfields of Otago the wonder, the admiration, and the envy of the world.

Another feature in goldmining in Otago is river dredging. It is well known that the beds of many of our rivers are

immensely rich in gold, but the difficulty has been how to get at them. The Molyneux or Clutha River especially is believed, not without reason, to contain nearly enough gold to pay off the national debt of Great Britain. For untold centuries the streams which pour into it have been depositing gold, and only the aid of scientifically-devised mechanical appliances are required to develope the enormous amount of buried wealth which rests beneath its waters. The first attempt to work this source of wealth was made by Mr. Franz Siedeberg at the Dunstan, in 1863, by dredging the river. Since then the machines used for dredging have gradually undergone improvement till they are as nearly perfect as may be. There are now twelve dredges on this river, mostly paying their owners well. The latest invention in this direction is the Wellman dredge, one of which is now being erected in the neighbourhood of Alexandra, at the junction of the Clutha and Manuherikia Rivers, the efficacy of which remains to be tested. Wherever there is a possibility of the river being turned – that is, diverted from its present bed – there is no doubt that astonishing results would reward the investors. The same remark applies to the Kawarau, the Shotover, and the Arrow, where landslips have covered the original bed. Mr. W. C. Wright, in 1864 Mining Surveyor at Wakatipu, wrote thus: – "In the Arrow division it has been found that ancient river beds exist beneath the landslips, and are remarkable for being lower than the present course of the stream. The wash beneath the immense blocks of rocks composing these slips, can only be got by driving under or through them. I am glad to perceive that, owing to a revival of mining energy, efforts are now being made to develope the hidden treasures that await the bold venturers in this direction."

Attention was given to the occurrence of gold in quartz at a very early period. As recorded in page 4, auriferous quartz was picked up at Goodwood in 1851; and small specimens of a similar kind were frequently found, serving only to tantalise the settlers by raising expectations that were never verified.

Mr. M'Crae, the prospector of whom mention is made in

page 57, brought into Dunedin two specimens of quartz, containing fine gold, which he had obtained near the junction of the Mareburn with the Taieri River. It may be mentioned in passing that he also produced specimens of "precious stones" – so designated – from the same locality. They were probably zircons, a considerable number of which, and some of them of fair size, have from time to time been found in the Taieri, between the Mareburn and Fillyburn.

In February, 1862, the discovery of an auriferous quartz reef in the neighbourhood of Nuggety Gully, four miles from Waitahuna, was reported; and in January, 1863, two men named Jenkins and Saint reported another and similar discovery in the Waitahuna district. Mr. Surveyor Drummond at that time expressed his belief that there was a continuous line of quartz lodes extending from the Waitahuna Ranges in the south to the Lammerlaw in the north. Subsequent discoveries have confirmed this opinion, only the line is much more extensive in each direction than Mr. Drummond supposed.

In May, 1862, there was a rush to Highlay Hill, where a miner named Bailey had found both good alluvial ground and a gold-bearing quartz reef. The latter appears to have been wrought for a little while and then abandoned.

On July 4th, 1862, the following paragraph appeared in the Daily Times: – "Specimens of auriferous quartz are said to have been picked up by Captain Toogood, of the steamship Victory, along the shores of the lagoon adjacent to Wickliffe Bay."

Although not immediately connected with the subject, it may not be amiss if I here interpolate a circumstance recorded in the Otago Witness in September, 1862: –

"We saw yesterday two pieces of hardened clay taken from the side of Bell Hill" – now a vanished memory – "one bearing on its surface five or six specks of water-worn gold, and the other three or four specks. They were part of a seam four feet thick of a heavy blue clay, mixed with a slaty formation." As Bell Hill is basaltic, this incident should have some weight in the contention between the aqueous and igneous theorists as to the

origin of gold. I may say that small pieces of gold have, at various times, been found in the Water of Leith, and also in Lindsay's Creek, where the formation is entirely basaltic.

Similar sensational statements were made from time to time. But the first actual quartz workings were doubtless those at Waipori, on the Shetland Reef, where the O. P. Q. (Otago Pioneer Quartz) Mining Company carried on operations for several years. This reef was discovered in March 1862, by a party of six Victorian miners – all Shetland men – who discovered the reef projecting above the surface, and showing gold. Although six are mentioned, the names of only two – Hosea Fraser and Andrew Williamson – are recorded in the first announcement of the discovery which appears in the Witness of July 26th. At first they broke the stone down with picks and washed it in a cradle; and in this rude manner they obtained 7 ozs. for two weeks' work. Subsequently they wrought it with a battery of four heads or stampers. It is illustrative of the condition of manufacturing industry at that period that when they desired to enlarge their battery, and to erect a waterwheel, they were compelled to send for the stampers and wheel to Melbourne. The first record of these workings is in the Official Report for 1863. The thickness of the reef is there stated to vary from three and a-half to six feet, gradually thickening as it got deeper. The yield from 179 tons is given as 203 ounces – a little over an ounce and a-half to the ton. This reef was successfully wrought for several years; and but for the want of skilled management I believe it would be in work at the present time. It was never thoroughly tested in the lower levels; but when the works were suspended the shaft was passing through a barren section, such as occurs at intervals in all quartz veins, and is generally succeeded by richer stone. That it is a genuine reef, and not a mere "slide," may be regarded as certain.

The next mention of quartz reefs is to be found in the following extracts from my Official Report for 1863: –

On the 1st August, 1863, Mr. Warden Williamson reported: "I have this day granted prospecting claims, at Golden Point,

Pleasant Creek (Upper Shotover District), to Thomas M'Hattie and John M'Ilroy, for two distinct quartz reefs. The specimens are good, gold being distributed throughout the quartz. The casing also contains fine gold." These were called the "Elgin" reefs; but no results are recorded of them under that name.

Of Skippers, where some fine auriferous quartz veins have since been found, it was only recorded that "at various times quartz boulders containing gold had been picked up in the water courses." The same thing occurred at the Woolshed Creek, where a fine specimen of waterworn quartz thickly impregnated with gold was picked up and presented to the Provincial Government by Mr. Borthwick Robert Baird, in 1863. No reef has, however, yet been discovered in the vicinity of the Woolshed; though there are abundant evidences of the existence of auriferous veins in the immediate vicinity of that stream.

I think I am correct in saying that the next big discovery in quartz reefs was that at Bendigo. At Skippers and elsewhere there had been going on a sort of "groping" for golden quartz. But none of these made any sensation, for the simple reason that the products were infinitesimal. I should not care to say positively who discovered the famous Bendigo reef. In 1864 Mr. Julian Coates, at that time mining surveyor at Dunstan, reported to Mr. Warden Robinson, that he had found a hill bestrewn with golden quartz, and a rich reef projecting from the surface. But no reliance was placed on his statement. Yet it is an absolute fact that loose fragments of quartz, thickly studded with gold, and in large quantities, were lying exposed on the hill-side. Many of these were gathered up and crushed with very profitable results by some Germans at the time. Similar stone has been collected ever since, and on a recent visit to the locality I found that the present manager of the company's works had in 1886 gathered and stacked a tolerably large quantity of the same gold-bearing stone from slopes of the ranges. The credit of really prospecting the reef must be given to three men – -Thomas Logan, Brian Hebden, and John Garret. They were all working miners, and one of them always "shepherded" the claim, whilst the

others wrought for wages elsewhere. Their patience and perseverance were eventually rewarded by the discovery of what was undoubtedly the richest quartz-reef in Otago. Some parts of it yielded as much as six ounces to the ton, and as the stone was generally very friable, great quantities could be extracted and put through the stampers daily.

From this time outwards there are no certain records extant. When the Goldfields Department was extinguished, there was no one to take note of successive discoveries.

Nuggets have been of unfrequent occurrence and comparatively small size on the New Zealand Goldfields. Such information as exists, or can be obtained, will be found in the Appendices. 13

The commencement and progress of agricultural settlement on the Goldfields is a subject intimately connected with the theme of this work. So also are the early attempts to discover a Goldfield on the immediate West Coast, and both these are dealt with in the Appendices. 14

[Page 118 is blank]

12 See Appendix K – First Mining Conference.

13 See Appendix L – Nuggets.

14 See Appendix M – Settlement on the Goldfields; and N – Early West Coast Explorations.

APPENDICES.

APPENDICES.

NOTE. – The reference to Appendix D, page 77, should read "Appendix E;" and that to Appendix E, page 92, should read "Appendix F."

APPENDICES.

Under this heading it has seemed desirable to record some things and events, the introduction of which into the body of the work would have interrupted the historical sequence, but which are nevertheless worthy of record as illustrative of the period. Some additions have also been made owing to communications of an interesting character coming to hand too late for insertion otherwise. Notably there is the story of Gabriel Read's discovery of gold, told by himself, and other records of the early discoveries, supplied by many kind friends, which add a zest to the dry historical facts, and for the communication of which I take this opportunity of thanking them – one and all.

VINCENT PYKE.
Dunedin, March 17th, 1887.

A.

MAORI NAMES FOR GOLD. (p.3.)

Mr. Thomas Pratt, who represents the Southern Maori District in the New Zealand Parliament, informs me that the word "ferro" in Mr. Palmer's statement (p. 2) should be written "wherro" – though pronounced "fherro" – the "wh" being always pronounced as "f'h" in the Maori tongue. Thus Kawhia in the North Island is pronounced "Kafhia," and so in all instances. The meaning of the word is "red," or is more generally used to indicate anything brightly coloured. "Simon" – the word used by Mr. Archibald – is probably a corruption of "timata," strongly accenting the "i." It means "heavy" – and in this connection, "heavy stones."

B.

GABRIEL READ'S NARRATIVE. (p. 36.)

Whilst compiling this Book I wrote to Gabriel Read asking him to favour me with his own account of his discovery at Tuapeka. In reply, Mr. Read kindly sent me a very lengthy epistle which the exigencies of space compel me to curtail; but I hope I have not omitted anything essential to the narrative: –

"In 1886 I read in the papers that grand diggings had been discovered on the Mataura, and I resolved to have a look at them whenever opportunity should favour. I had almost got indifferent on the matter, when one day, in passing along the quay at Hobart, I saw the Don Pedro II. taking in horses for Otago. I stepped over and engaged a passage at the owner's. Not many hours after I was under weigh for Port Chalmers.

"After putting in at Port William, we made an average and successful passage to Port Chalmers; the illfated Pride of the Yarra landed me at Dunedin in due course. I made inquiries as to the Southland Diggings, and was told 'there was gold everywhere, but not enough to pay.'..... Mr. Bremner, a gentleman whose acquaintance I had formed on the ship (afterwards in the Lands Department) came up. I told him I was going down South, he joined me, when we walked together about half-way to Caversham, when, the public conveyance coming up, we shook hands, &c, and parted. We reached the Inn at the Taieri Ferry that night, and as they told me that there was a fine lake and settled country before me, I quitted the conveyance, strapped on my wallet, and commenced my pedal peregrination......

At length I reached a part of the road where Mr. John Hardy was in a field mowing a small patch of chevalier barley. He hailed me, and ..... we fell into a long yarn, in the course of which he informed me the people of the Plain had done him the honour to elect him to the Provincial Assembly. This induced me to ask him if he could give me any of the history of the Mataura Diggings. His reply was to this effect: – 'Are you interested in goldmining? Well, it is a singular thing, there appears to be gold all round, but nobody has been able to find anything to pay.' My next remark was: 'Well, you know that next to iron gold is said to be one of the most generally distributed of metals. Have you ever had any practised Victorian miners about?' He said he did not know anything about miners, but that a gentleman named Learmonth had been up or towards Tuapeka, and had come down in great excitement, promising to be down in a month with 10,000 fully equipped diggers; but all this happened a long time ago. I am inclined to think he must have been mad or hoaxing us, for we have never seen or heard anything of him since he disappeared full gallop down the road. I asked did he mention California, for if he did, I knew the gentleman to be a decent intelligent fellow....... I do not think he had any experience of diggings, as many young gentlemen in California, who could find no congenial

employment, took to the first rough work that came to hand that promised to provide the means of returning creditably to the land from which they had imprudently severed themselves. Mr. L. had no doubt been diverted from his road by exaggerated reports of what Peters was doing...... I pegged away to the Clutha Ferry, and there met someone who from his conversation I deemed competent to inform me as to the diggings on the Mataura. I was amused by his answer: – 'They are always finding Goldfields. They have one gold sovereign, and that's kept in a glass case at Dunedin, and it's my opinion that's all the gold they ever will have. If you've come on that lay I pity you, for the country from here to Invercargill is much the same as you see before you.' I went on the Clutha road about four miles, and returned to the Inn. Forty miles of dreary road which would probably have to be retraced, seemed too great a toil to needlessly undertake, and having seen the Clutha, it struck me I had viewed all that was worth toiling to see. I from thence retraced my steps towards Dunedin, and who should I meet but Mr. Hardy. He asked what I thought of the Mataura. I told him I had not been so far; but as far as I might judge from a cursory view of the country my ideas would coincide with the report I had heard, and I jocosely narrated the tale of the sovereign, &c 'Oh, we're not so bad as that, and there are riches yet to come from the wool; but I am afraid they may come too late for many. What we want is a good Goldfield, and we all try to believe it is somewhere about here; and I believe if you would only try, you are the man to get it. Come over to my place, and if you want any information about land, I am at your service without any charge for the information.'

.....About this time it became whispered on the Plain that there was a man who knew something about gold digging, and one or two of the settlers even went so far as to suggest that a subscription might be got up to despatch me on discovery. My answer was invariably – 'No; you would not like to lose your money, and I prefer to enter on the work on my own resources.' I doubt whether the whole settlement, leaving Mr. Hardy out of the question, could have brought their faith to the extent of a couple of pounds. Now; I'll tell you who showed me the first and only gold I ever saw in Otago, until I took my first prospect in the bed of the Waitahuna, and, strange to say, I find no mention of his name, – John Fisher, a dark-haired German. He called on me at my quarters and showed me a nice sample; said he had been making a living at Mr. W. Miller's by digging; I do not remember for how long. His report was in fact encouraging, and I told him I should come along his way in a few days and give him a call. Mind, it was determined at this time I should go out after I had taken a trip to Dunedin with the account of the poll for the Superintendental election. This I did. The next morning I received a message desiring my early attendance on the Major, at his office. On my answering the summons he thanked me in the most cordial manner, asked me to supplement my services by distributing a sheaf of newspapers among those on the way back to Tokomairiro who had been most prominent in his support, and told me he should always feel an interest in my welfare, and be happy if he could at any time render me any service. On this I told him I

was most entirely disinterested, as I had come down with the view of ascertaining if I could take out a license to prospect for gold, as I did not care to render myself amenable to the penalties for trespass, and laughingly remarked – 'If your laws are in any way copied from those of Victoria, there they have a comprehensive statute, known as the Vagrant Act, designed to meet every deficiency of legislation: – the committers of all uncatalogued offences to be dealt with as the authorities may desire.' The Major paused for a time, thinking: – 'As for the licenses, we've never arrived at the necessity of determining on that question; the most embarrassing question that faces us at present is the Lindis question. Out of it may spring no end of trouble. Demands promise to be pressing, and the public chest is by no means plethoric. I trust if we are to have any more tidings of Goldfields they may be of so unequivocal a character as to enable us to see our way clearly to a prosperous result. However, if you go up into the country take no dogs with you to disturb the sheep; study to avoid all cause of offence to the runholders, and if you are interfered with, communicate with the Executive, and I may venture to promise they will bear you harmless of penalties.' I told him I was not very sanguine, even although Mr. Hardy seemed to harbour a kind of presentiment that I was to be the author of untold wealth to Otago. 'But if I trouble you with any reports of gold discoveries it will be only under such circumstances as will enable you to clearly see your way!.....

I do not pretend to give the ipsissima verba of this dialogue, but am assured the substance is entirely correct. It would be difficult to recall the exact words after an interval of time of more than a quarter of a century. I attempt it merely with the view of explaining an action of the Major's which at the time rather took me by surprise, and may perchance puzzle you – viz., the prompt publication of my letter of the 4th June, 1861. I thought it probable he would have awaited the return of Mr. Hardy, and then despatched the most competent official at his command to investigate as to the truth of the disclosures that had startled the quiet slumbers of Dunedin, and waited till the 4th July, when I thought it advisable to wake them up a bit. The state of public feeling at this time may be best judged by the contemporary Press, which I had little opportunity of consulting at the time. It appears the Otago Witness thought the news too good to be true. So far as I could learn, someone said, 'The man is mad,' and the nine days' wonder passed off with the derisive comment – 'It's surely Gabriel the Angel.' It seems hard to account for the obstinate incredulity which permitted me to work with two companions from somewhere about the 9th June till the 4th July without any further intrusion on our solitude than two or three of the neighbouring runholders. John Hardy wrote to me to say it would he highly advisable to send him down about twenty pounds of gold to induce them to believe! On the 4th July, after brushing up as well as I might, I signified my intention to take a stroll as far as Peter Robertson's. Brooks, one of my party, volunteered to go with me, and when we left the valley, the other of my party, young Edward Hardy, remained the sole inhabitant. Arrived at Mr. P. R.'s, I requested his permission to use the table, and in less than a quarter of an hour the

letter of that date was written and entrusted to his hands to be despatched the first opportunity...... I don't believe the whole Plain had faith enough to have staked their faith to the extent of half-a-crown on my venture, or that of any man to the Tuapeka, in search of a Goldfield. John Hardy alone was the man who, as we examined the chart and discussed the prospects of the Lindis, said time after time: 'Read, I have a great idea that if you would only try you might do us some good turn. I felt that the moment I saw you coming back after I had bidden you good-bye for the first and last time.' On my return from Dunedin, notwithstanding my interview with the Major, I had almost determined in my own mind to go back again. I signified my intention to Mr. H. 'Oh, you do disappoint me,' said he. 'What has induced you to change your mind?' R.: 'You see we are getting to the dead of winter. It must be a cold country, as I know the grade from the coast inland is considerable throughout New Zealand.' H.: 'Now Read I'd go myself with you rather than that you should halt on it.' R.: 'No, good men are scarce, and you are too decent a fellow for me to permit you to kill yourself. I'll try for a month if you'll only tell me where you'd like me to begin.' H.: 'The North branch of the Tokomairiro River.' R.: 'I do not think it probable that anything of importance could be found there, but you'll go with me to-morrow; I might perhaps show some of the metal.' H.: 'That's a good fellow. I've no time, but one of the boys shall go with you.' R.: 'Jibbing already. I'll however take a spade, pick, and pan.' We went up the North Tokomairiro and – I take the words of Mr. Gillies – 'hen-scratched and brought home enough to swear by,' at which Mr. H. was highly elated. 'Now,' I said, 'I shall bid you good bye to-morrow. I must make a tent and I shall not see you again till I come back, and if I can prevail on him I'll take the German with me.' Calico and necessaries purchased at Mansford's store, myself stitching away about two days at Murdoch's, my tent is complete, and I ready to start. I bid Murdoch, his wife, and bairns good bye about 2.30 p.m., and take my way on the road with a large loaf of bread, 4 or 5 lbs. of bacon, 5 lbs. of oatmeal, and a supply of tea and sugar to last a fortnight; pick, spade, tin dish and two blankets. My swag was not a very heavy one, but was sufficiently irksome to me...... On my way I called on John Fisher, told him I'd come according to my promise to give him a call, and would he like to go with me as far as the Tuapeka. His reply was not very encouraging – 'My good friend, I make my living here, and if I lose two weeks it will take me a long time to make it up; don't you go. If you want to dig, dig here, they cannot get a living up where you would go; do not try it.'..... I started at early dawn, making a cut across the hill to get into the Tuapeka road higher up than where I had diverged from it. I observed a long tom in the gully. The men had not got out to work, and I never saw or heard of any of them till they came up with Mr. Miller to Tuapeka. I have reasons to believe they had just set in, and from what I could afterwards learn, were not likely long to continue. It was a peddling little gully, – might have lasted Fisher for six weeks and could not have served the whole party for more than a fortnight. If anyone was likely to stick at it it

was John Fisher, and while he could pick up a subsistence he was not likely to go further afield. All I knew of the other parties was gathered from John Cargill, who accompanied Captain Baldwin and I to Waitahuna. He told me he was one of the party. I never had a word to say to the Jenkins' in my life; I've seen them at a distance, that's all. Moving along the flank of Mount Stewart I freshened up in the keen frosty air, made a hasty breakfast al fresco, and stepped out as well as I could for Waitahuna. I examined up and down its bed for about four hours, and just about dark when I thought it advisable to think about making my camp for the night, intending to have a look the whole next day, a bullock dray came along. The man asked me what I was doing. I told him frankly – 'Trying for gold.' 'Well, do you find any?' 'Yes, wherever I look.' 'Well, do let me see how you find gold.' 'Well, you shall see.' 'And you call that gold. What may be the value of what you've got there?' 'Not very much; but put a lot of it together, and if you were its possessor you'd be a rich man.' 'Where are you resting, man?' 'Why I'm just about to begin to build my house, as I want to stay to-morrow, and perhaps the next day.' 'Come on with me; we'll get to Peter Robertson.' I never knew the name of that bullock-driver. He took me up to Peter Robertson's, went out with his bullocks; and as the party was numerous, the men got so mixed up the only two I could recognise again were Mr. Musgrave and Peter Robertson. They were very kind; but as the floor was covered very thick by improvised shake-downs, I got very little sleep that night; and, as I tell you, took it out on the side of the hill. After leaving Peter's within a hundred yards off, my snooze was, though an involuntary, a sound and refreshing one, and when I awoke I felt refreshed, and stepped out briskly for the Tuapeka. Arrived there, I pitched my tent, cooked a hearty meal, prepared my bread, and found I had about two hours to spare. Tried the bank of the river from where the Evans Flat branch joins the Gabriel's branch: tried loose prospects in the bed; and started with spade, dish, and pick up Evans' Flat, intending to travel up the creek until near sunset, as long as I found the country open before me. The river was on my left, and I did not leave the path. Gold in the alluvial seemed very uniformly distributed. At the acute bend where Davy and Bowler's road crossed observed the rich pyrites in the bank: took a prospect or two. 'Well, this may be examined if nothing better turns up. Well, I should like to look at that wood about a mile up; is it pine or beech'? I can get near enough to ascertain. Perhaps the country may shape better about there. What a grand thing if I could see the probability of getting a good hut and diggings together! Step out, there's nothing to prevent you from getting back to your tent after sunset, a clear night like this. I suppose this is Peter's ground." I liked the other branch of the river best from the first reconnoitre, and had I been called upon to select one valley for a final and conclusive trial, it is the place I should have gone to. I was inclined to dispose of Peter's branch that afternoon, try Gabriel's and the surrounding country for a week, maybe, and if unsuccessful return and examine further up Peter's. – Evans' branch; take a day or two up and down the Waitahuna, and when beaten for provisions run back to Toko-

mairiro; have a few days' move trial round the Waitahuna, and then if I could find nothing I could assure as a Goldfield, leave my tent and tools to whoever might be the first comer; off to Dunedin, and then off home. Spanking away at my best for the wood above mentioned, I first saw the friendly face of a shepherd's dog, and then the shepherd himself. I doubt whether I greeted Mr. Munroe as mate. I almost doubt whether I did so to any man. I think his memory fails him there – let that be. We civilly passed the courtesies of the day. He asked me what I was doing there. I told him I had come up to see if there were any payable diggings, and asked him where about Peter had been trying, he told me to the best of his ability, adding: 'He tried well but could not make it do. I'm afraid you will be disappointed the same as he.' 'Mayhap,' I said, 'but there's another branch of the river over there,' pointing up the Munroe gully towards Gabriel's. 'No, I don't think he did, but where are you going now?' 'I'm going on to that wood, if I find it not too rough to walk back in the dark, and then to my house.' 'Your house! Where's your house?' 'At the junction of the rivers, by the crossing of the road.' 'Why, house man, you must mean a tent.' 'Yes, you're quite right, and I must think of getting back to it.' 'I may go and look at the wood another day.' 'Surely you don't think of walking back to your tent to-night.' 'Well, I do, its likely to be a clear night, and I saw no difficulty by the way that should prevent me.' 'Nonsense, man, come along to my place, and I'll make you more comfortable than you can be in a tent.' 'Well, if you'll excuse me, and accept my many thanks I would like to get to my tent, as I wish to shift up the other branch of the river. Now you've shown me where Peter's been I'd like to examine some place where he has not been.' At this he seemed to get indignant, and asked me if I thought I'd been invited if I were not welcome, and half to gratify the good man's fervid hospitality, I replied, 'Well, I will accept of your kind offer.' I bethought me that it would be about as near to my tent down the one branch of the river as the other, as I could devote myself to a close examination of the Gabriel's branch, and I might perchance save myself the trouble of shifting my tent up if disappointed in my expectation of finding payable gold there. And so I became installed Mr. Munroe's favoured guest for the night. We were up betimes in the morning, breakfast dispatched, we followed the ridge and struck on the Gabriel's branch at the top of the hill where the beech forest was thick, the stream rocky and insignificant, and banks lined with the gnarled roots of the forest, and here I thanked him for his hospitality and parted. He said he had to collect sheep or had some pressing engagement or other. I followed the creek down till I got on the flat, and saw no favourable opportunity of trying a prospect for some time, the drift was deep and cumbered with boulders and little or no loose gold lower down. Getting opposite the Blue Spur, the prospects began to brighten, just when I had deemed it meet to make a flit for my tent, as darkness was fast coming on the scene. At a place where a kind of road crossed on a shallow bar, I shovelled away about 2 1/2 feet of gravel, arrived at a beautiful soft slate and saw the gold shining like the stars in Orion on a dark frosty night. It was dark ere I had finished properly washing this prospect. I had got

deeply interested in my work and bethought me what if I should be enabled after all to startle the Major with the certain intelligence that I had promised him should attend any communication he might receive from me. I did not think so much of my fortune as what a lark it will be; how old John Hardy will stare and believe in the future in presentment. I should in fact have started for my tent two hours before I washed this last grand prospect, but deferred and deferred until as I tell you darkness had overtaken me. My wont was to take with me a handful of oatmeal which I mixed in my pannikin with water, staved off the cravings of hunger till the evening, when I took a more appetising meal. I had conceived the idea from reading how the Highland drovers were in the habit of travelling from Sterling to Smithfield, with no better provender, and when one has to travel with his larder, implements, and habitation on his back, he is not apt to be fastidious, but will prefer what is portable to what is palatable. My prospect obtained and darkness upon me, my first idea was to leave my pan and gold where I had last operated; but impatience to ascertain the results, when I should attain to my wax candle induced me to the rather arduous undertaking of carrying a lot of loose gold in a shallow open pan, in a very deceptive light; how I accomplished the undertaking remains a wonder to the present day, but I did, although I fell two or three times among the loose tussocks and into holes. The ground was soft and I managed to preserve the pan horizontal, and when I got to my tent and struck a light I judged I had nearly two ounces of gold. The next morning I struck camp and commenced to wend my way to the Eldorado. I took most of the day to accomplish this journey, as I prospected at intervals, and finally pitched my tent without the smallest attempt at concealment, below the saddle that led up to Munroe's hospitable sheeling. I expected he would have seen my tent at any hour any day. I did not devote much of my time to washing the ground which I had found so rich. I had arrived at the flat from the upper wood in the first place, in fact travelled the river down from its incipient stage to where I camped; and from thence to the junction at Evans's. At Lawrence I had observed the nobler branch, which I concluded must have a longer career than its confluent on which I was camped, so I struck over the saddle, tried down Weatherstone's, taking up the creek until I got well up into the mountain. Found that as the creek assumed a severe grade, I could find no loose gold in the surface drift. I think the rocks were granite, if not they must have been basalt of a columnar structure standing vertical at various stages, and my deduction was here we must limit conjecture, let's have a look at the hills; so I tried the hills a good long way up to see if I could find indications in the little depressions, but could get only a great quantity of black cubes. I remember one little startling event in the valleys. I came to a very steep one with very tall ferns, and at one place so steep as to necessitate a system of progression highly detrimental to one's trousers seat. Well, here goes handsomely, spade acting as a kedge to restrain impetuosity. Facilis decensus, and I came almost on top of a pig which started up with a snort and seemed inclined to resent my abrupt intrusion on his domicile; but, on second thoughts, determined to decline

the honor of my acquaintance, so vacated, and left me master of the position. I thought to myself, thank goodness you're not the big white boar I saw at a satisfactory distance on a spur above Waitahuna flats. I tried about in all directions I thought advisable, did everything in fact that I thought might enable me to draw safe deductions, and at last finding I was getting to an end of my provisions, went down the gully as far as the Lawrence Junction and found a few prospects of shotty gold in the banks of the creek, from which I formed the conclusion, these hills must be more or less auriferous. I don't suppose this took me more than an hour. I then resolved to take the day for a good and sensational gathering, put a small oilskin, which I had to lay under me to intercept the damp in the creek, to act as a sluice, found it would not do but might answer to some extent as a puddling. At nightfall it was my intention, if the night promised clear, to make a start for Mr. Peter Robertson's, who, had circumstances not induced me to alter my intentions, would have had the first sure prize. I never touched the place where I had unearthed my first grand prospect. I reserved that for Mr. Hardy's delectation. I washed a prospect for him with about the same results as my first essay, and he afterwards told me how much it had turned out. On being subjected to the test of the scales, as far as I remember, the approximation was nearer two ounces than one. Now I'll go on, and shall soon take you from the Tuapeka to Tokomairiro. Thinking that I must have a very good lob, I resolved to clean up, dry, &c, and pack off at nightfall. I had just one crust left to serve me on the road, and I was not quite sure but that I might miss Mr. P. Robertson. Mind I had to work a traverse, and I had observed no track leading my way from his habitation on the hill. I filled my improvised puddling tub, thinking that if my gold did not come up pretty well to the full of my match I'd have another draft when James Munroe came down to me. I could have easily concealed my gold had I desired to do so; but I had cogitated the question and determined on the steps I subsequently took. My first impulse was to mystify him, for I had heard his dog bark. Looked up the Blue Spur and saw him intent on some cattle; his back was turned towards me, and I shoved the gold under my blankets. I doubt whether I addressed him as mate. I had met two shepherds in Otago – Mr. Robertson, in whom I thought I could recognise a man who had seen better days and thought might yet see better still, and Munroe had a good Highland name, and as he took me with the empressement of Highland hospitality up the valley on our first meeting, I thought to myself goodness knows but that I may be going to sup with the first cousin to the Chieftain of the Clan. As far as I can remember our conversation would be something to this purport (let us for convenience put the dialogue R. and M.). I may say at this time my heart warmed at the remembrance of his generous hospitality. R.: 'Good evening to you Mr. Munroe, why I've been expecting to have a call from you any evening since the morning I left you in the wood above; surely, although you might not see me, you must have seen my tent.' M.: 'Well, I have not seen your tent, but I knew you must be somewhere about, for my cattle looked about as if there was something uncanny down here, and I might have given you a look down,

but I have been very busy. I'm afraid you've had but ill luck.' R.: 'Quite the contrary; I believe I may say I've found it.' M.: 'You're only joking; I'm afraid that's too good news to be true.' R.: 'Well, come, mate, I'll make you a digger.' M.: 'I'm afraid it's a poor trade; for my part I'd sooner be a shepherd.' (If I called him mate you must remember he had made allusion to the uncanny, and it was in playful badinage on both sides.) R.: 'Well, I believe you are quite right there, but you can be none the worse for having a second trade to fall back on, so fall to.' M.: 'I'll have a try, but I have not much time. It's a busy week for me, and my master's business has the first call.' R.: 'Well, you are quite right, but just watch me. I'll take this dirt,' and I washed out a pan. M.: 'My word, there's a lot, and only I could not believe it. I thought you was joking.' R.: 'Joking, man! If I were the owner of this station and able to take up forty acres on this flat I would be the richest man in New Zealand.' M.: 'If you'd told me that a quarter of an hour ago, I would not have believed you; only to think it's been there all this time without our having known anything of it. Man, I should have thought you'd been mad.' R.: 'Well, fall to and wash out this dirt, as you saw me do, and then we'll have another crack.' I believe there were but two pans or so, and this is all the work Munroe and I ever did together. I cleaned up the joint washing, dried it, and blew it. I had made my blankets in a roll, intending to start; for I remember we sat side by side, and I had put my coat over my other gold, which I took out and shook all together. R.: 'Munroe, you'll not feel offended if I offer you a little token as a tribute of my respect for your good wife.' M.: 'I dare say she would like it; but I'm afraid I'd be robbing you.' R.: 'Not a bit. I remember you felt hurt when I refused your hospitality, so let me have the pleasure of offering her something to remember that event by.' (With that, I set apart with my knife, as near as I could judge, about three ounces.) M.: 'I can hardly believe but what I'm dreaming; it's just like a romance.' R.: 'Can you tell me, is there a track from here to Peter Robertson's?' M.: 'Why, you're not going to start at this time; you'll be lost. Come up to my place; you'll be fresher in the morning and better able to see your way.' I bethought me: Well, if I go up to his place it will enable me to see about for another day; and had not the bread basket been bare I would have liked to remain another week, although I found the solitude very irksome. I went up with Munroe; spent the night at his place. On my arrival he had a long confab with his wife, who fully understood its purport, for she appeared more amazed than he had been. Out and breakfasted at dawn. I suggested he should have another try, more in joke than earnest. Wished him goodbye. Told him he knew where the tools and the gold was to be found. The day I left Munroe at its dawning, I devoted to looking about me. At night I returned to my tent, took up my blankets, and started for Peter Robertson's. There was a bright moon shining, which gradually became clouded as I ascended the spur from Lawrence to his place. I kept the spur as well as I could; most probable I passed within a few hundred yards of his house. I listened in vain for the bark of a dog, and sought for the friendly glare of a light, and at last felt a

track under my feet, which I may have followed for a mile, when, finding it persistently pursued a course at right angles to what I deemed the proper one, I shook down my blankets amid the friendly shelter of some tussocks. It came on to drizzle; my blankets got very warm, and I fell into a sound sleep. I did not wake until maybe 8 o'clock the next morning. I saw a shepherd's hut a few hundred yards from me, approached, and was hospitably entertained to breakfast, when I went on my way. Tried with my pannikin a few prospects in Waitahuna. I crossed it at a place where the river was divided by an island. Passed Mount Stewart at a saddle, from which a steep incline led me to Galbraith's, and from thence down the road to Tokomairiro, at which place I arrived at about 8 p.m."

C.

WAIPORI BUSH RESERVE, (p.6.)

I was not a little astonished, upon my first visit to Waipori in 1862, when a bleak, swampy tract, utterly destitute of vegetation, other than a few sparsely-scattered tussocks, was shown to me as "The Bush Reserve." The explanation was that immediately beneath the soil there lay buried a small forest of timber upon which the inhabitants of the township relied for fuel. Some of this timber was of fairly-large dimensions, and all of it was in a good state of preservation – hard and firm, with the bark on just as it fell, having been preserved from decay by the antiseptic properties of the soil and water. If I remember rightly, it was chiefly birch, or, to speak more correctly, beech, interspersed with manuka.

D.

HARTLEY'S VICTORIAN MINER. (p.70.)

I am indebted to Mr. William Gascoigne for an account of the abortive visit of the "Victorian miner," referred to in the text, to Hartley's Beach. His name was Watson, and he was one of a party of four working at the Lindis, the others being M'Masters, Davies, and Docherty, previously mentioned in connection with the Lindis rush (p.18). The incident is thus related by Mr. Gascoigne: –

"Hartley had been up to M'Leod and Gibson's store at Lindis to purchase goods. He stayed one night, and on leaving in the morning he forgot his pocketbook. There seemed to be a great mystery about

him. In looking through the pocketbook, there were dates in it from the time they started to prospect the river, and the different places they touched at. There was in it their return to Dunedin, the sale of 40 ounces of gold, the purchase of two horses, several pounds of quicksilver, and stores, and the balance divided between Reilly and Horatio Hartley. Watson being an old digger, Docherty and the others thought it best to send him on Hartley's tracks, a day or two behind him, with a week's provisions. He followed right down on to the beach where they were working, arriving at night, just as they were leaving off work. They seemed to be taken by surprise, and stood up and looked at him; and he kept his eye on them. He walked right past the tin dish with the gold for the day's working in it, without noticing it in any way. They invited him up to their tent, where he stayed all night. Reilly pretended to be very bad with rheumatism, and talked Watson over and made him understand that in a month's time they were going to California, as there was no gold where they were. Watson returned to his mates at the Lindis with the story that he had found the men, and found them 'decent fellows,' but they were not getting any gold."

Mr. Gascoigne adds that his information was obtained partly from Hartley himself, and in part from Docherty and his mates. I may say that Hartley told me of the circumstance, and of his own and Reilly's consternation when Watson appeared and walked straight up to their tin dish, which contained about 20 ounces of gold. Their pleased surprise when he passed it without remarking its contents may be imagined.

In another letter Mr. Gascoigne informs me that Davies – mentioned above – was one of the prospectors who opened Waipori. He was an old Californian miner, and as a quaint illustration of the manners and customs of the old miners, it may be mentioned that when in Victoria he once played a game of quoits for £1,000. A somewhat similar feat is recorded of William Adams, who for many years past resided, and lately died, in the Dunstan Gorge. He was better known as "Champagne Bill," because when at Ballarat, in one of his freaks, he "shouted" 100 bottles of champagne at £2 per bottle. These are samples of the extravagances of the early miners upon whom Fortune sometimes showered her gifts all too copiously.

E.

OFFICIAL REPORT. (p.77.)

I find the following brief record of these circumstances in my "Second Annual Report of the Goldfields of Otago, 1863": –

"The expectant crowds who, in the spring of 1862, flocked to the Dunstan Goldfield in the hope of obtaining rich claims on the beaches of the Clutha River, were not all equally fortunate; and many returned to Dunedin in even greater haste than they had rashly quitted it. Much disappointment was caused by the peculiar character of the workings; even the experienced miners of Australia and Tuapeka were unaccustomed to regard the bed of a rapid and turbulent river as the repository of gold. Those who remained however, quickly overcame the novelty of the position, and their labours were amply rewarded by the auriferous treasure which they extracted from the sands of the modern Pactolus. The banks of the river on either side became occupied by a numerous population, whose tents gradually extended from above the confluence of the Kawarau to below the gorges of the Beaumont Burn – a distance of nearly seventy miles. Others tested the Manuherikia; and perhaps the most valuable and productive claims in the district were those at and near the junction of this stream with the Clutha."

Two claims – the "Frenchman's" (owned by M. Feraud, Michael Kett, and others) and the "Harp of Erin" – are famous memories of the district. For many years these claims, situated on the west bank of the Clutha, nearly opposite the mouth of the Manuherikia, continued to yield surprising quantities of gold to their fortunate possessors.

F.

JACKSON'S BAY. {p.92.)

Several explorations in search for new Goldfields were made at an early period, in the direction of Jackson's Bay, by different parties. These principally started from Lake Wakatipu. The long valleys of the Rees and Dart Rivers, stretching away into the recesses of the dividing range, tempted many bold adventurers, and the inaccessibility of the lofty mountains in which the farther ravines terminated, only whetted the desire to ascertain what lay beyond. The most remarkable of these explorations of which any record has been preserved was conducted by Alphonse Barrington, and his companions – James Farrell and Antoine Simonin. (Both the latter are spoken of as Frenchmen, whence it is probable there is a mistake in the orthography of Farrell's name.) They started from Queenstown on March 1st, 1864, and it would appear that they found and crossed a saddle somewhere near the head of the Lake; but, unfortunately, on the return journey they lost their chart, and owing, possibly, to their want of local information, it

is impossible to trace their course from the report subsequently furnished by Harrington. He mentions two smaller lakes, one of which he named Lake Poverty, and the other Lake Plenty; and also a creek, to which he gave the name of Wild Dog, but I do not know that any such appear on the map. The stream which they struck on the West Coast, Harrington supposed to be an easterly branch of the Awarua River. Nothing was heard of the party until June – fifteen weeks after their start, – and they were believed to be lost. But on the 14th of that month, a constable reported from the Head of the Lake that they had returned there, or rather that they had been "discovered somewhere in that neighbourhood" in a most deplorable condition, having been snowed up a fortnight, and suffered greatly from want of food. When they went forth on their hazardous expedition they took with them a good supply of guns and ammunition, hoping to be able to supply themselves with food; but in this they were disappointed, scarcely finding anything to supply their wants, and they were at last reduced to the verge of starvation. When found the first thing they asked for was tobacco, but smoking made them sick, as also did food when first given to them. According to Barrington's account, they had penetrated to Jackson's Bay, both in Canterbury and Otago. In a brief account which appeared in the Otago Witness of July 25th, it is stated that "everywhere they seem to have found gold, and in several places rich deposits." They described "the whole of the country between Wakatipu and the Coast as being auriferous;" and alleged that they had also discovered traces of gold and other minerals. The route pursued is stated to have been in a direct north-east line from the head of Lake Wakatipu.

Barrington shortly afterwards published a fuller account of the expedition in the Lake Wakatip Mail, in which he confirms the glowing reports previously circulated. He described auriferous quartz reefs which he said his party had discovered, and told of "made hills" and terraces of promising appearance. "It is the finest-looking golden country," he wrote, "that I have seen in New Zealand."

Read by the light of past and recent experience, it is to be feared that this also must be regarded as "a traveller's tale."

G.

WATER RACES ON BLUE SPUR. (p.99.)

Whilst these pages were passing through the columns of the Witness, a letter from an old Tuapeka resident, now located at the West Coast, appeared in that newspaper, from which I quote the following extract: –

"For originating and constructing the first water race brought on to the Blue Spur from the head of Gabriel's, the credit is due to Mr. James Meehan, whose previous long experience in similar works in California well qualified him for the task. Meehan applied in November, 1861, at the Commissioner's camp, Tuapeka, for a right to construct and use for ground-sluicing purposes a race which was to terminate on the top of the then little known but now far-famed Spur. The Commissioner was astounded at the proposal, which, in his innocent inexperience of goldmining, he characterised as that of a madman, and the matter lay in abeyance until February, 1862, when the application was granted and the work immediately started, James White, James Bryan, and Meehan joining as mates in the meanwhile. The race was completed early in June, and the water turned down over the Spur amid general rejoicing. Curtis and Cullen followed soon after with their race. They were better known afterwards as the Nelson Company, from the fact of their having been previously digging at Collingwood. Meehan had scarcely finished the race from the head of Gabriel's when he started a survey of an extension from Waipori, and a number of men were employed in this work when the news of Hartley and Reilly's rich discovery at the Dunstan in August of the same year unhinged, and caused a temporary stoppage of employment at Tuapeka, master and man shouldering their swags, and betaking themselves as fast as their horses or legs would carry in search of the new El Dorado."

I may say here that the first mention made of sluicing at Munroe's occurs in the Otago Daily Times of June 10th, 1862, and that it refers to the work of "Californian Jim." Strictly speaking, he did not bring a race on to the Blue Spur. He wrought a branch gully leading into Munroe's, and I am informed that he took somewhere about 120 ounces out of his claim. The Meehan mentioned in the letter quoted above was a partner of White, whose party are referred to (page 99) as being the first to commence sluicing on the Gabriel's side of the Spur.

Mr. John Drummond – then Mining Surveyor of the Tuapeka District – has also written to the Otago Witness substantiating the claim of "California Jim" to be regarded as the pioneer race-owner and originator of the Blue Spur water-race. In the course of this letter Mr. Drummond says: – "Immediately after the completion of

the Gabriel's Gully race, 'California Jim' had a conversation with me as to the practicability of bringing in the Waipori. Jim went out on a tour of inspection, and on his return made an application to Major Croker, the Warden, for my services, to take the levels between the point where he proposed lifting the water and that of the Blue Spur; as he had doubts of being able to bring in the race at an elevation sufficiently high to command the top of the Spur.... The necessary authority was granted, and Jim and I proceeded with the work, and as a result I found that, after allowing for the contour of the Spurs along which the proposed race would come (I think it was 30 or 35 miles we allowed for the length of the race), and allowing 10 or 12 feet to the mile, the result would be that ample fall would be obtained with a surplus of from 60 to 70 feet above that of the highest elevation of the Spur workings." This should definitely settle the point in dispute.

In connection with this subject the following may be of interest to many. The original Prospectus of the "eatherstone Water Company" – the first mining company registered in Otago, and probably in New Zealand, under the provisions of "The Joint Stock Companies Act, 1860" – has been forwarded to me by Mr. Gascoigne for the purposes of this work. The capital was fixed at £5,000, in 1000 shares of £5 each; and on the provisional directory are the names of the late John Hughes, M.P.C., John Mouat (now solicitor at Dunedin), and J. C. Brown, M.H.R., with others of lesser note. Messrs. Gillies and Street were the brokers, with the old address of the firm – "corner of Princes and Dowling streets, Dunedin." From this document, which was issued on 14th August, 1866, I extract the following information: –

"The Weatherstone Water Company was started in 1862 as a private company, and has been most successfully worked ever since – the sum of £11,000 having during that time been realised for water...... The present race drains an area of 20,000 acres, and is constructed for four miles along the highest ranges around Weatherstones crossing the top of the saddle range, opposite the Blue Spur, Gabriel's, to which a branch race could be cut at any time, if desirable, at a small cost. The principal reservoir is a natural basin, embracing an area of 15 1/2 acres – the only outlet for which is a narrow gorge, 60 feet wide; across this neck an embankment has been thrown. The additional capital of the new Company is required for the purpose mainly of enlarging and strengthening the embankment, so as to store a quantity of water amounting to over three millions of gallons. On

completion of the contemplated, works it is estimated that 18 sluice-heads of water will be at the disposal of the Company," &c

It is from this reservoir and race that the town of Lawrence now derives its water supply. There was sore need for "enlarging and strengthening the embankment," for in December, 1864, a sudden accession of water caused an overflow and a partial breakage of the dam bank, which nearly swept away the township of Weatherstones.

The mention of "sluice-heads" in this prospectus suggests the desirability of explaining the origin of the system of water measurement first prescribed by the Otago Goldfields Regulations of June 27th, 1862, and which still constitutes the basis for gauging and regulating the flow of water on all the Goldfields of New Zealand. Up to that date there was no provision whatever for gauging the quantity of water granted to miners, and consequently every man took as much as he pleased, depending on the principle (for it had not been legally formulated) of priority of right. This state of affairs caused much trouble and confusion. When I was engaged in drafting the Regulations referred to above, I found that none of the manifold Mining Board Bye-laws of Victoria were capable of being adapted to the circumstances of New Zealand. I had therefore to look farther afield. The Indian water-gauge for irrigation purposes was at that time much, lauded by experts, but I was not an expert, and the Indian gauge appeared to me as unsuitable to our Goldfields as the Victorian. At this juncture Mr. Paterson, then Provincial Engineer, advised me to study the Italian system, with the result that I finally adopted a modification of the Lombardo-Milanese gauge. But Lombardy is a flat country, and New Zealand is mountainous; and whilst in Lombardy every "head" of water can be taken for use on the level, and therefore with exactitude of measurement, in New Zealand the character of the country renders this impossible. The accession of every head of water consequently increases the actual quantity per head taken. But it seemed to me that this was a fault rather in the right direction than otherwise, and therefore whilst making provision for a certain degree of level flow I decided on 20 inches by 2 inches as the absolute gauge of a "head" of water. In practice this amounted to the holder of a grant for five heads getting a quantity equal to six heads. In the Regulations recently issued greater accuracy of measurement is secured, but, for all practical purposes, the Lombardo-Milanese gauge originally adopted is that in operation as the law of the Colony.

H.

THE BLUE SPUR. (p.100.)

It is matter for regret that there is no reliable data available from which to compile an estimate of the total quantity of gold extracted from this famous golden hill. I have, however, been furnished with information of the yield obtained during the last Ten years by Nine Companies now occupying the ground. The gross aggregate value of the gold produced in that period is stated at £570,000, as shown by the Companies' books. As the ground has been continuously wrought for 24 years, and the upper strata were much more easily sluiced than the "cement" in which operations are now being carried on, the yield for the entire period may safely be estimated at £1,000,000 sterling, and its riches are still far from being exhausted. The original surface area of these claims was 54 1/2 acres, which has been reduced by the process of working to 45 acres, as stated in the text (page 112). This diminution of area will be understood when it is explained that the rock formation enclosing the auriferous deposits is shaped like a basin – the sides gradually trending inwards.

Much gold was lost during the early stages of the development of the Blue Spur, owing to the imperfect appliances then in use. The wash-dirt, roughly broken up with picks, and turned over with shovels, was sluiced away in stone-channels, and in such quantity, that the site of the original "township" at the Blue Spur is now covered 50 feet deep with the waste debris from the mines; and Gabriel's Gully has been filled up beyond recognition for several miles. A Company formed to work these "tailings," as they are technically termed, has been in operation some time, with payable results.

The average number of men employed during the Ten Years period referred to above has been 64. The net dividends of the Nine Companies amounted to £187,000, which seems disproportionate to the gross result; but this is explained by the expenditure for labour – many of the claims working three "shifts" a day – by charges for machinery (such as machines for crushing the cement), and to a very large extent by the frequent and expensive lawsuits which have occurred, owing to the difficulty of exactly determining boundaries where the "faces" are from 100 to 200 feet in height: to all which must be added the loss resulting from the various and unmethodical

modes of working practised. It is now proposed to amalgamate the whole of the claims in one Company, so as to work the ground more systematically and economically, and to avoid the costly litigation in which the shareholders have for a long time too luxuriously indulged.

I may explain that the upper portion of the Blue Spur was composed of the newer tertiary, and the underlying soil of the old tertiary formation. Beneath the latter is a bed of "cement," so termed, the depth and extent of which has not yet been determined. Gold was found in each and all of these. The deposit spoken of as "cement" has been traced in a direct and continuous line from the Blue Spur for nearly 20 miles in a southerly direction, through Wether-stones, Waitahuna, and the Woolshed; sometimes buried deep beneath the surface, and at others appearing above it, and it carries gold throughout. The theory of the geologists whose opinions are quoted in page 112 is, that a large river formerly held its course through the country in this direction. The Spur, as has been said, occupies the site of an ancient glacier lake in the old bed of this river, and the existing gullies have been eroded transversely across it. It is a fact that no gold has been discovered in Gabriel's Gully above the Blue Spur, although the gully extends much further beyond.

The Blue Spur was at first taken up under the Goldfields Regulations, which only allowed 35 feet for each miner, when the depth of sinking exceeded 50 feet. This area was soon found to be too small, even for parties of four miners, and advantage was taken of the Regulations which permitted of the amalgamation of two or more claims. Through the courtesy of Mr. Henry John Abel, Clerk of the Warden's Court at Lawrence, I am enabled to give some interesting particulars of the first claims amalgamated. The application of Richard Nesbitt, Daniel Shannon, and four others for permission to amalgamate was lodged in the Warden's Court on March 12th, 1863; and that of Samuel Hales, Thomas Hinds, and four others on the following April 8th. On June 26th, in the same year, Donald McKenzie and five others lodged an application for an "extended claim in abandoned ground above Blue Spur for sluicing purposes." The grant of this application authorised the applicants to occupy treble the ordinary area. The next to make a similar application was James Keppel, in February, 1864. The first goldmining lease applied for on the Blue Spur, and, I think, in Otago, was that of John Hughes, S. Samuel, T.

Taylor and others, for ground occupied by what was afterwards, and still is, known as the "Nelson Company." This lease dates from 6th November, 1865; but Mr. Abel informs me that the leases of Hales and Company, and Fenton and Company are of the same date. The Provincial Government were in those days very chary of granting leases at all; and I well remember the difficulty I had in persuading them to consent to the grant of the leases referred to.

I.

SNOW POLES. (p.104.)

I remember receiving the piece of wire mentioned by Mr. Robinson. It was galvanised iron wire as stated, and it yielded easily to the action of frost, and snapped like a carrot. The wires to Campbell's were renewed in the following spring. "Shelter-sheds" were also built to afford accommodation to travellers who might be caught in the frequent and sudden snow-storms, and supplies of fuel were periodically placed in these sheds. An account of the storm of 1863, 15 written by me, and published in Chambers' Journal some years afterwards under the title "Lost at the Goldfields," is absolutely true in all essential particulars. The posts connecting the wires were at first painted black, but it was found by experiment that black became invisible at precisely the same vanishing point as red appeared black to the vision. Consequently, as red poles were distinguishable at the greatest distance, that colour was afterwards adopted. Several other lines were constructed – one which was of great service to travellers, extended from Arthurs Point to Skippers on the Shotover River.

The cost of these poles in the neighbourhood of the Dunstan was very great. For some time nobody seemed to know how to supply any sufficient quantity of timber to that district, or to care for doing so, and the opportunity for making considerable sums of money was lost for want of enterprise. As an illustration of the extravagant charges made I will venture to introduce the following humorous relation of a circumstance which actually occurred, and the "voucher" referred to by the writer passed through my hands: –

"In 1862 I was an officer on the Goldfields Staff stationed at Clyde, then known as the Dunstan. We had as our chief an exceedingly peppery man, greatly impressed with the dignity of his office. He was the Warden; what I was, never mind.

"Now, the dominant idea in the mind of our peppery Warden at that time was the desirability of a tall flagstaff on which to hoist a large Union Jack that had been supplied by the Government, and which had hitherto done duty as a counterpane or dust-protector to the Warden's blankets. So he gave the order to two notable characters, and the flagstaff was to be floated down the river from Lake Wanaka, a distance of about 45 miles. In due time, excepting all periods of flood, the flagstaff arrived – a thin, lanky, birch-pole about 30 feet in length. The two notables fixed it in the front of the Warden's 'marquee;' the flag was hoisted, and in the cool of that evening the high and mighty Warden might have been seen smoking his pipe under his own flagstaff – one eye on his pipe, and the other ogling the flag floating in the evening breeze.

"In the cool of the evening, also, the two notables presented their little bill; for, sad to relate, no bargain had been made as to price before the flagstaff was ordered. They bowed, smiled blandly, and left the document with the Warden – the document which would be attached to a voucher and forwarded to the head of his department, an officer who could, on a pinch, be quite as peppery as the Warden himself.

"Then that Warden was, for a time, a sight to see. He held the paper in both hands at arms' length, glared at it for a while, said 'How doth the little busy bee,' or some other hymn learned in his early childhood, and bolted into the tent; – for the little bill for that slender birch-pole from which the glorious old Jack was flying totted up to £36 15s. 6d.

"I should like to have seen the beaming face of our chief when he opened the voucher – but I should have liked to have seen it through the window."

K.

FIRST MINING CONFERENCE. (p.110.)

The Goldfields Regulations were revised and remodelled by me in 1864, and some trivial alterations were subsequently added. After the office of Goldfields Secretary was abolished in 1867, I suggested to Mr. Macandrew, then Superintendent of the Province of Otago, that as many changes had taken place, and some new forms of mining had been introduced, it would be advisable to convene a Mining Conference, consisting of elected delegates from the Goldfields, and some members nominated by the Provincial Government, to revise the code. Mr. Macandrew assented to the proposal, and the following notice was pub-

lished in the Otago Provincial Gazette of February 14th, 1868. As a record of the First Mining Parliament it seems to me to be worthy of reproduction: –

NOTICE.

THE GOVERNMENT OF OTAGO, recognising the necessity for a revision in the Goldfields Regulations, and being desirous to give Miners an opportunity of assisting to frame New Regulations, suitable to the advanced condition of Goldmining in this Province, have resolved to appoint a Commission for that purpose; and holders of Miner's Rights and Business Licenses are invited to select delegates from amongst themselves to take part in a Conference to be held in Dunedin early in the month of March.

The Otago Goldfield has therefore been divided into seven Districts, from each of which one Delegate may be elected in accordance with the following Regulations: –

1. Every Delegate must be the holder of a current Miner's Right or Business License, issued on or before the 1st January, 1868.

2. Nominations of proposed Delegates may be made by holders of Miner's Rights only, on or before Monday, 17th February, in writing, addressed to "The Warden," and in the following form, which is to be signed by the proposer and seconder: –

FORM.

(Place and Date.)

To the Warden at

We hereby nominate (insert name in full) as a Mining Delegate, to represent the District of           

Proposer.           No. of Miner's Right.           Date of Do.           Where issued.          

Seconder.           No. of Miner's Right.           Date of Do.           Where issued.          

3. If two or more Delegates are nominated for any District, a poll will be taken on Monday, 24th February, at the places hereinafter named; and the person for whom the largest number of votes may be polled, will be declared elected.

4. Every voter must produce his current Miner's Right or Business License, dated on or before 1st January, 1868, and the officiating Warden or Clerk shall stamp or write across every Miner's Right and Business License so produced, the word "Voted" and the date.

5. Holders of Miner's Rights who may be working at a greater distance than two miles from the nearest Polling-place, may record their votes in writing in the following form; but in such case it will be requisite for the Miner's Right of the voter to be produced by the person entrusted with the voting-paper.

FORM.

To the Warden at            (Place and Date)

I desire to record my vote for (insert name in full)

(Signature in full of Voter)

6. Voters may record their votes in any District, but for one Candidate only.

N.B. – The Government are anxious that wherever practicable, that branch of Mining which is predominant in each District should be represented.

DISTRICTS.

PLACES OF NOMINATION.

POLLING PLACES.

Wakatipu

Queenstown

Queenstown, Skippers, Arrow, Cardrona, Mace Town

Dunstan

Clyde

Clyde, Cromwell, Nevis

Teviot

Roxburgh

Roxburgh, Moa Flat, Alexandra

Tuapeka

Lawrence

Lawrence, Waitahuna, Waipori

Taieri

Naseby

Naseby, Hamilton, Hyde, M'Crae's

Manuherikia

Black's No. 1

Black's No. 1, Drybread, Dunstan Creek

Mataura

Switzer's

Switzer's, Nokomai

At 4 p.m. on the day of nomination, the Warden or Clerk officiating will publicly notify the name of the person or persons who may have been nominated.

The poll will be taken at the Court-house in each place; or if there be no Court-house, then in such other building as the Warden of the district may direct.

GEORGE DUNCAN,
Secretary for Public Works.
Dunedin, January 31, 1868.

I may observe here that by Regulation 5 a safe and effective mode of Proxy voting was brought into operation for the first, and probably the last, time at a popular election.

The action of the Provincial Government was warmly responded to by the miners, and fully as much interest was shown in the elections as in any election for the Provincial Council or General Assembly. The result is disclosed by an "Order in Council" which appears in the Provincial Gazette of March 4th following: –

JAMES MACANDREW,
Superintendent of the Province of Otago.

ORDER IN COUNCIL.

At the Provincial Government Buildings, Dunedin, the Fourth day of March, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.

Present:

His Honor the Superintendent;
The Provincial Secretary and Treasurer;
The Secretary of Land and Works.

IT BEING deemed expedient that a Commission should be appointed to revise the Goldfields Regulations, and to draw up new regulations suitable to the advanced condition of goldmining in the Province of Otago, it is ordered that

JOHN LILLIE GILLIES, J.P.,
JOHN MOUAT, M.P.C.,
VINCENT PYKE, J.P.,
MICHAEL GAFFNEY, OF ST. BATHANS,
WILLIAM CARR, OF TUAPEKA,
JAMES HOYLE, OF MOUNT BENGER,
PETER LIMMOND LETTE, OF SWITZER'S,
ROBERT SWYER, OF WAKATIPU,
COLIN CAMPBELL MCINTYRE, OF CLYDE,
JOHN SHANNON, OF HAMILTONS,

shall be and they are hereby nominated and appointed to be Commissioners for the aforesaid purpose

ALEX. WILLIS,
Clerk to the Executive Council.

Colin Campbell McIntyre, whose name appears in the above Commission, is identical with the member for the Ovens Goldfields in Victoria, who was elected with seven others, of whom the writer was one, to represent the miners in the old Legislative Council of that Colony in 1855, anterior to the Proclamation of the New Constitution. On the occasion of that election his enthusiastic supporters caused the horse on which he rode to be shod with golden horseshoes, which were afterwards presented to the rider. At the time of the Otago Conference, and for some time afterwards, he was working at the Nevis. I do not know where he went after he left that locality.

The three first-named members of the Commission were nominated by the Provincial Government; the others were elected as delegates

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

FIRST MEMBERS. MINING CONFERENCE 1868
OTAGO, NEW ZEALAND
VINCENT PYKE - CHAIRMAN, ROBERT SWYER, JAMES HOYLE, MICHAEL GAFFNEY, JOHN MOUAT, JOHN LILLIE GILLIES, COLIN CAMPBELL MCINTYRE, WILLIAM CARR, JOHN SHANNON, PETER LEMMOND LETTE.

from the districts against which their names appear. The choice of a Chairman of the Conference fell upon myself. The first meeting was held on 14th March; and the final Report was presented to the Superintendent on 4th April, the outcome of the labours of the Conference being a new and amended code of Regulations which were published in the Provincial Gazette of April 22nd, 1868.

Another Mining Conference was held some years later, but the same amount of interest was not taken in it, and the results were not very appreciable. Perhaps I may be allowed to venture an opinion that similar conferences periodically held at not too frequent intervals in each district Goldfield – as Otago, Westland and Nelson combined, and Auckland, would be productive of advantage to the miners, and the cause of sparing much perplexity to the Mines Department.

L.

NUGGETS. p. 117.)

Nuggets do not make much show in the goldmining record of Otago, nor, indeed, in that of New Zealand. None of the enormous masses of gold, such as have been unearthed in Australia and more especially in Victoria, have been discovered here. But by way of compensation the ore is more universally distributed through the soil. As a general rule, the gold found in Otago is remarkably fine and scaly, somewhat resembling flakes of bran. I remember that on my first visit to Wetherstones, early in 1862, a Victorian miner showed me a large sample of gold all of this description, and, when I remarked upon the novelty of its appearance, he asseverated, with grim humour, that "when they was a-making of the gold in Victoria the dust blowed over to New Zealand."

The largest "nugget" of which I can find any mention, is one of 27 ounces weight, reputed to have been found at Waipori, in 1863, by Davies, one of the prospectors of that district, and the same person as is mentioned in Appendix D, page 131. In the Otago Daily Times of November 6th, 1862, there is an account of a nugget weighing 12 1/2 ounces, found by George Skeen in Nuggety Gully – described as being "three miles east of Waitahuna." In 1863 I purchased for the Provincial Government a lump of solid gold, weighing nearly 15 ounces,

found at Bungtown, on the short track from Lawrence to Waipori. Another, weighing 13 1/2 ounces, found in the Arrow River in 1864, was also bought for the Provincial Government. Both these nuggets were solid and unmixed with quartz, and were very much rounded by the action of water. Other nuggets of from 8 to 12 ounces have been from time to time reported. A specimen, which may almost be called a nugget, was secured for, I think, £60 by the Provincial Government. It was composed of gold and quartz, the metal predominating. The gold was beautifully bright, and the quartz was milky white. It came from the Eight-mile Creek – a branch of the Arrow – and, consequently, not far from Macetown and the reefs now being worked there. Unfortunately, it had been broken into three pieces before it came into the possession of the Government. I have not been able to discover the ultimate destination of these pieces of gold.

M.

AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT ON THE GOLDFIELDS. p.117.)

When I assumed office in 1862, I found a strange phase of things existing in connection with the question of settlement on the Goldfields. The Provincial Government had, in March, resumed possession, or, to speak more exactly, had "extinguished the title" of Run 53, comprising 24,000 acres; the licensees, Messrs. Smith and Martin, having, as the record runs, "readily accepted the liberal offer of 1s. an acre over the entire run." And in April following, the Government "accepted a proposal of Mr. John Cargill's," by which the title to his run was extinguished for 1s. 6d. an acre; the total sum paid being. £3,000, and the area, consequently, 40,000 acres. These runs were exceedingly well grassed, and extended from the Woolshed to the Tuapeka River. The Waipori country was subsequently acquired at 2s. 6d. an acre, and added to the general area. Without reckoning the latter, there were upwards of 60,000 acres of good land avowedly taken up for the benefit of the miners, over which, as by law provided, "horses and cattle required for the subsistence and convenience of the persons holding the Miner's Right and Licences and Leases" might be depastured; but not an acre could be taken up for cultivation or settlement. The Provincial Government

were desirous of having a "Hundred" proclaimed at Tuapeka, but the General Government declined to give effect to the proposal. Mr. Sewell, then Attorney-General, pointed out that the Goldfields Act of 1860 "after making specific provision for the leasing of any land included within a Goldfield, enacted that districts proclaimed to be Goldfields should not be subject to the provisions of the Waste Lands Act, 1858, or the Land Regulations thereby validated"; and that the Proclamation of a Hundred would be to again place the land under the operation of the Land Regulations, and enable the Provincial Government to offer it for sale. Whilst this contest was proceeding, a run situated at the junction of the Pomahaka with the Molyneux River had been surveyed into 10-acre sections, and offered for sale on the chessboard principle; that is, in alternate allotments, so arranged that no one could get more than one section. But the miners at Gabriel's were not prepared to make homes for themselves at such a distance from the scene of their labours, and an occasional resort to which would have involved the necessity of climbing over Mount Stewart – often clothed in snow – and crossing the Molyneux River. In this emergency, deeming a beginning necessary, and regarding half a loaf as better than no bread, I induced the Provincial Government to give effect to Section 3 of "The Goldfields Act, 1858-1860," which ran thus: –

"It shall be lawful for the Governor by deed from time to time to demise for agricultural or business purposes, to any person for any term not exceeding seven years from the making of the lease, any land within a Goldfield, not exceeding ten acres in the whole, subject to such rent, &c, as the Governor shall deem meet."

These were the best terms obtainable at that time – a seven years' lease of 10 acres, without the right of purchase. In September, 1862, my suggestions were given effect to, and the first code of Agricultural Lease Regulations, which I had already drafted, were authoritatively issued in the Gazette. Then a difficulty arose about surveys: the ordinary Survey Staff could not attend to the applications lodged in the Warden's offices: but I succeeded in obtaining permission for the officers of the Mining Survey Staff to make the surveys, and applicants were allowed to peg out the ground as for ordinary claims, subject to conditions for the rectification of boundaries when the surveys were made.

From such small beginnings did agricultural settlement on the Goldfields proceed. The Tuapeka and Waitahuna Goldfields, and sub-

sequently the Dunstan and Wakatipu Goldfields, were originally settled on this plan. I remember being severely rebuked for recommending that the area of these leases should be enlarged to 20 acres – a suggestion which drew upon me the charge of being "a friend of the monopolists and land-grabbers!"

In process of time, however, the necessity of enlarging the area and extending to the lessees the right of purchase became apparent. But it was not until October, 1865, that the Legislature were persuaded to allow agricultural leases of 50 acres to be granted, and the right of purchase was only conceded in 1866 by a clause introduced by me into "The Goldfields Act," which Act I prepared and drafted at the request of the General Government.

N.

EARLY WEST COAST EXPLORATIONS. (p.117.)

This subject has been partly dealt with in Appendix F; but it has seemed desirable to somewhat extend the information therein given. One of the most notable expeditions undertaken to the West Coast from Otago is that of P. Q. Caples, a miner who, in January, 1863, started from Queenstown, determined to surmount the difficulties that presented themselves. The following condensed account of this journey is extracted from my Official Report for 1863: –

"Starting alone, without gun or map, Caples crossed the mountains at the head of the Dart River, cutting steps in the glaciers with a shovel, and descended the western watershed to a river, which he named the Hollyford. Driven back by the want of provisions, which compelled him to feed on 'Maori rabbits' (Anglice, rats), Caples made a second attempt, and again succeeded in crossing the range near the head of the Greenstone River. Thence he followed the Hollyford down to its embouchure at Martin's Bay, which he reached on March 10th. During this journey Caples carefully prospected the creeks and river beaches for gold. On one of the larger tributaries of the Hollyford (named by him 'Pyke's Creek') he found 'two coarse specks of gold in a soft quartz vein, on hard slate bottom, exposed between two boulders. He prosecuted the examination of this locality for two days, but failed to procure another particle; and he records that throughout the remainder of his expedition he could only find the colour."

Notwithstanding his failure to discover a golden country, Mr. Caples rendered valuable geographical services to the Colony. He first

discovered and named the Hollyford River and Valley with its chain of lakes, and mapped the whole country with pen and ink in a marvellously accurate manner. Dr. Hector was about that time on his way to the West Coast in the Matilda Hayes schooner; and whilst lying in Jacobs' River he read Caples' account of his journey in the Otago Daily Times. Subsequently Dr. Hector went round to Martin's Bay, and his report verified the discoveries of Caples in every particular.

Shortly after Caples' expedition Mr. Alabaster entered the Hollyford from the sea, in a small schooner named The Aquila, in which he succeeded in reaching the head of Lake M'Kerrow, and pursuing his researches up the Pyke River, he discovered another lake, to which his own name was given. – (Official Report, 1863.) There is still another lake further up this stream, which, rising in the coast ranges, almost describes an ellipse before it joins the Hollyford and finally enters the sea.

In 1864 Dr. Haast discovered the Pass which bears his name at the head of Lake Wanaka. In 1865 I was, at my own request, sent to investigate this route, with the view of ascertaining whether a practicable road could be built to connect Otago with the West Coast. The following terse account of my journey on that occasion is extracted from "The Handbook of New Zealand Mines," which is now passing through the Press under the auspices of the Government: –

"On the 28th August, 1865, Mr. Vincent Pyke, Goldfields Secretary, accompanied by Mr. Coates, Mining Surveyor, and three men, with two mules and two horses, started from the Dunstan with the view of finding a practicable line of road to the West Coast via Lake Wanaka. Two days afterwards they arrived at Newcastle, where they met Hatini Whiti (generally known on the Otago Goldfields as Maori Jack), who was engaged to go with the expedition. It rained incessantly for several days, and on one occasion the Haast River had to be forded 14 times during a day's travelling; whilst on another occasion the progress of the party was barred by an almost unbroken series of rocky gorges, through which the river foamed in a succession of cascades and rapids over and amidst huge piles of rock, which encumbered its channel for a distance of 10 to 12 miles. After leaving their camp, the party were unable to find a piece of level ground of sufficient extent to pitch their tents. They had to take shelter for the night under the projecting ledges of a huge mass of rock which had travelled from its original bed to within three feet of the edge of the river. Mr. Pyke caught a chill through lying in a pool of water which had collected during the night, the consequence being that for three days he suffered from an acute

attack of gout, under which he could only travel with difficulty and in great pain, more especially as he had to carry a heavy swag over the roughest possible ground. Fording the Haast to the right bank above the junction of the Burke, the party came to an old camp, and found carved on a tree, 'Nugget Prospecting Party, Sep. 3, 1863.' Below the junction of the two rivers the Haast widened to a width of 50 yards, and the valley opened out, affording a magnificent view of the Grey and Moorhouse Ranges. The river ran for nearly eight miles between wide flats, some of which were partially grassed, but for the greater part were covered with dense scrub and underwood. From the junction of the Clarke with the Haast River the valley of the latter widened to a mile, and sometimes to one and a-half and two miles. The party reached the sea coast on the 2nd October, 35 days after starting from the Dunstan, and remained three days, so as to enable the men to mend their clothing and prepare for the return journey. Their stock of provisions was reduced to 20 pannikins of flour and meal, and a little tea and sugar. They kept an anxious look-out for passing vessels, but none appeared in sight, and they were not aware until their return that miners were at the time located at Jackson's Bay and Bruce Bay. The return journey was commenced on the 5th October, and two days afterwards the first entirely fine day occurred since the 27th September; but the Haast was much higher than on the downward journey. On the arrival of the party opposite the depot below the junction of the Clarke, Mr. Pyke sent two of the party across the river to fetch the stores that had been left there. Unfortunately, one of them when returning attempted to ford the Haast where the water was deep and the current strong; he lost his footing and was obliged to drop his load, swimming ashore with difficulty. The oatmeal, tea, sugar, and flour were lost; but, luckily, 6 lb. of the latter was recovered on a sand-bar, and that, with a little brose-meal, was all that was left. They hurried on till they reached the Burke, and took up the biscuits which were stored opposite the Wills River; then pressed forward to the Makaroro Valley, which they reached the following evening; but when they got to the Fish Stream they found it flooded by the incessant rain, and foaming and roaring through its rocky channel in a torrent which it was impossible to ford. Tree after tree was felled in the vain effort to throw one over the chasm; and nothing but the fact that their last biscuit was consumed could have induced them to persevere in the midst of the steady downpour, which so chilled them as to induce a drowsy lethargy of the most painful description. At length they managed to cross by constructing a rude ladder of saplings reaching from a rock in the river to the top of the opposite cliff. On the 14th October the party arrived at the head of Lake Wanaka, and reached Clyde on the 19th, ten days short of two months from the time of their departure. Auriferous indications were observed at various parts of the route, which Mr. Pyke considered a practicable one to the West Coast from Lake Wanaka, the distance being estimated at about 60 miles."

I may add to the above, that communication by this route is now

easily accomplished; and I may also be permitted to express an opinion that it is the only practicable route for a railway connecting the East and West Coasts of the Middle Island. Considering that the Pass itself, in the heart of the New Zealand Alps, is only about 1,800 feet above sea level, and that this is the highest point on the entire route, no argument is required in support of this opinion.

NOTE. – At the twelfth hour an old friend – -Mr. James Crombie. of Bannockburn – writes, referring to Highlay Hill, mentioned in page 114: – "Myself and other three mates were sluicing in the gully where Bailey found us, and we took good care not to let him see any of our gold; but he went and reported finding a reef carrying gold, and men working in the gully making £1 per day...... Sergeant-major Bracken was the first Government officer we saw in the gully; and he picked up our pannikin with about 15 ounces of gold in it, and took away a piece about 5 dwt. with him."

PRINTED AT THE "OTAGO DAILY TIMES" OFFICE, DOWLING STREET, DUNEDIN.

15 This is the correct date of the occurrence.

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