DEATH OF A PIONEER.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 849, 22 June 1910, Page 5

DEATH OF A PIONEER.

* CANTERBURY AND WESTLAND IN THE EARLY DAYS. (By Toleeriwli.— Special Correspondent.) Christchurch, June 21. A grave in .the Horsley Downs Cemetery in North Canterbury has received the remains of the late Mr. G. E. Ma-son, who was the pioneer of the Waipara high country, and one. of a band of hardy and adventurous prospectors who first entered .from Canterbury the land towards" Westland and the Teremakau saddle. Mr. Mason had selected his land in the north of the Waipara when there was no former sign of settlement. On June 15, 1857, lie leased Run No. 193, of 10,000 acres, to the north of the Waipara, and on July 20 of the same year Mr. H. Taylor leased No. 205," 20,000 acres, above the gorge of the Hurunui. ■•' Mr. Mason had a strong conviction that the Maoris had a path from the east to "the west over, the snowy ranges." At various times in small parties they bad been detected, previously going out. into tho far back. In September, 1857, Mr. Mason, therefore, with Mr. E. Dobson, Mr. Taylor, ' and Mr. C. Dampier, formed a prospecting party to investigate. Tho portion of the gorge of the Hurunui which the Maoris were supposed to have crossed was near Mount Noble, at a precipitous'part of the gorge. They found a place where, with tho aid of flax ropes and ladders, it was possible to descend to the river and cross on to tho opposite bank by the aid of further assistance. In four, or five days, with picks, and spades, a track was made wlioreby horses could bo led through, and tho prospectors came on to a largo flat plain, at the timo comparatively dry, but computed to have an area of 60,000 acres. The standing timber included native white 'and black pine, totara, and ' birch. Tho main branch of the Hurunui watered it, and it was studded .with-' somo beautiful lakes. The exploring party cleared away tho idea that Canterbury East was landlocked by the snowy mountains, and proved that a road opening on to tho West Coast from a level of 1600 ft. to 1800 ft. could be made, and ,that the country, for cheep-running and timber-producing, was for the time at least • practically unlimited. Subsequently not only the Maoris stole over the hills in quest of the coveted greenstone, but from six to eight years later, hundreds of diggers went that way in the search for tho AVost Coast gold. The secret track suggested in the first instance to Mr. Mason opened by him and his party for four horses soon became a road, and daily for months thcro was a constant stream of men going out west, followed by mobs of cattle and sheep, and Westland was yielding its golden ore by hundreds of ounces weekly, and a steady million pounds yearly.