PAST AND PRESENT.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 23 February 1901, Page 4

PAST AND PRESENT.

(To the Editor).

Hark! What sound i 3 that I hear, ringing so p'.ainly on the ear, *Tis tha March ; 'tis the march of the bold pioneer, in search of tli »t golden land.

Sm. —Fifty years ago the aboriginal native, basked in the sun of his Southern home, along this wild and rugged West Coast, little thinking that his children would see such great changes in so short a tim3. Hinnelf an! forefa hers gone to the reilm3 beyond, his descendants dwindling away"leaving the white racj lords and masters of tho soil. Oil the other hand, how little did our forefathers think fifty years ago that New Zealand would be tho home of so many of their sons and daughters, yet, so it is, the White man's destiny i 3 to explore, colonise, and carry civilization to the furthermost onds of the earth, and these fair southern l*nds the home of our adoption, how richly they deserve the fostering care civilization should bestow upon all that is great and good. Tairty-seven years ago (1864) gold was discovered on thj West Coast, and as there were a large number of people in the country waiting to hear of something turning up, I well remembor when the news got abroad that it created a great rum, people flocked from al' parts to ihe new digging 3. Steam an 1 sailing vosscls of all sorts and sizes were landing the pooplo in thousands. Uokitika and the Gray were the fir&t two places of any importance for a considerable time, but like mas; goldfields soon overrun, the miners never contented, pushing on in hopes of making their pile in. every hole they sank. But, oh! how many has hoped in vain, de'.usion of a hopeful dream, the great magnet lured them on from year to year, enduring all the hardships, a lifo of so unsettled an occupation entailed upon them until premiturc age and disappointments hurried many of them to an early grave.

I was forcibly reminded of the early days of the Coast when visiting your District Hospital a sliort time ago, to see the large number of old-men inmates of the institution. The pioneers of the GO's —men who feared neither hardships nor dangers ; men who swept every obstacle from their path in hopes of finding the golden treasures beyond. How gratifying it is to see that our civilisation makes such provision for the care and comfort of those who are rapidly passing away. As a stranger to your town and district, I was most favorably impressed with nearly all I saw. I could not have believed from heresay that you had such a large number of private residences —a great many of them might justly be called mansions. Nature has been lavishel with her favors in giving you so many low terraces bordering on the high lands at the back, and the enterprise of the people has utilised them to the very best advantage—not only in making handsome, comfortable homes, but also in beautifying the town. Your District Hospital would do credit to a district with a much larger population, and when the new brick wing is completed and furnished, you will nave accommodation greatly in excess of present need. With the exception of your public schools, which are altogether of a superior character and worthy of the best days of an enlightened age, I cannot say much in favor of other public buildings. Your Post Office, even in its best days, was no great object for admiration ; but now its rotten and unpainted condition is certainly a disagreeable contrast to the private enterprise that everywhere abounds. Yes, private enterprise has been abroad in many parts of Grey mouth. Perhaps the most important structure that has been put up or late years is the Evening Stau's new brick .offices, a noble pile costing, I understand, something like £4OOO.

In the whole of my ramble through the town I did not see an empty house or one to let. A strange feature in my observations, and one which impressed me most favorably, was the absence of children idling about the streets and of women hanging on to the front fences gossiping with their neighbours. It appeared as if the people—if there were any—had made everything nice and tidy at the front and were attending to their other duties elsewhere. But, while admiring a great deal of the ins and outs of your town and suburbs, I was disagreeably surprised to see the evidence of an unfortunate mishap, the hull of the Taupo lying so exposed to the gaze of all. If tho Union Company has totally aban loncd it, the Harbour Board should dispose of it, either in helping to make up the training wall by burying it where it lies, or blowing it to smithereens so that Hoither fie eyesight or the imagination will be offended in future. I do not know if it is usual for so large a crowd to gather at tho Railway Station to sec the train leave for Reefton, but on the afternoon in question it appeared to me a very busy scene.

It is a delightful journey through the Valley. I had no idea it was so extensive and so largely cultivated. It impressed me with the idea that it is the backbone of your prosperity, and in the near future I predict a great increase to that prosperity in gold dredging. From the dividing range near Rccfton the country far away to the south is on the whole adapted for dredging, and there is little doubt a large amount of capital will be invested in order to bring its golding treasures to market.

Before concluding there is a matter I wish to make a special* note of. Love and courtship, I want men and women to do these things; they may use what endearing terms or actions they please when alone and unobserved. "But there is a lino of conduct which should guide them when in public, the violation of which brings ridicule upon Hie offenders. The old saying "two is company, three is none," was forceably illustrated on tho afternoon in question when a couple had a carriage attached to the train reserved

for themselves. This is quite right when people wishes to be alone, but when they indulge to excess in those endearments which love can better paint than I can describe, I insist the communication with the others be made private so that the other passengers may not have their modesty shocked or an opportunity given them to say things that would not be flattering to those referred to.-—Yours, etc., „ OIiSEKVER.