GREYMOUTH REVISITED.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1339, 13 November 1872, Page 2

GREYMOUTH REVISITED.

Lby a correspondent of the westport : TIMES.] /' .^'. It is now over five years since I was. in Greymouth beforehand you may suppose was greatly surprised to see such' an mi- - prpvement in the town, considering the tires and floods the people there have had to contend with. What a contrast from ■■■? the time when old Reuben first planted his foot on shore, no house to place his - , stores in, till he built one, and all around . nothing but dense bush, with the ex- > ception of a bit of clearing the Maoris had. Many a score of pigeons and ka-kas I have shot along what they call Richmond Quay, and Boundary street, and ' the back of Mawhera Quay, the,.once im- • penetrable bush, looking so dense, so thick, that it was thought almost impossible to penetrate it. You may guess hw. T 1 1 stared to see those handsome villas with, their well laid out gardens dotted here „ and there, and then walking slowly along the tramway, noting everything as I passed, I turnod my head to the right, what is that I see I can my eyes believe ? — It is surely a gasometer ! I had not seen such for many years, therefore my : ; astonishment. Great credit is due to the inhabitants for their energy in this and. 7 other improvements. The town at night has a cheerful aspect from the numerous, : gas lights burning in every street and >> dwelling. On the whole Greymouth i 3 the most lively town I have been in lately on the Coast, and I have visited nearly all ' within the last three months;

In sauntering rbund the town I heard the. sound of martial music, playing the, , Dead March in Saul. I found it was the^ funeral of an old and respected townsman,, whom I had known, and therefore made \ my way to the cemetery, to witness the . - last ceremony. Here again was another change from the time when we buried our :.. . dead in the early days of the Grey. Our friends were buried in whatever kind of boxes or cases came to hand, made up in the shape of coffins, as well as could be, and no minister of the gospel being near, the service was read by one of the company. The budy then had to be carried on the shoulders of the deceased's friends, and in going into the grave-yard they had to wade over the knees in water and mud. . The coffin lowered and the earth shovelled t in, a wooden peg was driven in, with the initials of the name of the deceased, and that was the only record of his-last resting place. I noticed that some of these early graves are greatly neglected. 1 crossed the Grey to see the township of Cobden. What a contrast between the two— the one ali.life and bustle, and the other with its empty dilapidated tenements and rotten old wharf. The sight was enough to give one the shivers. I passed through what is called they* Twelve-Mile.. I called at a hotel tpVget? something to eat, but could get nothing/ but bread and cheese : no meat to be, got at any price. I travelled 25 miles ;that day, and it was the same everywhere, no meat to be got, but I have travelled many - - a time a greater distance, and worse roads on this Coast, without anything to eat, but I thought it so strange, with so much I. meat in Greymouth, making such a splendid show, that the people should be Without meat, and with such good roads, only 12 miles away. "-: ":': : " Subsequently I reached a place called Square Town. Ido not know why this ■ is calledJSquare Town. ; there was nothing square in appearance about it, except sundry empty bottles of JDKZ sticking in the mud. If they had called it Slough; /iP" Town it would have been better named, v