The Hokitika Guardian THURSDAY, OCT. 6th, 1921. THE PATH FINDERS

Hokitika Guardian, 6 October 1921, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian THURSDAY, OCT. 6th, 1921. THE PATH FINDERS

Recently tho work of Sir Julius Yon llaast, the great early day explorer, on the geology of Canterbury and Westland, was brought under our notice as affording much interesting data of the early West Coast. The volume has a mass of interesting matter dealing with the gold-rush to Westland, and tlm geological and scenic features in and about this district. We propose therefore to reprint in serial form a. large amount of the matter, and venture to think that tile very interesting, record of the path-finders to the West Coast will lie of wide interest. It is a story which is now history, and apart from reviving memories in the minds ot “the obi bands,” should be of tlm greatest interest to the newer generation who wish to know something of the romantic growth of their homeland, and its transformation from primeval forest to the land we know it today. The magic wand whieh created the change, was of course, the goldfind. In Wellington, last week the Mayor of the City, himself an early West Coaster, in :i pessimistic mood, ventured the opinion that the golden days of the Coast were a tiling of the past! Mr Wright does not know bis Westland as well as Sir Julius Von

llaast did. Mr Wright’s knowledge is Sll perlieial and not geological. Were the great Haast living to-day he would not he marvelling at the good gold being recovered to-day in llimu hlat. Rather would he lie surprised if it were not so, The early path-finders knew their business, and had the knack of seeking out tha treasure in all its golden wealth. To those early pioneers who made their way across mountain

[ barrier from east to west, posterity owes a great deal. 4 o many of us their achievements are but dimly under stood, their hardships and privations were not realised by us. Hut reading the account we begin to publish today. the reader will discover the inward meaning of what pioneering the West Coast meant. Its trials and dangers. its joys and sorrows; its surprises and diappointinents, and we will be able to estimate more generously how much we of this comfortable living generation owe to tiie men, aye, and to the women, who ventured here in those bygone, days, established settlement, and made homes in the trackless bush country. All honor to the pioneers, and particularly to the path-finders, those heroic spirits, who, braving field and flood found their way to the west and opened the new Eldorado which created a territory which to-day, on the eve of the opening of railway communication may be regarded as tho liopo of New Zealand for immediate expansion and prosperity. Those early pioneers bad faith in themselves. Their belief in the. district they made their home was unbounded. May we not eul_ tivate a spirit no less faithful to ourselves, no less loyal to our district r Regarding the future of Westland as one of great promise, that belief will be enhanced by a study of Von Ha net's account of bis travels, of the early impressions lie formed as to the potentialities of tin, place. And it is for us who have entered upon the rich heritage to use our opportunities in the best interests of tlio district, and one of an ever-present possibilities of the future the return of the golden age with all its bustle and glamour and intensive activities.