REMINISCENCES OF THE WEST COAST.

Hokitika Guardian, 15 December 1923, Page 4

REMINISCENCES OF THE WEST COAST.

! (By .Mr William Kvans of Timaru). j At tin- time of the big Hold rush to | the West Coast of the South Island in | In'!I, (Jo and (ill. men flocked there i from all parts of the world, as the I finds were reported to lie rich. Bu.si- ' ness people from Christchurch, Dune | din, Invorcnrigil, Wellington, Attc-k- ---| land and Nelson were soon on the rush | by land am! sea. Many oi them on | arrival at once settled down in UokiI tika. People also came from Austra- | Ini. Africa, and later on from Kurope. | America, and Great Britain, so that a | cosmopolitan population of from ,'iO to I 111,(100 adult men hud arrived and were I spread all over Westland digging and ! prospecting lor gold hv the year 1-80(5, j mostly hardy young men aged from 20 t to in years. The majority were the j pick: of the eolonics and elsewhere, all ! adventurer.- after (old. men willing ! ami ahle to work, who could hold their 1 own in any position they were placed in ; Inti there were also many camp lollowers, loafers, and some jail bird-: (as i- always the ea.-e on new gold 3 fields ) amongst them. These nndcsirahles were kept in cheek By the more 1 orderly uiemhers of the community. J until the police arrived and took 4 charge. Bevel I Street. Hokitika, was ; | the first street opened; it is located on J the north side oi the Hokitika 1 Diver. facing 'the seashore. ShipJ wrecks were of daily occurrence, otvJ ing in lhe had liar entrance from sea j to river. Most of the vessels of j those days were small sailers with 1 very few steamers, their carrying enp■l acity not averaging more than from 4 one tn 200 tons, most of them well io--1 siired. and the Insurance risk ran J from A to 10 per cent. It was noth- | ing unusual to see 2, A. I, or more J vessels go ashore on a tide as the sea -] on the liar was often rough and no tug available. Phis, was soon rectified as, J within a few mouths, we had the tug 1 “ Lioness " (' Captain Wilford ) and 5 the •• Titan " ; Captain Baseant ) and | Bonar's little steamer towing boats in J and out, hut, even then, vessels kept J piling ii|i on the bar. FtV-igld from 1 Dunedin was 80 to 100- per ton to J eommenee with, and towage charges I from 20s to A">- to los according to the | size ol the vessel. The larger the | ve.sel the higher the rates of charges J for towing. It was nothing imiistt.il 1 for a tug to earn 5 to 7or 0(10 lor I towing vessels over the. liar on one tide, j Prom the roadstead to the inside harbour would not lie more than a mile at (lie most, and when the bar was workable and a smooth sea, the tug would often bring in !1 or I. vessels on one tide. At other times the liar would he unworkable for days and weeks. I remember the schooner “ Zephyr ” having to remain over two months in the roadstead owing to the river being quite closed up with a sand bar. The Borough Council combined with the business people of the town, employed nn*li to dig an opening for the river to get through and held meetings almost, daily hut we had to wait until rain eanii.' in sudieient quantities to again re-open the bar at the liver tin ntli. One could walk on dry beach shingle right across (lie entombed, liver

from north to .south. I remember the ii'i iiietil quite clearly, a- a great portion of the ‘Zephyr’s" cargo had been shipped to my order in .Melbourne, and as .ill i lie vessels that acrtiumktlod in the rnndsti ad v, bile the river was dry and the bar closed came into pul aitet the first big lull of min had t loured tin. hat opening, the iv-ult, wa that tin market became overstocked villi g'siil.-. and caused heavy lu.-se.- to shipper-,. Hint was the only time I ran i.-im iid-er tin hat being quite rlm.-ed up. I i\ ill. now rel’ei to some of my own remini -ecni-es oi that time. I fame down cai-itn the day hi fore the “City of 1 in,.i ■ :Ii:;" was udvuti.-.ed to sail on lirr first voyage u- the MY:.;. C .: . and a,r.inionund the whole passenger neeoiuumdation was engaged some day- In-lure. A- I was de-irons of getting away the fir-t opportunity. I, next morning, asked thethen Mayor of Dunedin. Mr .1. Grilflii, who wasanohl Victorian friend, to introduce me to Mr John Jones, f lie owner of the steamer. ’I his gentleman I loti! often previously seen, but up to that time had, not spoken to. Hr iveived us very courlenusly, and on the .Mayo,- staling our mission, viz., to allow me to get aboard the steamer “'City of Dunedin" that day. he fold me tliete was no hope of my getting a

cabin or berth as they were all previously engaged: in fact many passengers would have to put up with shake downs all over the ship. .1 informed him I was prepared to rough iL and take my eluntee; all I wanted him to do was to let me have a. ticket to get aboard. ! would take all risk of obtaining cabin accommodation. He then smilingly complied and accompanied me up tn h> ollice. and then instructed the, managing and only clerk on duty, a lad of about 10 years of age. then known t-i the public as young Jimmie Mills, to give me a ticket to get aboard tin-sleanu-r. informing James that T was to take all risks of anv di-comfort that night he expected on ihe voyage. The young James .Mills of that day was

afterwards the gentleman who so successfully built tin, in his capacity of Managing Director, the celebrated Union .Steamship Coy. of New Zealand, and is now well-known and respei ted both at Home and abroad as Sir James Mills, lie is a man of great ability and resource, much liked and respected hy th" people of Dunedin, amongst v liohi he .spent the host years of his life, and although he now resides in London, lie is still, 1 understand, ‘•the Power behind the Throne” that rules the management of the Union Steamship Company. Oil my arrival at Port Chalmers. I found that the s.s. ‘'Alhambra” (Captain John McLean) would he leaving for Hokitika next day. and lie suggested I should accompany him. f replied that I had paid my fare hy the ‘‘City of Dunedin” and would take my chance with her. (He said he would he there before us, as he v.as going south about, and this proved to he the case, he being in Hokitika roadstead before our steamers’ arrival.) The steamer “City of Dunedin” left Dunedin that evening, called in at Lyttelton. Wellington and Nelson re-

i;i::inil:fj; a day or more at each port, reaching HokfTtka without any :nis!ii]». A more rowdy lot of passenger* could not again he got together. We had about dOO passengers, and certainly fioiu dO to 1 (>0 stowaways aboard—who were always first down to meals. The sea all the tun was smooth, like a mil! pond, fortunately for ns passengers. Had we met with any rough weather it i- more than probable we v.onld not have reaehed our destination, as the wretched ve-'d would almost surely have "uirned turtle" as she did outside Wellington Heads during j her next voyage to Hokitika. As hcj foie remarked, we had a rowdy lot of passengers aboard, and a stand-up light between some of these characters as * wav of settling disputes, was almost an hourly occurrence, and, in order to see and get near tlie sport, the majority of passengers on the boat would get on one side of the deck and almost o\cr-b a !ance the ship, as she had no ballast aboard and only drew about 10ft. On these occasions the Captain whose m-rne was Bovd. a well-known navigator of that day. used to call out from Ids position on the upper deck, in a most civil tone of voice: ‘'Gentlemen, will von kindly move to the other side of the ship?” which request was always granted. This had to be carried out to

keep the ship upright. Our calling at the different ports was a boon to the passengers to get ashore for an hour or se, and enabled them to stretch their loc- and meet their shore friends. As all our passengers were bound for the new gold rush there were naturally many inquiries about the new diggings from the stay-at-home i c.sklents of the ports wo called at, and. at every place, more stow-a-ways managed to get aboard; as passages for payment were unobtainable they therefore took French leave. AA'e put into Nelson and remained there two days ; had fine weather and it good time when there. On arrival at Hokitika the steamer anchored in the roadstead. Captain J. McLean, commander of the s.x. “Alhambra,” had previously arrived with anoihei cargo of passengers and had been in the roadstead some hours be I ore us. IP- came over to our .slop in one of his own boats. He came alongside and saw the big crowd of passengers and remarked to me (I had made many voyages with him) that he wa.s surprised at the Customs in Dunedin allowing the steamer to leave port with so many people aboard. In fact she was too overcrowded for a river steamer. He asked how many were aboard an 1 I replied that there were about TOO paying passengers and, say, 10A stowaway--, lie was shocked at this information, ami said the “Alhambra" which wa.-. more than double the -ize of the ity of Dunedin" and a good, well-found sea-going ship hesidis, hail about And passengers aboard, and he though! his vessel verv much overcrowded, -vid added that had we oy.perk-m-ed anyhad weather on the voyage our lives would have been in danger. 'Hie passenger.- from both sfeamets got aboard a small coastal steamer named the •‘Bruce" (Captain -Malcolm) a well and favourable known sea captain of that time who came around front Dunedin purposely to lako off the passengers ftom these two steamers and work the Hokitika bar. She was afterwards employed taking passengers nil all incoming steamers ami some sailing vessels also over the liar. The regular recog-

nised rale of towage was 20s a ton. hut often a much higher charge was mode. M’lll'll within sight of the bar, we that day si\v many wrecked ves-el.- on the lunch, both sailing vessels and steamers. mostly small craft. Wrecks were of i-outm “n occurrence, almost every tide. Amongst them was the wellknown little Wellington trading stee.mcr '•Slormhird,” which boat was soon afterwards launched off the beach, and loi many years 'since then trail--d t lit of M'ellington to all the small outside places, V, bc.n jt.he "Ilium’ enteted

1 the Hokitika river after crossing the bar, to our surprise, alihougli there 1 1 1 were a few small sailing vessels nisule. there wa.s not up to that time any lund--1 mg place lor goods. Me pulled up alongside the liver hank which was covered with hllsli an I scrub, and had 1 to wait until a passage was made - through the scrub so that wo could ' laud. 'III.- new ( ttstoms Agent who ' had just arrived was a iellow pa - - en--1 gar. and at once took charge ol all r bonded goods directly after lie landed. " AViiai arrangements he made with Hie I owners, 1 did not then learn, hill v.itli--1 in a lew da vs a small customs house wa.s built not far from the landing place, all in business order. I met .several old Dunedin and Victorian acquaintances amongst the •‘Allmmlou’-" ] lissengers. One man in particular was niurh in mv company. His name was James Chc.sitey. lie had previously boon" keeping what was known as the ‘‘Noah’s Ai k Livery Stables" tn Dinieoin. lie iiinl aiuither Vieturian uam-d Stephen Jforge had entered into parin--r-liip. Herne wa- left in charge of the Dunedin business whilst Chcsuey vi-ited the geld push. Chcsuey who had not protii.usly had lniicli experience of diggings life, kept close tn me. a> he v. it* aware 1 had had previous gold fields exj eriMiee. and knew large portion of tie--1 storekeepers on lit<- rllsh and th get also. Our lira nig lit was spent tn C-.r: ami Davii'-. La!, Kenned; Bevell Ni'e-t within al»nii Ku yards of the Hokitika liter. Ji was an hotel, l uardiug house, and dance mom tc.mliioed. and wa> the only place we knew of at that time vvlu-re we could put up .for the night. Cox had been in my employ as a storeman at lluu.slan Creek, Otago; in fact it" was mi Ill's advice l had . mm- over lo see the m l. for myself. The stores, betels, o; shanties were all doing a roaring trade. the diggers were coming from all quarter' of the M’orhl by sea and land. Cp in that time provisions of all kinds were sea fee ami dear. Steak was worth 2s (hi per Hi, and otln-r provisions high in price accordingly. Yet a fairly decent rough laid meal was procurable in the best lintels lor 2s (id. This no doubt w.-ts a losing part of the business. hut was made up hv tile stile of any quantity of .shilling drinks ovo" the bar. Kvery bar was crowded in the doors, and as there was votv littlesleeping accommodation, the we-' sice; mg aecuminodntion. tht- working digger* and men used to a diggings It I e nearly all brought their own ten!* and blankets with tla-m. The List tight spent by Clii-stt.-y and mv-elf i am mu lil-.i-h In I'orgri. Cox give up his hod to me as he had to attend In the bar and the -lame house. Che ue.v got a Led either on or ttmlet a table, and we retired about .1 I p.m., hut not to sleep as there was a large dance room connected with tin- hotel, and the diggers and their female friends '-'ere evidently enjoying themselves dancing polkas, waltzes, jigs and reels. I hey were still at it about midnight when 1 got to sleep. Next morning Che-ney and I were up early, -ay about a.iii. and were washing our faces and hands in a tin dish, alter which «o had to wipe them on the roller towel I i hind the door. Chesney was having the first wipe, and while (hits omuloyed saw one or two moving inserts which he tvidonlly did not expect to see there, and. directed my attention to the objects. After this we made our toilet i.t haste, and very little appetite for ! bioakfaxt. owing to our broken test that -night. After a look around the 1 newly erected village or town of Hokitika, I decided to procure a section of 1 land for a building site, and happening 1 to meet Mr MeTavish, the then Inspce- ' t-■;■ of the I’nion Bank, he laid me on 1 t-.* i’ll tittroaded section directly at tile ' hack of his hank, which was unoeeti- "

pietl and only necessitated my obtaining: a license from the Police Court of No 0 section on the new map of Hokitika. to make it my property. I secured the license and put men on at or.ee to chop down the timber and scrub upon the sect ion. I then had portion of a cargo of American soft wood on the way from Dunedin hy the schooner ‘‘Camaras” (Captain Perkins, a mollknoMn Welsh skipper) mostly flooring and timber for inside work. Inn had t i get hard woud for the framework of the building. On my return to see 1 1 iv. my friends were getting on with the wmk, I found sufficient of the ground cleared to enable me to get a lent set up with fly complete iliat day. a - there Mere plenty of idle men about at that time, carpenters and men of al! trades amongst them. When the tent was erected and a bunk fixed up on r;iie side, it looked so comfortable that my companion, the late Mr .James Chesney, requested me as a favour to have a second bunk erected, as ho did not feel disposed to have another night's experience in Cox's hotel; so this was done and mc were congratulated by many of our passenger friends on securing such good sleeping accommodation in the short time at our disposal since lauding. After laying in a stock of provisions, a bottle or tM'o of spirits ami wines, n happy thought evolved,

and we decided to have tv house warming party. We invited a few special ft lends, as many as our tent would accommodate, amongst them Mr Peter MeTavish, the Bank Inspector before i.liuded to. a well-known draper named • ' F. Burns, Daniel O'Donnell, a pre- \ joins partner of mine, and other guests whose names I do not now remember. We had a few songs anti spent un enjoyable evening. We were all young men i in. those days. I may lie;t? mention a rather amusing incident that occurred whilst Clie--nry and I were living in the tent, whilst the new Acre was being erect' d, i Tin- adjacent unlicensed Hotel was a large tent on the river occupied by German named S'lluter. He had an American black on his premises, v.e will (all "‘Ba til bo" who blacked hoots and made himself generally useful. Sambo 1 ad been in the habit of coming to our tent in tin- morning- to take away our Loots to clean. His charge for this wa- Is a pair. The weather was very wet olid the tracks muddy, so that one ] art icular morning my boots were unu. auliy dirty, and hml not been cleaned. as my companions were. I askew Sambo why he had not cleaned my boots, also, when lie replied: "100 big Mussu. could not clean them for the l-e-ney .” The man u ho supplied us with bread at. 1 hat time was the unlortuuate Phil Lew, afterwards one of the BurgessKoliv gang of West (least murderers. He was then employed with a halting I in-in and delivered the bread which he | carried on a Day on his head. He j had every appearance of being an old j j;-ij bird even then, but all sorts mid j conditions of me" were to be lntind on j new gob I fields. I had previously met ! Levy on Otago diggings as a Intake of small gunds. such as cnnis etc.. v. Licit he carried tm it pack horse. I Inn! pieviously warned poor Dudley one of my storemen on Dun-tan creek to hi ware ol him. Dudley was one ol tin- gang’s victim-- when the Nelson murders tools place. About the year I8(i7 when llto Duke of Hdiubtirgh arrived in New Zealand, AVost Coasters to show their loyally sent a deputation by mail-coach to f hristehurch, comprising several ol our leading townspeople of that day, amongst them Papa Lazar, our genial old lown clerk; Diehard Beeves, tillerwards Member for Beeflon and later of tin- Fpper I louse; and other representative West Coa'ter.s. They arrived at their destination and put up at the then h-ading hotel tin- “Clarendon”. All were in high spirits and concocted what they termed an < xeelleiit speech. When they invited the Prince of AA'ales into one of the best • rooms in the house, and suggested j reading lo him a long well thought out speech conveying the loyalty of West Coasters to the British Throne etc.. hui ! > th"ii surprise and disgust the Prince without any hesitation informed the deputation alter a few minutes inlerview, that In- would lake their important, speech as read. This fondiict el the Prince proved a damper to the depulntion’s loyalty to the throne, and they returned to Hokitika sadder hut wiser men. T heir < chosen representative Papa Lazar was I tin- author of some very amusing , poetry on the subject ol their visit- to | the Prince, and tbe depulaiion had to put, up with 1 ri»- 11 :! 1 v drill L-r a short i linn- alter Hii-. The Priuet- visited i Sydney. X.S.W.. anil in He- horror of ; every loyal subject was bred at and j severely wounded, by an excited in- , dividual who had not a proper respect , for the royal person of tin- Duke. This man’- name was U’Farrell, lie ua.s j tried and (.uiviit.-d of attempted ( murder, and finally .-.uilei'etl the ex- ( t rente penalty. About ibis time a t supposed Fenian riot ton!; place in Manchester, Knghmd. when one or two i pulii-enii-n lost their liver.. Their mur- ( deiers were arre.-ted. tried hv jury, and | fiutil 1 v jiaid the death penalty. I nlor- 1 I; for Hokitika there was at , that lime e trong feeling of disloyally i am-jof-.t ,i few liidimen who weie i i,n • Aii .All; th Man 1, \ r < in,-n. v. h-uu they d,-signaled ae- j martyrs. .Meetings of these sympath- ( isers were 1 1 ■ -1 1 !. and t hi-v decided oil t showing their syiupatliy for the so- y called afauehester martyr-, by having | a grand procession to proceed to the a llokilrikn cemetery on a certain day. i with the object of planting a cross to t gentleman was appointed to mar-lull ili." prm e.-sion. hut hi- own personal h friends had him arrested and placed a in jail that night lor tin- time being, a mi si tine trumped tip charge. s The satin- night a deputation of 1 Irishmen visited me at mv house and 0 sugge l ted that 1 should receive the honour of marshalling the procession. I asked them why they came to me. t and they replied they understood I was w an Irishman. "MYIi!" I -aid, "!'happen- I ed to he horn in Ireland, hut left that I country when II was about, 1 A years A of age, I knew of the troubles that A were occurring there, cxeepi from a what f saw in the local newspapers; g llnil 1 had no sympathy with the pro- „„

cession they piopoxed to walk in the next day." I said I wa- at present a New Zealander, and a l-ival sullied of Ihe British Dominions. I knew nothing about tin- troubles in Ireland and did not want to know, but if any ol whoso present desired' to sympathise with their friends in Ireland, I would suggest they go hack to Ireland and light the matter out there. Why should they bring their Irish troubles into this small community of New Zealanders. If people of all dilferent nationalities followed suit and brought ail their troubles out here to New Zealand. what sort of a pandemonium would lie have. etc. Due man a wellknown shoe-maker of lint! time said aside to his friend-: “I told you so." I remarked I heard what you said Mr Bouse, and I reiterate that people living in this country should not introduce foreign troubles. The di'-pn lotion was leaving in a sullen sort of ,

spirit, when I said I 'had no ill-feeling in the matter: they could get someone else who knew more about Irish troubles than I did to marshall them, hut to show there was no ill-footing on my part, I asked them to have a drink of anv liquor they liked host. This action of mine appeared to have a

consoling effect, and one of the men said: "Will von -walk in the procession at any rate?" ‘'No I said, “f will not Mall: in vmir procession or any procession, but i will stand opposite inv stor" at the corner of Wharf St. and see some of you men uatlk in both processions, for there is suit to be a loyal procession directly alter yours.” They left me and managed to seen re another marshal to take my place. Next morning I stood at the place f named, and saw a number of the same men wall; in both processions. The people of the town were up in arms, and resented the disloyal procession. The night the cross Mas planted in the grave-yard, a number of young New Zealanders visited the cemetery, took the cross down, cut it up into .match-wood, and divided the pieces amongst their friends, as a memento of the occasion. As I expected the next day a much larger procession took place, news of the Prince having . been shot causing much excitement, as ■ some stupid people were under the im- j prossion that all people who M'cre born j in Ireland Mere Fenians. The pro- j prietor of the ‘‘West Coast Times ’ sit ,

that time Mas inclined to be an Orangeman Irishman, whilst another opposition paper started a leu- Meeks before named “The Celt” was edited by an American Irishman named Manning in conjunction with an Irish Priest named Father Larkin, (our

parish Priest, Father MeGirr, was o]>posed to the procession). One of their principal supporters was an Irishman named Barrett. There was I'm somedays a small newspaper war about, the wrongs of Ireland from both points of view. The leaders of the procession to the ceuitery were arrested and lodged ill jail, the Hint Act nils read, and nearly every grown man was sworn in as a special constable. I was deputed h.v the then County Cluiirnian. the Hon James Bonar to the position of Captain of No 1. Division. There were several Divisions appointed that day at the police barracks. When the special constables were sworn in the late Mr <l. C. Fitzgerald was our liesident .Magistrate. Hi my ease I declined the honour a- 1 had no previous experience of drill, hut found a Mi'n-tiliiie ill the late dohn Kendal Carey, a then well-known Auctioneer, who had experience in volunteering in Australia, and has since made a big inline in Sydney, and although 1 desired to lie a common private, 1 was appointed Cnpt. Carey’s senior sergeant. There was as before mentioned, several camps of speciaC. Marl; Sp-rolt was the sergeant in (barge of one at the Hansens’ Hall. C. K. Button commanded the Company located in the Queen’s or Bartlett’- theatre. My camp was in the old Court House, adjacent to the present Town Hall. The Government sent us over abotiit 1IF) Taranaki soldiers from the North Island, under the command of Capl. McDonald. Business was suspended for about a week or more, and constant drilling of the specials was kept up daily. Some extremely funny incidents occurred during the crisis. Ah n were appointed oiiicers who had no idea of drill or what was ro(|iiired of them. One sergeant, a real good fellow, addressed his men somewhat as follows: “1 do not pretend to know anything about drill, lad if we have to fight I will take the lead like a man. and when I give lhe word of command, wire in with your blessed ears down.” On another occasion a sergeant of No H. Division was informed that some Fenians were making themselves obnoxious in a certain locality. He at once started from the camp with two corporals and two privates, each with his baton or ‘‘potst irk.’’ Oil the way a drunk was making a great noise, and complaining I hat he '.hud been knocked about by some of Hie Fenian by-.slander-. On curpiirv the Sergeant was told that (he drunk was the only culprit, and alter admonishing him, the sergeant and his men continued their march to catch the rowdy Fenians whom they swore to arrest. They visited the place the Fenians were supposed to lie located, but no one was visible and on their return they found (lie previous drunken man trying v; kick in an hotel door, and they arrested hint. Thai ,-etlled ihe Fenian i rouble of that lime. A few days a for the Mi-fnlh'd Fenian rials took place three companies of volunli ers were appointed. No 1 Foot ( ov. wn-

niidi'r the command of the lion dallies Hollar, i had the honour to lake command of the No 2 Coy.: and Capl. Carey. also an irishman look (ommaml of the l.iglil Horse Coy. We kept on f.t drill and shooting at the Lull ‘ (near

the grave-yard) for about two years. ! did not become an oiiUiumV tie voiltui, -vr as I never expected any war intake place. I was loud of shooting at the butts and bad command of the leu -best shots in i he thro-- Covs. jn- ' !■'•!. :ig iny-eb . I do not remember our til!;- -(|iiad ever losing a match .'■gum t all comers of 1?ill** Coys. 11'lotigliont New Zealand. Our No 1’ Coy. comprised ninety-six ol the tallest- men in N.Z. a- we wore supposed to average oft. 10tin. I'rofes-or Schmid Sir .Malcolm Fraser, hull) tall men, were two of our members. Our Coy. made a cosmopolitan crowd, mostly business men. and on Ihe whole we had a pleasant- time while il lasted. I do mu remember attv had feeling having lal.tn place amongst our men during lb.- time we spent together. Our. I,mt d atli was our Colout S.-rg l , Delate Archie Bonar. elder brother ol Hie Hon. dames Bonar. I spent over nine vears on the West Coast: and had varied experiences. I first land'-d early in I Slid and after creeling a store and just starting business sold out to | my then friend, .lames Chcsncy. witii : the intention of coming back Infer! when 1 got rid of my store at llmiM,'in's Creek, Otaigo. I again canto hack a few months later and ri nutim-d as before mentioned .about nine years, at the corner of Wharf and (’amp SI reel-. I always did well in my legitimate business as Men limit, ami (lonera 1 fston-keeper, as [ bad a hu-ine s a I Boss also. I took an interest in any mallei' 1 thought would advance the place, and was a member of ihe Waste Hands Board, the Hospital Board, SavingBank. Comity Councillor for a time, Managing- Director of ihe big Ijolnum Wafer Uace, which was for some time a sm-co-siiil enlcrpri.-o. but later the gold returns fell away. I was also '

Managing Director of the Westland Steam Tug and Freight Coy., hut before and after 1 left Hokitika that Company and Chesney's Coy. started lighting. Finally they lost all their original capital and failed to make good. For some year-, before I left Hokitika I was net satisfied with the future prospects of the goldfields, so lilatty bad debts took place, as the gold we all depended on, was unobtainable. When 1 was about to leave Hokitika, in the late Ci-I's, Beetton hrok cut and 1 was induced to stay longer, but. so fur as I was concerned Bt.eftoit mine.-, in which ! had heavily invested proved a failure, and with the ! lulninu Water Rave a!-n giving out I at last determined to retire from all gold fields and try a farming district, eventually pulling up at Timant. South Canterbury. Before finally leaving the Coast i:iv business friends gave me a good semi-oil’ Coo ■■West Coast Times” of that date). I only know fin.- man now living, who was present there. I little thought when 1 left Westland 1 should be able to return during my iib'-fime again to Westland l-.v railway through the present tunnelled line ft ant Chr.'st.-hnreh. i like other pioneer gold-cokers had many adventures and trouble-, in those davs, and swam many river- on horseback. but 1 can honestly say that some of the happiest days ol my hie wore spent in West land, and many of the men I met at that time were amongst the be-t 1 have ever known and would do credit to any country. They were mostly young adventurers, not alraid to tackle hard work and were all citizen- of the world seeking their fortunes at Ihe W.-t, Coast gold-lit Ids. 1 have met many of these early pioneers

since i hen in all parts ot the world, when 1 have been travelling, ami as a rule iln-v all had improved their finan-

cial position- and made good colonists wherever ;they '-(-tiled after leaving Westland.

Yiiii are now having what i- termed the British and Intercolonial F.xhibitinii to he held at Hokitika, Westlaud, this month, to commemorate the celebrated Arthur’s I’ass Tunnel (the longest tunnel in the Southern Hemisphere). and to celebrate tin; Diamond Jubilee of the Province ol Westland 18(51-1921. 1 believe I am to-day one of tin- very few pioneers of the ISlilIs’lio rush now living, as nearly all the men and women who landed ill Hokitika in those early day- have passed out into eternity. I only know one man in Wharf Street now left- of the original business people located there. 1 mention the lion ii. I ..Michel, and even lie was only a small boy when he landed there. Mr Michel, from what 1 know of him. is a crodii to any eonii inanity. He has proved himself a good ( ohoii-L and would have made, a linam ial success in any British colony. Another well-known business pioneer passed away in Westport only a few ■ lays ago. 1 refer to Mr Tim-. Bailie, who landed in N.Z. in Idfil and in Hokitika in Ib'fio w'n- n I did. lie remained in business on the Coast until he was called away m that place from which no traveller returns. He. like Mr Michel, had Hie re-pci L of all his neighbour-and left a good example behind him. Another past pioneer who in former days I knew intimately was Hu- former Premier of N.Z.. Air Bichard Seddon. 1 need say no more than that lie must receive the credit (amongst all I.is ether honours) of laying (he foundation of the Arthur’s Pass Tunnel and ihe future prosperity of Westland. lam plea-ed to say Hud another gentleman viz. Mr Arthur Dob-son, the discoverer of the Arthur's Pa and )--| ecled (’liriMchurch Bond. Railway and Marine Fngineer—is still amongst us—and in the enjoyment of good health in Hi- f-drd. year. I hrxl met Mr Dobson ill Wm-ilund about ISfilj—the time be completed the Qovernment survey contract that included the Arthur’.- Pa-- ami 1 can with confidence say that I believe Mr Dobsen is this day the youngest and sin, ll tv-:-c man ->i hi- age lii ing in New /caa lid. lb- works in In- garden, drives his motor, rides In- hike, and doe- his work in general <piilo us well as men half Ins age. I will now kiiklade and wi-h the pre-ent generaiion of .voni.g \\ est Coasters long life, health, and genera! prosperity in the homes they are now carving ->ui for themselves ill Westland. Wu . KVA NS.