GOLD FEVER

Hokitika Guardian, 16 August 1927, Page 2

GOLD FEVER

OLD THAMES MAN'S STORY

\ .stiirily mail, evidently over throe score years and ten, was wattling tip qiueen Stieet, Auckland, when he was stopped by a friend and asked wlint foot Da 11 el all’s culouis he was wearing in his buttonhole. ‘-Football he blowed!” was the reply. ‘‘Purple is the colour ne old Thames hands wore at the diamond jubilee celebration. “How did you first get the gold lever?’’ he was asked.

‘I got it alien I was a kid, and I’m not cured yet—never will be as long as 1 live.”

During an adjournment for refreshment, the old Thames hand told the following interesting story of how the lure of gold had lield him Horn boyhood to age.

“As a hoy I lived in Auckland, and one day a chum showed me a brass cannon that bad been given him. ‘Let’s tire it.' I said, but be replied. <t have .no powder.’ ‘Oil. J can get some.’ I said, and hurried off inside. Aiv brother was in the militia, so I just

annexed a couple of cartridges iroui his cartouche box. I thought I had done it safely, but my dad spotted me. and coining along said, ‘Wait till 1, get you mv lad.’ \ou bet 1 did not wait, for I had urgent, business in Hie vicinity of Grey Street for the next I'ewi hours. As the next day was Sunday I knew clad would not wlmek me then, and hoped he might forget by Monday. It was a vain hope, however, for early on Monday morning I had an interview with my dad. He grasped one end of the strap and I got the other applied to various parts of my body. My dad was a man who always believed in' doing thoroughly anything he started oil. He did it that Monday morning. After that Interview had terminated 1 was a hit sulky, so T Dwelt for a walk down the wharf. Lying alongside was the schooner Saucy Lass. On board was a hoy I knew. His people’ lived at Mercury Ray. and he asked me to come down and stay a week or two. 1 was quite willing to go, hut said I had no money to pay the passage. He replied, ‘Oh, that’s all right; T can stow you away,’ so on hoard T wont and was soon shut- up below in a dark hole whore I could hear the rats running about. I think I must have had a nap while T was there After it seemed to me I had been on hoard for a couple of days my chum came and let me out. 1 rushed up on deck and was astonished to find wo were just off Ttangitoto Island. “Well. I had a good time down at Mercury Hay. and it was there I got the gold fever. One day a man walked in and showed us a bottle filled with rich gold specimen stone. He said he had found it in the district, and was going up to Auckland next morning to claim the reward from Mr John Williamson, superintendent of the province. for having located a new goldfield. He left in a cutter next morning. hut never reached Auckland. Tt was lost with all on hoard somewhere near Great Barrier reef. Mercury Bay district has often been prospected since those days, hut the location of the reef from which the rich specimens were got lias not yet been found. That’s how I got the gold fever.” •‘What happened when you returned home?" he was asked. “1 had hardly landed when my eldest brother saw me, and he took me straight, home. Fortunately for me. dad was in Itod with a had attack of rheumatics, so I escaped another painful interview. As soon as the Thames goldfield was opened I was early down there, and I have been hunting the precious metal ever since. T am interested in a mine at the present time, and expect to get a patch soon as the indications are very favourable.” Hopeful as ever, the Thames old hand trudged away, and his friend remarked, “Gold prospectors are alsnit the highest in the ranks of optimists.”