MINING MEMORIES

Hokitika Guardian, 17 March 1931, Page 2

MINING MEMORIES

“PACKED” BY “DICK” SEDDON

EARLY WEST COAST DAYS. Back to the days when New Zealand had only been a British settlement for some 21 years, and when the Maori wars were still raging in the North Island, go the memories of Air Robert Gunn, who recently celebrated Jii.s ninety-first birthday. He lives in Mount Eden, Auckland. When he was a young man he went to the goldfields on the West Coast, and on one occasion was “packed’ over the ranges by the late R. J. Seddon, who in those days was a storekeeper and a mining agent. Mr Gunn was al.so acquainted with the late Rev. P. W. 1 fairclough, then a student trying with the pick and shovel to win enough to see, him through his college course. Later, when Air Gunn went to Taranaki, his resourcefulness as a builder was put to a severe test. On April Ist, 1894, a fierce blizzard struck that part of the country and strained many of the larger wooden buildings in an alarming way. Tile town of Paten was right in the path of the storm. The great need was to stay the houses against the strain. Rope was unprocurable, but Air Gunn knew that in one of the stores there was a large supply of fencing wire. With a band of helpers he managed to brace the buildings so that they were able to withstand the full force of the gal©.