GOLDFIELDS IDENTITY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5004, 23 July 1926, Page 1

GOLDFIELDS IDENTITY.

'IME LATE MB. THOMAS HASSETT.

The late Mr Thomas Hsasfttt, who cl.ed nt Karangahake cn July 5, wan the eldest son of .Mr Michael Hassett, a farmer residing in the Huon district, Tasmania. At the age Of thirfetn he was bereft of his father, and two years later avowed his intention o f seeking a fortune am mg the mineral fields of his nativJ land. -Many of the old pioneers of the 1852 gold rush to Melbourne, having returned to 1 Tasmania, lived near his home. Being fii-ed with the tal°s of wealth that the mineral fields c>uld give, the boy abandoning the farm, set rut c\ 'he trail of wealth, and during a coadi ride through the midland dis:,rii r was fortunate enough to meet AviMr the. late Patrick Fiannigan of Builer, together with the Troy and Hagen brothers, men whe had acquired enormous wealth on the West Corst cf this Dominion. At seventeen ■years of age Thomas Hassett found liim-.eif the possessor of a c nisider.abie fortune. From then i nward his cuter as a mineral expert was assured, and everything ne. touched on the fields gave him handsome returns. Among his many finds were the “Hassett Mine” at "Mt. Dundas, the first mine in that part of the country in which machinery was erected; the “Adelaide Mine,? the “Mt. Black Extended,” the “Tai Ore,” the “Grey Ore,”-and the "Curtain and Davis,” -the three latter being the richest silver Tasmania. His gold’find was -the first award on the west coast ofTasmania given by the Tasmanian Government. He was manager-df. the “Murchison. Extended” and the "Murchison Consols,” these also being some, of his finds. He it was-, who. discovered! the great tin ore find at Cox’s Bight. He was well knofn in mining -circles, throughout the Commonwealth, - and was one whom Mrt’DonaJd Urquhart, the Attorney General in the Braddoin Government, designated as a man in whom the public had great confidence and trust. It was his report which exploded the fallacy of that much-boomed gold‘ find of Crockford and Wheatman. ■ Mr Hassett, in conjunction with Mr J. D. Fraser, whose tragic death was- reported some months ago, founded the Zeehan branch of the Miners’ Association. He took an active part in political and public functions a,t Zeehan. The failure of the V.D.L, Bank, together with other losses, drove him to seek new fields, and on the advice of friends he came.to New Zealand abpiut twentysix years ago. Here, he was .-engaged in mining.in the! Talisman and Crown mines. Mr Hassett leaves a widow and a large-family to mourn his, loss.