W E S T P O R T.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 30, 4 February 1875, Page 4

WESTP O R T.

(We&tyort Times.) Thirteen years ago to-day— that is on the £9th January, 1862?— thp paddle steamer Tasmania** Maid, in Command of Captain Whi tw€ !"> e Qt ered tfye Buller river. She was the. first steamer that entered any river on the West Coast, and the few settlers then located on the river banks will still remember the event as an important episode in their experience ; the- promise of greater things and more stirring times thereafter. To some of the, older residents in the district the incident may still be freish in their memories. The boat came in unexpectedly and moored off Gladstone-street, landing the cargo in the scrub, there being no wharf or regular landing place. The steamer brought at that time Borne sixty diggers as an addition to the population of 150 or .200 men then scattered about the district, Bomea,t the 01d Buller diggings and the rest at Waimangaroa. Further south than the Buller was at that time uninhabited, save by a few Maoris, and the steamer after discharging her cargo steamed back to Nelson, and nearly twelve months elapsed before the next steamer; the Wonga. Wonga, was sent down under charter by the Provincial Government. Those were primitive days on the Buller. The only places of accommodation were Mpftin's establishment, known then as now as the Kawatifi hotel and store, and a small store kept by Messrs Saunders and Waite. The old diggings up the Buller had been worked as far back as 1859, and the Waimangaroa claims were opened a short time afterwards. It jb worthy of remark that from the first day these diggings were opened until the present the ground has never been abandoned, but has, either in greater or less degree, afforded profitable employment. Even now, in 1875, it is known that in more than one instance steady wages are being earned beyond what most persons would credit were the actual amount revealed. Reverting to 1862 again, the dwellers on the banks of the Buller camped on the Maori block, near what was afterwards known as Gladstone-street, and it was/ not until May, 1863, that tho town of/ Westport was surveyed. In October of that year, the first sale of town sea- , tions was held at Nelson, and evdn then some who purchased in Gladstone street were dubious as to the wisd m of their investment. The sections in that locality looked the most eligi )le on the plan, but serious doubts w >re then held that the sea encroachment would destroy them, and. sections a'U ng Palmerston-Btreet were held in hig ler repute. In 1859, Mr Hanst \as prospecting for coal on the Mount Rochfort plateaus, and in 1861 prospeoting parties were sent out to follow «4&wn the .traces he had discover* \ towards the sea face, a result which was only fully accomplished in 186 t, and then by private enterprise. During the early days of settlement in the Buller, to which reference las been made, the vicissitudes of every day life were very gif at. More th an once the population hud dwiml ed away to a mere handful. The min ;rs set off to the Wakaraarina, facing all he perils of the overland route, Ae xyef when they returned thence, the G ey rush allured them away, and thise who had invested in stores and sett ed down at the Buller for business fomd that cash and customers bad vanish 3d. One old resident stateß that for five noonthß his cash receipts only amoun ed 1o four shillings and sixpence, and t >atfrom his stores he hod to feed daily a, score or more people, absolutely penniless. Vr^ Throughout its whole history the Buller settlement has been the scene of eventful struggles* against Mrawbaa s and misfortunes, and the brighter pr apects of to-day are but a small recompense for the dark days that have pfifss a. Where the Tasmanian Maid some thirteen short years ago, swung at beV moorings, a town has been built, in-\ habited, end washed away, leaving^ scarce a trace behind. In what was then the impenetrable bush, another town has sprung into being, the nucleus of a thriving port, the centre of an important mining trade. Steam and qjfsing craft now frequent the port dluy: and residents on the Buller bankf*briticipate the time when the broad stream before them will bear on its bosom the argosies of many nations.