THE KUMARA DIGGINGS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 60, 10 March 1877, Page 4

THE KUMARA DIGGINGS.

A writer in the G. R. Argus gives the following interesting account of the discovery of the Kumara goldfield:— j Having dealt with the speculative history of Kumara, I know come to the realistic. It is bow nearly seven years Bince,.long before the Greenstone road was thought of, that a party of miners not being satisfied with the Greenstone diggings crossed the Teremakau, penetrated the thick bush, and commenced prospectiDg at the head of what is dow the Kuraara diggings. The result of their labors satisfied them, and they toiled on, making occasional visits to the different townships of Waimea, Stafford, and Greenstone, where they disposed. of small parcels of gold in return for " tucker " which they "humped" to their claim. Being quiet, sensible, and reticent men, they kept their own counsel, and did not "blow " about what they were doing. Year aftert year the same faces appeared in the same townships above- ! mentioned, aed-in reply to the- various questions as to where they, were working and how they were doing? the same answer was returned — -"Out iv the bush— just making tucker." Several times they were followed, but invariably they lead their pursuers on, a, false scent. , Indeed it is reported that on one occasion two of them, knowing they were watphed, remained for several days working in an old abandoned abaft, till •the watchers grew tired of watching. The opening of the road between the Hokkika and the Grey as a matter of .course drew more passengers ia this direction, but still for some time nothing was heard in this locality save as Bishop Redwood poetically observed •'the morning song of the tui, and in the evening the melancholy note of the mopoke." Yet still this solitary band of. miners toiled on, presenting the same hard-up appearance as ever, but the time had now arrived when the secret so long kept was about to be divulged. Tbe persistency of the men led to suspicion, and. one of them in a moment of conviviality in a public-house, a rather rare occurrence for any of them to indulge in — dropped some few hints which were not lost. Accordingly the track which is now well 7 known was. penetrated, and imagine the surprise of the trackers when they discovered the expensive nature of the workings, and one of them, Jimmy Robinson, proceeded to peg out a claim. To this the prospectors naturally objected, an appeal to the Warden's Court was the result, and the famous case of Caehman and party v. Robinson was heard. It was not a big court, nor was it crowded, and in reply to a question as to the "value of the grjund which plaintiffs endeavored to depreciate, representing it as tucker ground," — whether it was worth £4 per week? "Yes," was the reply. " Six pounds?" was the next query by the mining advocate. "I would not take £8 per week," was the surly response. Before tha case was concluded the court was empty of all but plaintiffs, defendants, and tbe various parties interested in the case. The twos and threes gathered strength, and the population of Waimea followed in the wake, and the passengers by tha mail coach were starrleci by the unwonted appearance of" the signs of a oew rush. As quick as their legs could carry them, hurried on the miners. Tapes were in demand, aud before a week the rush had fairly set in. Slowly at first, but still increasing, till at lust the Ahaura Road Board thought of making a track from the main road to the prospector's claim, dow_n_what is now Ssddon-street. Dick Seddon erected a store where the hotel and store now stande. Mr J. Drummond opened another on the main road, Schuth^is opened a branch hotel from Stafford — a curious erection in which galvanised iron played a prominent part; Spindeler was close in bis wake, Bill Hannah came from the Greenstone, Jemmy Rujje removed from the other side of tbe Teremakau, Mat Griffith catne up from Stafford, and the rush fairly set in, and the banks opened branches. Id spite of warnings from the Press, population poured in, and it was resolved to alter the pack track to a dray road, the history of which I may some day or other relate. The Ahaura Road Board was strangely constituted in tbose days, and if the walla of that dim rotten old building in Stafford, termed the Road Board Office, could speak, what tales they would tell — log-rolling would be • a mild term tor some of the transactions, and when the doughty and droughty members hud exhausted all their eaergies in fierce debate, how kindly they used to adjourn to Host. Cribbings's, and patch up a peace. These were good old days, when the members were not troubled with visions of — well, not " recording angels," but *' recording scribblers " in the suaps of newspaper reporters, to note down their sayings and doing?. Well, the rush went on, and the dozens swelled into hunirede, and the hundreds to thousands. From every patt of New Zealand catne men — coaveyaucea of all descriptions thronged the road, while every steamer bound for Hokitika or the Grey was loaded with pasaengeie. It was a madness. From the young inexperienced cterk, to tbe old weatherbeaten digger — the sinker of many a £bafi, and who could tell the history of almost every rush in the colonies — they came, and the town sprung up like mugic. The aaw-inills were ai work night and day, and carpentert were unobtainable, while on the leau holes were going down in every direction. At last came the news that the

lead wa9 lost. There was a break, and here ended the lead. The high expectations received & check. Holders of business sites, who purchased at fancy prices trembled, till at last the news oama that it was no break, and holes bad bottomed on the other side of if. Hopes revived, and it was resolved by tbe Government to make a pack track to Dillman's or Duffer Flat. Poor old Dillman was the first to open a store here — a miserable calico tent — but still it was very useful. The world has gone bad with him, but a kind hearted old chap was Dillraan, as many a hardup digger has experienced. Gradually a few tents more then appeared on the fiat, and this was the origin of what will, at no distant day, prove the rival of Kumara. Its situation is such that it must be so. The rush still continued, and the streets at nighttime were impassable. Mass meetings became the order of the day, and Reedy furnished an empty beer barrel which constituted the tribune from which the orators declaimed, and a useful institution was this same barrel, and most of the p.ublic works in Kumara owetheir origin tq the meetings beld..at.Reedy's;. corner; Hard headed, shrewd thinking men took an active part in these proceedings, and to resolve in these, days was^to act. There Were no pleasant meetings in halls and rooms in these days. If it rained it rained alike on orators and audience, who chaffed, applauded, hissed, and fought according as their fancy-moved them, but they were a good-humored, good-tempered lot/ botwithbta-ndiDg, Vbd then the rush gradually declined. Saturday nights were -an institution, and as to sleeping accommodation, first come fir6t served — every available sheltering place waa, . occupied, Numbers.; of peopla came and looked at -thef diggings, some of them went no further than Seddon street, when the reports of others frightened them. The diggings were no child's play. If the gold was to be got it meant months of labor and toil with acarely any return. Others sank golden holes and abandoned them through ignorance — these have since been taken up and proved rioh claims; while some sank " duffer holes" in unlikely spots, and retired down-hearted and broken -spirited. It was the same old story over again, yet amid it all Kumara grew. Tradesmen built aud speculated in some instances rasbly, but all things will fiad their level, aud now I have just glanced at the past history of Kumara.