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Taranaki Daily News, 14 October 1922, Page 10

Many untoward things happened in the everyday life of the early pioneers of Australia and New Zealand which were regarded in those difficult times as mere incidents in the stern struggle for existence, but which, if they occurred nowadays, would cause a sensation from one end of the country to the other. One of the incidents which the late Mr. G. T. J. Mason used to recount related to a party of mining prospectors who were travelling in Australia from one goldfield, to another. Provisions ran short, and they were reduced almost to starvation, having nothing left but some water. They came at length to a station and begged for flour, offering its weight in gold for payment. The owner was noted for his meanness, and, though well stocked, refused to supply their needs. They journeyed on, but at a short distance some of the party turned back, and, going to the station, they shot the owner dead and took what supplies they wanted.