IMMIGRATION TO OTAGO FOURTEEN YEARS AGO.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 128, 21 July 1870, Page 6

IMMIGRATION TO OTAGO FOURTEEN YEARS AGO.

The following are the notes of an addpess delivered by Mr. Peter Robertson at the Lawrence Presbyterian Church Soiree, on the 12th hist. : — Mr. Robertson said he little expected to bo asked to address the meeting. He had promised at the door, before the meeting commenced, to say a few words, on Mr. Earkland failing to put in an appearance ; but as that gentleman had arrived, he hoped to escape. If he were a learned pian, he might tell the meeting of the wonders of astronomy, and of the revolutions of the earth ; but as he knew but little of the one or the other, he thought he could not do better than give a description of his journey from home to his present habitation. Most emigrants, when they first' took it into their heads to emigrate, only came to a decision after careful study for weeks, and sometimes for years. Their desire to emigrate has often been excited by friends and neighbours leaving for some foreign land, or by reading glowing accounts in the newspapers of the success of people they may have known at home. Perhaps, some book falls into their hands, such as " Smith on the Crimea," and they have been so delighted with the description of the country, that they i have made up their minds to go ; but some trifling thing comes in the way to prevent them. Soon after, the emigrant gets a copy of " Erp on the Rise and Progress of Victoria," telling him of the fertile plains on the banks of the Yarra. He no longer doubts of his success if he goes. He finds he can receive good wages, and, if he takes care of himself and keeps free from bad habits, failure is an impossibility. Although his mind is now thoroughly made up, something again comes in the way, and he is deterred from taking his departure. But a short time elapses when a book on " Canada " falls into his hands, and soon afterwards a pamphlet published by the Otago Government. On a particular day, he observes that the Home Agent of the Otago Government is going to address the public in a certain hall. He goes to hear him, and is told that the climate of Otago is unequalled in the world, and that his success in life is ensured if he directs his steps thither. With all these glowing descriptions, the intending emigrant is quite bewildered. Still, 'something comes in the way of his leaving — some unknown agency prevents him carrying out his intention. At last, however, he engages his passage, and a few days afterwards procui'es his outfit. Now, the morning has arrived when he must take good bye of his irieds, for there are hundreds that are going to accompany him a short distance on his way. The village is all astir ; his kind mother is by his side, taking her last farewell of her son. She cannot give utterance to her feelings at the moment, but he can hear her by his side praying to her G-od to direct her boy. "She cannot accompany him further, and he is torn away from her, while she exclaims, "Do write, do write !" You promised to do so. The train moves slowly off. You go to the pier, accompanied by a few of your friends, your sister, or brother, as the case may be, and they remain with you till they hear the whittle of the train ; and soon after bidding them good bye, you are gliding along the deep. Your wife and childdren are in sorrow. Night comes. You can hear the surging of the water; you spend a sleepless night. In the morning you get on deck and look around for the hills and the land you have left, but they are not to be seen. Days of sorrow and sickness follow ; your wife and children are sick, and you are little better yourself. Remembering the advice given in your Guide, you make your> cabin as comfortable as you can. One more day passes away, and the sea is rough. At the dead hour of night a storm arises. All you can hear is the voice of the captain and the raging of the billows. Your wife is clinging to her infant, surrounded by the more advanced in years. You feel an awe pervading the place. In a moment more your ship is enveloped by a sea, and your hatchway is unshipped, and your cabins at once filled with water. It is then you feel your own helplessness; it is then you feel that your superior skill as an artizan is nothiug but vanity; it is then you feel that nothing but the will and power of an ever merciful God is able to waft you over the raging billows to your adopted country. Another day and the storm is over. It would be unnecessary for him to relate the trouble and joys' that were to be found on shipboard, as these had been experienced by the most of those persons he was addressing. Suffice it to say, they get landed in the bay in safety, and joy at their landing, and yet with fear 'and trembling. But why should you fear and be sorrowful? Have you forsaken the God who stood bye you on that stormy night? or do you fear his power insufficient for the remainder of yo ur journey ? Trust in the Lord ! The captain gives you full privilege to remain a little longer in the ship. ton, are put on board a colonial built ! |>.unt, and your only propelling power is a skipper and a darkie. There is a Sale in the bay, and the tide is receding, and after tacking and re-tacking you get run aground for the nigh£ »i*til the reverting tide wafts you to tyPifitiv, nhs^voa meet your ship-

mates, who communicate the unwelcome news that the barracks are full ; but, thanks be to God, new barracks are building, and one bunk is all but finished. You ascertain when it will be finished, and, after writing your name on it, return to your partner and tell her. After getting located in the barracks, you get washed and stripped and cleaned, and hang the clothes on the flax bushes to dry. Next day you go round the town for a job. You remember that your guide tells you to put your hands to anything — to take the first thing that offers itself. At one place you are asked if you have served masons. Well, that job only lasts a short time, but you save a few shillings. You find out that a certain gentleman is going to start candlemaking. You may engage with him, or you may take a job at breaking stones on the roads. You may be asked if you know anything of mineralogy. He was asked that question by a party who wished to discover a freestone quarry, and replied that he thought he could distinguish between a freestone and a whinstone. He with another individual engaged with that party to search for a freestone quarry. They went down the bay, and landed, and left him and his mate all night in the bush looking for freestone, till next night when they found their way back to Dunedin. By-and-bye he met with an engagement to go to an out-station at Tuapeka. When he told his friends of it, they said he must be cranky to go there, as no man in his senses would go to such an outlandish place. However, the team is ordered, and the wife and family got in readiness — there was the wife with the infant in her arms, and he with the next one on his back. Reached Taieri Ferry in two days. A good deal had been said lately about engineering skill, but he thought that no man required more of that skill than a bullock driver. The dray that carried them was the second that had gone so far. At the Taieri Ferry they got a boat which took them to the head of the lake. Before starting he received several letters to deliver to certain parties on the road — these letters were to parties to push us forward, or, in other words, to assist us on our way. One was to push us on to Mr. Gray's, another to Mr. Goodall's, another to Meadowbank, and so on. After a long journey over the ranges, they reached the Waitahuna River, where the dray had no difficulty iv getting in, but it was a job to get out — all the loading had to be taken oft*, when they succeeded in getting it out. Some time afterwards they reached the hut where the young man, who was waiting for them, soon boiled the billy and made a cup of tea, the like of which he believed had not been made that night. He need hardly say he was as happy then as now. People had the power to make themselves happy if they only had the will. He had only sojourned three years in the district when crowds of people and loaded drays were passing his door. Before a month, 1000 mSn were in Gabriels Gully, and Jack Graham with your letters was tripping over the hills, liko a fairy in the days of old. Had a prophet arisen and told him that such things would be, he would not have believed him lie could only exclaim the works of the Lord are wonderful, and His ways past searching out. In closing his re1 marks, he would say that if parents owe a duty to their children, children owe a duty to their parents. He would ask had they fulfilled that duty? They had promised to write horne — had they done so ? Had they ever reflected upon the joy created within their mother's breast when told by her merchant that the ship had been spoken, and that all was well ? Have you not heard her count the weeks and months when she would expect a letter from you ? Perhaps you have neglected her for years. He hoped not. On the other hand, have, you, in reality paid that duty you owed, and fulfilled that promise you made ? If so, then you can with pleasure look back upon the day your mother received your first letter. You can see how her eye caught the postman as he approached the door, and is told he has a letter for her from New Zealand. She is so delighted; she puts the letter to her bosom with her hand upon it as if her child had again returned to her breast, and goes with a beating heart to her shopman, confidently exclaiming as she enters the door that she has got a letter, and asks him to read it to her. Her wishes are at once complied with. She is informed that it is from her son, and. he is well. She is. also told that' he has sent her more than a letter — there is also a draft for £10, and he tells her to make herself comfortable and to want nothing that was good for her, and he will, if spared, send her more. Do you not hear her behind that counter exclaiming, "My Willie is a good son, he told me while he lived that I never would be a pauper on the parish board, thanks be to God for all His goodness ?" If you have been the means of all this good to your parents, you have gained a consolation to your own conscience that will never leave you ; it will follow you all the days of your life. You will have the pleasure of reflecting that you have " honoured thy father and thy mother," and been the means of making them comfortable and happy in their declining years in the land which thp Lord thy God had given, them.