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they had been compelled to make their way back overland as soon as their means were exhausted. Most of them were dreadfully ragged, and looked quite famished and fallen away, and they could not say enough about the horrible condition of the road, and the dangers they had gone through. The gold-diggers by profession did not, however, consider it worth while to listen to them, as they saw directly that they did not belong to the right class of men to undertake such journeys successfully." Dr. Haast himself was bound for the new goldfield for the purpose of examining the geology of the country, and the nature of the auriferous deposits. After a variety of adventures on the way, he reached the Greenstone Creek, the scene of the first discoveries by Hunt, and thence made his way to the mouth of the Teremakau Eiver, whence a smooth beach led uninterruptedly to Hokitika. His description of this town, then in its infancy, will, I take it, be best given in his own words. He says:— " The next morning, April 21st, we started early for Hokitika along the beach, which, during ebb-tide, offers generally fine travelling-ground on a hard sandy bottom. The whole way appeared like a great main road rather than an ocean-beach. Horses and riders, packhorses and their drivers, men with swags, wagons drawn by horses or bullocks—the whole a picture of earnest activity— proved that we were advancing towards the great centre of the goldfields. At the mouth of the small Waimea Eiver, distant about five miles from the Teremakau, we found a settlement of small extent, consisting of ahout thirty shanties and canvas houses, mostly stores and publichouses. There the road leaves the coast for the extensive diggings at the head of this creek. A similar but larger township was found at the mouth of the Arahura, which we passed after a inarch of a few hours. The nearer we approached Hokitika the more the traffic became animated, and, when we at last entered that city of yesterday, we could not conceal our astonishment that in so short a time of only a few months such a large place could have sprung up, which, being literally built on sand, seemed at the same time healthy and clean. The principal street, half a mile long, consisted already of a large number of shops, hotels, banks, and dwelling-houses, and appeared a scene of almost indescribable bustle and activity. There were jewellers and watchmakers, physicians and barbers, hotels and billiard-rooms, eating- and boarding-houses, and trades and professions of all descriptions. Everywhere the English language would, of course, be heard in its principal dialects, as well as German, Italian, Greek, and French, and several other tongues. Carts were unloading and loading, and sheep and cattle driven to the yards; there was shouting and bell-ringing, deafening to the passers-by; criers at every corner of the principal streets, which were filled with people—a scene I had never before witnessed in New Zealand. Hundreds of diggers 'on the spree,' and loafers, were everywhere to be seen, but principally near the Spit and on the wharf, where work went on with feverish haste." I by no means insist that the whole of the foregoing account shall be accepted as a correct diagnosis of the state of society on the West Coast during the first year or two after the discovery of gold and the settlement of the country by a mining population, nor do I think that those now on the Coast, who had experience of those earlier days, would indorse all the statements made; but Dr. Haast's account is the only one that, as a contemporary narrative, is available to me.* For several years the West Coast continued to support a large mining population, but after the first two years new gold-bearing localities were discovered more rarely, and the richer parts of the old diggings showing signs of exhaustion, people began to consider the future prospects of the Coast, and to look at things more seriously. It was seen that the tendency of the gold discoveries was to be within a limited area, between the mountain ranges and the sea, and along the sea-beaches of the coast-line. Prospecting had resulted in but few discoveries being made within the bounds of the mountain region; and it was evident that the localities, being worked in the ordinary way of cradling and ground-sluicing, with a limited supply of water, would eventually become unpayable, Gradually, too, the black-sand beaches were becoming exhausted, and amongst reflecting people, very naturally, it was foreseen that something must be done towards the revival of mining. With an ample and efficient supply of water the gold-yield of many localities, which had begun to decline, might again be brought to a satisfactory amount. And now commenced the era of water-races on a large scale, and gold-saving by means of hydraulic-sluicing. Large sums were spent by private individuals, companies, and by the General Government, for the purpose of bringing water-supplies on to the various gold-bearing areas of the northern district of Westland, and, on the completion of a number of these works, there was a consequent revival of mining. Several of these works had already been constructed and in operation, favourably affecting the returns of gold from the areas thus benefited, when, in August, 1876, the rush at Kumara broke out. This being a new field, and the ground being rich enough to work profitably without adopting the system of extended sluicing areas, it was not till the richer parts had been worked over, or driven out in the ordinary way, that sluicing areas began to be granted. But when extended areas were thus granted it was evident that a very large water-supply would be required on this field alone, and hence the bringing in and completion of the Kumara water-supply as one of the more important public works for the benefit of the West Coast goldfields. The discovery of the Kumara goldfield was opportune in the interests of gold-mining in the northern part of Westland, and until now it has maintained a large population, which otherwise must have been put to serious shifts on the older and more exhausted gold-bearing areas. But the discovery did not do this alone, it indicated a new and vaster, if a less rich, source of gold than had with certainty been previously ascertained—viz., the auriferous glacier deposits, and the old riverdrifts that underlie these. This class of mining is but being begun in W T estland. Its prospects and probable extension will be discussed in a further section of this report. Since the first of the rush, gold-mining has been carried on at Humphrey's Gully, in the Arahura Valley ; but it was not till the end of 1881, or the beginning or 1882, that it was seen that the auri-

* This account by Dr. Haast formed part of a report to the Provincial Government of Canterbury on " the West Coast Goldfields," made in 1865.