TUAPEKA NEWS

Evening Star, Issue 14473, 26 January 1911, Page 6

TUAPEKA NEWS

[From Our Own CorresrondentA The interest in the proposed jubilee celebrations commemorative of the discovery of gold in Gabriels Gully is daily becoming greater, and It is now a certainly that a large number of the pioneer miners will turn up to give eclat to the proceedings. Abnost every day (he Management Committee are in receipt of letters from “old hands,” scattered pretty well all over the Dominion and tho Australian colonies, intimating that it will give them very great pleasure indeed to revisit tire district that played so important a part in tho early sixties in making New Zealand famous throughout the civilised world. Among others who were prominent on the Tnapeka goldfields shoitly after the outbreak of Gabriels occurs the name of Mr dames 1!. Gascoigne, now reside; ; . at Davenport (Auckland), who lias written to (he Committee, giving some of his experiences of early Tnapeka. “I. left Melbourne on or about the 15th November, 1861, in tlie .Mdinga. (Captain J. M‘Lean),” writes Mr Gascoigne, “arriving in Dunedin, after a seven-days’ passage, about the 22nd November. Next day 1 started for Waitaliuna, carrying a. swag of 871b weight. 1 could have get it carried as freight at 6d per lb, bill, could not afford the money. Tho Hi's I day's journey ended at Tuioii Ferry, near the present bridge ; the second day at Wool.-died iGJenorcl, and the next half-day at Wailahiina, where .1 icniaimd for a week, afterwards making tracks for Gabriels Gully. I look up a Haim on the Blue Spur, ' shepherded ' it for a couple of days, and then abandoned it, as the area (20ft square per man) was 100 small; besides, (here was no water. Tho rush to Waipoii oeeuned about (hie, time (between Christmas and New Year), ami T made tracks 1 hither, i prospected about for a few days, without success, and afterwards returned to Gabriels. Slaying there for a few days, 1 again decided to return to Waipori to give it a further trial. This lime 1 struck a small gully which gave us an ounce per day per man while it lasted. Provisions in those days were very clear. I paid as much as 4s for a loaf of bread, 4s for a pound of butter, and 50s for a leg of mutton. “ Before going to Waipori,” Mr Gascoigne continues, “ 1 noticed the disabilities under which the miners at Wctlieistunos, in carrying on operations, labored. They bad to pay from os to 10s per load to get their wasiidht eaite.] to water, winch was immediately below when* Simpson ami Hart’s Tnapeka Brewery now stands. Tlieie was no other place to go for washing the dirt. It occurred to me that it would be an easy matter to tap the Wcthcrstunes Creek high tip, and cany the water round the hiils in a. race, but unfortunately I hud nut the means da tackle the woik. .Vs soon as my jiarty, consisting of mv brother, Frank Mitburn, and myself, worked out tho gully where we struck gold at Waipori, we packed up our belongings ami made tracks for Wetlierslones. Tins was well towards the end of March, 1362. Getting five others to join ns, making eight in all, we .set to work to bring in Uio water race, tho first sod being turned on April 2. and in thirteen weeks tho water was brought on to Post Oilier 11 ill. We then built a reservoir, which impounded a large quantity of water. Tho first sale of water look place about July 6, 1862. A miner came and asked the price of water to run oil a large heap of washdirt. We asked Jilin how many loads the heap contained, and he replied: ‘About 300.” Fifteen pounds wa.s our price, which was accepted, and the water turned on to do tho sluicing. We, charged £5 per week for a sluice-head of water, running .six days of eight hours ; £3 for a “ long Tom ” head, and £5 for filling a dam daily during the dinner hour.

“During the time we were cutting the water race.’’ adds iH Gascoigne, ‘‘ we had to contend against a great, deal of opposition. Twice 1 addressed from 1,000 to 1,500 men. in the Golden Ago Hotel who bail been called together to obstruct ns. I gave a guarantee that once wo bad the water brought in it would not cost more than a shilj,ing per- load for washing dirt. This helped to break down the opposition, which was in reality lead by the cartel's, who Geared out for Dunedin and elsewhere once die race-water was made ueo oi lor (•Juicing. I might ba permitted to say that before starting to cut the race, one of our party and myself waited on .Major Tinker itlie now warden) to ask for protection for our proposed undertaking. 'This he refused, as I expected, as there were, no regulations in force to give the- necessary protection. . . . Up to, the time. of. the.

introduction of the water race, the system of extracting the gold from tho dirt was cither by cradle or Hie “Long Tom.” I think 1 was about the find, to introduce ground-sluicing on the Tuapeka gokliiold. The second day after getting the water in I turned it into a- small dry gully and for the day, obtaining at mulit 7oz. of udd. I wai, working bv myself, and nad only one box below the face. One thing in connection with the race-curt ing that might be mentioned was tho cost of timber for flinning. We did not use a great deal, but what we did use cost us £4O per thousand feet. I cannot recall just now any other matters of general interest, and in the meantime will, tbeiefore, conclude.’' The information contained in Mr Gascoigne's letter is certainly very interesting. Breaches of the licensing law continue to occupy the attention of the local court. On Tuesday Mrs Smnotby, of the Bridge Hold, Waijiori. was charged with failing to furnish a statement of liquor to the Jerk of the court at Lawrence simultaneously with tho .sale of the liquor. The fads, as outlined by the prosecution, were that (be .statement id liquor was dated 241h December, but the clerk of the limit bad only received the notice on 2nd January, the envelope being postmarked the Ist. Januaiy. The detcnce, was that- the defendant bad banded the statement to a boarder to post in Lawrence; that the boarder posted it on (be 24til December at Lawrence; that the stal'-na nl could not be handed to the clerk owing lo the court office being closed for the holidays; and that defendant would thus have been in order in banding the statement to the clcik on 2nd Januaiy, when the ollicc r. opeiud, and wb.cn the Maleinent was actually leeched. .Mr Bartholomew, S.M., did not credit tho witnesses, for tilt* defence.. staling that it was extraordinary that a letter should have lain in the post oliiee so long, in any ease tho po.-t oliiee was the agent of tile defendant, and not oi the clerk. The point that notice could not. have been given to the clerk iliomg the holidays was a, new one, but counsel ior the defence had not. proved that the clerk of the court was not in attendance. The regulations prescribe certain holidays, but the clerk is in attendance for urgent business, and as a matter of fact the clerk had been in attendance.'at tho court eucli day to clear letters. The defendant, having hecn previously convicted lor a similar offence, was lined £2 and costs. it is very satisfactory to know that the Government have at length decided to call for Lenders for pulling the tunnel through the Big Hill, on fhe La \vu;ncc-Ro.\burgh Railway. If Hie work is tackled in earnest, l ain led to believe that the tunnel could be completed from end to end m less than eighteen months. I trust (he ilon. .Mr .M'Ken/ie will not lose sight of the necessity of pushing on with the construction work between the Big Hill and Beaumont. That should not involve a very big expenditure. Two local youths, alleged to have shot a deer on the Bine Mountains out of season, received instructions, per summons, to appear or Tuesday morning at the S..M. Court, Tapanui, to give their version of the alfaii'. They duly left hero on Monday afternoon to make a timely appearance on tho following morning, only to discover, after reaching Tapanui, that there was no court sitting, owing to the S.M.’.s indisposition. Jt seems a bit, hard that tho young men were not advised by the court officer before leaving here that there was no call for litem to appear until the next court sitting. Jt is whispered in political circles that it is not unlikely that the Hon. Thomas Mackenzie, in the event of the Taieri electorate passing out, will bo a candidate in opposition to Mr Robert Scott for the Tuapeka seat at the next General Election. If so decreed, the tight will certainly be an interesting one. Miss Hunter has been appointed to the charge of the Tuapeka Flat School. Lawrence, January 25.