EARLY INCIDENTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 August 1928, Page 5

EARLY INCIDENTS

One of the incidents that occurred on the North Beach diggings is related of a party, bound for the Melbourne Exhibition, who were taking with them a number of bags of blacksand, one of which was laden with gold dust. Direct shipping was established between Australia and Greymouth, but a tender was necessary on this occasion to transport passengers. The blacksand was hoisted from the tug to the steamer in the roadstead, when, to the astonishment of the miners accompanying their golden freight, one of the bags, supposed to contain the gold, slipped from the sling into the sea I

How Darkey’s Terrace got its name : A "Darkey” had traversed the North Beach and was ascending a rocky face, where water was trickling down, to get a drink. He noticed deposits of gold on the ledges of rock beneath the water. He decided to try his luck, and engaged labour to put in a drive. A good deal of payable washdirt was taken out of the tunnel. The "Darkey” was satisfied and went off to Nelson, and, it is said, lived highly on wine and other things. The men, however, were not particular to get all the goldbearing strata from the tunnel, and so enjoyed some "pickings” themselves.

When Air and Mrs AV. H. Stone arrived from Melbourne, via Dunedin, Cobden presented a very "young” appearance, there being no settlement Beyond their home in Bright Street. Fullerton’s drays constituted the traffic and by chance George Simpson’s express which came across from Greymouth via the ferry.

A tannery was established in Newcastle Street behind Higgins’s present butchery business, and Mrs Foster and Mr John Dinan each had a few cows, from which supplies of milk were obtained and retailed. Air J. AlcKnight (Coal Creek) brought milk in by pack horse. Mr Jacob Baty was his successor, and to-day Baty’s Ltd. is the same firm delivering milk per motor van. Alessrs J. Keeney (sen. and junior) established a dairy at the North Beach, from which supplies are still obtained. Alilk then was retailed at 2d a pint, as compared with 6d and 7d a quart to-day. In addition three depots are operating in Cobden.

There was no organised mail service for many years. Alcllroy.’s shop (near the Cobden Hotel) was the local Post Office, and school children rushed out of school to the store in quest of letters. To-day there is a Post Office established in Alessrs Abbie-Ramage’s store, where money-order as well as general business is conducted.

Before the school was established one J. Ahearn conducted an Academy on the site of the present Cobden Hotel. This was a private venture. About 1867 Aliss C. Taylor, afterwards Airs Gaskin, opened a private kindergarten school on a site which is now washed a wav.

In 1905, the Cobden School comprised three class rooms, and there were 180 names on the roll. The present school contains five class rooms with one additional temporary room ; the number of pupils on the roll is 229, and the stall numbers seven.