A MAN OF MANY PARTS

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10392, 9 May 1927, Page 1 (Supplement)

A MAN OF MANY PARTS

THE LATE MU AY. F. CRAAVFORD

l£$LY LIFE OF GISBORNE’S FIB ST MAYOR. BUSHMAN. STOREMAN, MINER, UR EWKR, PHOTOGRAPHER,

,[u respect of the late Mr. ■ AY. F. Cranford. the first Mayor of Gisborne. grey hairs gave a chastened appearance' to unbounded mirthfulliess. Tall, broad-shouldered, studious and, withal, genial his friends were legion and of enemies he had none. Public spirited to a degree, he found time mid the heavy worries associated with business life in the early days of Gisborne to put his shoulder' to any wheel which was intended to be rolled in the direction of progress, if any mooted project were likely, in his opinion, to be helpful, it at once had his enthusiastic backing. His early participation in civil! affairs was, therefore, only natural. A Tipperary lad, on December 17, 1863. at the age of 19, he rode away from Ids lather’s home on a smart

pony to the Templemore railway station to h ive by train for Dublin en route to Auckland, New Zealand. “Wild boys,’ he wrote in his memoirs, ‘ raii after the train, whacking it with their sticks for having the au-

dacity to steal away with their young friend. The ‘Statesman,’ of 700 tons, a. Dutch-built vessel, but lively and dry as a cork, got away from Gravesend as the Christmas ch'.mes were peniing front many a steeple in the Grand Old City. Our staunch old sliip after five months of plugging through it landed us on the Auckland wharf on the sth May, 1864. The post office was up princess Street and it was a struggle for us new chums to get up Shorthand Crescent for our AYe were accommodated in an barracks where the late jwst office was, and were offered various employments—farm hands, bushmen, substitutes for soldiers iu-

ip front, for the Maori ivar was ragig at this time. In fact, the neivs f the Gate Pah disaster arrived

iiboat that time in Auckland. Queen Street ran up a gully and was in a fearful mess of mud and scoria cut tip by the commissariat carts ploughing through with two horses to a six liuiuiroclweight load. The barracks of scoria buildings stood on the hill, now converted into a handsome park, and another similar block erected by Walter Graham on the foreshore were the first buildings of masonry and I slate roofs. There were weather I boarded and shingled - single-story ■buildings at any level up and down ■Queen Street, out of which the ti itroe bad been often cleared away for lud. TRY-OUT IN THE BUSH. "The yellow lizard of good luck, although a terror to the Maoris, crept up my leg in the Domain at Auckland, making me think it was a land of reptiles. Was it- to be a welcome visit!' Jt became known to a Mr. Robert Cushman, working a kauri hush at Awitu, near the South Manukau Head, that four young new Ichunis were available, in fact anxjious, to attack the glorious primeval I forest. We became at once_ engaged Sand were placed in charge of Captain Ogden of the 'Mystery’ lying at the Onehunga wharf. With our bundles on the shoulder no boys could be holder, and we were off to Onehunga in the morning. „ Mr. Bob Cushman, our boss, bejing n judge of muscle and fine swingling arms, took two of us down a gulIly with an axe each and introduced jus to a lordly kauri about three• tee® lin diameter. ' My sympathies were all aroused for the quiet, harmless, goodlooking tree and I felt a pang in be- j nig qJjfeTed to put a scarf on one side : whilst Triy mate Tvas set at the other. He left us, and a couple of hours ; indiscriminate chopping took place until liis return to see how we got on. -Gorl bless my soul’ (or words to , that effect), he said, ‘it- reminds me of a hare biting into a turnip. ?AT - -; ter repeated lessons, emphasised, by ■ words of infinite tenderness. We cleared away what' he called the matchwood blisters we had raised around | the venerable stem of the sturdy and.: much-to-be-pit'ied monarch, shedding -: largo tears of kauri gum worth £201 a ton. Towards nightfall we saw J symptoms of the tree staggering and . managed, by scrambling through the; hush to get on the opposite side to j that on which he fell with an angry i crash that did not ■surprise us. j ‘‘Down the gully he plunged, nat-j ura II v, lor we never expected him to go up the hill. But Mr. Ca.shman -ud and ho commenced family devotions over the event when he came to .see the result. TTe pointed out that 'if lie had determined to- go ip lull we would have "been crushed, as we never foresaw such a thing. He threw bis hat on the ground and said, ‘How en earth aro we going to get The tree back on to tbe side-line ‘wbr'i'o the saw pit is ready?’ «"We that we could pull it out again. Pull your grandmother out again was part of what- he remarked with a, heavenly smile. He referred. to new chum . duffers in such a. polite wav "e said! we would be pleased to 'resign our position if desired. He agreed that a return ticket , would be provided for us on tlie return of the ‘Mystery’ and. thanking himtfor his great consideration, and receiving hP? i 'ordial blessing we parted on •- the shore. -. •,> ■’

AUCKLAND IN THE SIXTIES. ‘Mo were intredueed t.eja l,adv-\ybn knew all our relatives at Home or return to Auckland. She took ns *''l in as boarders. Her husband was ciiipiyyed In Mark Somerville'*

bles, about the back of the British Hotel, near or about where Alfred BucklancTs saleyards were situated. Through this good man’s influence, I was employed by Mark Somerville in the City Mart at the Corner of Shortlaml Crescent and Queen Street near the Q.C-.E. Hotel, popularly known then as ‘The Loafers’ Corner. (The letters of the hotel stood for Quality, Cleanliness * and Economy, bur, wittily dubbdtl ‘Questionable Company Encouraged.’) 1 was employed as second porter there, and amongst my duties had to mix up sugars of grades from black to yellow, and had to truck up from the wharf boxes of butter,- crates of fowls and produce as required. AYe had to crush coffee lbans and maize which we ground and mixed up with chicory before sending them to our. troops, then engaged at the front up the AA’aikato. AA’e had the officers’ mess to supply with choice wines, bottled ales and groceries. AYell 1 remember struggling up to the barracks with these commodities on my shoulders. (I have been fond of climbing hills ever since.) Mark Somerville had a contract to supply maize, oats and bran to the military train and I was pro.inoted to charge of his supply store somewhere about where Edson the chemist’s pharmacy stands opposite the hotel kept by Pat Danbv and the old jail, at the corner opposite the Union Bank which, with its great Corinthian pillars, was then the most imposing edifice in Queen St.

“The outbreak of tlie AVest Coast goldfields filled my bram with the golden microbe and I soon got away with two mates in the ‘Annidale’ for this El Dorado. AA’e called in at the Tron l’pt entering Port Ahuriri stern foremost, view mg the nnimposmg swamps of Napier. Then we saw the Lambton Quay beach of AA’ellington, the grave-yard! overhanging the town and the Maori pah at the back of AYillis Street. Then we saw Picton, the French Pass, and yvent into Blind Bay, Nelson. It was the custom to fire a small cannon on the fore deck to announce the arrival of the mail at at every port. AYe noticed that the steward placed a big charge in the gun and then went to the galley for a red-hot poker to touch her off. All his preparations were made as we came up near the lighthouse, so the filling of the gun in the steward’s absence with turnips and potatoes lying handy was the work of a moment. There was a schooner sailing up abreast of us, so we suggested that the steward should give her a surprise by firing blank ammunition at her. The result was a shower of vegetables into the sails of the schooner to our infinite delight. AA’ar broke out instantly and the return Avas a volume of the finest description of expletives I ever, up to that moment, listened to. so that avc Avere able to acquire some of the correct expressions in the language to store up. for any oxen conductor that-ive might have an argument with in after life.

ON THE AYEST COAST GOLD-

FIELDS

“Nelson at.that time was called ‘Sleepy Hollow.’* Auckland, being the seat of Government and having the spending of some millions of British gold over the Maori war, held a high hand. Otago had struck rich gold and was' springing up rapidly. Wellington was flourishing, but pour Nelson had. nothing out her fine climate and rapidly spreading homely industries, so she had to grin ana hear it. Our next port was Hokitika, a canvas town, with a shifting bar and the tight little tug ‘Bruce,’ which tendered us ashore for 20s a head. We erected our teut at the hack of Revell Street and got an eariy number of tlie first paper published on the West Coast. There was a description of the new rush to Ross, then known as Jozies’ Creek. '•Now it so Happened that one of our party eame out from home to look for his brother. It was reported to his. family that this brother was lost in the, snow crossing the Gcnt.e Annie down in Otfigo- Our friend did net think ,a - strong young man like his brother could be easily lost and he resolved to came, to New Zealand to determine or otherwise his existence still. Hk plan uf action was to o-o to the latest goldfield and the last rush on that field, and we decided to o-o with him for luck. Jones’ Creek new rush filled the bill and early the next morning found us with all our outfit dangling in new chum fashion tramping down the beach until we came to-the Totara stream, when we camped for the night, tried to light a fire of fresh-chopped bark, failed, and made a hungry meal of cl rv biscuits. • Wo gathered some drift wood in the morning and fried our bacon, made a Lfilv of tea and feasted like kine-s. Tlie track up the to ‘Jones’’ was deep and full o- roots and, although only a counl© of miles worse then the felling of a kauri tr< Otvr first impressions of a goldfield were a surprise—fallen bush, piles, of e-ravel sluice boxes, busy men pickhnr and shovelling, heaving at rude windlasses, pitching v tents. . erecting shanties, whacking and making holes in all-directions.. We got at the fringe of this busy crowd, found a level spot on tlie side of a terrace, strung up our tent, put fern hesterns^side bv side-for our bed, strived leaves and. tv.v r s. ; laid our lffa.uk-. cts and slept fas best;: we icou’d -with, tint boots for pillows and got-thrmigh the night ns weary men can although the -jonts and them fisav: be tickling .their- short nbs» s!riraiiv noticed in +be moeiiing that we .had. camped , in ’tlie bed <•* a mono tain - stream - that : showed itself responsive to -every shower and ran under £?1IT prmg a

mattresses. AA’e had to wade out in the morning thankful that Are had not been floated doAVn into the creek in our dreams.

“I had brought a spade with me to the amusement cf the old hands who ahvays used shovels, short-hand-ed except the Bahandandy boys from Australia, who prided themselves on the Hong one, to Avliich they gave a scientific tAvirl over the shoulder Avhen delivering the shovelful. To start a hole in the ground seemed the thing to clo, so Ave set about it at once. Two seemed to me the only profitable number that could he engaged at'the shaft at once—one digging, the other sitting on top to relieve at intervals. So I took a dish and shovel and started to prospect doAvn the creek. I spent half a day exploring and washing bits of gravel, and turned back to follow the creek as a guide. I remember a big turn that rounded on to itself and shot across through the bush to get the creek higher up. I made a mistake and could not find any guiding stream. Night came before I could find it and I had to take the best looking spot at the foot of a large tree, making the best lair I could of damp ferns and leaA'es. 1 tried to sleep, but a v.oice from above kept calling out M.ore Pork’ and made the surroundings uncanny and Aveird. I noticed the sound of the sea on the beach and that gave me a due in the morning and, alter some time, I goo back to the creek and so home, where I found two men chopping tlie stem of a tree in order to shift it on our tent that had been flattened out by its fall. I remarked that it Avas a nice mess. ‘Not so had, young felloav, as that chap lower down ivriu felled a tree across tAvo tents and the breakfast billy.’ My tAvo mates AA-ere in the tent when tney Beard a cry to ‘Look Out.’ Being neAv to bush-falling they ran out to see the tree come doAvn ,?nd barely escaped being crushed by its fall.

“Otir mate avlio had come to look for his brother uoav discovered on a brand outside the store doAvn cue creek his brother’s name except that ‘Tom’ instead of ‘Frank’ was the Christian mime. On making inquiries where this man Avorkcd, he found that he had gone to a neAv rush up the mountain. ,Tn great excitement, he ran hither and thither 'and,' as Tom heard of his brother being on the field he also went in search of him, hut they did not succeed in finding each other for a Aveek. AYe Avere nearly starved out and went down to the sea beach, where, cooking the last of our flour in a greasy frying pan into a slap-jack or sort of bloated pancake, Ave divided it and ' i tramped aAvay to Hokitika to seek employment. After three days ivitliout food or chance of a job, I was walking doAvn Revell Street quite disconsolate, contemplating the spending of my last half-crown (Avliich ,f clung to as tlie last extremity) on a loaf or bread. My eye caught a face looking at me o\ r er a vise in a blacksmith’s window. Without a moment’s hesitation, I -stepped over and the youth came out and shook me Avarmly by the hand and said ‘Oh, Mr. C., Avliat brings you here?’ I told him I Avas doAvn on my luck. He then told me he worked for his uncle and that he knew me because I used to pass bis smithy going to school in ovir native town, Templemore. Asking Avhere I was stopping, I told him I slept under the verandah of the post office! His uncle, Michael Bohan, came out and very kindly invited me in and made a snug doss under the bellows in the shop, which I very gratefully thanked him for. He cooked a sumptuous supper of beefsteak and I rose next morning early trying to conceal my utter destitution by going out without breakfast. The boy came after me and I Avas obliged to again partake of bis generous hospitality.' 1 then bid them a grateful adieu, rolled up my blue blanket- and left to get back to the beach, where I had left my mate Ai'ith the tent. Having failed in the toivn to get work, 1 soon thought the diggings ivonld find room for me.

"My mate had heard of a new find at Doncghue.’s Creek on the other side of the spur from Jones’, not far from, where 1 had been lost that night in the bush. I found my mate like a her! in a fowl yard scraping away on the sideline above the prospectors and dabbling with a -dish, winning speck by speck, in-all about a pennyweight of gold, which he put in a wooden match box. Michael Kearney <an old employee -of Bianconi’s), the great Irish mail coach contractor) advised 'us to get a cradle, and directed .me to where I could get one up Dry Bread .Creek when a party were ,j.us± duffered out. I succeeded in geeting it" and, by a deal of lugging, and patience, managed to got it over the rough track to our tent. It was no use, however, for there was no water to work it with. An old Victorian known as “Kangaroo Jack’’ ■now took us in hand and we shifted to an adjacent- spur where tlie ‘color’ (that is specks of goM showing in the prospecting dish) was turning up freely. " , “Two very rare events now took plate oh our field, heralded by wild cheering, clanging of dishes, "blowing of horns, a Highland piper and loud cries of ‘Joed- Joe!’ Seated on a horse rode Unto the ereelr the first woman on the flat. She was a barmaid foi' Jim Horries’ canvas hotel and restaurant to dispense shilling drinks and ligjff-erowm lunches. The 1 other event, was a man wearing spectacles, ouickly named ‘Old Four Eves.’ Tlie * ground where our tent Stood, > on -the : ;s id el me l Irejui gv cleared y ‘OkU-Ppur'Eyes’ -sn n k ti hhaft ofabbnt fi feet" andr ; sta;pek a) rich.ipStclr; of gold. My mate . hparfng of : lhis. ' declared -we,;wefc sleeping oh- out-pile. vAbout. this-: iiw e the- orher niate, Bill;fcazrnc . dowi i v J rdm- .fanes-! ;bri nging ■) Kshrtrth-i er '• and wn‘ hah'. g great celebrat : on down at Billy Rne’s storm A" powered map his brother Frank was. ‘LwU ni him,’ said Bill. f QhJ ho tv

glad I came to find him. I kneiv such, a specimen couldn’t bo iost on any snoAV-clad Gentle Annie, but it grieves me to line! that lie does not believe the Bible is any better than the “Arabian Nights.” ’ Frank laid a short-liandie shovel on the ground, made George (about 12 stone) stand on the blade, caught up the handle in both hands and threiv him across the table, landing him fairly on his feet at tlie other side.

“These were the days of our primitive microbes, germs and aniinaculae. •'Having put doivn a shaft 20 feet and found a good prospect, ive began a tunnel ivith rough props, slabs and caps. Our cradle was erected ivith clipper complete and the whole set in motion. Oh! it Has a glorious day in our annals when avc found a 15 divt nugget and in our joy ive decided to celebrate the event with a glorious feast of a leg of mutton and a bottle of port nine. This blow-out shed a radiance over the event that still shines this very evenmg. AYe had got in about six feet ivith our tunnel ivhen old Peter and I came to a big boulder in the face. Big stones always sat on a good pocket ivhen they occurred in wash dirt, so we determined to shift it. AYe ii'ere both trying to crack it ivith heavy' blows of our pick heads, when T noticed a flake fall from the roof of the drive. 1 caught hold of Peter and dragged him to the shaft; he was nervous and I had to shove luiv up, and ive had barely got half-ivay ivhen the drive fell in and the ..lower half of Lhe shaft ivith it. AA’e got on top safely,, lit our pipes, ivent in to our hut and started a game of euchre to- cool our nerves over the shock of our narroiv escape. “AVe worked the claim for some months before ivashing up. AYben ive had saved about seven pounds of gold per man ive sold the concern to the storekeeper for our account ivith him for tucker and all cleared out for Hokitika. Thus ended my first experience of alluvial mining, and 1 agreed ivith my mate George, who said ‘A man gets tired of even digging gold.' AYe found Hokitika a lively place, as most of the ‘ lucky strikers ivere painting the toivn red, ordering a case of champagne air a. time as a shout for all hands, pouring it all into a bucket and serving li

round in pannakins; Jiolding sports and races down Revell Street, out of bravado using one pound notes to light their pipes, holding boxing competitions on tlie plan that -the first sheckier of blood shouted /or drinks all round... Barry, ox Thames fame, fought Hogan, of Bendigo, in the back of one of the hotels, 15 rounds, for a - new pair of watertights. The police turned up to stop the mill, but couldn’t force their way through the crowd until it was ail oVcr, when they declared there must be no more of it or they would be forced to take someone in charge to vindicate the taw I A STOREKEEPER’S RUSH. Hurst, who had been badly used when he prospected " the Greenstone : by"Tiaving his claim jumped, now’, in retaliation, reported a rich find down at Bruce Bay and led a new rush down there. We had a go and followed the leader for some miles into the mountains until he fled into the forest and escaped tln-ough into the Dunstan leaving a mad crowd behind. It was reported that it was what was called ‘A Storekeeper’s Rush,’ promoted by Mulligan ,the publican. The infuriated crowd rushed his shanty, seized all the liquor and then turned to a female -who had started a small store. As they were about to loot her little ealico warehouse, some one cried out, ‘Boys ’tis a: woman. Let the creature live,’ and they went their way to hold a night’s orgie on Mulligan’s liquors down on the beach. A wild scene until daylight found the sands being paved with human litter like a sanguinary battlefield. When we got back to Hokitika we found, a boat leaving for '. Wellington and, hearing that gold had-been discovered at Terawhiti, down the straits. w v popped on board, landed at Wellington in time for tlie New Year sports, won a couple of prizes in the athletic competitions, and, meeting a man wearing a brown plush digger’s lint, who said he had been to tin? Terawhiti rush and found if was a duffer,.our company split- up and two .of us.'got oinplovecl by Tonks next morning on the^’.:first reclamation . contract in front of-tlie.beach at 'LambtbufiQuaY. I pin not ouite certain from memory, bvffc-T "think this was the year 1867. •ROBGI IINGi IT TN TOE BUSH. ' . HAfter three months Phil McGovern gild I loft to go on a Government ‘ /

survey up the AA’airarapa, passed the embryo Featherston, Greytoivn and Mastertori, crossed the ltuamalianga and camped at the foot of the Otahua Hill close to the river. We got flooded out in the ITakahakakehahea stream near Collins’ station, where ive had to be rescued from.a- fallen log ivith an bid canoe lying in the flax. The river ran high for about eight days and ive ivere nearly out of provisions. I managed to get to Bannister’s store at Masterton, ivhen they harnessed a bullock loaded up lor our camp and the grand old animal plunged into the ford -until the river ran to his hack, but he held his head and never faltered until he drew up safe up the opposite bank. As ive got along' the camp trail ive found a driver in trouble ivith his team in a swamp patch. He was using the most endearing terms to them and sending bis long whip in graceful curves around their raw hides ivhich, he ex, plained, he was merely 7 decorating. One of tlie beasts lay doivn and after copious decoration, died. The service that tlie ,d< iver offered up for the untimely deceased ivas touching. “L don’t care a straw for the bally bullock,’ said he ivith much emotion, ‘but to lie doivn and die in this beastly swamp is coivardly.’ AA’e could not have had a more hearty ivelcome if ive had been the Campbell brigade to the relief of 'Lucknoiv than ive hau ivhen ive returned.,- Cutting bush tracks, chaining out sections, planting numbered pegs of 4 x 4 totara, four feet long, to define the boundaries, running trig lines for miles in every direction ivas fine healthy exercise that I have never hankered after since, although it cultivated the right muscles for hill climbing and iveight carrying. AA’e had a cat and a tamed iveka at our camp. I learned to cook a camp oven loaf and «n Irish stew, could ivash my clothes on Sunday and build a grand ti tree shed in front of the tent.

AN A STORE AT THE THAMES. “A rumor having got round- that Hunt’s party had struck gold at the Thames, the golden microbe again got into my . brain and, as soon as my place eo*skl be filled, I was off. 1 called at Wanganui as a mere accident and I ivas able to meet my in—

tended, who promised to wait until l made a pile for her. Most of my visit at Wanganui was spent in cultivating love’s young dream. We left Wanganui with the last detachment of the British soldiers in the ‘Rangatira’ to the strains of ‘The Girl L neft Behind Ale.’ We were nearly swamped crossing Manukau bar hut got through, and I took up my abode with rnv step-uncle in Auckland and looked "out for a billet being ready for anything bar two—one was driving, bullocks, tbe other milking cows. I finally got employed as stoi'eman to Petscliler in Shortland, Thames. 1 copy some lines in the local paper of tlie" day supposed to be inserted by a Frenchman. ‘1 cause myself to arrive by tbe ‘Enterprise’ making an abutment against Sheehan’s landing on the Kai linuiga. I look for tlie streets; it is no streets: it is much water; it is oyster shells. I am induced to proceed and spring ashore. My boots they fill up and go down. I meet a man of--the field and enquire tlie place-for a chop... He says “Butcher, Balter, Grocer.” 1 I - say “Damn, I want a bit of sheep dorm brown.” The footpaths were two or three plunks loosely laid on the mud, very treacherous at the ends when they were likely to spring down and squirt mud up your body. Butts’ hotel and theatre stood at tlie corner of the main-Street rolled, T think, Pollen St. Most of the houses were either pubs or boarding houses. Pets.chler’s store stood behind Butts’ near the Hnpu creek. It was acute angle shape to fit the point - of tlie section and contained three rooms and a long wedge shape general store, containing provisions and wearing apparel, spirits, fruit and vegetables, with an assortment of tinware and ironmongery. I was installed second officer and a lad was also engaged to run with parcels and messages. i st-nck a patch in a claim next tlie ‘Caledonian’ and invited my intended to join me when I could got a cot-tage-put up and, in due course, we settled down next to "Burke’s on the Hap'i creek, Shortland. I got mv em pi 6 verbs permission to make this bpm3.-l.lut lie promptly gave me the sack on the grounds that ho muse have a man living in the store. j WHEN BALLOTS WERE NOT ; SECRET. - ’ . “Mv old Hokitika chum who found his brother on Jones’ joined me now and we became sharebrokers and did a

thriving business in Bank’s buildings opposite Curtis’ Hotel, Grahamstoivn. We opened up the Little Nell, next to the AA’ild Missouri up tlie Tararua creek. It was understood that no sharebroker could hope for success unless he sii'aggered round smoking cigars and playing billiards. AA’e ivere getting on quite nicely until my partner went in for dairy farming and oldM’etschler offered me the old billet, ivhich I accepted, and ran the place for him until he failed over a shipload of goods imported from Sydney proving unsuitable for the market, not giving him a chance to realise or get advances on it to meet the hills passed in payment of them. Out of collar again 1 organised a prospecting party' to Ohinemuri, up the AA’aitekauri creek. AYe loaded a boat up ii'ith goods ,landed at Belmo'nt, bought nut Cassel’s store and began business in a mhch-required commodity—at pub that hadn’t the sanction of the State. Just about this time John Williamson ivas standing for election for Superintendent of the Auckland Province and Hugh Coolaghan one of his supporters, bought up all the axe and pick handles on tlie Thames to arm the AA’illiamsonites on this day. It was before the secrecy of the ballot.

SPIELERS GET TO WORK. “Our life at the time consisted of pulling a heavy boat up the river from Shortland to Thorpe’s place, Belmont, near Ohinemuri, where a crowd of miners ivere camped on the river bai>: ivaiting for the completion of Sir Donald McLean’s negotiations for the opening of that district for mining purposes. Some spielers put in an appearance and operated the game of straight poker. They cheated a poor felloiv called Jem Sheridan out of all the money' he had and, ivhen he made a fuss about it they' only laughed at him. He secured a ■revolver and put a bullet into one of them. Feeling that lie had killed the felloiv, he fled into the bush and ivas eventually- caught and given tivo years at "his trial, in the Shortland Court. He ii'as examined as to having fired at and shot, ivhich he described. Pointing to his body, he. said: “The blessed bullet went in’ right here and if it ivasn’t for my blasted backbone it ivonld hai-e gone right through me.” About this time the Colonial Forces under General Sir George AA’hitmore were chasing To Kooti through the Urewora Country and a rumor ivas spread that the Upper Thames Natives were disaffected and had invited the outlaiv to come doll'll and make a raid on Shortland.

A FALSE ALARM. ‘■There was a character known as ‘Bully’ Frazer with quite a bulldog face and fond of haranguing the crowd. He formulated a method of defence in case To Kooti should come down. He got possession of the only shot gun to be had and spent an anxious night with this gun concealed in a weeping willow tree, overhanging the river, purposing to blaze into the rebels, then swim across and fetch a rescue party. On hearing his shot all hands were to escape into a swamp that lay at the back of Belmont and flee to‘the bush. One of Thorpe’s dogs who had been for some time practising the art of baying at the moon set up his music about midnight—a thing that under ordinary circumstances would be unnotic? ed'. But Frazer at once concluded that the war party were on us, so lie fired off the gun and crossed the river. Some of us were rushing into the swamp until we heard the wellknown shrill voice of Thorpe crying out: ‘Como back boys; ’tis a false alarm.’ We never saw ‘Bully’ afterwards. I think he must have bom. lost in the’Plako swamp in search of the rescue party. NOVEL FORM OF DEBT COLLECTING. “There was a party of retired military officers camped on the river bank who had an old soldier servant called ‘Come Hither Jack’ for short. This party became heavily indebted to us. at the store and, when the election before mentioned was on Williamson’s supporters sent the ‘Enterprise’ up to canvass and bring down the electors. The officers had gone' down to ShoTtland in a boat a.few. davs previously, leaving Jack to take charge of their effects until their return. Now the ‘Enterprise’ brought a letter to Jack, which he brought to tne to read for him, as he couldn’t ‘spell himself.’ On looking at trie letter, I found it was instructions to take down the tents and put all the things aboard after dark and come down at once. I l'eacLout to him that he was to bring all the things up and store them with us and come down himself. I helped to bring the things up in a barrow for which he was most thankful and I saw him safely embarked about 10 at night. Jack’s want of the knowledge of how to spell saved us a loss of about £2O, but 1 fear caused his masters the inconvenience of having, to pay their debts in this unconscious fashion.

“THE PRETTY JANE.’’ ;■ “At this time I was called, to. Auckland -to the, bedside of my poor relative, who was seized by an internal tumour. I stood hv him for three months to the end. The poor fellow ! introduced me to h:s employers to I take his place as clerk in the Albert Brewery and, in 1871, I. removed to ’ Auckland and took un the position which I held, until.the firm decided to start a branch at Gisborne 'ih/1874.'Whilst engaged in this office, I saw. 1 an opening at OnchungVi for .a gener-. al store, and got an ‘ old friend of mine, urst arrived from Home to take up the management of it./.. I removed to Onehunga. pot a spring cart, drove in to mv office in the m/orning and brought back supplies

at night. I accumulated a few. hundreds by this, which rjave me a free hand for the removal to Gisborne with my accumulation of worldly goods in the old ‘Pretty Jane’ of those days. She was a pretty model of a boat, with all the masts and sails of a schooner, for they hadn’t found out tire triple expansion engines and the coal consumption was enormous. “CRIBBED, CABINED AND CONFINED.” The machinery was crude and liable to a breakdown at any moment. She had to be nursed the whole way down and was obliged to run in for shelter if a head wind sprang up. Under adverse circumstances, siic was often four to six days on the run either up or down to Auckland. She j carried sheep and cattle from Gisborne to Kohimaramn, on the Tmnaki creek, south of Auckland. The little deck was often covered with sheep and the hold full of cattle and 1 plank ways wore laid from the cabin to the cook’s galley forward, along which, when one had got son legs on. one could take an airing full of mutton odour and beef bellowing. The cabin was over the boiler with a small crib partitioned off for ladies. ‘Cribbed, cabined and confined’ exactly applied to the passenger accommodation. Tiie cry of cork fenders as ! we left the tumble-down wharf at ! Turanganui (Gisborne) signified that ! trouble began for most of the voyagers. HOLD-UP ON TRIP 'TO GISBORNE. “On my first trip from Auckland we called in at the Thames for an i eight horse-power portable engine for ' the South Pacific Oil Co. at Waiongaromia, near where the Gisborne Oil Co.’s works were later situated. The ; steam engine was laid in the hold and : we proceeded on our way until we reached the turning point of Coromandel Peninsula, where we were obliged to take shelter and anchor ! awaiting a favorable breeze. This breeze came on us with a rush in the north-east direction, having a tend- ’ ency to blow us onto the rocks at the point. Our boat began to rock at her anchor, causing the engine below to fall over and nearly swamp us. An attempt was made to heave the anchor, but.it was caught in a rock below. With all hands and the donkey engine we got the anchor free at last and got away into the shelter ui Brown’s Island, where we- found a small cutter laden with trusses oi I hay. The men in this cutter, one of : whom had a wooden leg, came alongj side and traded a truss of hay for some provisions that they had run | short of. As we had some prize slieep just imported from Home aboard, the exchange came in very timely for us also. GISBORNE'S BUSINESS PEOPLE IN ’74. ! ' AY hen we reached the river at Gisborne, it struck me that the scene was not much changed from that presented to Captain Cook when lie first landed from the ‘Endeavor.’ We had to land at the Boat Harbor We found Sam Stevenson, G. E. Head, G. Lawrence, J. Harvey, Skipj wortli and W H. Tucker amongst ; the few first tc meet us on arrival. Old Blind Charley, who ran the Tu- ! ranganui ferry, l.ved in a lint about the Supreme Court site. Stubbs, the i chemist, kept the Post Office. The Albion and the Argyll were the first hotels and the Masonic was in course ( of erection. Capt. Bead and Mr. Horsfall carried on the only stores. Mr. Horsfall subs quently sold to Kinross and Graham. Air It. Thelwali had a butcher’s shop '-.'here Mr. deLautour’s buidings now stand. Mr. Buchanan had opened a general store where the Poverty Bay Club stands. Mr. Daly was building the ‘Sham.rock,’ now the Gisborne Hotel. Sledge houses that had been drawn into the town after the Te Ivooti raid stood in every direction. Dr. Nesbitt and his family lived in a cottage at the back of Adair Bros., which was given up to me with the section to Read’s Quay, on which v.e built the new brewery. A TRAMPING EXPEDITION. “I started to explore the country on foot, did the Cbast as far as Whangnra, then crossed" the ferry down the Big River to Wairekaia* up to Knitcratahi .on the way to the oil springs at • Wairongaromia, above Wbatatutu. Tom Bell had opened the Knitcratahi Hotel and, stopping there lor the night, I ordered an early breakfast, intending to follow the trail of the engine that had just been hauled up by a bullock team a few days before. ' It was considered to be quite an unheard of thing for a man to go on a tramping excursion in Poverty Bay and Tom volunteered to find a fair of good horses and nccoinpanv me to the oil wells just starting.' Arthur Cuff had an accommodation house at Wbatatutu, where we were kindly treated for the night and plunged up the hill to the works in the morning. _When I rode up to the works with Tom Bell (who afterwards settled with lvis family on Sunday Island) the derrick was’ being erected and the engine had been pulled up hill to the site of the first well. -I think Parsons was the first American, expert in charge of the works. The surface indications were very promising a tuU oil, and gas exudes all the way' through., the hills up to Hikurangi at the ■ East Cape where, in some: places,-'a surface deposit, of ; what is knowpi as dopplento exists, j It i« a sort of -solidified crude oil saturating theyvegetahle matter, of the surface and'pctrifving rats, birds, o.r lizards that, have become immersed rin it.-" -Petrifying is hardly . the correct word for it, but the animals are preserved intact and 3olid in the oil.

We clambered down the greasy slopes of the Waiongaromia, forded the Waipaoa and the Mangatu river and. went on through this to the ti tree scrub and I nursed my blisters for a couple of days at Ivaiteratahi before crossing the hill to Ormond to catch Bidgood’s coach for Gisborne. “Abel Fletcher, the well sinker 1 brought from Auckland, had made ... good shape for the well six feet in diameter and had a kerb constructed to protect the sides as it was excavated. This kerb was a wooden frame, lined with bricks and, being about 6 feet high, sunk bv its weight as tile well was excavated below it. Then another similar layer was attached to the top of the first and so continued to the finish. In 1875, the year following his arrival in Gisborne to take charge of the local brewery, Mr. Crawio d took over the business. Twenty years later a company was formed to take over the business and he was appointed manager. Subsequently the business' was acquired by another company with Mr. D. J. Barry a- managing director. In turn it was taken over two or three years back by N.Z. Breweries-Ltd. Mr. Crawford lad always taken a keen interest in \ holography and for a number of years be next conducted a studio in Harris’ Buildings. Some years before the war he paid a visit io his native land and subsequently he went to reside in Auckland with a daughter, who was the wife of Archdeacon Hawkins and passed his last days in the Queen City of the North. ECHOES OF PROGRESSIVE LEAGUE. Air. Crawford, throughout his lengthy residence in Gisborne, strived to bis utmost to advance its interests. His heart and soul in what was known as the Progressive League, the objects of which were as under:— To endeavor to organise, throughout the City of Gisborne and the electorates of Gisborne and Bay or Plenty, the large unorganised section of the community, whose views and, opinions are not reflect-, ed by the motives and objects of any existing institution, with a view to—(a) Creating a healthy and rational public opinion in all matters of a social, commercial and industrial c-harac-ter; (b) Inspiring electors, both town and country, -with a true and spirited sense of their responsibilities; (c) Inducing broadminded men of integrity and abilitv to contest all public positions: id) Supportng actively every movement which makes for the betterment and liberty of the community : (e) Taking an active interest in all concerns which affect the Port. City and electorates of Gisborne and the Bay of Plenty; (f) Expressing the voice of true public appro- ■ vnl and disapproval as the occasion demands on the actions and schemes of public corporations in the administration of public affairs : (g) Extending to men of recognised ability the opportunity of addressing the country upon matters of a public- character whereot they have made a special study; (IT) Urging the claims of Gisborne and surrounding districts to the right to he supplied with necessary public buildings; (i) Offering every reasonable inducement for the occupation' of our waste lands and reading of same; (j) Establishing throughout the City of Gisborne and country districts a complete system of organisation with a view to the achievement of the above ohiects.