NELSON IN THE EARLY DAYS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 7 January 1926, Page 3

NELSON IN THE EARLY DAYS

AN AI'DEAL (To the Editor.) S Pn • • i v ids A it;o' ■ Nob-s" Jus done and 1# <l(» ng , n| v.u"k m collecti' g and re«••'.’till g >tn«j Willi regard L o'.'t' lord.:, i to. (.■to., which it.format.. m bo -i■ i.:i• v.uoid hrr.o been but to N<'U Zealand and li t- world toy t• '• <• i’We ial ly residents and lover? '.'l our native birds and bush as wc hi lew it 70 or L'(J years ago are deeply giatcful in Inin for what be is doing in the matte!. In (hose days people have little association with the native birds and bush and cannot realise the intense love we rnrlv settlors have for them. 'I he bird? were so tame and sociable that in (.nr early days we looked upon them nn-re as pets and companions. Professor Drummond will have a valuable re cord of tlmm as the "Nature Notes’ lead with mi much interest, are the means <d collecting information for n |>“l manetn wmk. The associat ions of childhi d and youth are very strong and persistent .and intensify as one grows < 1 1 1 1-1 ain| iiiir a fleet inn goes back to the birds and bush of the New Zealand we knew in .Hi:- young days: and few people will nnderstand how strong that alicot n n is. The sight of a native bird singing it., sweet happv song gives us great pleasure, tinged with tudness that they .should have so much departed, t'au m tl.uiig lie ili": e to preserve the i xperit. in os and struggles of the early settlers i the district, in a similar way to- 'be birds and insects? Most of I In' t.arlv M il vis ale four score and over and are every day dropping off. and in a very few years they and their experiences ’.\ill be gone. The information |o be obtained from them might not be erv imp' rta nt, bill surely it would be verv interesting to many of those who o,mn after its to have pen pictures of toe i-i mi lit rv as i! was and the struggle? and exp--: ie-iees of those who started this fair islid of oiii'm and helped to make il "(tod's own ceuntrv.”

Like the early settlers the episode of die go-id diggings aid the old digger is a phases in early New Zealand life that will never occur again. In its day it uiayed an important part in making New Zealand what it is to-day. The old digger is gone aid all there is to show inal be e\er existed is heaps of houldi is and old workings even much over grown. Nelson hud the first alluvial go Id Helds in New Zealand and the knowledge gained there led to the dis- ( i very of outer fields in the early life of the settlement uf New Zealand. Is llm old digger nut wortliv of a place and lie of interest in the future? How often we hear lamented the absence of information of the early days af England. aid yet we. starting a new country and one that will make its mark in the world, are letting pass unrecorded i: t i--n of events' and scenes that can never < ccur again. A great deal has been h.-l already but probnblv a good deal could still be obtained. lntcres.ing articles on early days have appeared in the patters from time to time but they are so mixed through a mass of paper as not to be in a form to be of any use to. any ofie except for the passing interest when they appeared. Probably a good deal more could be obtained i)' collected before the last of the old sillier.--' nave passed away. Is there ik.? one in Nelson capable and pal ri"t ie enough to collect and edit in I iination mi the various matters in runneiT imi with the early days of the sel!lenient ? Who will do so and have il printed in. say. painpbcll- form so licit the public could cheaply obtain, a '(•p,v of al| that is recorded in the early life and surroundings of the Nelson province.' || this were done 1 feel sure iliat there would be a generous response both by eonfribuf ions and purchases. Surely some one will .step in and help in this matter. I ant etc.. IT P. WASHBODRN. Jan. 2nd 1926.