GOLD AND GOLD SEEKERS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 24 April 1937, Page 21 (Supplement)

GOLD AND GOLD SEEKERS

MINING IN NELSON DISTRICT

Motueka and Collingwood

The decade preceding the birth of The Evening Mail saw the rise of the gold mining industry in the South Island of New Zealand. The first gold obtained in the Southern half of the Colony was found in the Nelson district. Several portions of the province have enjoyed more or less brief periods of “boom” and prosperity, followed by times of depression. In this respect the province has shared the common lot of many other districts in New Zealand which have experienced the viciss’tudes of the search for gold in no small degree. So far as the existing records show, the first gold discovered In the Colony was found in the Auckland Province in 1852. During the earlier part of that year the remarkable productiveness of the Australian goldfields had drawn public attention to the possibilities of gold deposits in this country. In October a “Reward” or “Goldfields” Committee in Auckland offered a reward of £SOO to the first person discovering “a valuable goldfield.” Within a few days the reward was claimed by Mr Charles Ring, who had a short time previously returned from California, and who discovered gold in the Coromandel district.

GOLD IN MOTUEKA DISTRICT Nelson enjoys the distinction of being the first district in the South Island to be a gold*producer. The first discovery in the province was made in the Motueka district in 1856. At one time no fewer than 300 men were working on the ground, and provisions rose to extravagant prices. The rush, however, was short-lived. The owners of boats plying between Nelson and Motueka earned a great deal of money at first in carrying passengers to the latter port and afterwards in carrying back those who had any money left. The Motueka rush, although it did not produce fortunes for those who took part in it, had the effect of drawing attention to the possibilities of gold mining in the Nelson district. Shortly afterwards a number of Nelson merchants, following the Auckland example, offered a reward of £SOO for the discovery of a payable goldfield within the province.

DISCOVERY AT COLLINGWOOD Early in 185 7 gold was first discovered at Collingwood. The late Mr E. J ames accidentally dropped on specimens of the precious metal at what afterwards was given the name of Lightband’s Gully, the late Mr G. W. W. Lightband, of Brightwater, who had had some experience of digging in Australia, being the first to take steps to follow up the discovery to a payIlißlliliilMlM

able point. This was the real beginning of gold mining in the Nelson district. Large numbers of men flocked to Collingwood, and it was estimated that there was at one time at least a thousand diggers on the field. The Provincial Government laid out the township of Collingwood, and a Resident Magistrate and other officials were appointed. A Courthouse, gaol and Customs house was erected, and a Customs house officer was stationed there. But as is usually the case with new goldfields, there were too many people, and although some of' the diggers remained, the greater number left the district after a short stay on the field'. The happy result of the gold discovery at Collingwood was the substitution of the name of Golden Bay for Massacre Bay.

THE “GOLDEN COAST” What is generally believed to be the first discovery of gold in the Buller district was made by Mr John Rochfort during his trip, with his brother, up the Buller river in 1 859. The spot at which the yellow metal v/as first found in this river was at the Old Diggings, about 20 miles from Westport. There is some doubt as to whether this was the first such discovery on the West Coast, it being claimed that gold was first found at Hokitika some two years earlier. The discovery of gold in 1861, in Otago by Mr Gabriel Read, attracted a considerable number of people to that part of the Colony. Towards the end of 1862 large numbers of people arrived in Nelson from Sydney on their way to the Otago diggings, and a considerable number of them stayed to give the Nelson fields on the West Coast, Collingwood and Wangapeka a trial. The trial, in many cases, was not successful. Some of the men, however, did exceedingly well, and some large nuggets were brought to Nelson, one of them weighing as much as thirty ounces. When the reports of these nuggets reached Otago a great many diggers left there for Nelson, but they arrived in winter and the wet weather, and the bad roads sneedily disgusted many of them, and they departed. The Provincial Government was much blamed for not holding out inducements to them to stay, and there was considerable agitation and argument as to the duties of the representatives of the people in regard to the matter. DISCOVERY AT LYELL In 1 863 there was considerable depression in Nelson. The arrival of so many diggers in the previous year had raised great hopes, and some property had changed hands. The bright times that were anticipated did not come, and the year was a quiet one until November, when the news of a rich gold find at Lyell was received. Three men who had been working at Lyell Creek brought to Nelson 1 300 ounces of gold, including one nugget of 93 ounces and another of 50 ounces. There was, however, still the old complaint of the lack of roads, and the absence of police protection, and altogether about 10,000 ounces of gold was obtained at the Buller, in about three months the diggers gradually left for other parts. Some gold was also found about this time in some of the tributaries of the Upper Buller, including the Mangles.

The eager quest for gold which has engaged the attention of men of all classes and nationalities in all dimes throughout the ages, has left its mark on the history of the Nelson Province. Appended is a summary of the principal events in connection with the goldfields of the province and those of the continguous provinces of Westland and Marlborough.

THE WAKAMARINA RUSH In April, I 864, the people in Nelson were again aroused from a somewhat depressed state by the discovery of a go field at Wakamarina, in the Marlborough Province, but within 31 miles of Nelson. The utmost excitement prevailed in the town, and people of all classes and occupations at once set out for the new El Dorado. The track over the Maungatapu over which the route to the diggings lay; was traversed by mechanics, clerks, tradesmen, farmers, and others in the hope of making their fortunes. Amonst those who went were boys of ten and twelve years of age and men old enough to be their grandfathers Vessels, with large numbers of passengers, arrived almost daily, both at Nelson and Picton. Townships were run up with the rapidity incidental to new goldfields, and belore long Havelock had a staff of Government officials, a newspaper and” other evidence of importance. Canvastown, at the mouth of the Wakamarina also grew to considerable size. At first the Wakamarina field was very profitable to a

large number of miners, but Hoods came, roads got bad, and the usual results followed. A certain number of the more plodding men remained, but large numbers wept away. The Maungatapu murders is one of the events of 1 866 which has served to keep green the memory of the Wakamarina rush.

PALMY DAYS OF HOKITIKA The year 1 865 will ever be memorable for the rich gold discoveries on the West Coast and the enormous influx of people to that hitherto little-known district. In January news was received of large yields of gold on the banks of the Grey and Hokitika rivers, and during the same month the first instalment of 1 300 ounces was brought to Nelson. Every week further reports of finds of the most extraordinary richness were received. Early in March it was estimated that there were 5000 people in the neighbourhood of Hokitika, and a few weeks later the population was variously stated at from 8000 to 1 0,000. Nelson, at that time, was placed in a most advantageous position in regard to the West Coast. There was then no road from Hokitika to Christchurch, and apparently there was little business enterprise in Christchurch. Nelson was a resting place for the great proportion of the men who were on their way to the goldfields, and diggers’ tents were a familiar sight on the outskirts of the city. All the gold, too, passed through Nelson, and the commercial advantage to the place was enormous. A fleet of small steamers was established by a local firm which found the business very profitable. Even with the high rates charged the steamers had to lie away from the wharves in order to keep them frorp being overwhelmed by passengers. The quantity of gold that passed through Nelson in that year was enormous, and it excited the envy of the Chrsitchurch people, who clamoured for the establishment of an escort to take it overland to their town. In course of time, the road by the Bealey route was undertaken by the Canterbury Provincial Government, and Nelson was deprived of the advantage that she had enjoyed. The gold discoveries gave rise to a renewal of a previous agitation for improved means of communication by land between Nelson and the West Coast, and for the second, but by no means the last time, the gauge railway was discussed.

QUARTZ MINING AND DREDGING In later years the quartz mines at Reefton and Capleston (or Boatman’s) and Lyell came into prominence. Later still, in the “ ’eighties,” a considerable amount of capital was sunk in an endeavour to establish a profitable quartz mining industry in the Owen district, in the upper portion of the Buller Valley. The hopes of the gold seekers, however, were not fulfilled, and the shareholders who anticipated a regular run of dividends as a reward of their enterprise, were doomed to disappointment. The rush to Mahakipawa, then Havelock, took place in 1888. Gold has also been discovered in small quantities at various times in the Tadmor and other districts. There have also been numerous dredging ventures in the Nelson district.

In 1865 the goldfields in the Grey and Hokitika districts attracted much attention, not only in New Zealand, but also in Australia. Every steamer arriving at Nelson brought several thousand ounces of gold from the new goldfields. In January 5 750 ounces were brought to Nelson; in February, 4645 ounces; in March, 7537 ounces; in April, 10,380 ounces; in May, 16,395 ounces; in June, 18,591 ounces; in July, 19,937 ounces; in August, 19,568 ounces; in September, 22,549 ounces; and in October, 32,568 ounces —making a grand total for the ten months of 157,979 ounces. A considerable number of vessels came to grief on the bars of the West Coast rivers, and some daring crimes were committed, one being the sticking-up of a bank agent between No Town and the Twelve Mile at the Grey, and robbing him of 821 ounces of gold and £IOOO in bank notes. Another outrage was the murder of a young engineer named Dobson, who it was believed was mistaken by the daring pang of bushrangers who were committing robberies on the West Coast at that time for a Mr Fox, wfro was a well-known pn]r] buyer. COMMENT OF SEVENTY YEARS AGO "The Nelson Evening Mail” on 4th March, 1866, said: “The annals of colonisation contain no record more remarkable

than the progress of events on the West Coast of this Island. Fifteen months ago, the whole of the country between the great range and the sea, from Cape Foulwind to Cape Providence, a distance of nearly 500 miles, was as unknown as the interior of Africa; it was represented by those few who had landed upon its shores to be a barren, inhospitable land, uninhabitable on account of the severity of its climate, devoid of all natural wealth and attractions; now a population of 25,000 souls has settled in the desert, producing and exporting gold to the value of about £200,000 every month. “Marvellous, however, as has been the progress of Westland—the recent intelligence from that quarter justifies us in believing that its future progress will be as great as it has been hitherto, and that its resources will be as enduring as they are great. From south of Okarito to 20 miles north of the Grey, a lead of gold has been discovered on the beach, extending the whole distance, a circumstance never known before in any part of the world. “Gold is not the only wealth of the country—extensive seams of coal have been found at the Buller and the Giey, the sand on the beach contains iron, indicating its existence in greater quantities inland. ... In these days of extensive maritime communication, no place can be prosperous without others adjacent partaking of its good fortune; although many of the wants of the district may be supplied by local enterprise, the bulk of the requirements of Westland must come from elsewhere.

“The fine, sheltered valleys of Nelson will continue to grow the fruit the digger uses, the plains of Canterbury will produce his cheese, the hillsides of this province and Marlborough will supply his mutton, and our safe harbour will receive many of the ships bringing his foreign importations. In this manner by becoming a market for our productions, and a field for the enterprise of our merchants, will the of Westland enrich our province and benefit the entire colony.