THE PREMIER AS A WESTLANDER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13202, 13 June 1906, Page 6

THE PREMIER AS A WESTLANDER.

REMINISCENCES OF EARLY DAYS. CHARACTERISTIC INCIDENTS. [BY TKLEGRAI'IT. —OWN* CORRESI'O.VttEXT. J Cihustcmvkch.- Tuesday. The Ciuistchurch Star prints the following tic.!** on Mr Seddon's close connection Willi the est- Coaf;t. :—MI". Sedci'iu'h name was. of (-nurse, always associated with the West ('.>u c L ft was as Dig«er Pick."" Hit? roiircs'nlatiTe of tin* then, fibscure district of H«Wiiikji. that Mi', Sneddon entered New Zealand politics, ana with his rise to the position of one of the Empire's foremost statesmen lie never forgot his old district or his old 1 friends. He was at* home cm the Wt«l Const, and he was retrarded by the West Coasters with a warm personal affection that has never wavered.

;Tit September.- 1904, Mr. Seddon celebrated bis '"jubilee" by a. tour of the We>t Coast, and a. representative of the Star, who accompanied the party, gained an insight . into the reason of the Premier's love for West,land. This is my. conntrv. von know," he would say. .As was only fitting. Kttmara was the first centre visited by the Premier. Mr. Seddon was the first Mayor of Kumara, in 1878. and took a leading part in its local politics for many years after that date. His 'connection with the town began in the earliest days of • the diggings, lie being one «f the first diggers to arrive oil the spot when gold was discovered in the Terem.ikan flats. The discovery, he relates, was purely accidental. A' party of men selected (lie river .flat as a site for an illicit still, designed to supply whisky to the thirsty digger population that was then crowding into the West Coast from all parts of the world. Til digging holes in which to place their tubs, the "Moonlighters" found gold in payable quantities, and promptly proceeded to gather in the fortune that fate had thrown in their-way. A few days later a digger from the Waimea wandered into the bush prospecting, and lost live way, and while attempting to get back to his camp he came "across the party busily -washing up by the Tereniakau. He did not interrupt the proceedings, but found his way back to the camp and informed Mr. Seddon of what lie had seen. The two formed a partnership, and went out to the new diggings, and within a very short time a rush had set in, and the-silent bush had been replaced by a thriving, roaring mining township.

- Mr. Seddon took a leading part in laying out the town of Kumara. and he tells how the sanguine founders took Melbourne as their model, and planned the streets 'in squares in the fond hope that the yellow gold underfoot was going to create • cities not a whit behind those that had-sprung up in the Australian colonics. Kumara, therefore, welcomed Mr. Seddon with a warm personal welcome, quite distinct from that it might accord to the Premier of the colony.

. It was' on Waimea Creek that Mr. Seddon > did his first mining oil the Coast, away back in 1866, and -although nearly •50 years have elapsed since ' those days Waimea Creek is to-day yielding up'its golden riches to the modern dredge at the rate of 250z and 30oz weekly. ' On all sides tne visitor sees the mark of the miner, yet it is the country in which Mr. Seddoii entered upon his political career, the scene of many of his triumphs both as a, politician and as a man, and its whole history seem.? to be woven in with his.

The old hands, many now benefiting by his old age pension legislation, tell many stories of his performances in '.the days, when' lie . was' an all-round " athlete of lio : mea.n capabilities, and a leader among the cosmopolitan gathering of "diggers that had swarmed in with the gold rush—the Coast men were rough and strenuous in those days, ready to defend what they regarded as their rights with the pick handle arid the revolver, and yet never hesitating to assist a comrade in distress, or to extend the ready hand of good fellowship-to the new arrival at the diggings. Among these .men Mr. Seddon quickly made a name as a miner, a storekeeper, and an athlete, and his contemporaries, many still .".washing", in the creeks and flats, have a never-failing fund of stories of their hero to tell the sympathetic stranger. As a sprinter,, wrestler, jumper,, boxer, Mr. Seddon became widely known. It is told how one muscular bully terrorised the whole mining camp till he insulted the young . man from Victoria, and how, after the resulting sail: guinary battle, the victorious "Digger Dick " immediately challenged' a brother of (lie beaten man to step into the ling. ■No desire : to dispute Mr. Ketkluii's superiority seemed, however, to remain. Once, a miner, confident in bis ignorance, left the diggings -on his way to Canterbury without paying his bill at Mr. Seckloii's store, and the old miners tell with glee that the burly store-: keeper rode off in pursuit, overtook his man in the Otira Gorge, and returned with his account duly settled. Then, again, when disputes . bad arisen regarding claims and an avengeful mob of miners was threatening to take the law into its own hands and attack the alleged'""jumpers," it was Mr. Seddon who stood on a stump before a howling mob of angry diggers, dared) l them to face him one at a time, and eventu-| ally quietened them, and averted an outburst i of violence that might, have spread right | through the mining camps. In lighter vein is a storv of tin; Pre- , mier's early Parliamentary days. When a! publican, at Goldsborongh in previous years his rival on the running track imprudently remarked that Mr. Seddon was getting too stout to be able to run. " Perhaps, but V think 1 could still do a hundred yards." said Mr, Seddon, quietly, and the publican, jorgetful of previous defes.ts, pursued the subject until a match for a money stake was arranged down the main street of Goldsborough. The two men raced, and, ill spite of increased weight, borne of the change from physical to mental labour, " Dick Seddon" scored a decisive victory, a;nd, unkindest cut of all from the point "of view- of the defeated man,, he spent -hiswinnings " shouting for the- crowd in the opposition hotel. Travelling through' this country, it was easy to understand why the Coast loves Mr. Seddon, and why Mr. Seddon loved the Coast. A PROPHETIC REMARK. A remark, which is now recalled as a very interesting, if not exactly a prophetic, one, was made by Mr. Seddon to the Hon. J. A. Tolo about two years and a-half ago. They met at a garden party, given by the Hon. E. Mitchelson (then Mayor of Auckland),, and Mr. Tole, in the course of conversation with Mr. Seddon, inquired in a. bantering way,. " How much longer are you going to retain office? - ' Mr. Seddon turned to Mrs. Seddon, who was standing beside him, and said. "I have told mother that when I ain 60 I shall have had about enough." At the time of his death Mr. Seddon was 60 years of age. WESTLAND'S REPRESENTATIVE IN PARLIAMENT. [>Y TELEGRAPH.—X'UESS ASSOCIATION.] I Hokitika, Tuesday. I 1 here is a steadily growing feeling [ throughout- the electorate that when the ! time comes to fill the vacancy Mr. Seddoil's eldest son should be asked 'to take the position and so retain the honoured name of Seddon in the House of Representatives. [nr TELEGRAPH.—X'RKSS ASSOCIATION, Greymotoh, Tuesday. It- !- understood that Mr. Michael (Mayor of Hokitika) will contest the Westland 'seat. Mr. Murdock (Mayor of Kumara) is alto mentioned as 'a probable" candidate. ' '