IN OLDEN DAYS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7446, 22 May 1911, Page 8

IN OLDEN DAYS

ADVENTURES OF JAMES MACKAY THE MAN WHO BOUGHT TEN MILLION ACHES. A WESTLAND PIONEEK. ,1 man of eighty lies paralysed in his iittlo home up at Faeroa, where the Obinemuri river sweeps down with its load of sludge from the golden Mils of Waihi. Ho is the man who first opened up this immwiso field of riches to the white man, and who first induced the Maoris to let the white man mine for gold at the Thames, It was ho also who was tho chief white pioneer on the Golden Coast of tho South Island, inasmuch as ho carried out the famous purchase of tho whole of Westland from the Mauris, half a century ago. His work was worth millions to tho colony. Tot ho has to subsist now, in his extreme old ago* on a Government compassionate allowance of per week, lie has, it is true, had tho honour ot having a back street named after him down in Qreymouth; also a small t°w n “ ship near Paeroa. .Ho is tho last of tho little band of explorers who opened up tho rich West Coast, and ho is probably the most successful man. who ever dealt with Maori affairs in .tho rough and dangerous old days, with the solitary exception perhaps of Sir Donald McLean. „ This dying pioneer is Mr James Mackay, ouo-limo head of the Native Deportment for tho North Island. Ho was a contemporary of IXeaphy, Brunner, Dox. Itoohfort, von llaast, and other pathfinders of the wild West Coast. More than two generations ago he made his name as a daring and successful explorer, but tho present generation knows him not. Yet the name of James Mackay should not be forgotten, for he is one of the men who blazed tho way. Besides his exploration work he purchased for tho Government over ten million acres of native land in the South Island; later, ho bought for the Crown very largo areas in the North Island. Mackay came of a Scottish family which settled at Collingwood, Nelson, in the early forties, and he began his gold-prospecting and exploration jvork hfty-six years ago, when ho was a young man of twenty-four. Some time ago Mr Mackay sent the writer tho following summary of his exploration work and his official career. He doesn’t waste any words; but hist plain and pithy statement is a whole Iliad of adventure for those who can read between the lines; EARLY EXPEDIENCES.

"Between 1855 and 1862," writes Mr Maokay, "I explored the N.W. corner of the South Island, and discovered the sources of the Aororo, Takaka, and Baramea (Mackay) rivers. I travelled down, the West Const with, two Maoris, January, 1S5"; went as far as the Grey river, thence inland up the river to what is now Hoefton saddle. In February, 1808, I entered the Government service. One of my first duties was to purchase 2J million acres on the East Coast, froiai Capo Campbell to the Hurunui river.. I’rom Christchurch, with, my cousin, Alex. Mackay (ex-Judge of the Native band Court), I walked across the island to the West Coast to negotiate for the purchase of 7J millions- of acres of the West Coast, from' Kahurangi Point down to Milford Sound. The purchase was not then completed, and I returned to Nelson, walking np the W est Coast. [ came on, in November. 1559, to Auckland, to get further instructions from Governor Browne. "In 1860 I returned to the Grey river by way of the Upper Buller, Devil a Grip, Tirauiuea, iLatakitaki, Maruia, and the Grey river to what is now Greymouth. I had r Alex. Maokay and Frank Flowers (one of my sheep-station hands), and three Maoris with me. We ran out sf food by the time we reached Maruia Plains, and my cousin and Flowers returned to Nelson. I and the three ilaoris kept on; we were forty-eight lours ' once with only one woodhen to tat betweep the four of us. VV e blazed the present line of coach rood through the bush from the Upper Buller to the Grey river. On my return to .Nelson the Provincial Government gave me JiXoCI for this service. 1 purchased the ij million acres from the Maoris tor the consideration of .£2OO and 14.500 acres of native reserves, , , ~ , "In 1860, on my way back to Nelson, I explored a track from the mouth of the lleaphy river. West Coast to Collingwood, since made into a bridle track.. At Christmas, 1862, I named Mounts Lockett, Feel, and Domett; also Diamond I-akos."

50ME WEST COAST EXPERIENCES. Here may bo interpolated a few details of Jlr Mackey's West Coast work, gathered sources by way ot amplification of his story. Vv hen Mackay travelled down to the Mawhera or Urey rivor in 1857. he Bounded the bars of that river and the Buiier (Eawatiri) in Maori canoes, and found them navigable lor coasting craft. At the perpendicular cliffs of Te Miko, bn the coast, they had to make rough ladders for the ascent of the precipice, and on the cliff-top they met an astonished party of natives who had. seen no white men since Mr Brunner's visit tea years previously. Saddling up the Urey xiver, young Mackay had trouble with the natives and had to throw one intot the river and knock another down in the canoe. Returning to Massacre Bay by the coast, he carried in his swag the first sample of Urey river coal ever shown to the public. , In 185!) and 1800 James Mackay and hia cousin, Alexander Mackay, and Mr John itoehfort, surveyor, underwent some perilous adventures on the Westland, boast. James Mackay once just managed, to save Bochfort from drowning by clutching him as the swift current of the Taramakau swirled him past. .When ho entered into negotiations with the Ngaitahu Maoris for their lands _ he traversed a vast extent of country right down to Bruce Bay, in the extreme, south, to conclude the purchase arrange-* ments. Innumerable snowy rivers had. to be forded on the way. He and his Maori companions often had to live on such scanty foods as tho forests and hills would afford; they considered themselves in a land metaphorically flowing with milk and honey when they happened to reach a region where wootjhens and fernroot were plentiful enough to provide them with a full meal. Canoe capsizes pud narrow escapes in the flooded rivers wore all in the day's work. When Mackay and his companion Maokley visited the remote Malutahi (Bruoe Bay) in 1860, they were a source of intense curiosity to two or three very old Maori women who had never' before seen any white man. Tho strange coats of the pakeha were quaintly described by the ancient wahines as whare-o-te-tinana (“houses for the body”), their waistcoats as pakitua (a kind of small mat), their trousers > whare-kuwha (“houses for tho thighs”), and Mackiey’s boots paraerae, the Maori word for tne sandals used by the natives in those cold and snow-laden regions. As for Mackayls foot-gear, he was a thorough Maori; no had no boots, but wore flax sandals. WORK AND ADVENTURES IN THE NORTH ISLAND.

In ISC3 the scene of -Mr Maokay’s pioneering work was changed. 'When the Waikato war broke out he was sent for by the Government, as from his excellent knowledge of the Maori language and his success in dealing with natives in difficult situations he was a ■very useful man to the Native Department. To resume his own narrative: "When I came to Auckland in 18G3 I was employed getting the natives to surrender their arms, etc.—semi-military work. In ISO 4-1565 X settled tho Tau-

raxiga confiscated land question. On the removal of tho seat of Government, m 1805. I was made Civil Commissioner for tho colony and head of the Native Department'in the North Island. “In 1603 I persuaded ch« Inames Maoris to allow prospecting at Shortlana. On gold being found by two natives m July. lfcC7, Dr Tollon and 1 acquired tho first authority to mine. From January ut to March 13th, 1807, I settled between 1300 and 1100 native claims i or oompensalion in respect to confiscated lands in tiie V/aikaco. , “I opened, tho Thames goldfield, August Ist, 1807. I left the Government eervicp, July 31st. 1603 (resigned;, iho goldfield had then been acquired from natives as far as Hikutaia. In 1872 1 commenced laud purchases for the Government; acquired the Aioha block in 1871 opened the Uhinemuri district for goldmuung, March 3rd, 1875. “In April, 1873. a man named limothy Sullivan was murdered by tho Maoris near Fukekura, Waikato. 1 was sent up there and had control, civil and military. of tho Waikato district, from Apn , 1873, to Juno 30th, 187-1. On May 6th 1 was attacked by a -Maori when lying in my tent at To Kuiti, Icing Country, and had a narrow escape from being killed. I put up redoubts along tho frontier, made a patrol road, put the fear of the Lord into tho Maoris, and tided the district over its difficulties. The settlers acknowledged this by presenting me with a silver salver, ana coffee service on June Sth, 1871, with tho inscription: ‘Fresented to James Mackay, junr., Esq., in acknowledgment of his great services rendered to tho Waikato settlers and for his efforts to advance the interests of tho district. Juno Sth, 1871.’ This was handed to me at a banquet at Gam bridge. “When the Government heard of the attempt to murder me at To Kuiti on May Bth they asked mo to return tq Auckland. I declined to leave, and stopped in the King Country some four days to sea if the Maoris would deliver up the Maoris who had murdered Sullivan. Sir George Arney, tho Acting-Governor, and the Executive seemed to think I was plucky in remaining when my me was threatened several times after the attack on me by Kuril, so they voted me ASUO; and MS6 worth of plate was procured in tho shape of a claret jug and salvor, with the inscription: ‘Fresented to James Mackay, junr.. Esq., by the Government if New Zealand tu recognition ot his cervices when on a dangerous mission to To Kuiti on May 6th, 1873. If they had only known it, I had been in many tougher scenes than that. I have had the pleasure of sitting ten minutes white the Maoris debated whether 1 was to be shot or not. > , “I went back land-purchasing alter June. 1871, and was at that work some time, until. Sir George Grey and 1 tell out. After that the Grey-3heehan Government engaged me to inquire into the Taranaki troubles. If my recommendation had been adopted the Fanhaka disturbances would very probably have been averted. Next, in 1879, Warden Charles Broad, having died at Greymouth, West Coast, I was asked to go there and take the position of Warden and Resident Magistrate. I resigned after being there twelve months.” , , _ Since that time Mr Mackay, has been, in private business as a native agent. The name of Mackay was almost as potent as that of Sir George Grey amongst the oid generation of Maoris. But his sun ho* nearly set now.