ENTERPRISING PIONEERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26589, 11 October 1947, Page 9

ENTERPRISING PIONEERS

Sir, A paragraph 'in ” Eighty-five Years Ago ” refers to a Mr Hill rafting timber down the Clutha River from the Lakes (Wanaka or Hawea). This is without doubt the same Hill who, with a partner named Smithers, late in 1861 obtained a lease of the hotel at Waitahuna which had just been erected by Murray Bros., of Mount Stuart, well-known squatters of that period. The following year Hill and Smithers contracted with the Provincial Council to erect a wire suspension traffic bridge across the Waitahuna River. They also contracted to mine and supply lignite coal at 9s or 10s per ton from a pit at the rear of the hotel which they held only for a year or two. Later still those enterprising men had a punt or ferry on the Molyneux between Alexandra and Clyde, and still later they placed a large boat on Lake Wakatipu. The daily paper of that day makes reference to this boat leaving Dunedin on a specially-constructed wagon for the Lakes. It would be interesting to know what other ventures these pioneers engaged in. Their names have long been completely forgotten in the Waitahuna district, but some of the old hands in Central Otago may know something of their subsequent history, and the writer would be glad to hear from anyone who can supply further information.—l am, etc., Dunedin, October 7. E. Skinner.