EIGHTY-FIVE YEARS AGO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26933, 19 November 1948, Page 4

EIGHTY-FIVE YEARS AGO

FROM THE FILES OF THE ©tago Sail'? Himes DUNEDIN, NOVEMBER 19, 1863. “A miner, whom we know to have been one of the luckiest in the Taieri rush, informs us that while prospecting about 20 miles from that place, he came across two parties who were doing well. He and his mates immediately set in alongside, and the ground has proved so good that the last-mentioned party have put on three wages men at £5 each per week to assist them in working out the best of the ground before a rush takes place.”

“A preliminary meeting of persons desirous of assisting in forming a settlement on the West Coast of New' Zealand has been held in Melbourne. After a brief discussion amongst the few persons present, it was resolved to form a Martin's River Company with a capital of £ISOO, in .shares of £lO each, to purchase a vessel, provide her with all that was required, and despatch her first to Milford Haven and subsequently to Martin’s Bay with a view to ascertaining where the most eligible spot for a new settlement existed in that locality. A provisional committee was appointed, and the meeting adjourned to a subsequent evening.”

“ The rivalry of the Dunstan and Mount Benger goldfields appears to be productive of a good deal of scheming and intrigue, if, says the Daily Times, we are to believe a correspondent at the latter-mentioned field, who writes as follows: —‘The good folk at the Dunstan are so' anxious to keep our popular and much respected warden amongst them, and fearing the movement recently started here may be successful and result in his return, that they have resorted to a most unworthy means of increasing the importance of their own gold in the eyes of the Government, and at the same time, of depreciating Mount Benger. Your readers must have noticed the small amount of gold sent from this field by the escort on the 28th ult., particularly when compared with the high figures which have appeared of late. The papers accounted for this sudden decline in various ways, but the right account of the matter has just been made known, and I would not venture to publish it if I had not the best authority for so doing. We have a sub-Dunstan bank agency here, and it appears that by the escort of the above date, a large amount of gold went from this to the Dunstan, which

did not appear in the returns as coming . from Mount Benger, but which was * placed to the credit of the Dunstan field, thereby swelling their returns and sadly reducing ours. Upon my informant asking the reason fpr this dodge, he was told to ‘mind his own business.’ ”