EIGHTY-FIVE YEARS AGO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27058, 18 April 1949, Page 4

EIGHTY-FIVE YEARS AGO

PROM THE FILES OF TH* ®tago Satis tCtmcs DUNEDIN. APRIL 18. 1864. A reward of £lO is offered by the Provincial Government to anyone giving information of the persons who damaged the flagstaff on the Peninsula 'at Port Chalmers on the morning of the sth inst.

We copy the following from the Dunstan Times of the 9th inst.: “As an instance of the strong confidence entertained of the richness of our flats and terraces, and the permaner.ecy of their workings, we may mentioned that an application has been made to Mr Warden Hickson by the Manuherikia Ground Sluicing Company for a lease for five years of 10 acres- of ground near the Manuherikia River, for the purpose of hydraulic mining. The company intends, should the lease be granted, to construct a race some 30 miles in length, to commence from an elevated portion of the Manuherikia. The cost of the work is estimated to exceed £2500, and the race will occupy some 10 months in construction.”

Stewart Island does not appear to be a very valuable acquisition to Southland. In a report furnished to the Southland Government by Mr Heale, the surveyor, he says: “On the whole it is impossible to resist the conclusion that the colonisation of Stewart Island presents very great difficulties: and drawbacks. It will ultimately, no doubt, form a very important and valuable part of the colony, but so much labour will require to be expended before any portion can be made available, that it would be quite idle to attempt to people it by the same means as are applicable to the level, accessible and well-grassed plains of Southland. If Stewart Island is to be peopled at all, it must be done by offering special inducements to a suitable class of colonists to settle there. The Nova Scotia Highlanders are the only colonists likely to attempt, and to succeed, in such an enterprise. To these skilful axemen the forests would present, no difficulties, and the facilities for shipbuilding would be a great inducement to them. In comparison with the rocky surface and the bitter winters of Nova Scotia, the soil and climate of Stewart Island would be genial and inviting. And when once the great difficulties of clearing and settling were over, such a community could not fail to become prosperous, and the remainder of the island could then acquire value.”