MOUNT IDA, GOLD FIELD.

Otago Witness, Issue 620, 16 October 1863, Page 7

MOUNT IDA, GOLD FIELD.

' (FEOM THE DAILY TIMES CORR'ISPO-'DEXT.) Satuiruy, 10th Ortohor.

You will already be in p^-e.sion of the fast tLat tfta remains of poor Gave., left herd f.,r Du^cdin on AYedneFday moruin^ la^t, per Cobb, ml l have now only to add thit it wa3 escrrted a po.tion of the way by Sergeant Ryan ar.d the t-oopers un.!er his coinjuand. * Now t'uat puliHc c-xcitcment has to some extent subsided, an! that we can ctlinly ml dispassi m>tply Iring our min'ls to vis w the true circumstances of the case as set before U3 in the sworn t''st : mony of the variou-' witnesses — the o~ lv d<\ti on which an opinion should 1-e founded -a lewrcma>ks may not b° considered ill-timed. In rlfering them to the public I desire to say th tt I am actuated by no motives either of favor or anfpithy to any individual, and merely desire, hs your rorsespon ent. to Rive expression to ths sentiments of ths losidents hero oi this m^st melancholy sabj'cf, aad this I thall do as faithfully, yet a.? concisely i>s I an. Taking, ttisa, the rvidenco as add 'iced at Mrinquiry. As it woull hi ii;convaricnt to f.il'ow it seriatim, I s'lall Irgii wi>h the last witness ex imbed, a baker, earned M'Gco And here I musS rcma"k, en pagsant, that this witue?^, although hi-i evidj) CMvas of the most mat ilal ('c c ip'lon, Was not sumrno 'ed to attend, and the court Lai t > be a 'journal wlnlo he was hunted up. Fxom his f es'imo'iy, then, wp anive atau iinpoitmt fjefc. nyraely, that had any effort b en made by the tioopor iVD.mald a-id himself ta get up a relief pa 1 ty on the n^w r.j&h when they urrivs'i there, the life of Seiyeant Garvey would, iii all liuinan pvouabllity, have been saved. He was pwed w"th. s^ys tha witness, vlra about four miles fiom the rivs . The night w<is bad, aud ha cou'd not ttavel far; a- d he b-J ev^ I tlrffc if step^ had then been takfn t^ slTord re'kf. \v: would hive been Eavel. Str^nue i' U, ayo pas-ine sti.m^e, that me'i who v.'ithin hiu'.an h nr : fo^r leaving him. etpres^ed their belir-f that hs c -u'd rtvor corns bii-lc alive, should not make tha &lis;i t at ex-ruon to send out rdief, but. ccme gui- tly b .ck to t! c ilogburn. Tiie baker's hoi so rouLl bs rec3\erel ; a rewaal of L 5 wks quite snffie'eut stimul-nt f'u 1 that, but the life of the beast wts, of r-ov.rs". of more intrin&i" value to its own r f l'*in th it of the wnn—crr/o, ti.e one was saved, the other pe;jMi3 '. Tiug the ica'ly responsible pvty (>be trccu.r) stat e s tiiat he was severely frost-biM en, and very much exliaualeJ, but what does the bike/ siy — " That lie did n^t feil any the worse, nor did ths trooper lo h's ktiowlpg", as be only complained of cold in hi-fe-t" To tin jul: me it •ft(icir own conscie- ce^ as Christian men, and the appioval or disapj'ro'iAiion of tbe public. I nmv l?ive these two individuals. With the one, in an oHic'al point of view', we can have nothing to ('o, but I do carne-tly hopi that the ui-h of the people hers may be responded to by the police nuthoiifus and such an inquiry i* >.t!tu!eii as shall elucidate every £iet Coaneeted wiih the cr^e-

Having disposed of this porfion of the case, I now pass to what is, I believe, considered here ihe question of paramount importance the action taken by fc-'cr-geaat Ryan on receiving intelligence of the occurrence ! .Aad here again we hare discrepancies in the evidence. The ssrg-eant sajs that he received information at one o'c'ock, and at two despatched Tioojjei'j" Heunell and Pas.Mon, accompanied by a Mr Galbraith, to search for the traces of Sergeant Garvey, and follow him up; that if unsucessful, they weve to g,ct voiunteers amongst the diggers on the new rush, anl fnra a chain fo as efficiently to seaicb all the hills and tyullus. That he believed those ideas were given to llennell as Senior Con-table, l:nt both the men were present. Pos«>ion di»tinctly swears thai It's intentions were '' to proceed to a certain spot where iiarvpy and the others werd suppose 3 to have separated, and sen eh about for tracks of t)ie Serjeant ;" " does not know v/hit other orders were given to Hennell, but mine wtnt no fuither." By a strange fatality Henr.ell is not produced, "because he h<"3 lef'j the police department" And the matter is thus left between the assertion of the sergeant on the ons hind and the trooper on the other, the on'y man who cou T d turn the scale being absent. Surely the police regulations lequire tint in apaity, some one should be recognise 1 as the head, should receive instructions, and be responsible f-r tfne carrying of them out. All the public know ia that if such an idea ever wa : siven it ceriainly never was executed. The two reach a butehei's shop and shanty at tha to r -tofthe hill. There they remain— it is not staled how long — but between that shanty and the rush Passion's hoi-Ec falls and injures him. On f heir return they again <-a'i at this favored spot, and it u suggested that two rem.in tnerj while the third proceeds to the Hogbu*n. Tbe volun'.eer de dices to do this and u'timato'y all three retu-n together, without having afcorap'ished one single iota of tbe errand on -which they were dispatched. And here ends tha txeitions of the police, who, for all the good they did, mi^ht ns well have been enjoying thjir otium cum dignitafe at the camp, a*;d never removed thrir horces from their acflustonied pasture. What a strange fa,taliLy appears to have pursued the force all through flic piece. Tbe sergeant is an invalid. M'DonaM returns complainit g, accorJing to his own account, of frost biie, according tj the version of the laker of cold in his feet." Passion Its hia horse fall and dislooites his knee en.p.c n .p. And Hilwell leases the force after making a report with wijch the Sergeant expresses himself to have beensatisSd at the time. Did any subsequent information lead him to be satisfied with that report 1 In what au unfavorable light do they appeir when | placed in juxtaposition with the diilerent relief parties Dubson'g, De Wol.eV, and Rowley's. These men were actuate Iby no meicenary matives. Many of them were in that posilion <-f life that in the eyes of men makes life more valuable; they were bound to the dpceased by no tics save those engendered by esteem for bis character as a man and a pubic officer, and yet Baciitieinr: their individual interest, and at the immineut ri>k of their lives, t'-iey r>e. etrated into the snow-clad mountains of the Kakanui dctorniiued that if unable to rescue the Serjeant alive, they would at least biing back hte bo ly, so that it miglit receive at the h",nds of his feliowmen Christian burial. Contrast toe exeriions of the police wiili that of De Wo'fe and Pierce, who atur picking up the tracks arid following them till their provisioni were exhausted, reinai: cd v/bi'.e their thsa comrades returned for a ffp-h supply, th.'ir tole mean's n[ 6ub3i»t c nce being a sn/^la Joai of bread, a^d thiir position such that I have no hesitation in Baying had a single snow-slor»a ccme on to obliterate their tracks, they wouM themselves have been lost. Look at the trlia^t Eowley obtaining leave of absence, and at his own expense pvovidiug the neces^a^'y equioments for the carrying out of an efficient search. The success in finding the body, and after days of toil and darker, cf which none bui, those who have seen the country/ an fctn thesii^itest conception, he leturna it to the Ho.^burn. To each and eveiy member of the different relief parties the thanks of thy public are due foir their gjneroua exeitions. The majority of them were, .w I said before, ia such a po-kkm as to b? able toaSbrd the expenses incidenlal to the cession, and would scorn to receive any r^wa^d for wbab they ronsid = red a work of mo: cy ; but, on t c other hand, some of them were severe sufT-rerj ia a pecuniary p-.int of view, and ill able to afford it. All^n and Pottsr coal i have hal claims in one ot the riehe3t gullie3 here, and which opened on the very d\y they passed it. In fact, they saw ths prospaoiors tents, and were aware of what they were getting but nobly lefu ed to turn asid*. Fl-ming, lun Hi stand, it ft a rhim where hi wa<» making two ounces a day ; and of Rowley 1 need not say once_ more, hi^ chaiaetsr is already well known — a daring and devoted officer he has over and over again entitled himself to fa"orable consideration; and so a fitting opportunity has now occurred for the authorities to mark their appreciation of hia seryicesr To the gold fields mambais, or perhaps ii heh c member for Waikoualti. we look for bringing this matter before the proper authorities and trust thai; whatever is dove miy be done quickly, and in no niggard spirit. I should now turn to the mora pleasing part of my duty, and inform you of the great success of this gold f}o!d; but as I have alreidy escsaded the ordinary length of a camrnuuieatbn, anil can hardly divest myself of thf nie'nncholy fasliuga by which every person here is still influenced, I shall reseive the particulars for my next.