The Early Sixty Settlers and Miners.

Otago Witness, Issue 2302, 14 April 1898, Page 11

The Early Sixty Settlers and Miners.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, — In response to the announcement in the press that miners and oetfclers of the " early sixties" would be heartily welcomed in Dunedin to assist in celebrating the Jubilee of the province, many of the very early miners and others managed to spare time to visit your city, numbers of us travelling long distances at very considerable expense and loss of valuable time to take part in what we understood would be not only a fitting recognition of the fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of the first settlers in Ofcago, but also a recognition of the services of all who had taken a part in making Obago the most prosperous and wealthiest of all the provinces of New Zealand. The intense disappointment felt by the miners and early sixty men can be more easily imagined than described when, they fouad that they were merely wanted to swoll the host of admirers of the first few shiploads of settlers who arrived afc Port Chalmers. -

I took part in the procession as a miner, being one of the very early miners in Gabriel's Gully, having started work there within a few weeks of its discovery, »nd being probably one of the eldest* U iiob the oldest mioec iv atago, forcing

commenced my career as a miner at Ballarat in October, 1851. I naturally fraternised with the miners, and tried to get as many of them to join in the procession aa possible, but was continually met with the reply : "Oh ! they don't want us. We had nothing to do with making Otago what it is." And that opinion was fully borne out by the whole tenor of the arrangements for Jubilee week. If it had not bsen for the exertions o£ the Hon. Mr Bolt and Mr Braithwaite almost afc the eleventh hour the miners and early sixty men would probably neither have been seen nor heard of duriDg the whole of the proceedings. As it war, the Central Committee could- not; spare one penny to pay any of the necessary expenses incurred by the sub-committee, which had to raise what money was absolutely necessary by private subscription.

I formed one of the andience at the opening of the exhibition, and listened to a number of eloquent speeches very properly eulogising the early settlers and all their doings, but the only mention of the miners or "sixty" men was a passing reference to them by the Hon. the Premier. More than one of the speakers referred to the immense hall, lighted with, electricity, in which that great meeting was being held, and the magniScent colleotion of goods locally manufactured then being exhibited in the adjoining building, as the results of the exertions of the early settlers. One could not help wondering if any of the speakers really thought that was so. While giving the early eettlers every credit for their great courage in leaving the old country to face life in the wilds of New Zealand, and agreeing with every word said by Mr Barns at the conversazione in a most eloquent speech claiming the admiration of the world for the worthy conduct and great foresight displayed by the band of "heroes and heroines" who formed the first party of colonists that settled in Ofcago, I venture to say that without the miners and "sixty" men there woul(I have been neither Agricultural Hall nor Exhibition Buildicg, or even land to build them upon, as I am satisfied that boats would still be flailing where these buildings are now erected. Let any thinking person look at any of the numerous pictures and photographs o£ Dunedin in 1860 and 1861, und they will see exactly what the early tettlers had accomplished—and I do not say they could reasonably have been expected to do more— with the assist? ance of several thousand immigrants who arrived, principally from the neighbouring provinces and adjacent colonies, during the two or three previous years.

It i« well known that fche Province cf Ofcagd in 1859 was in an utter state of stagnation. There waß no money ;n the Treasury and no prospect of raising any, when the h&ppy thoughfe occurred to the authorities that they might be abls to sell their land to acme of the wealthy people in other colonies ; so they inserted advertisements in various newspapers in the Australian colonies offering to sell large blocks of land at 10a per acre for cash. This course was successful, many thousands of acrss of the very best laud iv the ptovince being sold afc that price; notably that magnificent property the Kdeiidale estate and adjoining blocks being acquired by tho Hon. Mafchew Holmes for himself and. others. This replenished the Treasury and kept the province going until the discovery- of gold at Gabriel's GuJly in July, 1861, which attracted miners by the thousand, and the usual number of business men of ail kinds who> are always to be found ready and willing to! supply the requirements of the miners. Thesa are the men who rapidly forced Ofcago into the front rank of the provinces. The old identities stared aghast at the energy and enterprise displayed by the new-comers, who speedily took up almost 6he whole business of the province. Of course some of the early ones followed the example of the new-comers and manfully held their own, buj I venture to ask, Where would the railways, wharfs, roads, and bridges have been without the miners and^ marehants of the sixties ?

While listening to Mr Burns's eloquent eulogium of the "heroes and heroines" of '48, I could not help picturing in my mind the bands of indomitable miners who have subdued the arid, waterless deserts of Australia) and veritably made them " a land flowing with milk and honey," who also penetrated into the then almost inaccessible fastnesses of the upper waters cf the Molyneux, the Arrow, and Shotover Rivers in two's and three's, carrying the whole of their belongings on their shoulders. They had neither ships nor reserve stores to fall , back upoa, nor leaders to guide them, bat simply fcook then- lives in their hands and placed their trust in God. Look &b the crowds of the same indomitable class of men who hays invaded the frozen regions of North America. Nothing stops these dauntless men, be it the heat and fevers oE Central Africa, or the frozen regions of the Far North. I veritably believe that if some of the reliable newspapers of the world were to assert that gold was to ba found at the North Polo, before the end of the present century there would be a mining camp surrounding that imaginary piece of timber, with an electric light on top of it to lighten their labours. This letter is not written in any carping spirit or with the slightest idea of detracting from the credit due to the firsb settlers, who have thoroughly earned every eulogistic word that has been said about them during the Jubilee gathering ; but I think a very grava mistake was made by the Managing Committee in not inviting the miners and '60 men to take an active part in the celebrations. They would not have taken one iota of credit from the early ones, but would have added greatly to the success of what everyone must admit was most successful gathering. In conclusion, I feel sure that every mines and '60 settler feels quite satisfied that the presE has on every occasion done them full justice^ I aw, &«,» Qu» Mssw