THE OLD DIGGINGS PAYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2505, 26 March 1902, Page 22

THE OLD DIGGINGS PAYS.

By Stei'Hex Tre'seder.

XI.

During all my wanderings to various rushes I always returned to the " Old Three-mile." There was a sort of fascination about the place that always brought me back. Theie was one thing about it that 1 never experienced on any other diggings : I always knew where to go to make another rise, and also I had any number of friends and acquaintances there. The local storekeeper, who had been a resident from the first rush, was a jolly little Irishman who had held a good position in Cork previous to coming to Australia. Of course he liad his faults us well as good qualities ; but his worst fault was 'his inclination to give unlimited credit to every one who ,Jiatronised him. Of course theie were a g.eat many diggers who would scoin to ta-ke advantage of his good nature, but on the other hand there were a few unprincipled men who would only pay their just debts on compulsion. And he was not the one to sue any man for a debt. The consequence was that as. the place became gradually poorer he was at last left stranded ■with a large amount of goods and a still Sarger number of debtots, many of whom cleared out- and never returned. He always had a pleasant laugh and a good joke for all who visited him. I remember he once told me that when in one of the Southern States of America he attended a meeting of coloured people, and he was most ostentatious!}- shown up the aisle, almost close to the pulpit. The preacher was a big buck nigger, and his address was on " Salvation." After a long discourse he ended up .with a. grand peroration, saving, "My fren"s, dare is a salbation for all, even de beny lrisli.' Among other articles he sold was a " little drop of the crathui ," and many a plea«-iiit evening was spent at hih stoic in a room at the back.

1 recollect on one occasion theie was A vacancy in the district for a member of Parliament, and a resident a ingested that if a requisition were goi up Ho him he would stand This was too good an opportunity for some of the joker-* on the creek. So a paper was duly prepared, extolling the good qualities of the resident, und intimating that if he would graciously consent to allow his name to be put for ■waid as a candidate there w;ts no doubt he •would leceive libeial support from all the miners on the creek. He did consent, md apreliniinaiy meeting was called, to be held at the local store kept by my fiiend, in order that the candidate nnjrht announce liis willingness to stand, ancl .iko give hi'ideas on vauous political matters wlneli were engaging public attention at that time. The meet-ing was held (we all knew who would be there), and it was unanimously proposed "that Mr W should take the chair (he was a gentleman, every inch of him. He came from Liverpool, but was /physical! v unfit for hard work. 1 don't know what he had been engaged at previous to coming to Australia. His was' a " hand-to-mouth " existence— a real " Mark Tapley." He often told me that it was no use trying to save money ; in fact, so long as hp had enough for daily bread, lie did not wish for more). Well, he opened the meeting with a few preliminary remarks, descanting on the good qualities of t>he would-be candidate. Accoiding to his j-tatemenr. there was not another man in the whole ih'-ti-u-t, <>i. h" im^ht « iv, colony, who could liuld d. L.uidle to him.

He was all that was good, and it would be a national loss if he were not returned by an overwhelming majoiity. But he said: "Gentlemen, we all know that our friend, although richly stored in mental qualities, is as poor a man as myself, so that, gentlemen, it devolves on us to collect as much money as will pay the candidate's expenses to Melbourne — in fact, we must send him down -in a manner befitting the position he will hold ("' Send him. to "tbe d ," was heard in the^ background). Now, gentlemen, with- a view to carrying out your intentions I'll pa>s round my hat, knowing that you will all contribute liberally towards so laudable an objects" The hat was duly p.i«=ed around and returned to the chairman, who. after staring at the contents in amazement, announced in the most solemn manner that on counting out the money there wa^, only 16s there. He stated that it was utterly preposterous to think of such a flung as sending the man to Melbourne : it would not pay for hi« drinks on the road, let alone lircoach fare (£5). So he said. "Gentlemen, the best way of di«po«ing of your generous offering is to get drinks all lound, and a^ "there will be one drink short for our worthy candidate, I have great .pleasure in contributing Is more to the total." I may add that very shortly after the afoiesaid meeting pool W received new s from Home of the dea*h of a idative. and that he was left an immense fortune, and he wa« requested to go Home as soon as possible in order that he might get the money paid over to him. He called all liis friends together and treated them to a grand fare- \» ell supper, and soon after started for Melbourne, where he engaged a berth in the Royal Charter, bound for Liverpool. But the poor fellow never reached that port, as the steamer was wrecked on the Welsh, coast on the night previous to 'her expected arrival in Liverpool.

I had occasion to call on the commissioner to settle a dispute, for the adjoining party were enctoachmg on our groaivd ; so. having ascet tamed that he would visit the ground shortly. I povted imyself near C— — \s stoic, knowing that he wdb bound to pa«s that way soon. I saw' Captain M •appioachmg, nding yn old grey maiv. I knew he had a weakness foi bottled beer or porter, so I waited for him. and when he pulled up I a«ked him if he would partake of a drink while I could explain to him the cause of the dispute He replied, " Oh. no, thank you ;"' but, on second thought" he said, "I will take a bottle of <--tout," which he diank off like a, man. After discussing the matter in dispute he lode off to the claim, wheie ihere were a considerable number of digger? collected, as was u*ually the case whenever the commissioner visited any of the outside diggings. A few questions, were atked and an-sewered on both sides, and 1 got a veidict 111 my favour ; but I must >ay in justice to the captain that he gave his verdict accoiding to the e\idenre. as the opposing party was entirely in the wrong. But, on the other hand, I did not at all piejudice my case by the outlay of the price of a bottle of stout.

Just below the store kept by the little liishman a Staft'oid^hiie man was camped. He was a simple-minded man. and his mates persuaded him to start a little store, not &o much in opposition to the other store as a convenience for them •.md a few who were working lower dow n. When he was stocking the store they persuaded him to add a barrel of beer to his stock. They were thirsty souls, and used to get tkeir beei on tick. The way they used to manage was, when they were working in the claim one man would know in what part of the claim he could knock out a good iprospect for L 's inspection. This generally meant an adjournment to his little store, where success to the claim would be diunk, Mrs I, looking on yen uncomfortably, knowing that i!u* beer ca«k was getting low and no money coming in to ltpienish it. 'I key soon ;_ot tired of .-torekoepmir, and Hitted oft to Melbourne siddiT and wiser for then diggings expenence.

At the time I am writing of theie was quite a big lush on the flat, and holes were sunk in all directions. The ground was very wet. and the various claims required constant bailing to ktep the water down. Oiu old friend 1 - " Jinks and Jipp-.' amongst others, had taken up a ciiim. on which they erected a pump which iv* propelled by a water-wheel. They erected then tent in close proximity to'their claim Both men weie enthusiastic euchre-plaveis, and evei v night after suppiM tliev neie constantly playing Of umi^e. dunru woikirit; hour's the\ weie employed on the claim, und weie able to attend to the working of the pump and wheel Hut there was always a dangei r>f a stoppage during the night, and in ordei to obviate any difficulty .should a stoppage ocur they contrived to fasten an old camp o\en lid (with a clnppei attached) to tie wheel, so that cveiy levolutioii was i - ecorded by a clang of the oven lid If the wheel stopped, so al«o would the noise.

It was usually a custom foi thiee 01 four of us to assemble in their hut .it night 10 witness their play, in which they would be considerably engrossed. Well, one uight Jack T stealthily slipped out. unobserved by Jipps and Jinks, and proceeded up the rdcethdt supplied the water- \\ he<M. and cut off the water ; he then clipped back to the tent ag.iiu, and hi.s .ibsence was unuoiiud by either of t>he flayers. He aa>

■pearad to be most n.teie-ted in the game, and looked ;u solemn as a judge. .Shortly aftei. old Jenkins " cocktd his ears ,md exclaimed. "Dost a hear the clapper, Jipps?" and Jipp« would reply, "No. ' He would then appeal to the others, and they would all say "No ; theie must be something gone wrong up ...... race. a« the clapper is not ibeatmg, so the wheel has stopped working "' Jack T— would be most energetic in trying to discover the perpetratoi of the misohief, as it was evident to all tha-t some one had wilfully cut the race. This sort of thing often occurred. They were camped aid joining the fence of a settler who kept a considerable quantity of poultry. Keeping fowl" wa« a profitable industry, as eggs sold readily at from 6s to 9s pei dozen Among the flock was a fine -. oo^ter tint took a great delight in parading around Jipps and Jink<'« tent, picking up any .«ciaps that might be lying about. The men looked on this hne bird with longing eves, and though what a splendid feed they tould have oft' him piovided they could secure 'him ; so they cast about them for ways and means to effect their object. They procured a long piece of cord, on the end of which they fastened a fishhook, which they bdited with a tempting bit of fre^h beef. When they »w the looster approaching they threw the bait towaids him. the other end of the line being kept m the tent, wheie they weie concealed. The bait was soon seized, and the bud was gradually drawn into their tent; not without considerable opposition on his part, however, as his legs were well spread out, and he offered a stout resistance, but it was of no avail. He was soon de°patched and immersed in a bucket of boiling water, so that not a stray feather could be seen about the tent to indicate his fate. Their argument was that fowls were a nuisance about their camp, and that was the reason for their action. But, nevertheless, they enjoyed a good feed without any compunction. The settler. I am sure, suspected who ■were the offenders, but he was not sure.

Woikmg near u<* there was a simple-minded '"Cousin Jack." who had made a good rise on Spring Creek, and as he could not bpend his money 'fast enough, he determined to marry a fine young woman who was engaged -as a dancing girl 111 one of the hotels in IJeechworth ; and his object wjs soon effected, as she could spend hi? monej faster t*han he got it They wire camped on :i r^e near us in the store that T have previously mentioned, and which they pm chased from 1., on his leaving the distiict, so it was a roomy place. One night -after they had retired to re«t they weie disturbed by a most unearthly noise, as of chains being rattled outside. I'oor John was nearly fughtened out of ln« senses (he was a very superstitious man), and when he was relating the circumstance to us on the following morning it w,i« suggested tlwt peiha.ps it was the devil that was ho\tiing anmnd to claim his own. l'ooi Jack was almost fiightened out of his wits, and lequested that one oi tuo of us should sleep in his> tent for protection. After that there wa< no peace for poor Jack. Strange noises were heard around the tent every night, wheu piohably two of us would rush out in company with Jack, who was bold enough then for anything, but of course no one could be seen. It had all been arranged beforehand that the noise? would be made, and as Jack was always the last to turn out we had been able to ascertain which way thp ruffian had taken, and we started in quite the opposite direction, knowing well that Jack would be mire to follow us. Although there was, nothing in it at that time it afforded us, a. lot of young fellows, an immense amount of fun. Poor Jack. I am soiry to say. 'had "taken his eggs to a bad ninket" His wife turned out a drunkaid. and the lan I heard of her was that she was keeping a grog shanty on (laffney's Creek, where a friend of "mine told me she was the best customer to the place; s^e «v« nearly always drunk, and at iast Jark left hei. On almost the ejeact spot on which they were camped on the Three-mile thete was a claim being worked when I visited the place about two years ago My brother proposed that we should go on to the "brace" of the shaft to see the method of woikmg a claim then as compaied with om tune Wlrii. in order to introduce the subject, he asked the man .it the wmdla-s, "Who w,is winking below. 'be leplied. M«joi Rath,' so my biothei cdled down the shaft "Major, come up. some one to see you ' When he was on top mv biothei saiil ' I sup pose \on do not know me? ' when he leplied. " Ye.s. I do " ' What i 1 - m\ name, then? when, without any hesitation, he siid. " Peter Tie'eder." ancl he had not seen him for 40 vems