A RETROSPECTIVE GLANCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2818, 18 March 1908, Page 93

A RETROSPECTIVE GLANCE.

SIXTY YEARS SYNE. On the 23rd of March, 60 years ago, the John Wickliife cast her anchor in Koputai Bay, to be subsequently known as Port ' Chalmers.' Dunedin was visited and ar- , rangemente made for the erection of the ' first barracks, made of Mapau posts and . long grass, with thatched roof- We have endeavoured in our illustrations to give some idea of what the place was like | shortly after the arrival of the pioneer ! immigrants, but only those who have - watched the transformation can realise the ' 1 wild and desolate appeararice of the fair j city depicted on page 45 of this issue. The only houses were Watson's inn, a > 'rough weather-board structure near the ' big creek which flowed down near where | ■ the Grand Hotel now stands ; Mr Kettle's j house, somewhere about the present site of the Otago Witness office ; Mr Pelichet's residence at Pelichet Bay, now known as Lake Logan ; and a clay hut with thatch roof on the point above Anderson's Bay, ' occupied by Anderson, a shepherd. The site of Dunedin of to-day was then an almost impenetrable forest, and to move About one had to bore his way through flax and fern, tutu and manuka scrub, and swamp. It was quite an easy matter to lose oneself in the tangle between the beach, which was then almost at the foot of Manse street and High street. To reach Anderson's Bay on foot one had to proceed through the bash by way of Fernhill over the site of the Southern Cemetery to Caversiiam and along the foothills to IForbury and St. Clair, and then proceed north-east along the beach. There •was "great- rejoicing when the Philip Laing arrived safely wiwi her band of pioneers, but before they could be landed the 'weather broie, and a Jong succession of days of drizzling mist nearly damped the ardour of .the stoutest. April 21 was the day fixed by Captain Cargill for the passengers who had land orders to make their selection. The order had been settled by ballot before they had left the Home Country. The task of 'selection was no easy one, especially as the foreshore had at the last moment been ' reserved by the New Zealand Company, ' and the wonder is that some selected their , sections so sagaciously. Mr Garricft, who had first choice, selected the section on which the Bank of New Zealand now stands. Mr Williamson, who came next, eslected what is now known as Brown, Ewing, and Co.'s corner. Mr Andrew Mercer decided on a section in Forth street with a view to setting up a sawpit to deal with the dense bush on the banks of the Water of Leith. Captain Cargill's I choice was a. section in Princes street , South ; and the Rev. Mr Burns selected „«. section at the corner of Princes an 3 .Walker streets. The now valuable corners ■ . at the junction of Rattray and Princes - street, being lowlying and traversed by water courses, were not in demand. Nor "was the present site of the Grand Hotel, then covered by bush. This section was leased by Mr James Adam (Bon Accord), who in putting up a house cut down such trees as were not in line with his intended > walls, using those he left as the posts for the end and side walls. The first houses were of wattle and dab ; the Maoris, paid at the rate of 3s a day, lending r valuable aid. Then the wooden houses r which Captain Careill, Messrs Garrick, Lee, Cutten, and Jeffreys had brought with them in sections began to appear, and as the formation of Princes street was put in hand, the City of Dunedin began to slowly emerge from the primeval forest and swamp. As time went on the settlers penetrated into the country and made their selections. The rich Taieri Plain was for many • months under -water, and to go south the traveller had to proceed along the foothills. But the pioneers were not daunted. Dr Williams and Mr Milne settled at Henley, .and Mr Edward Palmer at Otokia- Mr ■ ] Robert Martin was the pioneer settler on the Tokomairiro Plain, having brought cattle from Nelson a few weeks before th« arrival of the John Wickliffe. Messrs E- Martin, Duthie, Brooks, Salmond, Chrystali, James Smith, John Cargill, the Gillies family, and others followed. The Molyneux (now the Clutha) district was first settled by A. Archibald and his brothers, the Chalmers brothers. Messrs Ferguson, Wallace, and Dois:. followed a .little later by Messrs M'Neill. Hay. Fuller, Redpath, Bowler, and Clapcott. South of Warepa settlement extended more slowly, but the country was erradually taken up for*«razing purposes. Settlement also proceeded from the Invercargill s ; de. A notable event early in the settlement was the recognition, in February, 1849, of the - ei^ht hoars' system of labour. At the Becond anniversary of the province the population had reached 1182. Notwith- " standing the desire to maintain it as a , purely Free Church settlement, rther denominations were obtaining a foothold, - and returns show that while 432 belonged to the Church of Scotland and 302 to the Free Church, there were 306 Anchcans, 111 Dissenters, 15 Methodists, 13 Catholics, and 2 Jews. . Within three y«ars of the arrival of^the pioneer settlere"the discovery of gold in New South Wales and Victoria attracted some of the young men to Australia. Gold vrae found by the settlers of Otago in various districts, but for one reason and another little was said about it. On

June 4, 1861, Thomas Gabriel Read announced to Major Richardson, the Superintendent, his discovery of gold in the tributaries and ravines of the Waitahuna. and Tuapeka Rivers. At once a rush set in. Dunedin was in a whirl of excitement. The outskirts of the town were soon white with tents. New stores and hotels were being run up, and the population increased by leaps and bounds. The Provincial Government strained every nerve to form and metal roads to carry the traffic that inevitably followed on the discovery. The population, estimated in 1860 at 12,691, had increased in 1861, after the discovery of gold, to 30,269- The cost of living increased alarmingly. The price of the 41b loaf was Is 2d, and flour sold at from £42 to £52 a ton ; meat ranged from li/d to 13d per lb ; butter, 2s 6d. These were the prices in Dunedin, and in the interior prices were very much higher. The rush to the Dunstan speedily followed. Then cams the discovery of gold at Wakatipu and various other parts of the district. Th© inland districts became rapidly opened up. The mail coaches plied regularly to the diggings, and all along the country roads where no human habitation had stood before the inevitable accommodation x.ouse sprang up. The impetus eiven to the commerce of Otago by the gold diecoveries led to a corresponding development, oi the shipping trade, and Dunedin became, the distributing centre of New Zealand.