EARLY SETTLEMENT IN OTAGO.

Otago Witness, Issue 3995, 7 October 1930, Page 79

EARLY SETTLEMENT IN OTAGO.

By Old Identity. 1 he stocking up of the sheep runs in the Manuherikia Valley and the breaking out of the gold rush took place about the same time, therefore an abundance of meat was available for all hands, except for which it would have been next to impossible to feed the numbers that arrived in that locality, and extending to the Arrow, Cardrona, and intervening localities. Clyde was a. canvas town up to about 1865. by which time the present township had been surveyed and houses, stores, and hotels were erected very rapidly; post office, courthouse, blacksmith shop, etc., and everything necessary for civilised life was to be had at these excellent stores. A healthy rivalry existed, as may well be imagined between Clyde and Alexandra, the former a little ahead of the other in various ways, owing to its being more centrally and also being the stopping place for the coaches from Dunedin to Wakatipu and Wanaka. This was a great advantage in many way's, and it was not long before quite substantial buildings appeared, and about ’67 Clyde could boast of a well-appointed courthouse, post office, and all other necessary adjuncts of an important settlement. At that time Mr H. W. Robinson was the warden or resident magistrate (as it was later termed), holding court at Clyde, Alexandra, Blacks, and Cromwell, while every two months a judge of the Supreme Court would appear on the scene to try cases beyond the jurisdiction of the lower court, Judge Wilson Gray being the one who for some years did that work in the goldfields, and was a man very highly loved and respected. He was followed by Judge Ward, who held that position until such cases were taken to Dunedin. All this happened in a few years, and was a striking example of the colonising faculty of the people of the district. It came rapidly, all hands being equally determined to establish law and order, and equal process of development took place all over the Otago goldfields, and most of the unruly ones, having a more or less liking for the original conditions (happy-go-lucky style of existence) that existed through the rush period, and incidental to it, found their way to pastures new. principally the West Coast, which appeared to take longer to establish law and order. The very excellent type of men who took up residence about the country settlements, Naseby, St. Bathans, Alexandra, Blacks, and elsewhere have been referred to in previous letters, and Dunstan as it was then called was no exception. James Hazlet, Ben Naylor, and Charles Ziele. were the leading merchants, while the Dunstan Hotel, where the coaches started from, going north and south, may be said to have been the leading one, this being kept by Host George, whose good wife, a lady of vast proportions. was the moving spirit in that kindly hostel, and a very friend indeed to all travellers. Coach morning and evening was a busy time, on three days of the week, the up going to Queenstown, while the down one went to Pigroot. The latter was a busy day in winter, when the roads of that period would be an eyeopener to the existing travellers. The coach, though starting as near 6 o’clock as possible in the morning rarely ever got to either end before 8 or 9 o’clock at night, owing to frost, ice, and snow, it being no uncommon thing to have the latter deep from Pigroot to Kyeburn, though not so much as Wedderburn. From there to Blackstone Hill it was always bad, while at Hills Creek and some miles either side three feet and over was no uncommon thing, right up to the

window sill at that hotel, of which Mr Sam Inder, sen., was the proprietor. On these occasions it was always necessary to have a track levelled somewhat with horses, three or four abreast, to enable the coach to get through at all. They were hardy people who travelled at such times, and we heard no grumbling, neither were hot water bottles in existence, but there was always a good supply of straw, which was better than nothing, and possibly a heated boulder (stone) would be forthcoming from Mrs Masey, of the Kyeburn Hotel, or come other equally good Samaritan, as the coach passed. But all travellers knew the possibilities, and more or less suffered in silence. The horses were good, and of a type extinct to-day. It was on such occasions that Mrs George was a sure friend and hostess, and her name was a household word among the travelling public of that time. Ned Ryan was the proprietor of the Bendigo Hotel, and, aided by his good wife, had also very good accommodation for travellers, with particularly good stabling and attendance m the matter of stabling, preferable to the Dunstan Hotel stables, which were so often crowded out with the coach horses Another good hotel was the Port Philip kept by Mr and Mrs John Cox, and it may be said that Clyde at that time could supply comfort in that direction comparable to anything in New Zealand in the matter of good wholesome food. Another hotel at the north end- of the township was kept by Thomas Hawthorn, and that was the rendevous of the miners and still another near the Hazlett’s store was owned by James Park, who was a very quiet-going man, and very much liked. Such a number of hotels sounds somewhat more than adequate for a township of that size, but it must be remembered that at certain times the available accommodation was very much taxed. Travelling theatrical companies toured the country districts frequently; acrobatic companies and all kinds of things were provided for the public in that direction, and who very consistently came in from all round to see a little life; all that added to the business traffic to and fro from the lower country, appeared to keep all these establishments in a fairly healthy condition, and Clyde had nothing to grumble about in that connection; an up-to-date township in every way. The first warden holding courts at Clyde, Blacks, and Alexandra, and also Cromwell at times was Mr H. W. Robinson, as stated. If there was a previous one it must have been prior to 1867. He only stayed there for a few years, when he was succeeded by Mr Vincent Pyke. It appears extraordinary looking back over the years that, such a fine body of men, and women too, should have been seized with such a desire to come to New Zealand just at the time written about, and a few years earlier. Apparently they saw the chance of their lives and . held on to it with both hands, after seeing the possibilities of getting away to pastures new. They came in large numbers to north and south, the best ■and most enterprising, and during that period the Old Land lost many of its most enterprising sons and daughters. One is led to thoughts of that kind when writing about early New Zealand pioneering days, which lasted, more or less, up to the time we are writing about, and who certainly did the pioneering work on the goldfields. J amts Hazlett was; I think, the first Mayor of Clyde, and under him everything was well managed, and it was very soon a very presentable looking place; in fact, it was picturesque, and it is to-day, perched up on a ledge, between the Dunstan Range and the Molyneux River. The Bank of New South Wales had a branch there, which, with tlie Bank of New Zealand at Alexandra, left nothing further to be desired in that respect, the respective managers, or their representatives, visiting each other’s locality on court days, or other days of importance, each in the interests of clients in an opposition district as it were. As at Alexandra buildings went up very quickly, the culminating point being the erection of the Town Hall, which certainly was the coping stone in the development of the place, and giving the main street a very good and up-to-date appearance. Previous to this a good school and church had been built; the latter, perhaps, should have come in for the good things, said about the Town Hall, but the latter was more in view of the visitor, and passers by generally, and the others were always a “ sine qua non ” in every British community, but, a “town hall,” not even Dunedin had such a thing worthy of the name at that time, so everything was in order to take the stand it did, and still does, in upcountry matters. The opening of that hall saw a gala day for the district, visitors from adjoining places came to give a hand, and the proceedings were quite impressive. Freemasons much in evidence and a concert and dance was held in the evening During that evening and earlier the’ Clyde

Brass Band, newly formed, did its best to keep things going, under the leadership of a Mr Wild, who had experience in that direction previous to coming to New Zealand, and was a miner not far away from the township. That band, on top of a town hall, indicated luxury that did indeed make the inhabitants sit up, and realise how things were changing.' An enjoyable time was spent; Clyde, full to overflowing with visitors from fairly long distances many of them no doubt wondering if their localities would be able to do similar thangs later on. James Hazlett was an outstanding man in the district, like Findlay and others of Alexandra, and so was Ben Naylor, but unfortunately he was very deaf, so could not take the place that he might have done in the politics and general happenings in the district. The whole district benefited owing to the confidence the banks reposed in these men. Mining prospered m places where the precious metal was known to exist and 9, n wanting capital to extract it from lts , hiding places, and those mentioned and others made few mistakes in backing tfie right kind of men, who in most cases bad earlier Australian experience. About this time Clyde was getting quite gaylooking with its pretty gardens, and in summer beautiful peaches and apricots and other fruit could always be got at the shop of a Mr Westwood, which was close to Naylors store, and those fruits were always to be bought at reasonable prices. Both he and his wife were most enthusiastic gardeners, and must have been the first to show what could be done with water on that dry mica schist land. Others followed suit, and very soon beautiful spots were in evidence at both Clyde and Alexandra wherever a little water was available. From that time on beautiful grapes and other things used to be grown at Earnscleugh, the beginning, indeed, of what exists there to-day. At that time a Frenchman named Jean Desire Feraud was attracted to the district by what he saw could be done with water. He had been brought up in the grape-growing part of France, and said to himself: this is better than anything in Europe.; and he started in accordingly, after buying, or at any rate acquiring a piece of land about a mile from Clyde, and close to the main road to Chatto Creek. The remains may be there today—Monfre Cristo he called it. It was just a tussocky bit of land, just as uninviting to look at as the rest of the flat to begin with, but in three years* time it was a beautiful spot, surrounded with poplars for shelter, as well as crossbelts to suit the same purpose; altogether a beautiful little home, with an up-to-date plant for turning out a beautiful light wine, which he could sell at half the cost of a similar production from France. He knew his job all right, but unfortunately he did not realise how destructive the late frosts could be up there. He struggled against these for a few years, but eventually had to give up. Anything surviving these frosts was good, and he made a really good wine, which was much appreciated, but the cost was too great, so much of the. raw material being sacrificed owing to the severity of that October storm which all farmers know about so well. This crippled him financially, but with true French “ sang froid ” he lived on there growing fruit and vegetables, and still making a little wine, of which he liked all visitors to partake. There was a countryman of his in Dunedin, “ Fleury,” a well-known musician. When these two used to meet (once a year) French scholars used to like to be near to hear them converse, but they always had so much to say, and said it so quickly, that anybody wishing to get-a tip or two in French idioms invariably was disappointed, for all these listeners could take away was practically nil, and as they said “might have been listening to Chinese or anything else.” That is, however, no uncommon experience when two Frenchmen meet who have not had any chance of conversing in their own language for a year or two. Ferand wa» a fine man, and I think lived at Monte Cristo until his death. The residents of Clyde were a very kindly and pleasant lot of people, in fact, quite outstanding in many respects. The Dunstan Times had now been under way for a year or two, and edited by George, Fache and assisted by his brother, and, I think Mr George, of the Dunstan Hotel, husband of the lady previously spoken of. Mr Marshall was the chemist. He soon after went to Dunedin and started what is known as Marshall’s Pharmacy. All branches of trade were represented. Atfield and WelshfieM, butchers well known to everybody as “ Sam -■ and Charlie,” and also by the runholders for their fair and honest dealing. Also Grindly, father of the late John and of the present William, in Dunedin. Good boots could be measured for and made by a man who called himself the “ Pink of Fashion,” and also two good drapers’ shops kept by M’Conachie and Clark re-

spectively. A Mr George, who was a Government official, had a large family, who were much in evidence musically, and afterwards in Dunedin, to which the whole family retired, and Donald M'Pherson, the man of few words and much thought—but he and others must be left to a future occasion.