Old-time Echoes.

Southern Cross, Volume 19, Issue 25, 30 September 1911, Page 3

Old-time Echoes.

CHAPTER 111. (Continued). the; saitjxg of the shit

The first members of the Executive Council were Messrs Walter Pearson, Nathaniel Chalmers. Henry McCulloch, and .lohn C. McKay, Mr Pearson, as head <>i the Government, Mr Chalmers as Provincial 1 reasuret, the only members deriving remuneration. Mr Thos. Morrell McDonald, the verv able pupil of Sir Iredeiick Mhitaker, was appointed Provincial Solicitor and Crown Prosecutor ; and Mr Theophilus Heale, Chief Surveyor. And here it will not be inopportune to sketch the character of the latter’ gentleman, who, during the early career of Southland, played no inconsiderable part in the administration of mffairs.

The late Mr 'lheophilus Heale was built of material superior to the ordinary substance out of which the mass of humanity is puddled. His mind was stored, with a variety of knowledge, which an abnormal memory placed at his disposal without effort ; and which earliy travel in many lands him to codify for practical adaptation. He was the soul of honour and the embodiment of chivalry and loyalty to his friends .and adhesion in the ordinary intercourse of life to the loftiest integrity. His one fault—a singularly uncommon one. particularly in the. present day, and most particularly in New Zealand —was his want of self-asser-tion, the result rather of an amiability of disposition that shrank from wounding the amour propre oi others, than from any intellectual weakness of his own. Thus the wise caution of his advice was frequently ov-er-ruled by the dominant determination of a more assertive will, and on more than one occasion he. was actually the instrument for carrying into effect what his own judgment deprecated. An early colonist, largely acquainted with Imperial affairs and colonial politics, his advent to Southland at the request of Th\ Menzies was of immense service to a Government the. members of which were necessarily neophytes in the discharge of the duties that devolved ■upon them. 'Appointed chief surveyor of the young State on the 26th of Sept.. "i Sol. "Mr Heafle acted also on occasion as civil engineer and general adviser. In June, 1565. he resigned his appointment, returning to Auckland, and fmal'iy to the Homeland, where lie died, universally respected, and sincerely regretted, for his singular modesty, large knowledge, and amiable -disposition, by all who had the good fortune to have k.nown him. SHOAL. WATER. It is one thing to launch a ship of state, another to negotiate the voyages wi(h safety. Southland started with a 'urge and valuable land estate, settlement of a very good description was in active progress, roads were formed, and all the -earlier hardships incidental to colonisation pretty well overcome ; still, separation from Otago was a problem to be worked out. The intelligence of the crew was equal to the occasion, it was a question of the depth of the financial sea. That is always the 1 rouble. 'From the Ist April to the '3l st August the totaf! revenue, land and ordinary, amounted to £1,431 — all this in five months.. Verily the mountain had given birth to a mouse. The flesh-pots of Egypt were better than this ! The discovery of gold at Gabriel's dully solved the question. For the next five months the total revenue, land attd ordinary, rose to close on £2l .000, and continued to rise till at the close of the financial year, 30th Sept., 1863, it readied the respectable proportion for that day of small mercies and no debentures of £103.9-12, exceeding the estimate by £-8,410. Notwith. standing, however, this advance by leaps and hounds, the expenditure far exceeded it in rapidity of movement,. Tt was the story of the tortoise racing the hare, only the hare never stopped to have a nap ; it generally does not under the circumstances. ROCKS AHEAD. At the fourth session of the Provincial Council held at Luvercargill on the 21st February, 1863, the Superintendent in his opening address inter alia said : - The chief reason

Southland : its Apogee and Perigee. BY THE LATE W. 11. PEARSON.

for your assembling- at this time is to consider the propriety of constructing a railway between this place and Bluff." If the building of railways in a young and sparsely populated country by this Government t>o an undertaking- of merit, Dr. Menzies is entitled to large kudos as the pioneer adventurer. Acknowledged by the Colonial Government to lie a part of a colonial scheme, and with its authority and countenance, the Bluff Harbour and Tnverca.rgill Railway Bill was passed .by the Provincial Council on the sth March, .186. M. The money for the construction of the line was raised by debentures and advances by the Genoral Government, and. the work after many vicissitudes was satisfactorily and substantially executed. This was well, but the Vogelian microbe would not let well alone. Fortune again befriended Southland. The singularly rich goldfield to the east of Fake Wakatipu and due north of Invercargill became an assured fact. It lay in Otago proper, a little distance outside the artificial boundarv fixed by legislation for Southland, though nature had determined In vercargill, via Bluff as its outlet on the seaboard. Thousands of diggers from Australia landed at Bluff and Xew River on their, way to the new HI Dorado. Hundreds from* Otago crossed Southland's eastern boundary, cutting up her roads on the same errand. Many agents of Melbourne business firms waited at Invercai-gill to see whether the Southland Government would appreciate Xature's offer, and commercially annex a territory which physically belonged to her, by immediately appointing- a gold receiver at Queenstown, amd organising and despatching an escort to that locality, thus securing a medium for remitting moneys to the seaboard. Mr Pearson, the head of the executive, supported by the other members, strenuously urged, the Superintendent. Dr. Menzies. to adopt this course, .citing from personal knowledge the case of the Adelaide escort, tapping from the first the Victorian goldfields, and securing for South Australia the cream of that enterprise in large agricultural settlement of the best description To 'no purpose. The ohivalric sentimerit in Dr. Menzies' nature prevailed ; he insisted on 'first endeavouring to secure the co-operation of the. Otago Government in joint acti. on in establishing an escort, before

invading' their territory. In vain Mr "Pearson pointed out that from Ms study of human nature and personal acquaintance with the very able politician Sir John Richardson (then Superintendent of Otago), that astute old soldier would not reply to his offer until the Otago escort having- forded the M.ataura, was half wav across Southland on its way to (,;iiL'fir,stow!i. when lie would inform) his Honour of Southland thai he of Otago could manage his own affairs, while expressing grateful thanks for the kind assistance tendered —that the.days of Fontenoy were over, when each general, hat in hand, requested his opponent to fire first. Or Men/.ies " held the fort." He ! would write and await reply before acting. In due time Major Richardson followed the exact course predicted, by Mr Pearson. When too late a Southland Government agent or receiver was appointed at Queenstown, he received nothing, not an ounce of gold. An iron safe that in capacity could have held a 1)! the gold the world had ever yielded, was sent up at great expense, the only use for which was to furnish -material for a ballad by the 'inimitable Thatcher" entitled, '-'The Southland Government Safe." An escort rode solemnly up once, returning with equal solemnity without anything to escortr Thus the only chance of woi - king out to a successful issue the problem of self government in so small m domain as that legailly assigned to Southland, by commercially exploiting a liarge and prosperous area nature with its benevolence had placed nt her disposal, was irrevocably lost. The tide had not been taken at the flood, and fortune slowly hut steadily receded. Meanwhile Mr Pearson, on finding that the Superintendent declined to take his advice—backed by the other members of the Provincial Council—on a matter which to him (Mr P.) seemed o* vital importance to the future welfare of the province, resigned office [ as head of the Executive, and, short-

}y after his seat in the Council. This was the first rift in the political lute, 'which soon widened until all harmony between the Provincial Couru-jl and His Honour the Superintendent was destroyed. (To be continued.)