THE LATE MR G. MOONLIGHT.

Colonist, Volume XXVII, Issue 3943, 23 September 1884, Page 3

THE LATE MR G. MOONLIGHT.

To the Editor of the Colonist. ' ° ' Sir, —Believing that some account of the history of the late Mr G. Moonlight, so far as he was connected with gold-mining, together -with particulars as to his untimely and melancholy death, as well as the search for him, .may prove of interest to many, I have panned thefollowing :—ln 1854, just about 80 years ago, Mr John Tarran became acquainted with Mr George Moonlight, in Sydney, both men having arrived there in that year, and they went together to the Bunyong diggings. The following year they weut to Fiery Creek, and remained some little time in the neighboring goldflelds. Mr Moonlight then left the Colony and went to sea, making a voyage to Java, I believef ;■ He did not remain away •long,-however, and in a short while made his way back to Australia, remaining on the Victorian; diggings till the: Otago rush broke out in 1861. -After spending two years ia the Otago district, he came up to Nelson in May, 1863, and made his way to the Buller district, and. explored through the adjacent country, with the result that he was the first man to find gold there. His next move was! tqthfe iWakamariha; when the rush ibfoke out; ihere'j but he;didinot stop;;l6ngl If (Having; returned to the Buller, ha ffii^ejHiihome in the district, and married MissGaukrodger., After that he went to the \Vest. Coast pros-j pectingj- and? found, the famed Moonlights; Creek>- which: is being worked to this May, j whilst scores of thousands of pounds; have been got out of it. This was. however, only one of his successful finds,; for he was the discoverer of No. 2; Moonlight's Creek, and many other places in the same district where good gold has been: got. Tired of roaming he returned home,; and with his wife tppk,tbjs..White Hart Hotel,; Bichmond; \pf which thai remained " mine| host "for several years. THe old' desire wasj too strong, however, and he ultimately gave; up the hotel and went back to the Buller,! diggiijg" and prospecting. 3After; "that he! "started a store' at Mariua, and many was the! hard day he had there, but had it not been: for him-the diggers could not have got provisions to have carried on with, so that he was; theii'oMde" w6t'th«ir^uiß'Celsl.^"TlietrEe¥faf§S1d; another store at Hampden, and bought a; store and hotel from Messrs E. Buxton and; Co.j but at this stage his luck took the downward turn. He had not been yerj long at Hampden, and had only got things in good? order when the big floods of 7 or 8 years ago' swept down the.jalley of the Buller and' carried away nearly all of his possessions.; After the flood.had subsided he removed what* I was left further back from the Matakitaki, and set to work and erected the best house inthe whole district, but his misfortunes? gathored P thick : ; upon him.. Thjjatft Mrj Biickeridge;:(of the firm of E. Buxtbn'| andj Co.) had been supporting MrJMoonlight" and; ad rising him, and, the -untimely ..death by] drowning of that gentleman deprived my late] friend of more than advisers. The business; of the firm referred to changed hands, and; then came Mr '. Moonlight's downfall. Then] came a crushing misfortune in the death of his wife, who had been a real helpmate, and: from being a prosperous mao,^prior to, the flood, he was deprived of all but his two cbil-j dren. -No two -people of my acquaintance; ever worked half so hard as Mr and Mrs! Moonlight did,Td|y and night. They worked! together nobly till she failed in health and, could .work no longer. ..When the crisis' came, and he could work no longer, he wentj through the ;Bankruptcyi Court, and waslefb almost; fpennilessi" '. ;Ho^ever/;. he fatiaxted; working ;again as bold as ever^ but one eoiild see that his failure had. made a great impres-; sion on- him, ;fo? inja;; short; timef? his hair had turned very grey/ -j He and his son and! daughter worked* hard together, but with little success, and seeing that he was making! small headway, the ; ,old'fire -being left frnj him, he 'set ok,' with Mr John:^ Bailey; *toj. prospect1 round the Lake districtj' and he ; cqH-j "tihued at his' tasktill, helctied. at the colla^.j More than once they arrived at, the Lake'Sta-; tion ktarved. andiired^ut^biit they:werJß sbpri 'atit'againi The last time they leftrtheFSia-j tion,, poor. Moonlight made ;the remark ■ that; heftiiever rhad ;gone;; ;out"!ir(:a "district fywjbierej gold:"was^biit he ;f bund it, ;and thafeiie-waS not going to be beaten that time, for find it he would, before hrwent home Little didj he expect he was'g&ing'out never to return^ jiagain alive^ Poor he musjf !bj^re perished aboutitwpmpnths.agp.-forjt was on thY t&K^uly test that }li ißai%lef ( hliin a^ the 'ientj mernding fiis tro'user^,Jand'tnat wa^ the^last time he was s«en"alive ',~ x - He Wisii Have lbst his life withm '48: hours'of'-tfi^timei he left the tent r for.'he wfljf very^poorly clac^ and wore very bad" boois, whilst, with the, extremely bad wea,ther,at .the time,, he.must hayeJ succumbed" iri":'6^e o r iof'"'tfiqsBl dreadful nights? ''''. Ha?d; YBailey' nb't cjgof^irtik' to^ the tent^that sainedhigtit; arid j:fcave reached the-'station next day, there is-liitle doubt^but that two brave fellows!would, have been lost instead^oKbhe;*ffor even!}(as!ji<i^wai poor Bailey jwas more dead iihata alive, when'be arrived atnMrcKerr/sstation.irrlJnfortunately when.Bailey arrived at-thet station ethe^e wati only one man.there.ian^he was a cripple] having only one arm,.and he, moreover, was ;aT;stranger. r<to/th* run()';The!OJiher{!regular man belonging totheplac*. ;Willia_m]Harford| had gone to Waimea. to attend his mother'^ funeral, and : KobcrtJ£err had gone, to Nelson some.iitjtl^mejbjl&r^^aiiey'wrivifa at the station';the last time. At the same time if they'ha'd been there* they would not have gone to look for Moonlight, for they-would-never have thought for a moment that he would not find his. way&ut: siOmwrbjer*. When Mr R. Eerr got home, some fourteen days after;.wards, then Mr Bailey got the loan ot a horse iib'fe'tcli'hw pwn :tningslKqme,'Sand^wlien' Jhe got to th'e'ieriihe fodnd'everything there ashe hadjeft it, and'th'en he.begafl to^Jhinf' that something was wrong. '*> Ericil»ibg^_.tp6, that Moonlight hada^pair tbf ibadrbootsJon, and a pair of, gpgdiOnesnnjthe! tent, his finding these stiir'there,"" inofeaje'd his fears/ Bailey. tuen^o^e^aSoiwnl^ the1 ofe'nt;laV this roadmen's camp to enquire if rthey!'had:'se6n Moonlight, arid he learnt',that'tliey1 ba yd nbt. ( Next: morning feailey 'ffent'; up(>to tli6 5T6p-" hbuse Telegraph'- to J wire tb?tlrfoi6rilight's; daughter-tq k'ribw"if htf'had attiVe^ home, and receiviHg a :re|)iy :iii' thelJneg'itiivje Bailey/told • her- he-: was • misiiing. The next morning Miss Moonlight arrived at the roadman's, camp , with a,. search party; !: with -her, a'rld^tue,road^'party joined^ the others tp'searcji for hiro. .More' kept cpming tp'lielpl an'd'Mr ;William Gibts,' the^'^pristabfe^at^ Motieka Valley, amongst.them. When that limb of the;law:^arrived; everything wassgomjg?"bb successfully, and^did .till- next day]; when,Mr Gibbs asked Sam; Th'btoas whetei 'Moonlight was,- for- he was certain" he^'knew :where;he was; and that he had gone away.'! He> afterwards passed some very nasty remarks which compelled Mr Bailey to" enquire of him-dijd he think he shad made away •with him;?-but like a coward hi»; answer was, «No;» although he had made the remarks to others -implying he had. Now, that party left oft searching through the :remarksaof thevconstable; but thereupon eight of Moonlight's old friends started anotber party, ;inolufing [Bailey, ar^d ontbe ninUidayMriJohn-Tarren, one of the party, and the oldest mate he had in this world, they having known each otheE for^oyer, years, and travelled the world over,' found the' body. Gibbs eyeptheninsulted Moonlight's; old friend, Tarran, and the mates of Mr Bailey complain' bitterly of the way he conducted himself at the search party, as well as of ■tbe;questioiis hefask'ed: at*ithe(iriqiiest, implying/even then that thergwas something wrong. Now, Sir, :I^bave;yet t tp learn that Mr Gibbs.or ; ;any other^pnatable^has right to make dreadful at 1 a search .patty, or to aek impudent' questions ; at an inqnest, , In fact, Gibb|had no right, Ws !tk:/.cbnitabw^|p^Bic"*tfriy "queßtion '; be

was Biraply there to do hia duty, and not to make any insinuations whatever to the annoyance of anyone. lam creditably told that he had more questions to ask than all the jury together, and in fact he has become a thorough nuisance,-and caused morejdistuEte ance'in his (own diatrictjaiad^everywiiere else he goes than any other person in the valley he is guardian of. The sooner he is removed from that situation the better I think it will be for the district he lives in, and I believe it must be known to his superior officer. I hope toi^h^inspeotoi"will jnquitejnto his conduct, for it is known to the country all round what beastly insinuations he has made regarding Mr Bailey, and which, very fortunately, time has proved'to be false. Yours, &Q., A Fbiend.