FIRST DAYS OF THE THAMES.

Observer, Volume 2, Issue 52, 10 September 1881, Page 614

FIRST DAYS OF THE THAMES.

" Aurea mine veve sunt stectila, plurimus auro venit lionos : auro conciliator amor."— Ovid.

In the last issue of the Observer we were treated to a glimpse at the early days of the Thames Groldfield, and the sudden freaks of Dame Fortune in heaping riches on certain lucky men. The story of the discovery of Hunt's claim, which read like a page from ''The Arabian Nights," caused many a mouth to water. I was an eyewitness of the scenes of those days, the delirium of excitement — the aitri sacra fames — the gatherings at the street corners and in the marts, the crowding on board the steamers of men hieing to the new El Dorado, the display of rich specimens in the windows and in the hands of men surrounded by excited groups, the flushed cheeks and flashing eyes of the beholders— as if they had suddenly caught a ray of light from the glttering metal — the rushing hither and thither of sharebrokers and floaters of companies, and the universal bubble blowing. But it was not new to me. I had witnessed similar scenes in other lands, had " followed the rushes," had trudged in the hottest summer along roads knee-deep in dust in a miscellaneous throng of pilgrims journeying to the shrine of Mammon, and had thought of Addison's "Bridge of Mirza." I had seen a mere wilderness in Australia converted in a few days into a vast bee-hive of human industry, and covered with the white tents of ten thousand men of every rank and calling in life. Therefore this new excitement over the discovery at the Thames was not strange to me. It happened most opportunely for Auckland. Providential some people said it was. There are many who think they trace the hand of Providence in all these modern gold discoveries, and see in them a means of colonization and Christianity. The war had died out, the troops had been withdrawn, the industries that had been almost paralysed by the war and the withdrawal of the population from their regular pursuits were only again struggling into existence, the value of property had fallen to zero, men were glad to wade into cold flax-swamps, and to eke out a few shillings a week for their half-starved families by hackling phonnium iena.v on rude machines that had been invented by Mr Tinne and others, there was a soup-kitchen for the poor, and a poll-tax which very nearly caused a riot so obnoxious was it.

Just then came the news of the discovery of gold at the Thames. It came like a sudden burst of sunlight through storm-clouds. Mr C. O. Davis and others had brought to the Superintendent^ the late John Williamson, a phial half full of coarse, flaky gold. It acted like a talisman. It gladdened all hearts. The deep gloom and despair -were dispelled as by the Avavc of a magician's ■wand. Auckland had found the lamp of Aladdin. At first the news was by many thought too good to be true. There was many a Didymus who doubted. I remember how "one night a great meeting was held in the long room of the old British Hotel to discuss the alleged discovery. It was a wild weird scene, worthy the pencil of a Dore or a Cruickshank. The room Avas crowded to suffocation. The flickering lamps cast strange lights and shadows on the flushed and eager faces of the elbowing crowd. All eyes were fixed on a tall, stalwart figure mounted xipon a table. It Avas the late Walter Williamson, one of the pioneers of the Thames. Griffin, the great apost le of the flax industry, harangued the crowd, and other speakers delivered brief excited addresses. To me, Avhose life had been spent amid scenes of adventure and turmoil, some of the men appeared to be mad. They had been avouikl up to an intense pitch of expectation. They had been suddenly lifted up from benumbing despair to imlooked for heights of hope. They feared to be dashed down again into the dark abyss. They demanded Avith fierce hungry eagerness the proofs of the supposed discovery. Anon the man on the table produced several large, smooth boulders from a bag, if I remember aright, and they were handed round and hastily scrutinised. " Mica ! : ' contemptuously exclaimed some, and " silver !" others in more' hopeful tones. The first Thames gold contained a very large proportion of silver and the baser metals. The meeting ended in a determination to test the supposed discovery. Some time afterwards a quantity of quartz Avas brought up and tested in a berdan on a vacant allotment near the Governor BroAvne Hotel. It was an anxious time. The affair Avas invested Avith an air of semi-mystery, but it Avas of no avail. Every process of the crushing Avns watched with an intense anxiety, in ■which hope and fear alternated. I, as a reporter, was privileged to enter the sacred enclosure, and Avitness the process. I never had any doubt about the result, nor had the men who conducted the •crushing. When the result was announced in the newspaper it created the most sanguine expectations. It Avas as if a mine of wealth had been suddenly opened. Men and women Avent nearly ■crazy with excitement. Nothing else but gold, gold, gold, Avas the theme. of conversation. Everybody Avho could leave rushed away to the Thames. Men threAv xip their accustomed pursuits, clerkships Avent a begging, a fleet of steamers and small crafts were constantly employed running to and fro from Auckland and the new El Dorado, tents, mining tools and provisions were in demand, the whole popxxlation Avas in a state of commotion and migration. What a moral there is in looking back upon those days 1 How many of those Avhose hearts -were suddenly lifted up by virgins of wealth have now to mourn hopes and aspirations unrealised ? How many wore sAvcpt away in that maelstrom of excitement, perishing Avith the bright glitter of gold in their glaring eyes, dying of cold, exposure, or worse. Poor Walter Williamson, brave, bon homie, generous, and energetic, had once a princely fortune almost within his grasp, vvhen it slipped aAvay, enriching others Avho now live like Dives, while he perished one night alone in the Tairu'a ranges, pursuing to the last the ignis fatuous. " The traveller with empty pockets Avill sing even in the bandit's free. The prayers that are offered up and best known in all temples, are that our riches and wealth may increase, that our money chest be the largest in the whole Forum. But aconite is not drunk from earthenware. The time to dread it is when thou quaffest from jewelled cups, and the ruddy Avine glows in the

broad gold." So said, or sang the satirist Juvenalis, nearly 1800 years ago, and the words are as true now as then.