NEW BOOK

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIV, Issue 25, 21 June 1906, Page 20

NEW BOOK

' Tales of the Golden West.' There is a sort of indefinable charm about life on a goldfield that leaves its impress f o r all time on the minds of those who have taken an active part in its ups and downs. The free-and-easy manner of living", the cosmopolitan character of the population, the friendships arising out of chance acquaintance, and the proverbial generosity of the miners leave impressions which no length of time effaces. Few goldfields have been blessed with the natural characteristics that made life so attractive en the West Coast in the early sixties, and consequently wh^n the supply of the precious metal dwindled down large numbers of the population betook themselves to agricultural and pastoral pursuits. A reminder of life there in the early days comes to us from Messrs. Wbitcombe and Tombs, under the title, ' Tales of the Golden West, 1 i>y ' Waratah.' The book, which consists of 216 pagrs, is made up principally of reminiscences, and chapters out of the history of the West Coast in the early days. The writer, without any embellishments,, gives us an insight into the trials, hardships, and successes of the pioneers of the West Coa^t aoldfields, and the record of actual fads seems sometimes stranger than fiction. A pathetic interest is bnt to Ih^ appearance of the book at the present time, as it is dedicated to the Right Hon. R. J. Seddon, and the special chapter devoted to the career of our late Premier will be read with no ordinary feelings just now when the people of the Colony are mourning the loss of one who was so intimately connected with the West Coast for fully forty years.