take action, and, as has been stated, to offer the reward of £1,000 for the discovery of a payable field in Canterbury.
In the hope of obtaining this reward a party of prospectors, Messrs. Smart, French, Cook, Ferguson, Day and Everest, started out from Christchurch in September, 1862, and traversed the eastern side of the Divide, but obtained no gold whatsoever. Later, Smart, French and Day crossed over to Lake Brunner, and in January, 1863, when travelling down the Taramakau River, Day picked up a piece of water-worn gold as big as a shilling, probably the first obtained in this part of Westland. Proceeding to the Greenstone Creek, where they found Maoris at work, they obtained good prospects, but a shortage of food hampered their operations. About this time R. A. Sherrin, a noted prospector, also visited Westland and reported finding gold in many places.
The operations of the prospectors thus being of an encouraging nature, the Provincial Government in 1863 decided to dispatch surveyors to Lake Brunner for the purpose of cutting tracks in the vicinity, and down the Taramakau River to the sea, their object being to assist in every way the various parties who were prospecting in the neighbourhood. Messrs. Howitt, Drake and Dobson were the officers in charge. The governing authority also decided to detail another of their
