strong van, drawn by four grey horses, and manned by an inspector, a sergeant and four constables all armed. The journey occupied four days each way, and for some months the escort crossed and re-crossed the ranges without misadventure. But the Government enterprise did not receive sufficient support from the Banks and other gold buyers, and the gold escort was soon discontinued.
It was in the middle of June, 1866, that Mr. George Dobson disappeared on the West Coast. It afterwards transpired that he had fallen into the hands of certain members of the famous Burgess gang of bushrangers, who mistook him for a Mr. Fox, a gold buyer, for whom they were lying in wait. They were afraid to let him go, and strangled him and hid the body. The gang were captured shortly afterwards, and John Joseph Sullivan confessed and indicated the place where George Dobson’s body would be found. The remains were buried at Greymouth between the graves of Whitcombe, the discoverer of the Whitcombe Pass, and Townsend, both of whom were drowned on the West Coast. Burgess, Kelly and Levy were executed at Nelson on October 5, 1866. Sullivan’s death sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life.
More than fifty years have gone by since the West Coast gold diggings began, and we are still without railway communication, but as far back as November 21, 1865, Superintendent Bealey announced to the Provincial Council that he had set aside certain lands for a West Coast railway. The idea was probably prompted by the experience of the Government nearer home, where considerable progress was being made in public works. The first railway in Canterbury was opened on December 1, 1863. It was only about four miles in length, and ran from Christchurch to Ferrymead, the first link in the journey to Lyttelton viâ Sumner. The line was built by Messrs. Holmes and Co., the contractors for the Lyttelton Tunnel, and was leased for a time to that enterprising
