Rambles on the Golden Coast of New Zealand/Chapter 6

by Robert Caldwell Reid

THE FIRST OF THE RUSH.

CHAPTER VI.

HE rapid rise of towns and sometimes of large cities consequent on the discovery of gold has furnished a theme for many pens and for divers comments. In many instances these centres of population wane into deserted places as quickly as they waxed crowded and noisy. They are mostly of mushroom growth, springing up, so to speak, in a night, and perishing surely and utterly when the production of that gold which caused their birth has ceased to be remunerative. Occasionally however, goldfields towns which have sprung into existence in a phenomenally short time remain permanent centres of life and activity. Hokitika, Greymouth, Ross, Westport, and Reefton, as indeed several smaller and less known townships in the interior, are of the latter description.

To begin with Hokitika. The discovery of gold in 1865 on the West Coast first caused a large rush of people to this place. There were, during the latter part of 1864 a few stray tents, with a very limited number of residents, on the bank of this river. Beyond Walter Ramsay, the saddler, and John Hudson of the Cleveland Hotel, I do not know of any of the 1864 pioneers who are still resident in the town. It was on the 20th of December, 1864. that Captain Leech, now harbour-master in Westport, crossed the Hokitika bar with the steamship “Nelson.” This date may therefore be accepted as that of the opening of Hokitika. The tidings of the gold diggings at that time were very meagre, and it was not until the first quarter of the following year that anything like a stir was made. In the month of March 1865, the place was rushed in the truest and fullest sense of the term. Early in April, the steamship “Alhambra” was despatched from Dunedin to Hokitika, crowded with passengers, amongst whom was the same special correspondent of the Otago Daily Times, to whom reference was made in the preceding chapter upon the West Coast Sounds. The rich finds on the West Coast soon began to be spoken of in Otago and Canterbury. In a few months, hundreds, ay, thousands, from here, and subsequently from all parts of the Australasian Colonies, found their way thither by land and sea. Many adventurous men, before the road from Christchurch to Hokitika was formed, faced the difficulties and dangers of a long journey through a dense bush, over the great range which runs along the South Island, and across many rapid and dangerous streams and rivers. In Otago and Canterbury much excitement was caused by the news that gold had been found, and curious eyes scanned the maps to discover the exact position of the “Okitiki” river as it was then called. In the early days of the field from 1865 and for several years afterwards Westland formed a portion of Canterbury. Consequently some activity was shown by the Provincial Government in making a road and in otherwise providing for the great rush which was about to set in. The arrangements of the Provincial authorities were, however, deficient. The discovery of a goldfield within the limits of their jurisdiction was an unexpected and novel event, and therefore, with perhaps the best intentions and an eye to future revenue, they could scarcely have been expected to grapple with the situation. In one notable instance, a ludicrous and expensive blunder was committed. Fired with the news of the large finds of gold, of rapid increase of population, of the sudden up-springing of Hokitika, the Christchurch authorities determined to emulate Victoria in providing a gold waggon shot-proof, and a posse of mounted constables to escort the probable tons of gold which would be sent along from Hokitika to Christchurch over the Alpine range by way of the newly constructed road. This idea may have emanated from the brain of Mr Sherman, then Commissioner of Police, an old Victorian police officer, or perhaps from some sanguine official ignorant of the facts of the case. At any rate it was seized on with avidity in Christchurch, and carried into effect promptly. Carriage builders, blacksmiths, saddlers, and other tradesmen were soon hard at work. Waggons impervious to shot, defiant of bushrangers, were built. A troop of smart young fellows, under Mr Inspector James, were sworn in as escort constables, and a number of excellent horses purchased. An experienced Jehu named Chamberlain was engaged. Stables along the road were erected at intervals, at each of which was stationed a constable-groom. The escort started one fine day from Christchurch and arrived safely at Hokitika, 147 miles away, but alas only to find Hokitika intensely amused at this provincial fiasco. One solitary pennyweight of gold was all the precious metal which this expensive escort took back to the City of the Plains, the explanation being simply that all the gold was exported seaward.

But before this time, Hokitika was a considerable town. Along a sand-bank on the north side of the Hokitika river, running parallel with the sea, a long straggling street had sprung up as if by magic. Sections of ground changed hands at high prices, the right to peg out one being afforded by the purchase of a business licence. Many persons cleared large sums by speculating in sections. The main street was called Revell Street, so named after Mr Revell, who came over with the Canterbury police, and was subsequently Resident Magistrate and Warden at Greymouth and Westport. On each side of this street were temporary erections, some of timber, some of canvas. Nearly every other one of these canvas or wooden tenements was dignified with the name of hotel. The usual features of a big rush were visible. Drinking, fighting, gambling, all the means resorted to by those who got their money easily in the first flush of a new goldfield, were conspicuous by their presence. Many of the hotelkeepers at this time must have literally coined money. The Empire Hotel, which is now a large and comfortable hostelry, under the management of Mr Churches, was, at the time referred to, under charge of Mr Osborne, and consisted merely of a bar, to which was speedily added a billiard-room. The amount of money taken over that bar was surprising.

CASTLEHILL STATION—WEST COAST ROAD.

Many stories have been told of the extravagance of diggers on the early goldlields of Victoria. We have heard of “Champagne Charleys” by the score, and have seen some of them. But we question if there were many better opportunities in goldfields’ history of making a small “pile” quickly, than was afforded in the “shilling nobbler” days of Hokitika. General pool, at a pound each, with five shillings “a life,” was a nightly occurrence amongst dozens of the lovers of the green cloth. Prepayment of three shillings for the use of a blanket on the floor or dining table, with half-a-dozen fellows gambling at your feet or head the whole night through, and disturbing your slumbers by going “five pounds better” every five minutes, was by no means an uncommon incident. A large theatre, now known as the Duke of Edinburgh, was built, and it was opened every night to crammed houses at high prices. There was a large police force stationed in Hokitika, and, truth to say, the force was wanted. The scum of the colonies, attracted by the news of wonderful and rapid “piles” made on the hitherto unknown West Coast of New Zealand, poured into Hokitika side by side with the honest and adventurous digger-pioneer, the speculative dealer, and the wandering billet-seeker. Thus it came about that in the early days, Hokitika was sadly put to it, to cope with her criminal population. In the Police Camp, situated where now stands the Town Hall, was gathered a mass of humanity. Mr Sale—King Sale, the Canterbury Commissioner—the Warden, the Police Inspector, with his force of thirty men, some forty prisoners waiting trial, were all congregated in the hive known as the Camp. There was no gaol then, only a lock-up. Prisoners committed had to be escorted over the range to Canterbury for trial. The place indeed out-grew itself. The authorities could not grapple with the wonderful flow of population. Gradually, however, matters grew more settled. An Improvement Committee, which did good work in the very early days, gave place to the Borough of Hokitika, of which Mr Bonar (now the Hon. J. A. Bonar, M.L.C.) was the first Mayor elected by the Council. He was succeeded by Mr Shaw, then proprietor of the West Coast Times, who was elected by the ratepayers. Streets, which up to this were simply quagmires, were formed. The township extended rapidly into the bush, the more rapidly as many of the original residents, who had neglected the biblical advice not to build upon the sand, had to lament the destruction of their tenements by the waves of the Pacific Ocean. Let me here recall to view one of the pictures to be met with on the beach in those days. A stranger visiting Hokitika for the first time, and not previously apprised of the unenviable notoriety which the port had gained for itself since the West Coast was rushed, would be struck with astonishment at the multitude of wrecks and remains of wrecks with which the beach was covered. From the entrance to the river to where the “Montezuma” had been cast high and dry on the sands, the picture was one that could not be equalled in the Colony, and perhaps not in the world. In one spot the last remnants of the “Oak” might be observed; further on, a confused mass of ruin, a heap of splintered planks and ribs, marked the place where the “Sir Francis Drake” and the “Rosella” finally succumbed to the force of the waves. Yonder could be seen the masts of the “Titania;” and nearer home, what was left of the “New Zealand” supplied us with a painful reminder of the dangers of Hokitika. Everywhere from the water’s edge to the top of the spit were scattered portions of the luckless vessels which had gone to pieces. Masts, chains, anchors, standing rigging, windlasses, might all be found, and a sprinkling of old iron sufficient, if it were worked, to give material for a good sized steamer. Never before was such a gloomy sight seen in New Zealand. A year or two before, the Bluff Harbour had the worst reputation of any place on the coast. Captains and shippers had a dread of going there, and insurance companies raised their rates on goods consigned thitherward; but the Bluff Harbour was, at the time I am referring to, a Milford Haven compared to Hokitika. A carefully prepared estimate of the loss occasioned by the wrecks of the year 1865 at this port would have told a curious tale. The value of the ships alone must have been no trifle, but, added to the value of the goods destroyed and damaged, the sum total would probably not be written under hundreds of thousands of pounds.

It was no unusual thing in those days to see 500 or 600 passengers land from the decks of the steamers “Yarra” and “Bruce.” I recollect one morning the “Alhambra” bringing 300 to 400 passengers, the “Egmont” about the same number, and the “Barwon” from 200 to 300 from Melbourne. Next day the “Gothenburg” showed up crowded with passengers, the “Auckland” landed a couple of hundred from Manukau, and a steamer from Sydney came up at the same time with a full complement. Those were the palmy days for the shipping trade.

The news from the various diggings around Hokitika was of the most exciting character, for the first year or two after the goldfields were rushed. It was no unusual thing to have reported that a new lead had been struck at Waimea, yielding fabulous returns; that from 1 dwt. to 2 dwts. to the dish was being obtained with ease in several claims at the Kanieri; that £15 per man per week was being got at Woodstock; that from £6 to £30 per man was obtained at Tucker Flat, and so forth. Any one to read the mining reports of the West Coast Times in the months of June, July, and August 1865, nowadays, will not be surprised that about 15,000 people were, within a few months, induced to congregate on the West Coast. Such paragraphs as “Inglis and party have been making from £15 to £20 per man per week, also Hamond’s and Graham’s parties are doing about the same, and these are not considered the pile claims, but good steady wages ones,” were by no means unusual in a mining report in these times. There were scores of miners, I will venture to say, who, in the latter part of that year made very handsome competences, ranging from £1000 to £2000 each, and this was frequently accomplished with the most primitive appliances.

Early in August of the same year there was a stampede to the Totara district, to what was first known as Jones’s diggings. Here the general run of prospects was reported to range from ½ dwt. to 3 dwts. to the dish. The first mining report published of this locality stated that about 250 men had reached the ground, and it enumerated a few washings which had taken place on that day in sight of the reporter, as follows:— “Craig’s party washed 7 ozs., the result of their first five hours’ work. Charley Riley’s party got 4½ ozs. in two hours. Bill Friend’s party have just bottomed on 1½ dwts. to the dish. No sawyers here. Miners must make boxes as best they can.” About the same time the average wages obtained by miners at German and Maori Gullies in the same district were reported as averaging £10 to £15 per man per week.

The Grey rush was just then setting in, and Surveyor Rochfort was despatched to lay off a town, and survey the same into allotments for settlement. The mining intelligence from this quarter created the wildest excitement imaginable, and hundreds were on a fresh stampede northwards. Sites in the new town were speedily being covered with temporary buildings of calico or timber. Timber and iron were in great request, and for a time there was not 100 ft. of sawn timber to be obtained for any money. As high as 60s. per 100 ft. could have been obtained for a cargo, were it on the spot about the end of July 1865. Provisions became very scarce for a time, both in Greymouth and at the Twelve Mile diggings, the carriage between the two places being £20 per ton. The town dealers had run out of several articles, kerosene among the number; and candles were selling at 1s. each. Flour for a time was also very scarce on the diggings, and was selling at £130 to £150 per ton. At some of the distant places a 50 lb. bag of flour has been known to fetch £4, 10s. to £5. It was currently reported, and I believe without exaggeration, that many claims in Maori Gully and Red Jack’s were yielding their lucky owners a pound weight of gold per day, with a large area of ground to wash for a considerable time. Two gold-buyers, or bankers, representing the Bank of New Zealand and Bank of New South Wales, had paid these localities two or three visits, and on each occasion had purchased from 800 to 1000 ozs. each. In the middle of August the Bank of New Zealand opened a branch at Greymouth. The price of sections in the new town ran up rapidly, and as high as £12 per foot was given for one or two frontages to Mawhera Quay for the bare sections, and these too with a considerable annual rental, the title being leasehold from the Maoris.

The Okarito rush is the next to which I will ask my readers to accompany me. We started from Hokitika by the steamer “Bruce,” on either her first or second trip to that reported El Dorado. Having had the good luck to clear a round hundred pounds or two on Greymouth sections, I expressed my intention to my friend, Mr Robert Harrold, then manager of the Union Bank at Hokitika, of paying a visit to Okarito, whereupon he suggested that as no gold-buyer had yet paid that part a visit, I might pay my expenses in this way, while taking stock of the prospects of the district. Starting with £1000 in notes and not telling any one my mission, I made straight, after landing, to the heart of the diggings, the Five Mile, where I found no difficulty in meeting with a couple of customers for my bank notes, in exchange for which I received their gold dust at £3, 10s. and £3 10s. 6d. per oz. Before leaving the township I secured a section—an excellent one at the time—for £45, which was considered a high price. Returning and disposing of my gold at 2s. 6d. per oz. profit, and knowing that there were hundreds of ounces more waiting a purchaser, I at once decided on taking a second trip, and provided myself this time with a double allowance of cash entrusted me by the bank. An incident is here worth relating, as showing how fortunate some of the miners were in these early days on the Five Mile Beach at Okarito. I accosted a party of four who were paddocking goodly looking wash, by asking them if they had any gold to sell. They simultaneously dropped their shovels, and after consulting together, one of the party inquired, “How much money have you, mate?” Thinking I was possessed of enough to buy any single parcel of gold on the field, I replied:—“As much as you require.” But in this I was mistaken, for on reaching their tent I was presented with a couple of “billies,” both nearly brim full of the finest gold dust, which they told me was the result of six weeks’ work. When it was weighed I found I was a hundred pounds or two short of the amount required to purchase the lot. This story I told to George Harper, the purser of the steamer “Bruce,” and you may be sure he made the most of it, in the interests of Mr Greer, the owner of the steamer. The story soon appeared in the West Coast Times, and the least the owners of the boat might have done was to have presented me with a free passage on my next trip, in place of charging the excessive passage rate then current of £5 for twelve hours’ steaming; as the paragraph was doubtless the means of creating a crowded passenger list, including one or two bankers, who went down to open agencies at Okarito. And a right roaring trade in gold-buying they subsequently did. Having cleaned the second parcel of gold better than the first, I made a proposition to Mr Harrold to have it melted, in order to obtain a higher price, to which he assented. Straight to Mr Proctor’s I went. He had started as gold-melter on the west side of Revell Street. But in this establishment I gained a new experience to anything I had before witnessed in Melbourne or Dunedin in company with the gold-melters. The gold was divided into three pots, two of which broke in the process of melting, the precious metal flowing all over the bottom of the furnace. The best was made of the misfortune, and the valuable and invaluable ingredients of the furnace—the gold and ashes—were gathered up, pounded in the mortar, and re-melted. Upon handing it to the bank, to my great astonishment and disgust, I received a purchase ticket, which showed a loss of about £25 on my purchase. To think that I had taken all this trouble and risk, of wandering to Okarito and back; that I had made a satisfactory purchase and sale; and that the gold should lose ten per cent, in melting. It was nonsense! “I have not had fair play with this gold,” I remarked to the bank manager: “You should allow me 6d. an ounce extra to make up my loss.” After a little hesitation, and explanation about exceeding instructions, he agreed to make the extra allowance. Just at that moment in came Mr Proctor’s son, who acquainted us that his father had found a piece of gold between the bricks of the furnace. We hurried over, and to my great delight, a lump of melted gold, the size of my hand, was produced and handed me, which completely turned the scale, making my trip one of profit, instead of loss. I may add that I held the canny banker to his extra “saxpences,” which he paid under protest.

Any one who had the good fortune to get a claim on the Five Mile Beach at Okarito in the end of 1865, or in January or February 1866, was safe for a “rich patch.” The returns met with in some instances were positively fabulous, and it is not to be wondered that some of the diggers, who perhaps had toiled for years previously for mere “tucker,” were so startled at their luck on this beach, that they gave way at times to the wildest extravagance and riot. The steamer “Bruce” was bringing up to Hokitika 3000 to 4000 ozs. of gold every other trip, and I knew one party of four miners who forwarded 1000 ozs. on their own account. Such a heavy parcel amongst four men is something astonishing, and the natural conclusion surely is, that the heavier gold must be distributed inland from these golden beaches with no niggard hand, and will be discovered some day, when better facilities are afforded for prospecting. Prices of sections in the town of Okarito increased in value seven-fold in the course of a few weeks, but as soon as the southern beaches were worked, which took about six or nine months, prices as speedily fell, and the population gradually but surely diminished to a very limited number indeed.

The Bruce Bay, Gillespie’s Beach, and the Haast rushes followed in quick order after Okarito. The wild-goose chase to Bruce Bay, led on by the memorable Hunt, will not be forgotten by those who were induced to follow bis footsteps. On the Haast Beach, between the rivers Haast and Okura, a few fairly payable claims were worked, and at one time there was a considerable stir in the temporarily formed township on the southern bank of the Haast, but it was one of the mushroom townships, which lasted for a few weeks or months and then utterly collapsed.

Before leaving the southern part of the Coast, to review the doings on the rushes which had broken out on the Nelson South-Western district, I will further refer to the prosperity which had, in the early part of 1866, manifested itself in Westland. News of the most cheering nature was constantly coming to hand, telling nothing but a tale of uninterrupted prosperity, the discovery of new fields and the extension of old ones. From north to south the same cry was heard, and the most hopeful anticipations were indulged in. Beginning at a point 15 miles north of the Grey where several hundreds were located on the beach, and following the coast-line down, the same results were met with, wherever a community of miners were found,—results that will challenge competition with any other goldfield, since the early days of Victoria, so graphically depicted by Mr Bracken in his famous poem

“On Castlemaine, and Forest Creek, and Dear Old Bendigo.”

Five miles north of the Grey, in shallow ground, near the beach, from 7 ozs. to 30 ozs. to the paddock was by no means uncommon, whilst at the Black Fellows rush, on the side of the range, at an elevation of 100 to 200 ft. above the sea-level, the sold was still better. Here a few of the claims were extraordinary rich, the washdirt turning out from 12 ozs. to 20 ozs. to the load. Thence to the Grey, scattered parties were working on the low terraces and beach, most of them obtaining very handsome returns. In the Arnold district one party of three miners got off the bottom of one paddock 80 ozs., and numbers were reported as earning £15 to £20 per week per man. The celebrated Three Mile rush south of the Grey was then supporting a large population, and occasionally heavy parcels of gold were being sold from that locality. The original prospectors there were reported as having lodged 56 lbs. weight of the precious metal in the hands of Mr Proctor to be melted. But of all the rushes which took place that year, perhaps none deserves more honourable mention than the “Auckland” rush, which was essentially a beach working, the gold being found a little above high water. Prospects ranging from 1 dwt. to 7 ozs. to the dish have been washed here, and claims were opened which yielded £100 per week per man to the lucky holders. As a matter of course, there was some poor ground, but taken collectively, the claims on this lead stood unrivalled for the richness of the deposits contained in them, and the facility with which they were worked. This rush was distant about nine miles from Hokitika northwards along the sea shore. At this rush a “wages” claim usually bore the interpretation of £8 to £10 per man per week. From one of the rich claims as high as 64 ozs. was obtained in one day, and for several weeks Bill Hyde and his mates obtained 80 to 100 ozs. per week from their claim. The names of numbers of claimholders at the Kanieri, the Auckland rush, and at the Waimea, could be given, who cleared from £500 to £600 per man in a few weeks, and the final division, in one or two instances, after some six months’ work, amounted to as much as £1500 per man. Probably some of my readers may set down many of these assertions as drawing on the imagination, but let me assure them that they are bona fide statements, of which convincing proof can be obtained by the incredulous at any moment.

Westport, Charleston, and Brighton were the next scenes of attraction. Miners flocked to each of these places towards the end of 1866 and beginning of 1867. This part of the coast was prospected by Reuben Waite and party, five or six years previous to the rush. Though diverging somewhat from the subject of this chapter, I cannot omit reference to this well-known pioneer, who may be said to be the discoverer of the Buller gold field.

Reuben Waite was on the Collingwood goldfields about the month of May 1860, distance about 70 miles from Nelson, when a party of Maoris came overland from the Buller, travelling up by the sea coast. They had in their possession a considerable parcel of gold, which they said they had obtained from some ground 20 miles up the Buller River. Reuben at once determined to make for this new country, and he and a man named Rogers chartered the ketch “Jane” at Nelson, for the sum of £50. Reuben and his mate were laughed at by the slow-going Nelsonites of those days, and were described as madmen from Victoria. They got one adventurous soul on board at Nelson, and managed to add fourteen to the number when they called at Collingwood. They also took with them ten cats, a curious notion, but not to be wondered at by any one knowing Waite and his peculiarities. They arrived at the Buller in two days, crossing the bar in safety, and selling all their goods for gold to the Maoris. The Maoris subsequently named the river north of the Buller, the Orawaiti, meaning “Come on Waite.” Very little prospecting was done by them on the occasion of this first expedition, and having sold their provisions to advantage, they returned to Nelson, after a rough trip of sixteen days, leaving the rest of the party at the Buller. When Reuben returned to Nelson,—as he humorously puts it in a pamphlet published by him some years afterwards:—“Nothing was then said of the madman from Victoria; they were all very anxious to have some conversation with the madman, as they chose to call me. Many who were the first to stamp the expedition as a costly hair-brained enterprise, were now the first to ply their avocations, and hurry to the new-found El, Dorado.” The gold brought up by Waite was exhibited in a jeweller’s window in Nelson, and this was the first mention of the Buller goldfields. Waite’s subsequent history as a pioneer of the West Coast goldfields is worthy of a special chapter, and should limit permit, I will refer more fully to him at a later period. Of late years he has been residing at the junction of the Inangahua, where I last saw him about a year ago in excellent health and spirits. He was one of the first men I met at the Buller in 1866. He had then a run, which he obtained from the Nelson Provincial Government, of some 6000 acres, upon which the diggings known as Waite’s Pakihis were discovered. All around was at that time becoming a flourishing goldfield. Mr Commissioner Kynnersley was the Government factotum, and had a carte blanche to lay off townships and make roads. He was a man of great enterprise and endurance; but the damp and discomforts of the coast in those days told on his constitution, and he died in Melbourne some years afterwards a martyr to consumption. Mr Kynnersley was succeeded by Dr Giles as Resident Magistrate and Warden, who had charge of the Nelson South West goldfields for many years, and who is now acting in the same capacities in Westland, and is Chief Commissioner of Lands at Hokitika. Westport was a stirring township at Christmas 1866, and the first newspaper, the Westport Times, was published on the 22d of December of that year. Three bank agencies were opened about that time, and miners were very prosperous on the terraces to the north of the town, some five or six miles distant, and on Addison’s Flat, about the same distance to the south. Before the appointment of Dr Giles as Resident Magistrate, Mr Kynnersley had to attend to the duties of the whole district extending as far south as Cobden, where there were a number of civil, as well as Warden’s cases to attend to. He was consequently absent from the northern parts, frequently for a fortnight at a time, and there being no gaols there established, the manner in which justice was meted out to those charged with drunkenness and more serious crimes was ludicrous in the extreme. One man was charged with stealing four shirts from a drapery establishment in Westport. He was given into custody, but no magistrate could be found, and the Sergeant of Police remanded the prisoner from time to time on his own account. After a second remand the prisoner was prompted to question the sergeant’s authority, whereupon he was admitted to bail, again without authority, bail being fixed at £40. At last the prosecutor provided sureties! These were truly the primitive days of Westport. Court affairs were even carried with a higher hand at Brighton, for in the absence of the Magistrate, Mr James Payne, who was Clerk of the Court, passed sentences as the spirit moved him, never, however, inflicting lengthened punishment, as the prisoners were necessarily locked up in his own office and sleeping apartment. Mr Payne’s jurisdiction became a recognised institution by the peripatetic Court and by an easy-going public. Early in 1867, a substantial court-house, constables’ quarters, and a gaol were erected in Westport, which was made headquarters for the Nelson goldfields. In October 1867, a rush took place to Mohikinui, north of the Buller, and for a month or two caused a considerable stir. The evening’s attractions in Westport were the dancing casinos, three in number, all vying against one another in the strength of their musical bands, the number of ballet dancers, and the shortness of their skirts.

A few years later saw Gladstone Street—the main street in Westport—completely demolished by the action of the river and tide. Where the original town of Westport stood is now navigable by the ocean steamers. But a second town has sprung up a little farther inland, and Westport, as the emporium of large coalfields and extensive goldfields, is now a permanent capital of a thriving and important district.