Page:Charleston • Irwin Faris • (1941).pdf/219

 without pavements but having stone-cobbled footpaths in the more busy parts, and gravelled footpaths at others. There was no street lighting beyond the large kerosene lamps that public-houses were required to keep lighted above their entrances from dusk to dawn. As the streets were narrow and public-houses numerous, this sufficed. Mr. A. D. Dobson speaks of early Charleston as being “a very busy place, consisting almost entirely of public-houses and stores.”

But for its hidden wealth in gold, Charleston would never have been; as this diminished its busy life diminished; it held little other inducement to settlement; when the gold was ended Charleston was ended.

During this transition, many hesitated whether to stay or leave, a position akin to what in a game of draughts is called “a pair of breeches,” when either alternative move seems unfavourable. Many left; the few stayed, buoyed like Micawber with the hope of something turning up, and trusted to luck. “Make the best of this life,” an old miner was wont to say, “you may not be too well pleased with the next.”

It is impossible to state with accuracy the population of Charleston in the early years, but reasonably near surmises may be made. The Registrar-General, reporting to Parliament on 18th October, 1869, stated: “It is only in the years that the census is taken that it is possible to form even an approximately accurate estimate of the population in the several provinces or other divisions of the Colony; there being no means of correctly ascertaining the numbers who migrate from one part of New Zealand to another.”

These remarks were particularly pertinent to Charleston, the various official estimates being at least misleading, while the census returns show less population than is known to have existed. Necessarily so, considering the means available and the insuperable difficulties of collecting correct information. Anything approaching a complete roll was practically impossible. Manifestly, official statements have been based upon book-records, revenue returns, the number of various licenses issued, etc.; giving the number engaged upon mining and trade instead of the population of the entire field.

Early census returns appear to include only the township