Page:Discovery of the West Coast Gold-Fields Waite 1869.pdf/22

22 procurable there at reasonable rates. I have often wondered that men having families have not been up there, for there is gold close by that would keep the pot boiling, and some of the finest soil in the Province of Nelson, with nothing but fern and flax to clear, which could be done with a lighted match, and there is plenty of feed for cattle and pigs. In the immediate neighbourhood is plenty of white pine, rimu, and birch. The Maoris who used to carry up goods to the Lyell had a patch of potatoes just here, and, instead of carrying any up in their canoes, used to stay and get some as they wanted them. Again also, above the Lyell, some few miles, there is a very extensive reach of fine flats, containing some of the finest timber in the country, besides numberless beautifully sheltered valleys and terraces. During my recent travels in that locality, I met with many parties that have been working there who complained bitterly of not being able to purchase land to settle on in the vicinity; some mentioned that they had been to Nelson to buy, and the Government refused to sell, I suppose on account of the much talked of railway scheme. Many of these people have therefore gone away in disgust, to seek some other and more congenial spot; having made their money in the district, their wish was to settle in it, so that they would be enabled to grow their own provisions, start prospecting in the more difficult country where it is impossible to go without some rendezvous near at hand, and then in unpropitious weather they would always have their own homes to return to, with something at their backs to help them through their difficulties. Thus has the province lost numbers of really good settlers, and men who would be the cause of developing the present rough and unavailable districts in a comparatively short space of time; whereas in the present state of things it will take years to accomplish the same purpose. Whatever the object of the Government may be in so far locking up large tracts of fertile land, and thereby preventing them from becoming settled upon, is hard to say, though it may possibly in the end prove to have been the best course. But still it seems to be a great pity that people who have the capital to invest, and the will to work, to make comfortable homesteads for their own good and that of the public, should be driven away to other places, while the land is lying idle and unproductive.

As before stated, I came to the Buller in the Wallaby for the purpose of putting a stop to the slaughter of my cattle. I took up my residence at Westport, and had not been long there when the rush to Mokihinui started; and a vessel of mine went in there with a cargo of goods, which she delivered, but in coming out was wrecked on the North shore. I went there to see to it, and the weather being bad, I was compelled to stay there three or four days. I caught what is called the swamp fever, and was so bad that I had to be carried on board the steamer, and taken to Nelson. More than once my life was despaired of, and