Page:Old Westland (1939).pdf/190

166 authentic record existent of the days immediately prior to the great rush. This being so, the next few pages are devoted entirely to his description of Westland from the date of his arrival to the coming of the Christmas Party to Hokitika on December 20th, 1864.

As showing what manner of man this banker was, it is illuminating to note that he opens his preface by stating that “The old days when the title page of a book was almost as good, or at any rate as explanatory, as a preface have departed. Now you may learn nothing from the name. Who has not heard of that agricultural society who sent for ‘Edgeworth’s Essay on Bulls,’ only to find that the ‘bulls’ were Irish, and principally verbal.” He then proceeds as follows: “The extraordinary vicissitudes of travel—the rough way of living and the hardships that the pioneers encountered in the early days of the Westland diggings, have never—at least to my mind—been fully set forth. In those days, as a rule, people were hand, not head workers. Now the past is to them but a dream. The writer of the following pages kept a diary, and the scenes described are therefore presented as they appeared to him at the time.”

Coming now to Preshaw’s story, the following extracts are taken from this rare and interesting book:

“October 21st, 1864, gold having been discovered in payable quantities on the West