Henry William Harper

“ We can only talk of the old days, when our ancestors were great men."
I was much struck by this, for this is, in fact, the exact case of this clever, intellectual people, so apparently powerful in physique, and so quick to learn. Like all savages, they appear to be degenerates, their traditions pointing to a golden age in the far past; they lack the power of recovery; it is very remarkable how a Maori, in middle age, whatever his early manhood has been, seems able to die, gives up, and cannot persevere; literally, in some cases, dying without any adequate reason for death. ”

“ Fresh discoveries of gold are being made near Kanieri, in the recesses of the forest. Some miles back there is a lovely lake, shut in by mountain ranges, only accessible by a narrow forest track; its deep water, strange to say, in this country devoid of fish, is full of a kind of grayling, the only freshwater fish I have heard of in New Zealand. Between the lake and the Hokitika runs a stream in which there is good fishing, soon to be spoilt by the muddy refuse which defiles all watercourses near a gold-field. ”

“ Some little time after came a message, asking me to visit a sick woman in the town; enquiring for the house, I was met with the remark, "Going there! What's the use of it?" Entering, I found her ill, but I thought in no immediate danger, and asked her why she had sent for me. "I've been thinking," she replied; "I know all about A——, she repented, and lives a respectable life. If she could, I thought I might too, and I do want to try; I was half afraid you wouldn't come, but I heard all you had done for her, so I sent; it's not that I am so very ill; I do want to try to live a better life." ”

“ There a miner in a drive five feet high, with a lighted candle end stuck in his cap, welcomes the visitor, gives him a candle end, and guides him, both crouching, to a place where the drive opens out a little, several men sitting there, and working with pick and shovel. They show you the wash-dirt, composed of gravel, small quartz pebbles, bits of granite, little morsels of ironstone, with occasional tiny garnets. The dirt is wheeled to the shaft in very small trucks on a wooden tram-line, about two barrow loads to a truck. ”

“ It is then hauled up to the surface, and once a week the dirt is washed, being passed through wooden channels; the gold, being heavier than the stones and gravel, sinks to the bottom of the channel, and is caught by rough battens; the extreme end of the channel covered with a piece of plush retains the very fine gold brought down by the rush of water. From all I can gather, gold costs a considerable percentage of its value, but it has the advantage of being always saleable at a fixed price. Alluvial gold is got with much greater ease than gold in quartz, and is much more profitable. ”

“ You know, I imagine, that there is no Established Church in New Zealand; all religious bodies have a fair field, without any favour from the State; the Church population numbering rather more than half of the whole. ”

“ Government then made liberal reserves of land for the natives, which happened to be in the centres which were richest in gold. Trustees were appointed, land let on their behalf, and I find that every native has a comfortable annual income. They are a sober set of people, and industrious, having their small cultivations, with horses and cattle and pigs. I have been able to provide them with a church, paid for by them, designed by myself; a school also has been built for them by the Government. They speak a little English, but have the Bible and Prayerbook in Maori ”

“ With such a man and others like him, St. Andrew's Church has become a centre of real Christian life and work; its congregation entirely of miners, some married, others single, who freely supply all the funds needed for its maintenance. ”

“ Moreover, knowing the prayerbook, it is comparatively easy to read with due emphasis; talking in ordinary conversation is quite another matter. I speak to them in English, which they can follow fairly well. Every Maori takes part in the responses, which are rendered in most musical fashion, all together, as if they had been purposely trained, for their sense of rhythm and time is very keen. ”

“ Over the shafts there are windlasses, with stout ropes, and hooks attached to the ends for winding up buckets of dirt, and also as the only means of descent. Looping the rope over one foot by the hook, straightening your leg, holding on to the rope well above your head, the other leg hanging, you dangle down into darkness, bumping against the sides of the shaft, until the ground below suddenly seems to rise up and hit you, and you find yourself in a heap on the bottom. ”

“ For a long time we remained there, the evening sunshine casting its quiet glory on the forest and the distant sea, lighting up the faces of the great crowd of mourners, who seemed loth to leave the place.
At night, in the simple hotel where I had a room, after supper, came a deputation to thank me for my services. Miners are nothing if they are not grateful for any kindness or sympathy shown them; all being done with due formality and politeness; some cake and wine and tea ”

“ But the work is always a kind of gamble, very attractive and uncertain; men make for weeks merely good wages, then their luck turns, and they make their "pile." Providentially, it seems that alluvial gold, easily got, is usually the first discovered, leading to the colonization of many parts of the Earth which otherwise would remain waste. ”

“ Occasionally they organize a social evening in their Town Hall, with a preliminary tea of good things, and then a concert, for which they can raise quite a good little orchestra of strings and wind, varied with songs, and occasionally a short lecture from myself. ”

“ Our experience has been very encouraging, but certainly novel; no difficulty with those inside the bulding, but outside we are beset with larrikins, who lurk about in the darkness and deliver every sort of attack on the walls and roof with stones and sticks; the walls and roof consisting only of iron, unlined with wood, the clatter and row caused by their missiles at times almost prevents work. To meet the enemy, we have formed a bodyguard of strong young fellows, who patrol the building every night ”

“ Not long ago a message from Ross reached me on a Monday morning, having been delayed several days by flooded rivers; a fatal accident underground; a fall of earth had crushed a man, one of a party of Cornish miners. ”

“ I ask them to smoke, and by degrees they open out and tell me much of their old history and traditions, which are carefully handed down from father to son. "Do you use your Social Hall at night?" "Horomona" (Solomon) . "Yes, we often sit there till late at night and talk of the old times in New Zealand and of our ancestors, and we are sad." "Why? you are all well to do, and have comfortable houses, and good land, and your families are all well cared for." "Yes, quite true, but then, we often think, we have no future as a people ”

“ Some four miles from Hokitika a group of Maoris are settled on the river Arahura, about one hundred in all. They were there before Westland was known to settlers in Canterbury, a tribe driven out from the North Island by raids of a famous warrior, Te Rauparaha; Christians, living in simple fashion, practically shut off from communication with the rest of New Zealand. ”

“ Winter is at hand, often very severe in the Southern Alps, so I do not anticipate as easy a journey as in summer. I have arranged for someone to come and take my duty for three weeks. If all goes well, it is a journey of two days' coaching, but in stress of weather may be longer. ”