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James Mackay addressing gold miners at Thames. "Proceed good people with your buildings and improvements; continue to behave yourselves, and at the end of seven years I will raise everybody's rent."
Alexander Turnball Library Ref: MNZ-0427-1/4-F
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Wednesday, 5 February
The weather is still unsettled and stormy and so is the
Whittingham marriage. George continues
his violence and orders Jane and the children out. He strikes Jane twice and then drags her from the tent. On knocking her down he
says “You shall not have a chance of showing two black eyes.” A friend of Jane’s comes and tries to make
peace but he strikes Jane again.
A rumour has surfaced that arrangements are being made
amongst the Maori to open the Upper Thames. The rumour has now reached The NZ Herald correspondent from so many quarters, and
on such varied authority, that he feels warranted in making it public
At the Resident Magistrates Court, Shortland, Edward Mooney
and his brother Thomas Mooney are charged with having, on the night of 29
January, at Tapu, stolen one bag of flour, value 2 shillings, the property of Lovat
Thoroughgood. Edward Mooney pleads
guilty but Thomas Mooney is discharged, there being no evidence against
him. Edward Mooney is then charged with
having stolen one pick, the property of John Law. He says that he only borrowed it, as he had
been in the habit of doing. He is sentenced to one month’s imprisonment on each charge. Detective Crick
applies for a remand for this one man crime wave as some of the witnesses in another case are
unable to come up from Tapu Creek due to the state of the weather. The case is remanded until next Saturday.
Mr Ellis’ quartz
crushing machine makes a private trial today. It is situated near the mouth of
the Karaka Creek and is a copy of the
one so long and successfully used by the Kapanga Gold Mining Company at
Coromandel. It is guaranteed to crush
70 tons of quartz a week. Messrs J R Clarke and
Co, of Melbourne, have arranged with Mr Inglis of the Grand Junction claim to
place on their ground 12 head of stampers.
Avon for the Thames with 1 ton potatoes, 2 tons biscuits, 6
cheeses, 1 ¼ cask brandy, 6 hhds beer, 4 kegs butter, 4 tons hay, 10 bags
sugar, 12 packages groceries, 1 ton coal, 3 passengers.
Thursday, 6 February
At the Resident Magistrate’s Court before James Mackay, George Whittingham is charged with assaulting his wife and using threatening language so as to put her in bodily
fear. He is fined, himself in £25 and
two sureties of £10 each, and bound over to keep the peace for six
months.
Noon
The Enterprise arrives at Auckland with 237 oz gold, the result of a crushing from 40 tons of quartz taken from the Long Drive Claim of Messrs Snowden, Newdick and others. About 100 oz of gold from another claim is brought up in the hands of a passenger.
The Enterprise arrives at Auckland with 237 oz gold, the result of a crushing from 40 tons of quartz taken from the Long Drive Claim of Messrs Snowden, Newdick and others. About 100 oz of gold from another claim is brought up in the hands of a passenger.
A prospecting claim has been applied for at a place called
Puriri about 10 miles from Shortland and Commissioner Mackay goes there to look at the
ground. The prospects are not much as
yet.
Stag for the Thames via Tamaki with 2,000 bricks and
sundries.
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| NZH 6 February, 1868 |
Friday, 7 February
It is said a great number of claims are lying abandoned on
the Thames although there only appears to be one. Around twenty men are said to have tried and deserted this one claim, but there is no doubt gold in it.
Several men have brought in some blue stone (granitic quartz)
from a claim about a mile beyond Mundic Reef, on the Waiotahi. There is no sign of gold in the stone, but it
is carefully roasted and tested, and the testing gives 20 oz to the ton. Of this stone many thousands of tons have
already been thrown away.
The reported opening of the Upper Thames country seems to
have arisen from some misunderstanding and it remains closed to gold mining.
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| NZH 7 February 1868 |
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| DSC 7 February, 1868 |
Saturday, 8 February
A number of men and the surveyors start this morning for the new country towards Hikutaia.
Tartar for the Thames with six bullocks, one wagon, ½ ton hay, 500 ft
timber, sundries.
Tay for the Thames with five tons
stores
10am
At the Resident Magistrates Court Edward and Thomas Mooney are
charged that they did feloniously carry away one bag of biscuit and one bag of
sugar, the property of William Bartley Montgomery. Thomas Mooney is discharged due to
insufficient evidence and Edward is imprisoned for two months with hard labour
at Auckland.
4pm
A public meeting is held in front of the Shortland court house. It is an adjourned meeting of the committee appointed to draw up a code of mining rules and regulations in December. A large number of diggers are present, and after a few preliminary observations are made, Mr Mackay proceeds to read the rules, one hundred and one in number. The reading occupies quite some time and is not concluded without considerable interruption and discussion on the part of the assembled miners.
A public meeting is held in front of the Shortland court house. It is an adjourned meeting of the committee appointed to draw up a code of mining rules and regulations in December. A large number of diggers are present, and after a few preliminary observations are made, Mr Mackay proceeds to read the rules, one hundred and one in number. The reading occupies quite some time and is not concluded without considerable interruption and discussion on the part of the assembled miners.
After the reading it is proposed the rules should be printed and brought into operation, but
objection is at once made, and a large amount of discussion follows. Ultimately Mr Rowe proposes an amendment to the effect that
the meeting be adjourned for a fortnight and in the meantime four or five
copies be posted in various parts of the township and on the flats and one or
two on the ranges. Any of the miners can
make suggestions or additions in writing to be left at Mr Mackay’s house
and brought before the public at the next meeting,
A long discussion now takes place as to the formation of a
Mining Board for the Thames district. It
is moved and carried that a committee be formed to draw up a petition to the
Superintendent of Auckland for the formation of a board. Mr James Boyd, on
behalf of the miners, then asks Mr Mackay about the Upper Thames. Mr Mackay says he now has great pleasure in
informing them that he has succeeded, after great difficulty, in getting some
10 to 12 miles of ground thrown open further south. The boundary lines will be cut on Monday
next, after which the miners will be allowed to go in with pick and shovel and
try their luck. Probably by the end of
the week all the land between the Thames and Omahu, near Hikutaia, will be
thrown open. This is met with cheers.
Another miner asks if the Ohinemuri will be thrown
open. Mr Mackay replies that he was
sorry to say that Te Hira is as far off opening his land as ever but it all
lies with the miners themselves. As a
general rule, their conduct on the goldfields has been more orderly, but there
are one or two instances which have come to his attention, which have been very
strongly disapproved of by the Maori. For
instance the burial ground at Tapu Creek has been invaded, and fires made over
the bones of some 200 warriors who were calmly sleeping beneath. This kind of
thing was not right and would do more to keep the land closed up than anything
else. How, asks Mackay, would the miners like to have the graves of their
friends and relations lying in the Auckland cemetery treated in such a manner? There
is little chance of Ohinemuri being opened for some time. A vote of thanks is passed to the chairman with three hearty
cheers, and the meeting disperses.
There are a great number of people in Shortland – the
appearance of Pollen Street this evening is something akin to the throngs of
people in Queen Street, Auckland.
Mr J H Clifford, the
well known and favourite Auckland actor, makes his first appearance at the
American Theatre tonight and is received with the thunder of
applause. There is a crowded house as
an entirely new change of performance has been promised. Mr Clifford makes his debut on the diggings in ‘The Day
after the Fair’, as well as a new burlesque written for the occasion by Mr Monkhouse
and entitled ‘Oh-tell-her’.
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| Grey River Argus 8 February, 1868 |
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| NZH 8 February, 1868 |
A clique in the claim.
Sunday, 9 February
11am
The Roman Catholic Chapel at Willoughby Street, Shortland is
opened today and is attended by a large congregation. The Very Reverend Father Dominick, assisted by the Rev Father Boibieux, and Father Nivard, the priest of the
diggings, consecrate the church. The church is overcrowded even before the
ceremony commences. The ceremony starts with a prayer sung on the porch, then
the asperges* are intoned and the 50th psalm recited while the
officiating priest sprinkles the walls of the outside with holy water.The procession enters the church as the litany of saints is
sung. Other psalms are sung as the inside of the building is sprinkled
with holy water. The imposing ceremony is concluded by a prayer for God to
shower his grace not only on the material building, but especially on the
people coming up to worship Him. High mass follows and then Miss Donovan, Miss Sheehan and Mr
Hesketh sing very beautifully. The church is attractively decorated with flowers and evergreens. The altar has a very striking appearance and to the whole of the service the most devout attention is paid. The patron saint given to the church is St Francis of
Assisium, the founder of the Franciscan order in the 13th century.
This evening Rev F Boibieux preaches a sermon on the meaning
of the ceremonies performed this morning.
The sermon is followed with the benediction of the blessed
sacrament. A collection amounts to £11
17s 2d.
Monday, 10 February
The barque Dominga, Captain Wing, arrives in Auckland
Harbour from San Francisco early this morning after a good passage of 53 days. She brings a small miscellaneous cargo and 45
passengers for the Thames diggings.
Captain Wing reports that the American schooner Alice, recently stated
as also having passengers for the diggings, has been taken off berth for this
port.
Amongst the passengers
by the Dominga are a number of people who took their passage in the unfortunate
brig Flying Cloud which was involved in a protracted legal wrangle that saw
them stranded on the ship, waiting to go to San Francisco and in danger of
becoming destitute. They have been attracted back by the success of
the Thames goldfields
The diggers are now beginning to feel the need of roads to
their claims. A meeting of miners,
representing over 350 on and in the neighbourhood of the Moanataiari Creek is held at the mouth of the
creek where it is unanimously agreed that the present part of the finished road
should be completed to the head of the creek. There will be little beyond the Point in View and the Star of the
South claims. Four men are appointed
as gangers and overseers. Mr Smart, of
Cruickshank, Smart and Co, is present at the meeting. He intends to erect a crushing machine of 24
stampers on the field.
Although several Maori have returned from the great meeting
at Tokangamutu (Te Kuiti) on 25 January, no information can be gleaned on
the vexed question as to whether the goldfields boundary is to be
extended.
Rob Roy for the Thames with 20,000 ft timber, five cases brandy.
Otahuhu for the Thames with 6,000 ft timber, sundries.
Avon for the Thames with a quantity of luggage, ten head cattle, sundries.
A passenger on the Midge, named Roach, brings to Auckland a
specimen of platinum struck in a claim on the Waiotahi Creek.
At Gibbon’s Battery their new machine has started work, as
has Scanlan’s and Ellis' new machine after a private trial.
The number of miner’s rights issued at Shortland Town is now
3,764.
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| DSC 10 February, 1868 |
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| NZH 10 February, 1868 |
Tuesday, 11 February
Three Maori, one a chief, arrive in Shortland Town and inform some friends that they have discovered what they know to be a new gold reef, 12 miles up the river. The Maoris with their European friends immediately start for the new field.
Catherine for the Thames with stores, 5 passengers
The Warden’s Court at Shortland sits for a marathon 14 ½
hours today. The place is crowded. The great case of the
day is the suit of Captain John Butt against William Rowe, manager of the mining
operations in Barry’s Claim, Kuranui Reef. It is tried before
Commissioner James Mackay, Warden Allan Baillie and four assessors. Mr Joy and Mr Dodd appear for Captain Butt, and Mr MacDonald
for William Rowe.
Mr Joy says John Butt is one of the oldest settlers on the
goldfields and one who has done much to encourage and foster the interests of
the district. His claim is for £180
dividends of gold taken from the claim by Rowe. Butt is an original shareholder of one twelfth share of
Barry’s claim. Formerly, a man named Sullivan had been
manager and during that time three dividends had been declared. All this had now changed and a clique had got into the claim led by a Mr Whitaker. He represents money, announces Mr Joy dramatically, and strides like a giant anxious to devour all who come to impede
his progress.
A company had been established which had attempted to thrust
in the face of Captain Butt and Matthew Barry a sum of £40 as their share of the
proceeds of the claim. Ever since the
formation of this company there had been something like collusion throughout. Machinery had been purchased at more than half as much again
as it ought to have cost. Other things
were being done every day to damage the interest of Captain Butt. Quartz specimens had been
taken from the claim and no account rendered.
After several hours of evidence, with one break of an hour
at 8pm, the court is cleared of all but
the assessors, Mr Mackay and Warden Baillie. During the whole of this day and night the place is crowded and
towards midnight densely so, the windows and outside the building being crammed at every point where the proceedings can be overheard.
The court is re-opened after an interval of about half an
hour. The verdict is read – Captain Butt is entitled to a one
twelfth share of the sum of £1665 less expenses of carting, crushing and
blacksmith’s work. Mr Joy asks the assessors to assess the amount of
damages. After very considerable
opposition from Mr MacDonald it is decided the £138 6s 8d is also due to Captain
Butt by William Rowe.
The court fee which is required from Captain Butt and which was supposed to have been paid into the court cannot be found. Counsel is indignant, they haven’t got the money, it has been paid over to the clerk. The clerk denies this, when Captain Butt enters the court and being asked about it, replies with the greatest innocence imaginable “I believe, sir, I’ve got it in my pocket.” Such a roar of laughter follows which has never before been heard at the Thames.
Court rises at 12.40am after an interminable and draining day.
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| DSC 11 February, 1868 |
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*Asperges is a name given to the rite of
sprinkling a congregation with holy water.
Source
Papers Past
Papers Past
© Meghan Hawkes / First year on the Thames Goldfield 2017 - 2018
Please credit Meghan Hawkes/ First year on the Thames Goldfield 2017 -2018 when re-using information from this blog.
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