31st July.—About twenty diggers arrived at the Hohuna dissatisfied, trying to create disturbances, and threatening French with a razor.
9th August.—Accounts from the diggings very conflicting.
19th August.—W. H. Revell, Sergeant Broham, and Constable Cooper arrived at the Greenstone overland from Christchurch.
22nd August.—The three above-named arrived at the Grey.
23rd August.—Smart and French staying at depôt, waiting for the diggers to become a little pacified.
11th September.—The cutter Aquilla, 27 tons (J. Hauston master), from Invercargill, arrived at the Grey. Crossed the bar on the afternoon tide with eighteen miners, 10,000 feet of timber, and two tons of flour. The captain reports a barque and cutter for Jackson’s Bay, where they intend to remain during the summer months.
15th September.—The ferry started at the Paroa (Saltwater Creek).
8th October, 1864.—Two parties at work at the Freshwater Creek on the Grey side of the Paroa doing remarkably well; cleared out with 100 and 50 lbs. of gold respectively.
14th October.—Thomas Brennon, ferryman at the Paroa, drowned whilst trying to secure the ferry boat from the heavy seas that were rolling in; he was under the influence of liquor at the time.
Any account of the early days of the West Coast would be incomplete were the name of “Commissioner Sale” omitted. The following is from the Tomahawk of date 21st May, 1870:—
“George Samuel Sale is a native of Rugby, Yorkshire, a man of high classical attainments, and possessed the fullest confidence of the Canterbury Government at Christchurch, by whom he was employed.
“On the first rush, occasioned by the gold discovery on the western side of the ranges, Mr. Revell was appointed by the Government as their acknowledged representative; but as the rush set in to an extent never anticipated by them, to Hokitika—not of the mining population alone, but men of intelligence and wealth, of good business habits, and who had considerable experience of goldfield life in other parts of the colonies.
“These were also accompanied by their employés and craftsmen of almost every branch of mechanics; and to form this heterogeneous mass of people into an orderly and well-governed state of society, it was wisely deemed that a man of superior talents and high administrative qualifications was required; and for this purpose Mr. Sale was transferred from a lucrative post in the Treasury at Christchurch to Hokitika, with unlimited powers to deal with all judicial and financial questions, assisted (as he was ably) by the police to preserve the peace and good order of the district.
