CHAPTER XXVIII.
Early Hokitika was situated on a sandy beach, overgrown with pine trees and undergrowth, through which it was scarcely possible to penetrate. Streets were gradually laid out and formed. A municipal corporation was soon established; then streets were slowly improved, and now the corporation possesses many miles of well-made, clean, healthy streets. All the houses are built of wood, covered with iron, and consequently the whole town in the densely-built parts is liable to destruction by fire. One such calamity occurred in 1869 through the careless use of kerosene, and a big gap was made in Revell-street. Much genuine sympathy was felt for the sufferers, and the handsome sum of about £900 was collected and distributed to the principal sufferers who had lost their means of earning a livelihood.
At one time nearly 200 publichouses could be counted in Revell-street from the wharf to the “Montezuma,” a distance scarcely exceeding a mile in length. I suppose almost everyone who applied for a license to retail wines and spirits got it, as the fees were useful to the corporation. The corporation deserve credit for the administration of the rates. The money was well laid out, and the town has creditable streets to show for the expenditure. The treatment of criminals can also be favourably noticed. Able-bodied prisoners are employed in useful works of road-making and police improvements, and the value of each working prisoner’s labour is set down against the expense of the prison establishment, and reckoned to be worth on an average about 2s. per diem. Their diet is regulated in some degree according to their work, and those that work and behave themselves are well treated and get good food. Among other useful pieces of work, they cleared the ground for a fine rifle range of 800 yards, leaving the original trees on each side standing, so that volunteers can practice, whichever way the wind blows.
In course of time dwelling-houses were built. At first every man slept in a tent, or at an hotel, and then little patches of gardens were formed, some for flowers and others for the purpose of growing vegetables—at first scarce and dear. Some planted potatoes; those on a terrace some distance back from the
