Perhaps the most pathetic, in the true meaning of the word, epitaph I have yet found in any cemetery can be seen in Dunedin's Northern. It is difficult to read these days and, to confirm the full content, I had to consult the transcripts from Otago cemeteries in my local library.
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| "STTMO - Sacred To The Memory Of" |
Birth.
PAULIN. - On the 17th inst., at her residence, Lady Kirk, Kaikorai, Mrs Robert Paulin, of a son. -Evening Star, 18/2/1884.
WANTED (immediately) To Buy, a Goat in milk. Apply Mr Paulin, Lady Kirk, Kaikorai. -Evening Star, 11/6/1884.
WANTED, a Girl to mind Baby. Apply Mrs Paulin, Kaikorai. -Evening Star, 4/9/1884.
Death.
Paulin.- On the 20th, at Lady Kirk, Kaikorai, the eldest child of Robert and Catherine Paulin. -Evening Star, 21/4/1885.
Business Notices
DARJIELING TEAS
The Best of all Indian Teas. Direct from the Gardens. Stock on Hand. ROBERT PAULIN, Agent, Box 813. -Otago Daily Times, 12/6/1885.
PROSPECTING THE WEST COAST.
TO THE EDITOR. Sir,— Some years ago I walked from the head of Lake Wakatipu via Martin Bay and Big Bay, and stayed at the latter place for two or three weeks with one Williamson, a miner. I tried a claim he was working on the beach, and from three dishes of stuff washed out 2dwt of gold. Williamson told me that he could make an ounce a day at his claim, and, from what I saw, I have no doubt of it. I should be glad to make one of a party to prospect the district.
— I am, etc., Robert Paulin. St. Clair, August 23. -Evening Star, 24/8/1886.
News of the Day
Mr Paulin, C.E., left Dunedin yesterday in the schooner Rosa, on a prospecting tour of the districts in the neighborhood of Big Bay. He has a party of eight with him, and they intend to be away six months. -South Canterbury Times, 6/11/1886.
Robert Paulin left Dunedin and his pregnant wife to go prospecting on the West Coast. It was the kind of thing that happened often in those days. It would seem that he left his pregnant, grieving wife, judging from the wording of the epitaph for their first-born, Willie. Unless some other source is found, we will never know the thinking behind the heart-wrenching lines on William Paulin's gravestone.
This story now becomes that of the father, Robert. Again, we will probably never know why he spent so long away from his wife - maybe he was at heart an exploring man.
WEST COAST EXPLORATION.
The exploration of the West Coast Sounds is going on apace this summer. The Dunedin Chamber of Commerce has done good service in getting the Government to call for tenders for a monthly steam service from Dunedin to Hokitika, calling in at several of the Sounds — a service which (if carried out) may prove to be worth a vast deal to the colony and will certainly be worth infinitely more than the £1300 a year subsidy which we believe is now being paid to a member of the Upper House for his boat running between Hokitika and Jackson's Bay. Apart from this proposed service the recent shipment of diggers to Big Bay may yet prove to have been a wise expenditure out of the public purse. Everyone has heard of Docherty's exploration in Dusky Sound and of Sullivan's work in Milford Sound, and now another private venture is starting. Mr Robert Paulin, C.E., left Dunedin on Friday afternoon to catch the Hauroto to the Bluff, and sailed on Saturday from the Bluff in a 20-ton schooner, the Rosa, on a prospecting expedition through the Sounds. His companions are Messrs Charles and Edward Stuart, the skipper of the Rosa is Mr Harming, and a Scotchman named Murdoch and four Danes go to work under Mr Paulin; one of the Danes named Lorsen is known here as a resident at the Water of Leith. Mr Paulin's party expect to be away about six months, but will probably be as far as Big Bay within a few weeks. Mr Paulin got over to Big Bay from Wakatipu in 1875, and was picked up there in company with Andrew Williamson, since dead, by Captain Malcolm, of the Maori. On that expedition nickel was found, but not in its original matrix, and indications of other valuable minerals were numerous and good. It is greatly to be hoped that the pluck and enterprise of the present expedition will be amply rewarded by a find of nickel ore in payable quantity, or of some other kind of mineral of commercial value. If some of our large capitalists in Otago would be ready to sink some small sums on such explorations as these, the colony might be enormously benefitted, and the money spent might not be totally lost to the venturers after all. -Otago Daily Times, 8/11/1886.
THE BIG BAY DISTRICT.
Mr Robert Paulin, of Dunedin, who recently started on a prospecting tour of the West Coast, writes as follows to a friend in Dunedin: —
We arrived at Big Bay on December 15, and have been busy carrying stores up country ever since. So far, the expedition sent by the Government has been an utter failure, and the results nothing. About 50 men remain, and of these the majority are doing nothing but waiting for the steamer to come and take them away. A few of the best men are slogging on. I have taken evidence from a number of the men and gather that the beach has been well tried up to about two miles of the township and a few shafts have been sunk on the slope behind the township and below the adjacent terrace. One man told me he had got gold on the top of the terrace; and it is a pity no party was organised to drive a tunnel into the terrace and prove its nature. Some years ago the Government, I am told, agreed to give Williamson and party 5s a day to drive such a tunnel, but the party got drowned on their way to Big Bay with stores, &c, and nothing more was done in the matter. To sum up, men can make about ldwt a day on the beach, and have found nothing inland to speak of. Several men say they got good prospects about the Gorge and Hacket rivers, to the north of Big Bay, but the difficulty of carrying provisions where there are no roads prevents them working the districts mentioned. Had a much smaller party been sent under qualified supervision, and systematic prospecting in various localities been carried on, helped by a good whaleboat to carry provisions and men round the coast to the mouths of the various creeks between Big and Jackson's Bays, at all of which a whaleboat can land in fine weather, the result might have been different. Some of them have been here for months and got over to the beach before, but, having got good prospects, had to leave owing to their tucker giving out, and say but for the boat turning up the place would never have had a trial. All the men and provisions having been landed at Big Bay, and there being no boats or roads, most of the men landed have simply burrowed about the rocks by the sea. A few have gone up the track cut by the Red Hill Company as far as the cascade, and report — some one thing, some another. One morning four men who had just returned told me they could not raise the colour; and the same evening one man came down with a very good prospect of coarse gold. Undoubtedly several prospects have been got, but nothing to indicate the likelihood that a payable goldfield has as yet been discovered. There was recently a tremeudous rainfall in this district, and enormous slips have occurred in all directions. Miles of level country behind Martin's Bay are covered with a deposit of silt and debris to a depth of from 4ft to 20ft, the undergrowth being almost entirely covered and the trees standing, as it were, waist deep. We were anchored at Milford Sound during the flood, and were startled at midnight by a tremendous landslip thundering down about three miles off us. I measured the rain as well as I could in a bucket, and found that 20 inches fell between 5 a.m. and 8 p.m. Sutherland (of Milford Sound) and party have been some months working between the Sound and Martin's Bay. He is constructing a race and going in for extensive workings consequent on the results of a thorough prospect of the district. The weather since landing here has been splendid, but sandflies by day and mosquitoes by night are rather trying. -Otago Daily Times, 5/2/1887.
There seems to be some geographic confusion here. Big Bay is immediately to the north of Martins Bay. Paulin mentions a township at Big Bay but seems to be referring to Jamestown, the ill-fated town beside Lake McKerrow, inland from Martins Bay.
Birth.
Paulin. — On the 23rd March, at her residence, St, Clair, the wife of Robert Paulin, of a daughter. -Evening Star, 24/3/1887.
It seems that Robert was still on the West Coast when Catherine gave birth to their daughter - and he never saw their little girl, who lived for only two weeks.
A GRIEVANCE.
TO THE EDITOR.
Sir. — I have been for several months prospecting the country behind Big Bay, and with others understood that the s.s. Stella would call about the beginning of April, bringing stores for those who wished to remain, and taking away those who wished to leave. On the 13th inst. the s.s. Waipara anchored in Big Bay, and tried to send a boat on shore. (On Jan. 28 she also sent a boat which merely flung the mails on shore, and returned to the steamer, saying they would call in again on their way back from Milford, which they never did). But the boat, after, proceeding some distance, returned to the steamer, and was hoisted on board, those in charge seeming not to know the proper course to the landing. Whereupon the settlers, fearing the steamer was going to leave them, launched a boat and went off to the Waipara without any difficulty. They made three trips and landed the mails and most of the Waipara’s cargo, partly consisting of stores for the Government surveyors. The remainder of the cargo was landed by the steamer’s boat, which made one trip ashore, after being shewn the way by the settlers. I may here state that when the Captain of the Waipara arrived in Hokitika he reported that he landed his mails and cargo with much difficulty at Big Bay. The settlers were told that the Stella had landed such cargo as she had for Big Bay and the Waipara, and would not call at Big Bay this trip; so that any who wanted to get away must go by the Waipara. They were also much disappointed to find that the Waipara had nothing to dispose of save flour and salt meat, and several of them intend to remain, and are in need of provisions and boots. Those who left by the Waipara were charged L65 for a passage to Hokitika, and charges to other places are on the same scale. The Waipara receives £1000 a year to make six trips to Milford Sound from Hokitika, calling at intermediate coast settlements. This subsidy, it may be presumed, is made with the intention of promoting trade and settlement in that part of the coast, by furnishing the settlers with provisions and the means of locomotion at regular intervals; but the action of the Waipara’s managers cannot but frustrate any such intention. The idea of a subsidised steamer making such charges and going about without proper stores is absurd, and if the Government really wish to help the many men who are scattered about that part of the coast, and are really doing good work in trying to develop its resources, the sooner the matter is enquired into and altered the better.
—I am, &c., ROBERT PAULIN. -Lyttelton Times, 25/4/1887.
Robert Paulin was back home for the winter when he addessed a complaint to the Caversham Borough Council regarding road conditions. In July of 1887 he lectured the Otago Institute about his time at Big Bay and his experience of the subsidised exploration of its resources. He was not, on the whole, complimentary.
Rough Picnicking. — In reading a paper on his experiences about Big Bay, before the Otago Institute, Mr B. Paulin passed some rather severe strictures on the expedition to Big Bay arranged by the Government during last spring. Nearly 200 men had been sent there at the Government expense, and left to do as they liked. They were then taken home again, after having received £1 for every pound spent by them there, and in some cases an additional £5 when they got home. Some two months after the landing of the expedition he found only 70 men there. They were amusing themselves about the township, larking and playing games, occasionally sallying out on shooting expeditions, and waiting for the steamer to take them back. They were poorly equipped for prospecting, and had an insufficient supply of provisions. The whole expedition was just a summer picnic chiefly at the cost of the Government, and the country was really no more prospected than it was before the men went there. Not a mile of it had been tested but what had previously been gone over. There were, however, some honourable exceptions among the men who were still engaged on the field in April but probably by this time, owing to tbe uncertainty of visits from the steamer, they had been starved out. -Southland Times, 14/7/1887.
Robert was back in Big Bay for the summer of 1887-8.
Mr Robert Paulin, of St. Clair, has handed to us the following interesting notes of his recent trip: —
The s.s. Stella left the Bluff on October 5 and proceeded to Bruce Bay, calling at intervening sounds and bays, and returned to the Bluff on the 15th. Very heavy westerly swell and strong winds were met with during the trip.
While waiting in Dusky Sound for the sea to moderate, Captain Fairchild succeeded in raising several portions of the old wreck which lies in Facile Harbor. The timber recovered was of teak, in a good state of preservation, and some of the pieces measured 22ft in length and 14in by 12in in thickness. An attempt was made to lift the keel, but did not succeed, although its position was shifted. The wreck lies a few feet below low-water line, and its outline can clearly be seen when the water is clear and still, as was the case during the Stella’s visit. It is partly covered with English freestone. Dr Hocken supposes this to be the wreck of the Endeavor, lost about 1793. Several old Maoris and West Coast men tell the following: - When an old Maori, who for some years lived at Riverton, was a boy with his father in the Sounds, a ship named the Endymore put into Facile Harbor in a leaky condition. Her crew was a very large one, composed chiefly of Indians, with a few white men. The vessel was hove down to try and get at the leak and capsized, and sunk in consequence. The white men left the Sound in one of the boats and were not again heard of. The Indians shifted from island to island. Many of them died through eating tutu berries, and the rest of them died of starvation in a cave on one of the islands near the entrance to Dusky Sound, where their bones can still be seen.” Captain Fairchild intended to visit this island, but the swell was too heavy to permit landing.
At Mussel Beach a portion of a wreck was observed, and close to it the words “Helen and Jane” were painted on a board. Provisions were left here, in case some prospectors, whose smoke was seen about twenty miles to the west, should run short of food. Both going and coming attempts were made to communicate with these men, but the sea was too rough. A cutter will start immediately from the Bluff to look after them. A large sea-tree over four feet long was obtained at Big Bay.
A visit to Lake Ada was made from the head of Milford. The track is good, and one has to walk at a good steady pace for an hour to do the distance. There are two streams to cross, either of which might very quickly become impassable should heavy rain come on. The delightful fern and forest scenery cannot fail to delight both amateur and expert. Prince of Wales’s feather ferns grow in quantities close to the track, and on all sides one gets glimpses through the forest of from five to six thousand feet castellated peaks flecked with snow, and here and there cascades tumbling down their rocky and forest-clad sides. A full account of Lake Ada, the giant waterfall, and other wonders of this district will no doubt be duly furnished by Mr Adams on his return from inspecting the track being cut from Milford towards Te Anau Lake. -Evening Star, 16/8/1888.
Regarding the existence of a strange animal resembling an otter, in the waters of the West Coast, Mr Robert Paulin writes to the Otago Daily Times: — "A prospector who went to Big Bay in 1886, and who about the beginning of 1887 was prospecting near Grassy Flat, nine miles from Big Bay, stated that one day, as he was coming down what is known as the Red Hill track, where it runs close to the Pyke river, a long bodied short legged, bushy tailed animal crossed the track just in front of him. He thought it was something like a badger, but it was out of sight before he could get a good look at it. Last December, I and the men I had with me, on different occasions in the same locality, saw the impressions of an animal's feet in the sand, in the bed of the D Creek, close to where it joins the Pyke river. The footprints were clearly defined, and not unlike what an otter might make. I took a sketch of them, and am sure that they were make by neither dog, cat, rat, nor bird. Captain Cook reported a short legged animal being seen in, I believe, Dusky Sound." Perhaps some of the explorers residing about here could say something on the subject? -Western Star, 5/12/1888.
COMMERCIAL
MINING NOTES.
Messrs Paulin and Co. left for the West Coast yesterday on a prospecting expedition, and will be picked up at the Bluff by the Stella. -Evening Star, 2/1/1889.
WEST COAST EXPLORATIONS.
Mr Robert Paulin writes from Jackson's Bay under date, 12th inst.: —
LAKE ALICE,
On my way from the Bluff to this place I was able to visit a lake at the head of George Sound and the Sutherland Falls. The lake has two outlets, about 15 chains apart, separated by a forest-clad bluff, and flowing into the head of George Sound. One of these outlets forms a considerable waterfall in full view from the steamer anchorage. The other, the most southerly one, is a small stream of water trickling over a bare granite face. Up this face a small boat was taken and put into a narrow channel which leads from the top of the face to the lake, which is about 200 ft above the sea level. We rowed to the head and went about half a mile up a river which comes into it. The lake is about 200 chains long and 90 wide at its greatest width. It has a well-defined bay to the right going in and a considerable island close to the two outlets. The water is deep with no obstruction to navigation. It is surrounded by splendid Alpine scenery. The general bearing of the lake is about E.N.E., and the river which flows into it about N.N.E. It flows through a level valley which can be seen extending for some miles in the direction of the Sutherland Falls. Sutherland told me afterwards that there is an easy pass through a gorge a mile or two below his falls to both George and Bligh Sounds, and also Te Anau lake. As we brought the boat away with us, it would be well worth the USS. Company's while to put a boat on this lake, it being so easy of access, and a row on its waters would be one of the most enjoyable trips tourists to the sounds could undertake. We named the lake Alice and the river at the head of it Edith, after two lady passengers who were the first to traverse its waters. The bay was named Danby Bay, and the island Bibles Island. A high mountain near the head of the lake was called Marble Mountain, on account of a large deposit of what appears to be marble cropping out on the mountain side.
SUTHERLAND FALLS. A fellow passenger and self, with one of my bushmen, landed at the commencement of the track at 10 a.m., and reached the hut at the foot of Lake Ada at 10.45 a.m. We met Mr Sutherland close to the hut on his way down to the sound, and he kindly turned back with us, subsequently guiding us to the falls. Without his guidance I doubt if we should have made them by night. About 40 chains of the track being obliterated by a landslip. Mr Sutherland deserves the highest praise for the skill he has shown in constructing and selecting the track. Had it not been made I would not have given much for Mr McKinnon's chance of reaching Milford from Te Anau, good bushman as he is. Sutherland received for this work, building a boat and two large huts, the sum of £50 which he says gave him 3s a day, and I see no reason to doubt his statement. He has opened up a piece of scenery unparallelled for beauty in New Zealand; he has given to the country a property that will in a few years bring in a large annual revenue, and he gets £50. And more than that, his modest request to purchase the five poor acres about his house and bit of garden has been refused. There are hundreds of acres in the neighbourhood as good as the five Sutherland applied for, and which it would be better for the country if Government gave them away to people willing to live on them; and yet they will not sell the man who has shown them the value of the country a paltry five acres. Such action as this is calculated to make the hardy men who, isolated from civilisation, are spending their lives in trying to develop the wealth of our waste lands sick of their work, and drive them from the country. But to return to our trip, we embarked on Lake Ada at 11.20 a.m., and pulling up it, entered the right of the two streams which flow into the lake's head, called the Posidon, the one to the left being known as Joes river. We pulled two miles up the Posidon, having a rather stiff pull in two or three places where the river is shallow, and reached the track at 1 p.m. (at one point the passengers were landed for about 10 chains, on account of the strength of the current). Here we found a tent and three contractors, who are to build huts and repair the track, and who are not likely, I think, to make anything like wages at their contract. They were enveloped in a cloud of sandflies and all along the route if we stopped to admire the scenery the sandflies stopped too and embraced us. We made tea at the contractors' fire, had lunch, and resumed our journey at 2 15 p.m., going very easy with many stoppages. We arrived at the upper hut, one mile and a-half from the falls, at 5.45 p.m and leaving our swags at the hut, reached the falls at 6.45 p.m., stayed some time, and returned to the hut at 7.30 p.m. where we passed the night. We left next morning at 6.45 a.m., and taking it yery easy, having lunch on the way, we got back to Milford Sound at 3.30 p.m. The actual distances are:
From Bowen Falls to track, by boat ... ... Two miles
Track to foot of Lake Ada ... Two miles
Lake Ada, by boat ... Three miles and a-half
River and upper lake to track, by boat ... ... Two miles
Track to upper hut ... Seven miles
Upper hut to falls ... One mile and a-half.
The boat work is all easy, except for some stiff pulling in the Poseidon river. Lake Ada is very shallow and full of snags, but Sutherland has nearly finished marking a passage right up it. The track is very easy as far as the upper hut with the exceptions of a portion, covered by a slip, and about 20 chains of steep ascent over broken ground. From the hut to the falls the track is rough, there being a good deal of river bed work. Were the slip repaired, a deviation from the broken ground made, and the track above the hut made good, which could certainly be done, ponies might be taken from the head of the lake to the falls. I have seen them taken over worse ground carrying ladies. It would be necessary to pitch stones and logs into some of the soft places.
The scenery the whole way is of the grandest, a succession of castellated, snow-clad, and often glacier-bound peaks appearing to surprise the visitor with their magnificence and delight him with their variety of outline and colour. Mount Balloon is the most conspicuous, and is seen towering to the east as the traveller proceeds from the upper hut to the falls. Most of the peaks in view are about 6000ft above sea level. Where the falls break over the cliff from their icy bed is well above the bush line, close on 4000ft above sea level and we could hardly think they were only 1904 ft high. After careful consideration we came to the conclusion that they contained about twice the body of water coming down Bowen Falls. At the foot of the falls a heavy everlasting, rain driven by an icy gale, washes a pile of boulders covered with rushes, extending in a circle of about 200 yds radius from the falls.
THE PASSES. On the way Mr Sutherland pointed out various gorges between tremendous precipices which he said were passes to George and Bligh Sounds, Poison Bay and Lake Te Anau. He also pointed out McKinnon's track. When going up Lake Ada, and about halfay up to the right, will be seen a gloomy gorge, shut in by glacier-bound peaks. This is the Giants' Gate Gorge, and the mountains behind it known as Terror Peaks. Below these peaks is seen the greatest mass of glacier and snow to be seen along the route. Grand as is the scenery going to the falls, Mr Sutherland assured us that it falls far short of that to be found in the Cleddau River Valley. -Otago Daily Times, 25/1/1889.
EXPLORING THE WEST COAST.
Mr Robert Paulin has just returned from a lengthened trip to that comparatively unknown part of the country lying between the seaboard and the dividing range which separates the Wakatipu district from the West Coast, and has kindly given one of our staff a few notes concerning his travels in those parts.
Where have I been to? you ask. Well, I travelled about forty miles inland from Jackson Bay. We disembarked from the steamer at the settlement, which, by the way, seems to lack signs of prosperity, taking a boat with us in which we — by the “we” I mean four men besides myself — packed our stores in her and towed them up the river bed for about twenty-eight miles. The river I am referring to is the Arawata. It is a glacial river, emptying itself about three miles north of Jackson Bay. The bed of this river varies from a mile to two miles in width. The surrounding scenery is particulary bold and imposing, even by comparison with the wellknown grandeur of these West Coast districts. The river runs just about north and south. On the eastern bank rise the Thomson Mountains and the Aspiring Range with its tallest peak 10,000 ft above the sea level; while on the other, the western side, you have the Olivine and Barrier Range, as bold a series of peaks as one could desire to see, the greatest altitude of this range being 7,000 ft. When we had got the boat 28 miles up the river we came to a gorge, at the mouth of which the bed suddenly narrows to a width of about two chains. It will give you an idea of the tremendous rush of water there must be down this gorge in rainy weather when I tell you that there are water marks in the gorge 50ft above the level of the river bed, and the level valley below is in times of flood covered several feet deep with swift-running water. Just at the foot of this gorge there is a splendid waterfall. I went right up to it and photographed it, and also took careful measurements, with the result that I state it to be 1,700 ft high from the top. It falls over a series of terraces, and terminates in a sheer drop of 814 ft, fifty yards wide. This fall runs all the year round. We were there, you will bear in mind, in the winter time, when there was a hard frost. The face must be singularly beautiful when rain is more abundant.
Has this fall never been seen before? I believe it has, for other people have been pretty well up the river bed: but so far as I know I was the first to make a close inspection of it.
What is the name of the fall? — lt has no name. Mr Mueller, the Government Surveyor at Hokitika, says that it has never before been fully described, and he proposes to do me the honor by calling it the Paulin Fall.
And what sort of country is it in those parts? — Well, one of the most important features about the place is that all the river beds around the district, including the Arawata, of which I have been specially speaking, are dusted with fine floury gold. You can get the color anywhere. You could put a piece of moss between two stones in the water and go after a flood and squeeze out a prospect; and in one of the likeliest-looking spots I knocked out one pennyweight as the result of a day’s work with a rough cradle made by one of my men out of kerosene tins and a meat case. The whole formation round about is of broken mica schist, the mountains being entirely composed of it. Generally speaking, the ground would not pay for working, the gold being so much distributed on the surface — I am speaking of a depth of six inches or thereabouts. But there must be concentrated deposits somewhere about — some place that has caught and held the gold, but which can be ascertained by systematic borings in the river bed — and the only question is Where does this gold come from? The answer naturally suggests itself: in the range dividing the sea coast from the auriferous country, the Shotover and other old fields, on the eastern side. The head of the Dart must be within a comparatively short distance of the place where we were camped.
But did you make no attempt to prospect or cross this dividing range? — I intend to do so, prospecting the heads of the various sources of the Arawata, the intense frost of this winter rendering any attempt futile.
As to the character of the country, apart from its auriferous nature? Well, the scenery is just delightful, and the climate the best I have lived in, but the place is awfully rough. The gorge I spoke of is only five miles long. To get to the head of it we had to cut a track through the bush alongside the foot of the mountains, and a tough job it was scrambling over boulders and fallen timber and landslips. Some of the boulders were 100ft high. When we emerged into the open at the head of the gorge we found ourselves 1,200 ft above sea level, and from that altitude we could see that the Arawata has four separate branches, each of which comes out of a glacier. There are open tussock flats in these valleys above the gorge, which might carry a few sheep or cattle. In one of these valleys we found plenty of rabbits There is a fair supply of timber available — mostly red and black birch and kamai — but not of much use except for fuel, the large trees being few and far between. There are about 100 people at the Jackson Bay settlement, and they live by farming and occasionally getting a little gold. You might mention that it seems a pity no attempt has yet been made to acclimatise salmon in the rivers of that coast. The Arawata, the Hollyford, the Okura, the Waitoto, the Turnbull, the Haast, and other rivers coming from the mountain ranges, are just the places that salmon would thrive in, the conditions being the same as in the rivers of Norway. I regret to hear that the Government are introducing ferrets to the West Coast. I was told that twenty had recently been turned out at the head of the Haast. I doubt if rabbits will ever be troublesome on the West Coast. At some places where they appeared they have died out. The ferrets will only exterminate the native birds.
Mr Paulin also spoke of a visit that he paid to the Okura settlement, about seventeen miles north of Jackson Bay, where the residents live entirely by agricultural and pastoral pursuits. The soil here is particularly fertile, and the settlers have in profusion everything they want except money and more frequent communication with the outer world. -Evening Star, 3/8/1889.
BOOK NOTICES
The Wild West Coast; By Robert Paulin. Thoburn and Co., London.
The author of this little volume is well known in Dunedin and suburbs both by his explorations of the field he now describes and by his frequent contributions to the local press. In the pages before us he describes in narrative form the incidents of a prospecting tour which a party organised by himself made to the West Coast Sounds in the summer of 1886. Our author possesses good descriptive powers, and his style may be judged from his description of the Bowen Falls:
Speech, even if I had a companion with me, would have been impossible; thought itself was almost so. Above, around, and under me rolled a never-ending peal of thunder, which shook the ground I stood upon. In front of me I beheld a vibrating, foaming, vaporing pillar of water over 500ft high and 50ft across, whose top I could see, but whose base was hidden by the hissing clouds of spray rising from the deep basin at its foot. Its roar deafened me, and I am sure that had a heavy piece of ordnance been discharged close to my ear I should not have heard the report. I was both delighted and awed with the majesty of the Bowen Falls . . . It was now sunset, and as evening came on the scene we gazed on was grandly serene, yet beautifully wild. It was perfectly calm, the silent waters reflecting and increasing the sunset glory of the mountain. The sunlight gilded the snow-capped peaks long after the shades of night had fallen on us. While the bushy mountain sides, valleys, and lower peaks — notably one immediately under Mitre Peak — assumed a cobalt black tint, the outlines of the higher rocky masses stood out clear and distinct against the evening sky. I have seen nothing to approach the scene we beheld since I gazed out of the darkness of the night at the 29,000 ft high peaks of Chan-Chin Jungla in the Himalayas, with their eternal snows still ruddy in the sunlight. The panorama spread before us reminded me irresistibly of the time when I had viewed mightier masses than those now looking us in the face — though not their equal in abrupt outline, and lacking the presence of water to reflect and magnify their terrible beauty. Gradually the last pink flush faded away from the highest snow, and the outlines of the mountains could be distinguished against the sky, in which the stars were now glimmering. We seemed to be floating at the bottom of a deep pit, for the countless bright stars overhead played with a dim light on the water around us. Presently a nearly full moon came climbing over the sharp black edge of a huge wall to the east, and as she rose, threw over the scene a veil of silvery mist. Early next morning there were no mountains to be seen. Masses of white mist obscured both mountain peak and wooded valley, but these dispersed as the sun mounted up in the heavens, though they still lingered about the snow-clad crests and dark timbered slopes, like beautiful broken pink-and-white fleeces.
Not the least attractive part of the little book is that in which Mr Paulin happily hits off some of the idiosyncrasies of the “pioneers,” and those who know these men can enjoy the humor of the relation. Unfortunately the Maori names are often misspelt; these blemishes are inseparable from publication beyond the power of the author to revise proofs. -Evening Star, 5/4/1890.
At the last meeting of the Otago Land Board Robert Paulin applied for authority to prospect for gold over an area of 610 acres at Big Bay, West Coast. The area referred to being within a goldfield, the applicant was informed he must apply to a warden. -Western Star, 5/4/1890.
LEPROSY AT ST. CLAIR.
TO THE EDITOR, Sir, — The inquiries into this case, instituted by the Caversham Council and others, seem to show that, as the law is at present, any community runs the daily risk of having introduced into its midst a loathsome and contagious disease such as leprosy, without any notice being given to the local authorities.
That leprosy is loathsome will be admited; and Sir Morell Mackenzie, in his article headed ‘The Dreadful Revival of Leprosy,’ which appeared in the December, 1889, number of the ‘Nineteenth Century,’ shows that there is every reason to deem it contagious. And yet, given a charity board, such as the Benevolent Institution Trustees, anxious to get rid of a nasty case, on the other side a private resident willing for a pecuniary consideration to take the case off their hands and say nothing about it, there is the likelihood of persons suffering from contagious diseases like leprosy being located in any community in the colony unknown to the authorities or anyone else.
This, as is well known, recently took place at St. Clair. A leper was boarded with a private resident by the Benevolent Institution Trustees, and nobody for a long time, save the resident and the Trustees, knew anything about it. This leper lived for months in close proximity to a family who had not the slightest idea that they were contigious to a loathsome and contagious disease. As a family man and a ratepayer I protest against such action. Why, sir, as things are at present, should the Benevolent Trustees get more leprosy cases on their hands, and fall in with one or more accommodating householders at St. Clair, the iniquity could be repeated, and we might be rubbing shoulders with lepers and know nothing about it till perhaps some of us were attacked with the disease.
There is reason to believe that there are several cases of leprosy among the Maoris in the North Island. Sir Morell Mackenzie says it is attributable to eating a small carp which exists in large numbers in a diseased state in Lake Taupo. I would suggest that Government erect a lazaretto for lepers in the North Island, and that for the future all cases of leprosy be remitted to it without, delay; and that legal measures be enacted to prevent any such surreptitious disposal of lepers as that recently carried out by the Benevolent Trustees.
— I am, etc., Robert Paulin. Dunedin, June 6. -Evening Star, 6/6/1890.
The Government steamer Hinemoa returned from her visit to the Southern lighthouses yesterday morning. Messrs Kingdon, of this city, who have been prospecting at the goldfields on Coal Island, Preservation Inlet, returned to Wellington by the steamer. They had little success, and they state that none of the prospectors, who number about sixty, are doing much good. Mr Paulin, who has an interest in several claims at Big Bay, was also a passenger. Mr Paulin brought with him a quantity of quartz, which he intends to have crushed at Dunedin. The Hinemoa brought up a quantity of the exhibits which have been used at the Armament Court at the Exhibition. She will sail for Lyttelton tomorrow, taking a large gun for one of the forts there. She is expected to leave Lyttelton on Monday, with several railway carriages for Picton and Nelson. -NZ Times, 11/7/1890.
Government Notifications
APPLICATION FOR SPECIAL CLAIM.
District: Otago.
Date: 18th August 1890.
To the Warden at Dunedin.
I HEREBY APPLY for a SPECIAL CLAIM for GOLD MINING PURPOSES, under the provisions of "The Mining Act 1886," of the lands hereinafter described. ROBERT PAULIN.
Name and address in full of applicant: — Robert Paulin, Surveyor, Dunedin.
Style under which it is intended to conduct the business: Big Bay Pioneer Mining Company.
Locality where the land applied for is situated: — On and adjoining Slip Creek, Big Bay.
Extent of land applied for: — Sixty acres.
Amount of capital proposed to be invested: — L6000.
Proposed mode of working the land: — Sluicing and crushing by water power.
Term for which special claim grant is required: — Twenty-one years.
General remarks: — Application is made on the grounds mentioned in section 114 of "The Mining Act 1886."
Dated at Dunedin this 18th day of August 1890.
The above application and any objeotions will be heard at the Warden's Office, at Dunedin, on 3rd October 1890. Any person desiring to object to the granting of a special claim applied for must, within 40 clear days from the date of such application, enter his objections at the Warden's Office at Dunedin.
W. B. SESSIONS. Pro Warden.
Warden's Office, Dunedin, 18th August 1890. -Otago Witness, 21/8/1890.
WAIAREKA ROAD BOARD.
The monthly mooting of the above Board was held yesterday, when there were present Messrs Reid (chairman), Conlan, Jackson, Livingstone, Meek, Isdale, and Hainforth.
The minutes were read and confirmed.
A letter was recoived from Messrs Stout, Moody, and Sim, stating that Mr Robert Paulin intended to reside on his farm, and he would confer with the Board as to an alteration in the proposed road, as that proposed by the Board was too steep; and they made the request that the matter of forming the road stand over till Mr Paulin could confer with the Board on the subject. Mr Conlan said he thought it would be impossible to get a better road. It was decided to delay proceeding till after a conference with Mr Paulin. -North Otago Times, 4/8/1891.
We observe that Mr Robert Paulin, of St. Clair, has been elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of London. -Evening Star, 5/2/1892.
THE RED HILL AND AWARUITE DISTRICT.
By Robert Paulin, F.G.S.
The portionsof the Barrier Ranges referred to in this paper are those of its mountains which run at right angles to, and lie to the south of, the Olivine and Red Hill Ranges, forming the head of the Cascade Valley and the gathering ground of the head waters of the Cascade river. This range runs N.W. to S.E., and the Red Hill and Olivine Ranges, although of different formation, may be said to be spurs running at right angles to it, with the Cascade river between them.
The Barrier Mountains form part of the dividing range between the East and West Coast. Those of them I refer to are of schist and slate formation. The line where their formation joins that of the Red Hill is very clearly defined, in many places running as straight as though laid off with a theodolite. The surface of the Barrier rock, having a grey colour, forms a marked contrast to that of the Red Hill. In many places the different formations can be traced by the vegetation, that of the Barrier being covered with bush below and grass above the bush line, that of the Red Hill both below and above the hush line being devoid of vegetation. In one place, where the big Red Hill joins the Barrier, a straight line comes down the mountain face for over a thousand feet of Ascent; on one side of the line is thick birch bush, on the other side bare red rock. The appearance of the Barriers is grand in the extreme, comprising a series of distinct, jagged, precipitous, chasm-rent, rocky peaks, rising to the height of between 7000 ft and 8000ft. above sea level, having several glaciers scattered among them, from which numerous cascades fall in many places several hundred feet over sheer precipices. These chasms, which cross the ridges at right angles, are a feature of the range, and rather an awkward one, too, for the explorer. Several times in trying to ascend some of these peaks I have got on to what seemed to be a leading spur to the summit, and, going on swimmingly, joyfully anticipating the view I would get when at the top, suddenly found further progress stayed by a chasm, not so very many feet wide, but hundreds deep. The ice of the glaciers which lie about the Barrier peaks is very clear. I came on one, one day, 5000 ft above, the sea which had a face of about 200 ft deep. In this face was a split which I entered, walking on hard rock in running water. The split was about l0ft wide and 30ft high, and I don't know how deep. I went in about 20yds, and then turned back, for many reasons. The walls of ice on each side of me were as clear as crystal, and the eye could apparently, see into them for a great distance. As I came out of the glacier a butterfly fluttered by close to me, and several blowflies profaned the scenery with their abominable presence.
Coming to the Red Hill Range, we have the great Red Hill itself. The most extraordinary-looking mountain I ever saw. Its highest peaks are nearly 7000 ft above sea level. The range is a craggy ridge about l2 miles long and five miles wide, running nearly magnetic N. and S. between the Pyke and Cascade rivers. Its sides are strewn with broken rock and boulders, but its rugged crests are very solid, not cracked and fissured as are the Olivine Mountains. The north portion of this range forms a spur about three miles long, having peaks between; 4000 and 5000 ft elevation, and partially detached from the main range by a 3400ft saddle. On either side of this spur, about 700 ft below its crest and on the same elevation on the Red Hill itself, are level stony plateaus, in places a mile across. On these plateaus are several tarns, circular in shape, some deep, others shallow. Some of them have rims of fire-fused boulders round them. On the Red Hill itself are circular funnels with pipes at the bottom of them. A stone thrown down one of them could be heard falling to a great depth. At another place a torrent of water bursts from the mountain side, falls about 300 ft, and then absolutely disappears. I have heard the roar of this torrent when camped three miles away as the crow flies. The scenery of the Red Hill is the most interesting imaginable. When first I saw it I called it I fairyland, and a friend of mine that I took up who has haunted New Zealand mountains for 25 years, came back after being on the Red Hill for three weeks and said it was enchanted, and that every day the scenery and the formation more and more bewitched him. I remember one day sitting down in a hollow and gazing at the extraordinary red rock peaks which towered all round me, and suddenly I thought I had seen something like it before, and that was the weird, sun-blistered, fire-blasted Aden. There was a decided resemblance. I named that valley Little Aden, and the day being very hot I could almost fancy myself, in that far-off land, but soon I saw projecting around the corner of a crag 3000ft above me a mass of green ice incrusted with snow, which dispelled the illusion. I came one day on a little flat covered with what looked like white cockles. They proved to be lime incrustations. The range is subject to numerous earthquakes, and I have often felt them. One day when taking observations from one of the Red Hill peaks there came a severe shock, and a mass of boulders not many yards away started a race to the bottom of the hill. Sometimes these boulders will take charge without any warning. One day, as my brother-in-law and I were swagging round the side of the big Red Hill, he saw a half-ton boulder making a bee line for him. He tried to get out of its way, but it just touched the corner of his swag and sent him flying. He was not hurt, but he might have been. The north spur of the Red Hill terminates at Mount Chieftain, a mountain of 4400ft elevation, the meeting point of the Red Hill, Bald Hill, and Joker Rangers. The last two are of slate formation. Mount Chieftain is half slate and half Red Hill formation. The Joker range is about seven miles long, going from Mount Chieftain first in a N.E. and then N.W. direction, and runs out at the saddle between the Gorge and the Cascade rivers. The Bald Hill Range branches into another shorter range of similar formation, is about five miles long and both it and its branch run out about seven miles from the sea on the flats which extend inland to their base from the head of Big Bay. On a narrow ridge 3600ft above the sea, on the Bald Hill Range is an enormous floater boulder of different formation from the Bald Hill Range. I found the identical formation in situ seven miles away as the crow flies, at an elevation of 4800ft. Between the floater and its formation lie the 2000 ft deep Cascade Valley. How did this floater cross the valley? Perhaps it came before the valley existed — slid down on a glacier which once crept over a tableland since carved into valleys and ridges as we now see it. These ranges have the usual dense forest to 3300ft, and some of their peaks are over 4000 ft above sea level. In their gullies we find Red Hill formation boulders, and scattered about their sides are fragments of quartz, containing good-sized clear mica. Above the bush line, especially on the Joker Range, are several miles of tolerably level, well grassed country, which appears suitable for grazing, but I have seen deep snow on it at Christmas, and met with short snow storms in January and February. But as snow does not lie on it permanently even in winter, Highland cattle and black-faced sheep would, I daresay, live on it. Thousands of kakapo live along the edge of the bush line, and travel about the open at night, making tracks that might be taken for sheep tracks. They feed on the grass stalks, which are found cut into slices, as though they had been put through a chaffcutter. The grunts and groans and screams of these birds at night in the open are something diabolical. Although kakapo are found down to the sea level, I never heard them make their horrible, groaning grunt much above 2000ft elevation. Above that, especially on the border of the bush, seems to be their happy grunting ground. This grunt is so terrific that at first I could hardly believe it was made by the bird, and it was not till one day I saw a dog kill a kakapo, which gave the grunt before he died, that I was convinced. When camped on these ranges we half lived on kakapo. They are, indeed, very nice if you cook them slowly for 24 hours.
The Sarah Hills are slip-marked, bush-covered hills, rising to about 3000 ft, formed partly of serpentinous slate and partly of limestone. I have been told that they are named after a young Maori lady, whose acquaintance Dr Hector made when he went down there somewhere in the sixties. -Otago Daily Times, 18/2/1892.
Mr Robert Paulin, authorised surveyor, has commenced business at Ngapara and Oamaru as surveyor and land valuator. -North Otago Times, 25/3/1892.
ROBERT PAULIN, ESQ., F.G.S.,
WILL DELIVER A
L E C T U R E
IN THE
ATHENAEUM HALL, NGAPARA,
on
FRIDAY, 28TH OCTOBER, AT 7.30 p.m.
SUBJECT: THE CORAL ISLANDS,
With Lime Light Illustrations.
Admission, 1s; School Children, Free. Proceeds in aid of the School Prize Fund.
-Oamaru Mail, 22/10/1892.
Election Gossip
Mr Robert Paulin, who is now settled at Ngapara as a farmer, is definitely out for the Waitaki seat, having received a numerously-signed requisition asking him to stand. His opponents so far declared are Major Steward and the Rev. G. Barclay. -Evening Star, 28/9/1893.
N.Z. LAND ASSOCIATION
IMPORTANT CLEARING SALE OF 7,000 SHEEP AND LAMBS, HORSES, CATTLE, FARM IMPLEMENTS, Etc. TUESDAY, 27th MARCH. On the Homestead, Ngapara. At 11 o'clock.
E P. BURBURY (on behalf of the New Zealand Land Association, Limited) has been favored with instructions from Mr Robert Paulin (who has disposed of his farm) to offer the whole of his Live and Dead Stock for Unreserved sale, as follows —
300 Threequarterbred 2 tooth Ewes
300 Threequarterbred 2-tooth Wethers
800 Crossbred Ewes (full mouthed)
300 Merino Ewes (full mouthed)
1300 Crossbred Lambs (prime freezers)
14 Border Leicester Rams
5 Lincoln Rams Shropshire Rams
2 Firstclas Draught Mares
1 First-class Draught Gelding
1 Purebred shorthorn Bull (20 months)
3 First class Dairy Cows
4 Head Young cattle
7 Bacon Pigs
Also a number of Farming Implements, comprising Harrows, Ploughs, Buckeye Reaper and Binder (new), Sowing Machine, by Reid and Gray (new), Oat Crusher, Harness, etc.
Also, by kind permission of Mr Paulin. On account of other vendors —
3000 Well-grown 4-tooth Crossbred Wethers, in very forward condition, suitable for finishing off on stubbles (being the sheep previously advertised for sale on the 20th instant)
400 Freezers (very prime)
350 Fat full-mouthed Crossbred Ewes
As this is a Bona Fide Clearing Sale the auctioneer solicits the attention of purchasers to same, and feels sure that those attending will not regret their visit. As arrangements can be made with Mr Paulin for leaving stock purchased on the farm for a reasonable time, buyers will not be incommoded by hurried delivery.
Train for Ngapara leaves Oamaru at 6.50 a.m., buyers returning by train leaving Ngapara at 6 p.m.
Luncheon provided
E. P. BURBURY,
Manager and Auctioneer;
New Zealand Land Association, (Ltd.), Oamaru. -North Otago Times, 22/3/1894.
We regret to learn that Mr Robert Paulin's absence from the meeting of householders last night at Ngapara was due to an accident which occurred on his farm, and by which he had several ribs broken. We understand that he is at present in Dunedin. -Oamaru Mail, 24/3/1894.
Robert Paulin made the political mistake of likening John McKenzie's Land Act - which was formed to break up the large "squatter" estates to put people on the land and which fortuitously coincided with the development of the technology which began the frozen meat trade with Britain - to the Highland Clearances of much earlier in the 19th century. The Clearances were the reason for many familes to be in New Zealand.
In another column of this issue Mr Robert Paulin, of Ngapara, calls upon us, with a perfervid picturesqueness that is superior even to the propriety of a proper representation of facts, to weep with him. We hasten to cast ourselves into his sympathetic arms and join with the new Jeremiah in a modern version of Lamentations. Mr Robert Paulin asks us to bewail with him the prospective eviction of every landholder in New Zealand under the Lands for Settlement Act. Shall Mr Robert Paulin ask this in vain? Shall he suffer and be strong alone? Shall he ask for tears and denunciations and we give him laughter and callous inaction? No, though "wisdom were the scorn of consequence" we cannot let him sue without avail. Through the film of fast-gathering tears, drawn from the depths of our stricken heart by his pathetic cry, we can see the vast army of evicted landowners, chased from their broad acres by a remorseless Government — that sort of Government that would follow them upstairs to bed as the pitiless snowstorm pursues the heroine of a melodrama. Politicians have their honorariums, tradesmen their wares, bankers their regular salaries, newspapers their subscribers, squatters their overdrafts, Mr Robert Paulin his potatoes and his wheat and his sympathetic soul, but the evicted owner has nowhere to invest the thousands he receives for his broad acres, at a higher rate than 7 per cent. A tear steals down the evicted owner's pallid cheek; there is a new face at the homestead door; new cottages usurp the sites of shepherds' huts; growing crops oust the tussock from its natural habitat; the merry voices of ruddy children startle the kea in its haunts upon the foothills; and the rabbit and the hawk lie down in despair. A second tear furrows the lonely owner's haggard cheek, as he sits in his carpet slippers sipping his toddy. The cattle and the sheep upon ten thousand acres no longer browse "in maiden meditation fancy free." There is a hum, and a stir, and a bustle of life, and the voice of the settler is heard in all the corners of the land. Still a third bitter tear — a number nine tear this time —steals down the owner's wan and woeful visage: Nature's primeval solitude is desecrated by the hand of man and the poetic soul of the squatter is seared — his personal atmosphere has been rudely disturbed; he feels as though someone had committed sacrilege — had whistled "After the Ball" in church, or written a love-letter with a typewriter. And so the salt tears chase each other, rolling on their own "axises" adown his pure, pale countenance, and he steals away with his moneybags and lays his wearied limbs under the spangled canopy of some lordly four-poster, upon a hard, cold feather-bed. Poor evicted wretch! Rich, landless, healthy, untroubled by the responsibilities of many broad acres, careless of sun or rain! How infinitely worthier of pity than the wretched Irish peasant, starving from day to day through the rigorous winter, ruined by the famine, rack-rented for his acre of potatoes, until the sum-total of his miseries culminates in the scattering of the sod walls of his cabin, and he faces the world moneyless, homeless, hungry and excusably desperate. Yes, Mr Paulin, cry aloud upon the housetops; beat your breast, and put on sackcloth and ashes for the tyranny of a government who would give such as these a home in a sunny clime, and a few acres to live, not exist, upon, and when your tears are over take heart of grace, for every cloud has a silver lining. -Oamaru Mail, 10/9/1894.
THREATENED EVICTION IN NEW ZEALAND.
TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —
Your emphatic condemnation of eviction as practised in the Old Country is too well known to need comment. Therefore, it is with the utmost confidence that I respectfully ask you to denounce, with at least equal vigor, a still more unjust form of eviction about to be introduced into New Zealand, by the passing of the Land for Settlements Act. The eviction you condemn so strongly in the Old Country is applied to those who cannot, or will not, pay their rent; but the eviction about to be introduced into New Zealand applies not only to those who cannot or will not pay rent or taxes, but to those who can and are willing to do so, and who have bought their homes from the Government, and hold Government titles for the same, for themselves and heirs for ever. For, by the provisions of the Land for Settlements Act, any land-occupier in New Zealand, be he tenant or owner, can be evicted from his home at the pleasure of the Government of New Zealand — a tyranny far beyond that exercised by Old Country landlords. Knowing your utter detestation of tyranny and eviction I await with confidence your vigorous denouncement of its introduction into New Zealand.
I am, etc., Robert Paulin. Ngapara, September 8th, 1894. -Oamaru Mail, 10/9/1894.
Public Notices
NGAPARA C.S. (Caledonian Society)
HAGGIS SUPPER, with Bag Pipes, will be held on WEDNESDAY, the 13th February, at 9 p.m. Admission — Members 1s, non-Members 2s 6d.
ROBERT PAULIN, President. -Oamaru Mail, 8/2/1895.
Yesterday's Telegrams
OAMARU, March 14,
Mr Robert Paulin, civil engineer, but who owns a farm in the Ngapara district, was shot to-day, and died shortly afterwards. He was out shooting rabbits, and while sitting down he rested the gun between his legs. The gun slipped away and in falling struck against a stone and exploded. The charge shattered Mr Paulin’s thigh, and he bled to death in a short time. -South Canterbury Times, 15/3/1895.
MASONIC.
THE BRETHREN of the Ngapara Lodge, No. 68, are SUMMONED to ATTEND the FUNERAL of their late Brother, ROBERT PAULIN, which will leave his late residence at 10 a.m. on SUNDAY, 17th inst., and will reach the Junction at 2 o'clock p. m.
The Brethren of Lodges Waitaki and Kilwinning are requested to attend in Full Regalia.
THOS. LITTLE, W.M. Ngapara
R. J. KEYS, W.M., Waitaki.
W. J. HILL, W.M., Oamaru Kilwinning.
NGAPARA CALEDONIAN SOCIETY.
MEMBERS of the above Society are requested to ATTEND the FUNERAL of MR ROBERT PAULIN, late President of the above Society.
The Funeral will leave his residence on SUNDAY, the 17th inst., at 10 a.m., for the Oamaru Cemetery.
J. TODD, Secretary.
DEATH. Paulin. — On the 14th March, 1895, near his residence, at Ngapara, the result of a gun accident, Robert Paulin, Civil Engineer, aged 43, native of Enfield, near London, England. Home papers please copy.
The funeral will leave his late residence for Oamaru Cemetery at 10 a.m , and will arrive at Town Boundary at 2 p.m., on Sunday, 17th inst. Friends are kindly invited to attend.
G. L, Grenfell, Undertaker, Tees-street. -Oamaru Mail, 15/3/1895.
Accidents and Fatalities.
DEATH OF MR ROBERT PAULIN.
Information was received in town last night about 5 o'clock of the untimely death, through an unfortunate accident, of Mr Robert Paulin, of Ngapara. It appears that Mr Paulin and his son George, aged about 12, went out in the afternoon to shoot rabbits. About three o'clock they sat down on the edge of a bank to have lunch, having previously taken care to remove the cartridges from their guns. While sitting there a rabbit dodged out of the rocks and Mr Paulin slipped a cartridge into his gun, but the rabbit disappearing before he could get a shot he put the gun down between his legs with the butt resting on a stone. The stone slid away and the gun slipped down, the hammer striking something in its descent and discharging the cartridge the contents of which lodged in the top part of the unfortunate man's thigh, severing the blood vessels. Mr Paulin fell over exclaiming "Oh, George, I'm dying." and the boy at once ran for assistance. Messrs Treahy, Kydd, and others at once went to render help, but arrived only to find Mr Paulin lying dead with his hand pressed above the wound as though to stop the bleeding. Dr de Lautour was at once telephoned for, but of course could do nothing, and the injury was of such a nature that even had medical assistance been on the spot the case would have been hopeless. The District Coroner (Major Keddell) is holding an inquest as we go to press. The sudden demise of Mr Paulin has been a great shock to the Ngapara township, and very general sympathy is expressed for his widow and family. Mr Paulin had always had the interests of the township at heart, and had identified himself in many ways with its welfare. He was a civil engineer by profession, but latterly had settled down to farming on his property at Ngapara. -Oamaru Mail, 15/3/1895.
The funeral of the late Mr Robert Paulin (says the ‘N.O. Times.’) was very largely attended yesterday. The remains were followed from Ngapara by a large number of that district, and along the road that number was added to. The number of followers was again swelled, at the Junction by townspeople. At the Cemetery the Rev. Mr Wright conducted the burial service of the Presbyterian Church, and Mr R. Hamilton the Masonic ceremonial. -Evening Star, 18/3/1895.
PAULIN. — On May 23, 1936, at Dunedin, Catherine, widow of Robert Paulin, of 59 Beach street, St. Clair, and loved mother of Mrs M. Jeffreys, Mrs V. Oliphant, George, Noel, and Millen Paulin. ”At rest.” Private interment at Oamaru. — Hope and Kinaston, funeral directors. -Evening Star, 25/5/1936.
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