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Life and Times of D. M. Stuart, D.D.

Chapter XII. — Discovery of Gold

page 82

Chapter XII.
Discovery of Gold.

Mr Stuart's love of hills and woods survived his passage across the seas, and furnished him with means of recreation and of healthful occupation amid the arduous duties of a City pastorate. The Manse sections had been cleared of their patch of sombre bush before they became the property of the Church, and the building, when completed, stood in the midst of a dreary, swampy plot that was overgrown with flax. When fire and drains had done their work, the ground was fenced with manuka stakes, and steps were immediately taken to adorn it with trees of rapid growth. While on a visit to the Taieri Manse, he noticed in the garden some stately poplars, from which, with the consent of Mr Will, he cut a number of slips. These he made into a bundle bound with flax, and strapping them on his back he set out with a brave heart on a journey of ten miles over the marshy and hilly tracks which lay between Taieri and his home. With the help of two of his boys, the slips were planted, and their growth was watched with affection and interest year by year. "I sowed," he used to tell in his own hearty manner, "a plot of ground with choicest seed, and longed for Spring to come with shooting blade, and bursting bud, and opening flower. But, alack-a-day, the rushing waters page 83from the hills overswept my plot, and only a luxuriant crop of dock rewarded me for all my pains."

In digging a well near the Manse for household purposes, he struck a spring at a depth of five or six feet, which in twenty minutes gave a copious supply of water. As he stood gazing with some satisfaction down upon his work, Mrs Stuart came holding in her hand a slip of weeping willow which she had found in the public street. "Plant it on the margin of our well," she said; "who knows but we may sit in coming years under its shade in the hot summer sun?" With her own hand she planted it, and it rapidly grew into a great tree, and became "dear to him," as he said, "for its shade, its glossy leaves, its outspreading branches, and its associations that were priceless and imperishable."

The work of Church extension always enlisted his warmest sympathies, and in November, 1860, in company with the Rev. W. Johnstone, of Port Chalmers, he set out on a preaching tour as far as Oamaru. With clear foresight of the possibilities and future importance of that, and other centres of population, which they passed en route, he recommended the immediate purchase of sites for ecclesiastical purposes, which was done in due time to the advantage of the Fund.

The following year was one of marvellous changes and social convulsions in Otago, when old landmarks were, to some extent, swept away, and the settlement entered on a new historical epoch. The rich discoveries of gold in 1861, and the following years, attracted to the Province vast numbers of people from page 84the neighbouring Colonies and other parts of the world*: and the Presbytery of Otago had the onerous duty laid upon it to make provision for the supply of the spiritual necessities of those great communities which, in the providence of God, had so suddenly been planted in the land. The Church acknowledged its responsibilities, and responded nobly to the claims which were made upon it. Until such time as a large additional supply of ministers could be secured from Home, the members of the Presbytery took their turn in conducting Divine service at the various goldfields. Dr Stuart's reminiscences of his experiences in fulfilling that duty form one of the most interesting chapters in Dr Hislop's "History of Knox Church."

At the close of the year 1861 a public meeting was convened to be held in Knox Church for the purpose of advocating the necessity and importance of Church extension in the Province. Attention was directed to the fact that Oamaru, with a population of 400 persons, received only occasional visits from a clergyman, and that the wide district, embracing Hampden, Waikouaiti, and Moeraki, in which settlement was rapidly proceeding, was sorely in want of pastoral oversight. The startling statement was also made that Dunedin, which had a population of 6000 persons, with 1000 more within a radius of four miles of the city had church accommodation for hardly a fourth of that number; while up and down the goldfields there was scattered a population of some 15,000, who were living in absolute destitution of the public means of grace.

page 85

The Presbytery of Otago roused themselves to vigorous action. They had sent Home a credit for £500, which they had raised on loan, on behalf of the Ministers' Passage Fund; and although six ministers had already arrived—one more than the number for which they had applied—yet so clamant was the need, that they despatched an earnest appeal to the Colonial Committee of the Free Church for nine additional ministers to meet the urgent demand for religious services which came to them from various towns in the mining districts; and to defray the expense of their passage money and outfit impressive appeals were made to the public, by advertisement, for subscriptions in aid of this effort to supply the spiritual needs of the population.

In 1862 Mr Stuart was back again at Oamaru, preaching in a wool store, and dispensing sealing ordinances. Believing that the scattered families in that district were sufficiently strong to form a church, he urged them to organise and make application for a stated ministry. Again, we find him at Waikouaiti, preaching in the Episcopal Church by permission of the incumbent—the Rev. J. A. Fenton—who was himself a worshipper with the Presbyterian congregation on that occasion, and who not only provided the elements for communion, but hospitably entertained the minister and Mr James Hepburn, who accompanied him. Such graceful courtesy and breadth of view and proof of Christian charity on the part of the Anglican divine made a deep impression on Mr Stuart, and he always spoke in grateful terms of the kindness which he received at his hands.

* "Story of the Otago Church and Settlement."