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Acknowledgments.

The erection of the Memorial Cairn at Willsher Bay and the publication of this Historical Booklet will serve as the Centennial Memorials sponsored by the Clutha County Council.

The history of South Otago has to some extent been printed, but the matter is scattered in many volumes—some difficult to obtain—and buried deeply in old newspapers and official documents.

In this booklet an attempt has been made to specialise in Port Molyneux affairs. But the early history of Port Molyneux is also the early history of all that area “ten miles on either side of the Matau and twenty miles from the sea.”

As much as can be reasonably verified is herein printed about two sets of people—on the one hand the Maoris who sold the land; and on the other the pakehas who bought it and settled it.

The early pioneers who traded in land are sometimes referred to as land speculators, and sometimes as capitalists. But the times called for men who would take personal and financial risks. The settlement of New Zealand was made possible by those hard–working and resourceful men who, having saved money, used it for land development.

This slight volume is the result of many years of research amongst old Maoris and early settlers. It does not pretend to be complete, but the times in which we live demand that so much as is possible should be set down before it is too late. Much early history has been lost, but we should be thankful for what has been saved.

The writer acknowledges his debt to the works of Dr. Hocken, Robert McNab, John Wilson, and Herries Beattie—veritable mines of information on their particular subjects. To dozens of others—students of early history and the old–time Maori—and to painstaking typistes and patient librarians the thanks of the writer are due.

The Centennial Committee of the Clutha County Council consisted of Messrs. W. S. Thomson (the present Chairman), Adam Harris (the late Chairman), Andrew McIntosh (Councillor), Andrew Wylie, A. K. Baxter (County Clerk), A. C. McLay (County Engineer), and the writer. Each in his own way has willingly co–operated to make the publication of this booklet possible.