The Township Of Nightcaps is situated at an altitude of 635 feet, and commands a view of the distant Princess range, Takitimo mountains, Mount Linton, the rolling downs stretching towards Wairio, and a portion of the Birchwood run. Nightcaps was originally surveyed by the Coal Company, in 1880, and the allotments, when put up by auction, realised fair prices. Before that time the company had been developing the mine, but it was not until 1882 that it commenced to send coal by rail to Invercargill. The output has steadily increased, and the industry has naturally had a beneficial effect on the growth of the settlement, which, at the census of 1901, had a population of 373. The district possesses good pastoral country, rears fat stock for the central markets, and sends away large quantities of grain, wool and coal. Trout abound in the Morley and Aparima. The township is in the Wairio riding of the county of Wallace, and in the electoral district of Wallace. The railway station, which is close to the local coal mine, stands at an elevation of 555 feet above sea level, and is forty-five miles from Invercargill. The line from Nightcaps to Wairio is the property of the Nightcaps Coal Company, but it is worked under arrangement by the Government. A good deal of the township is on high land, particularly where the mine is situated, but to the westward there is a considerable dip in the land, and on the flat below there are a good many dwellings. The country beyond, towards Waiau, consists of fairly level and fertile land. The Opio, Waicola, and Wairio streams run through the Nightcaps district. In the township there are three stores, two saddlers' and two blacksmiths' shops, a bakery, and an hotel. The local post office, which is also a telephone bureau, receives, and despatches, daily mails. Nightcaps is also a sub-police district, with a resident constable. The public school is attended by 113 scholars, on an average, and there is a manse and Presbyterian church, the township being the headquarers of the Wairio-Nightcaps parish of that church. There is also a Methodist church in the township.

The Waiau River, Lake Manapouri.

Jaggers And Dempster (Walter Jaggers and John Dempster), General Blacksmiths and Farriers, Nightcaps. This business was established in 1899 by Mr Gibbon, and was taken over by the present firm in 1904. The building is of wood, and has a forge and all the other appliances necessary for a well-appointed smith's shop.

Mr. Walter Jaggers was born in 1878, at Invercargill, where he was educated. He was brought up as a blacksmith and farrier at Waimatuku and Riversdale, and worked at his trade at various places for several years before settling at Nightcaps.

Mr. John Dempster was born in Ross-shire, Scotland, in 1878, and was brought by his father to New Zealand in 1880. He was educated at Nightcaps, and was employed as a blacksmith by the Nightcaps Coal Company until joining Mr Jaggers in 1904.

Clapp, John Osborne, General Storekeeper and Saddler, Nightcaps. Mr. Clapp, who conducts his business in a commodious and substantial brick store, is a leading man in the district. He was born at Flint's Bush, Southland, and received his education at the District High School, Riverton, and was afterwards apprenticed there to the saddlery trade with Mr Ireland. Subsequently, he took charge of the saddlery department of Messrs. Whittingham Bros, and Instone's business at Thornbury. In 1883, he commenced as a saddler at Nightcaps and seven years later added the business of a general storekeeper. Mr. Clapp acts as treasurer of the cricket club, and is an office-bearer of the Presbyterian church. He was initiated into Freemasonry in Lodge Aparima, No. 77, N.Z.C., in June, 1894, but owing to the distance from Riverton, is unable to take a prominent part in the working of his lodge. Mr. Clapp was married in 1882 to a daughter of Mr. William Johnston, of Annandale, who was formerly chairman of the Wallace County Council and a member of the Southland Provincial Council, of which page 975 he was the Speaker at the time of Southland's reunion with Otago.

Mr. J. O. Clapp.

McKinnon, Alexander , Avondale Station, Nightcaps. Mr. McKinnon was born in the Isle of Syke, Scotland, in 1866, and is the eldest son of the late Mr. Donald McKinnon, formerly manager and overseer to the late Mr. Thomas Sutton, of Thornbury, Southland. He was educated in Southland, became a shepherd on Mr. Sutton's run, and afterwards served Messrs Murray, Roberts and Co., in a similar capacity. He was subsequently head shepherd to the late Captain Stevens, but rejoined his former employers in 1891, when he was appointed manager of the Ringway estate, which ten or twelve years afterwards was sub-divided for closer settlement. Mr. McKinnon takes a keen interest in Freemasonry. He was initiated in Lodge Aparima, No. 77, N.Z.C., Riverton, in 1893. In 1895, he was elected Worshipful Master, and filled the office so satisfactorily that he was re-elected for a further term. He is also Past Chief Templar of the Silver Star Lodge, I.O.O.G.T., No. 107, Otautau, and is a member of the Wallace licensing committee. Mr. McKinnon was married, in 1895, to Christina, daughter of Mr. E. McKinnon, of Edendale, Southland.

Mr. A. McKinnon.

The Nightcaps Coal Mine (Nightcaps Coal Company, Limited, Proprietors); head office, Invercargill. This mine was opened up for the delivery of coal on the 3rd of March, 1883. Coal had been discovered in the district as far back as 1870, by Captain Thomson, formerly pilot at the Bluff, but the discovery was not followed up till April, 1880, when the present company commenced operations. It took nearly three years to develop the mine, by driving levels into the hillside. The total length of the adit is thirty-two chains, and after the first eighteen chains, the drive takes a dip of forty-five feet in each four chains. The hauling is effected by an eight horse-power winding machine, which draws the trucks up an incline of eighteen chains in length, with an average fall of one-in-eight. There is also a twenty-two horse-power engine outside the mine. A powerful Tangye pump, capable of discharging 7,500 gallons of water per hour, keeps the mine free of water by one hour's work per day. The aeration of the mine is accomplished, by a Hays ventilator fan of nine feet diameter, which makes about 100 revolutions per minute. A boiler, measuring six by fourteen feet, stands on the surface, and produces steam for the fan, winding-engins and pump below. The Nightcaps Coal Company owns a line of railway from the mine to Wairio station, a distance of two miles and a-half, and this line is worked by the Government, by special arrangement with the company. Ninety-eight men are employed in the mine, and the output of coal for the year 1903 was 40,000 tons.

Mr. John Lloyd , Manager of the Nightcaps Coal Mine, was born in 1854, in Radnorshire, Wales. He was educated at Welsh public schools, and was brought up to mining. Mr Lloyd came to Lyttelton by the ship “Waitara,” in 1879, and was employed at Rangitata until 1880, when he was appointed manager of the Nightcaps mine. During the first two years sixteen men were employed in developing the workings, which have all been opened up under Mr Lloyd's direction. As a Freemason, Mr Lloyd joined Lodge Aparima, and afterwards transferred to Lodge Wallace, of Winton. He was married on the 22nd of October 1890, to a daughter of the late Mr John Tudor Jenkins, of West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England, and has three sons and three daughters.

Gerstenkorn, photo.
Mr. J. Lloyd.