Port Molyneux : the story of Maori and pakeha in South Otago : a centennial history : commemorating the landing of George Willsher and his companions at Willsher Bay, June 28, 1840 : with a programme for the unveiling of the centennial cairn, erected by the Clutha County Council, June 28, 1940
The Speculation of Thomas Jones, of Sydney
The Speculation of Thomas Jones, of Sydney.
In the reminiscences of J. E. Richter, published in the Sydney Mail (date unknown), we get some interesting details about the land, the purchase price, and Jones, the purchaser:—
page 18“I was well acquainted with one purchase made in Sydney from the Chief Tewaiki of a block of 20 miles square (400 square miles) for a few whaleboats, guns, fishing tackle, flour, etc., in value about £70.
“This block was sold to Thomas Jones, who was then a wine and spirit merchant of Bathurst Street, Sydney, and a brother of David Jones, the founder of a large drapery business still carried on in George Street.
“… That particular land is now regarded as one of the finest parts in New Zealand, the River Molyneux running through the centre of it. It included the present town of Balclutha as well as the Kaitangata Coal Mines, with a seam of 30 feet in thickness. Its value now would amount to over two millions.
“Money was hard to obtain from financial institutions in the forties, to carry out the conditions of a speculation of this kind, when the existence of New Zealand as a British colony was still in doubt, and when it was by no means certain that the new settlers would not be driven out by the Maoris…”