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The country at the mouth of the Hokitika (Okitiki) river about 
twenty-one miles South of the Grey river, and fifteen miles South 
of the Teramakau now became the centre of immigration. A town- 
ship was set out at the mouth of the river; a gold-field was pro- 
claimed , magistrates and wardens appointed , and already in the 
month of March, 1865, 3000 men were at work over some twenty 
miles of the country around Hokitika. The extraordinary impulse 
given to trade by the discovery of gold has never been more fully 
illustrated than in the case of Hokitika. In spite of the depress- 
ing influence of a climate as tempestuous certainly as that of any 
habitable part of the globe; in spite of a harbour perhaps the most 
dangerous to enter in New Zealand, 1 2 a populous township has arisen 
within a few months , which now is the important metropolis of the 
Westland gold territory. 1 A spit or mere bank of sand a mile 
and a half in length, and, for the greater part of its length, scar- 
cely ten chains wide, formed by the conflicting actions of the river 
Hokitika and the ocean, is the deposit of capital, the amount of 
which, could it be stated, would be considered fabulous even in 
the annals of gold-digging communities. This discovery of gold on 
the West coast mil be of the greatest importance to the colonisation 
1 The tongue of sand on which stands Hokitika is bounded by a very narrow 
channel of deep water on the outside of its lower extremity, which is entered at a 
sharp angle by vessels running the bar. Unless there is a good breeze, a sailing 
vessel cannot preserve sufficient steerage-way through the rollers to round the corner; 
she drops bodily off before the sea, aud two or three tremendous broken seas lift 
her broadside on to Hokitika spit, there To be pounded to pieces by the following 
tide. The entrance to this river is exactly represented by the letter S of which two- 
thirds form a channel not 100 feet wide, and exposed to the whole drift of the Pa- 
cific Ocean. The wreck of a sailing vessel attempting to enter has really come to 
be considered a certainty here, safety the exception. This state of things is pro- 
ducing its natural results. Running the blockade, as it is termed here, will not be 
attempted twice; no offer, how r ever lucrative, is sufficient to induce a fortunate 
skipper to dare the danger he has once escaped. The beach is strewn with wrecks; 
eighteen sailing and seven steam ships were hurried to destruction here within five 
months in 1865. This great destruction of shipping makes it clear that the trade of the 
gold-fields cannot be carried on with security until a road fitted for heavy traffic 
has been completed, connecting the eastern with the western side of the Province. 
2 A second township, Kanieri, is situated on the right bank of the Hokitika, 
two and a half miles from its mouth. 
