✨ Report on Karamea Settlement
105
THE NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT GAZETTE
(PROVINCE OF NELSON)
Published by Authority.
All notifications which appear in this Gazette with any Official Signature thereunto annexed are to be considered as Official Communications made to those Persons to whom they may relate, and are to be obeyed accordingly.
EUGENE J. O'CONOR, Provincial Secretary.
VOL. XXV. NELSON, WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 1876. No. 20.
REPORT ON THE SPECIAL SETTLEMENT AT KARAMEA BY THE PROVINCIAL SECRETARY OF NELSON.
To his Honor the SUPERINTENDENT.
SIR,—
I have the honor, for your information and that of the Hon. Minister for Immigration, to forward my report upon the Karamea Special Settlement, together with a map exhibiting the situation of the old land purchases, the Special Settlement reserve, and various other features of the locality, together with roads, tracks, and other works constructed by the settlers.
Description of Karamea. The KARAMEA is a low-lying undulating tract of country, shelving towards the west to a sandy open beach, on all other sides it is surrounded by steep hills and a mountainous country. It consists of about 60,000 acres of land available for agricultural and pastoral pursuits, containing a few swamps, but the greater part heavily timbered with rata, black, red, and white pine, totara, and pukatea. It is drained by five rivers, all sufficient to admit vessels of light draught, the principal river being the Karamea, which as a harbor is second on the West Coast, only to the Buller, the entrance being straight, and the depth on the bar at high water ranging from 10 to 15 feet.
Previous attempts at settlement. As early as 1866, some attempt was made at settlement, and in 1867 a land sale took place at Nelson, where some 1,200 acres of choice land mostly situated upon the banks of the Karamea were sold in lots of from 5 to 100 acres. £1000 was realised by this sale, at which 57 persons purchased, not one of whom ever settled upon the land, or since made any attempt to utilise it. About the same time a gold-mining rush also took place, and fair prospects were obtained. An attempt was then made to find a line of road to connect with the more populous districts on the West Coast in order to facilitate traffic and ensure provisions, but the attempt entirely failed, and only resulted in a report that no practicable road could be made between the Mohikinui and Little Wanganui rivers. The difficulty of obtaining provisions became very great, and as winter approached the diggers were compelled to leave en masse to avoid starvation. A few returned to work the black sand on the beach, and at the time the special settlement was commenced four persons were thus employed, leading a most dreary, monotonous existence, and occasionally very much pinched for provisions, which they laid in annually and conveyed from Westport by small boats during fine weather.
Reasons for choosing it for Special Settlement. The short sketch I have given of the Karamea, the reasons that would weigh for the establishment of a special settlement.
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Nelson Provincial Gazette 1876, No 20
✨ LLM interpretation of page content
🗺️ Report on the Special Settlement at Karamea by the Provincial Secretary
🗺️ Lands, Settlement & Survey19 July 1876
Karamea, Special Settlement, Nelson Province, Land Settlement, Agriculture, Geography
- Eugene J. O'Conor, Provincial Secretary