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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

[Naseby]

Naseby , the county town of Maniototo, come into existence with the inception of the gold-mining industry in Otago, in the early sixties. At the present time it is still essentially a mining town, the industry having been carried on with considerable success for forty years. Dredging, which has been attempted in the vicinity of Naseby, has been practically abandoned in favour of ground sluicing and hydraulic elevating. The miners originally brought in water for sluicing purposes from the northern creeks, and between 1873 and 1877 the Government constructed the Mount Ida water race, and the sludge channel which runs from Naseby, through Waipiata, to the Taieri river. These works involved an expenditure of £64,000, and in 1900 a large reservoir on the Eweburn—capable of holding 600,000,000 gallons —was constructed at a cost of about £15,000. This reservoir has an embankment seventy feet in height. Mr. R. H. Brown, the county engineer, was the officer in charge of these important works. A network of distributing water-races and iron pipes conveys the water to the various claims. From the borders of the town, for several miles round, the whole country has been more or less worked by sluicing. In the ridges surrounding the town, huge crevices have been torn and faces washed away in order to extract the hidden gold. To the visitor the first sight of Naseby is, on this account, somewhat uninviting—the spectacle presenting the appearance of a country broken and rent by earthquakes; but the processes of goldmining, and of other attractions, are none the less interesting.

Ladies' Curling Rink Of The Mount Ida Curling Club.

Ladies' Curling Rink Of The Mount Ida Curling Club.

Naseby lies on the northern part of the Maniototo Plains, near the foot of the Mount Ida Range, ninety-four miles north-west from Dunedin, via Ranfurly —on the Otago Central railway. From Naseby to Ranfurly—a distance of nine miles—there is a daily mail and passenger coach service that connects with the up and down trains. Standing 2,000 feel above sea level, Naseby possesses a dry and exhilarating climate, and though the winter season is very cold the air is bracing and invigorating. It may be termed the sanitorium, par excellence, of New Zealand. From the hills surrounding the town a magnificent panorama is unfolded: the Mount Ida Range on the one hand—covered with snow during the winter months—and on the other hand, the broad expanse of the Maniototo Plains, bounded by the distant Rough Ridge, Rock and Pillar, and Kakanui Ranges. The country outside the mining area is devoted chiefly to pasturage, though fairly large crops are produced from the arable lands, and flour-milling is a local industry. When the goldfields are eventually worked out the large Eweburn reservoir, already referred to, will be utilised as the nucleus of a great irrigation scheme for the Maniototo Plains.

Naseby, which was formerly known as the Hogburn, is a compact town, lying in the sheltered hollow of surrounding hills. The streets are well formed, and good for cycling during the summer months. Among the Government buildings there is a modern, substantial post, telegraph, and money-order office; a magistrate's court and county gaol, offices of the survey and stock department, and a public hospital. The large chambers of the Maniototo County Council occupy a fine central site. The religious bodies—Presbyterian, Anglican, Catholic, and the universally established Salvation Army—have erected places of worship. There is also a public and district high school. Two banks, a number of stores and five hotels constitute the main business houses of Naseby. “The Mount Ida Chronicle,” the local newspaper, is published once a week.

Naseby was proclaimed a borough in 1873. There is an efficient water supply from a special reservoir of two acres in extent, and the borough has laid a mile page 607 and three-quarters of mains. From this source the local fire brigade obtains its high-pressure water supply. Three miles of streets have been formed at a cost of £600, and the town is lit with, kerosene lamps. There is a drainage system with a mile-and-a-quarter of mains. The borough has endowment reserves of 1,923 acres in the Kyeburn and Swinburn districts; there is a recreation reserve of four acres within the borough; the town hall and council chambers, a concrete building, was erected at a cost of £2,000, the fire brigade station is freehold property, and there is the municipal reservoir. The borough has no public debt.

Socially, Naseby is an attractive place. The Freemasons and Oddfellows have their respective halls; an Athenaeum and a Literary and Debating Society provide some intellectual enjoyment; cricket, football, tennis, and curling clubs represent the athletic life of the place. A progressive local jockey club holds an annual meeting, at which it offers £400 in stakes. During the winter months skating is practised as a popular pastime on a large dam, which is used as a swimming place in the summer. The great Scottish game of curling, or what the poet Burns calls the “roaring game,” is in full swing with the three local curling clubs during the winter season.

Naseby Borough Council . The borough of Naseby, which is 113 acres in area, is divided into three wards—East, West, and South. There are 124 dwellings and 116 ratepayers, and a total population of 550 souls. The annual rateable value is £2,412, on which there is a general rate of Is in the £, and a water rate ranging from 2 1/2 to 7 per cent. In July, 1904, the members of the Naseby borough council were: Mayor, Mr E. C. Cutten; Councillors, Messrs J. Mitchell, J. Dawson, A. Marslin, J. R. Kirk, S. W. Geddes, J. Kirby, and J. W Reed; two seats vacant. Mr T. W. Inder is Town Clerk.

His Worship The Mayor , Mr. Ernest Cargill Cutten, B.A., LL.B., is elsewhere referred to as a barrister and solicitor.

Naseby Under Snow.

Naseby Under Snow.

Councillor James Mitchell , who has been a Member of the Naseby Borough Council for twenty -two years (and is the oldest member of that body), was born at Dalkeith, Scotland, in 1851. He was brought up to business in Glasgow, and came out to Otago in 1871, in the ship “William Davie. Mr. Mitchell settled in the Naseby district, and established himself as a builder and contractor, in 1878. He was one of the trustees of the Mount Ida District Hospital for eighteen years, and is interested in the public school and church. He has also been connected with the Maniototo Flour Mill Company since its inception in 1880. Mr. Mitchell was married, in 1885, Walter Inder, who was a well-known and prominent settler of Naseby for many years to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Mr. George Currie, farmer, Swinburn, and his family consists of two sons and one daughter.

Councillor J. Mitchell.

Councillor J. Mitchell.

Mr. Frederick Walter Inder , who succeeded the late Mr. N. P. Hjorring as Town Clerk of Naseby, was born at Blackstone Hill, in 1864. He was educated at Naseby, and brought up to the butchering business, but established himself as a commission agent at Naseby, in 1893. He is the acting executor in the estate of his father, the late Mr. Mr. Inder formerly managed the Mount Buster Mining Company, besides undertaking general commission agency work. He was married in June, 1898, to a daughter of Mr. S. Inder, of Hill's Creek.