Little Grey Junction is a farming settlement lying between Ikamatua and Totara Flat railway stations. It is in Antonio's riding of the county of Inangahua, in the electorate of Grey, and the provincial district of Nelson. The name Little Grey Junction was given to the district on account of the Little Grey and Mawheraiti rivers joining with the Mawhera or Grey river at this point. It was formerly an old mining district, and a small amount of mining is still carried on in the neighbourhood. At Ikamatua, there is a creamery, and at Totara Flat, a dairy factory. The business of the local post office and telephone bureau is conducted at the residence of Mr. E. J. McInroe. There is a bridge over the Grey river at the settlement, which had a population of ninety three at the census of 1901.

Mackley, Samuel Meggitt, Runholder, Little Grey Junction. Mr. Mackley, who is well known in the colony as a runholder at Little Grey Junction, West Coast, and is the owner of nearly 2,000 acres near Pakarae, Poverty Bay, was born in Leeds, England, in 1829. He is a son of the late Dr. T. Mackley, of Leeds, and was educated at the Grammar School in that town. Mr. Mackley commenced to study for the medical profession, but owing to the state of his health, he came out to Nelson in the ship “Sir Allan McNab,” in 1857. In the early days on the West Coast, Mr. Mackley had numerous experiences in long journeys on foot. On one occasion, as no vessel was available, he walked from Nelson to the Buller in company with Mr. Creighton, crossed the Bul- page 266 ler by canoes, and footed it thence to the Grey Valley. On the same occasion, Mr. Mackley visited Okarito and found gold along the beach. Soon afterwards, he returned to Greymouth, where he met Mr. J. Mackay, junior, and was one of the witnesses to the signing of the deeds of from eight to ten millions of acres of native land purchased by the Government in 1860, for the sum of £150 cash, together with a ton of flour and half a ton of sugar, the whole amount paid being of not more value than £300. Small reserves were, however, retained by the natives at the various township sites, and from these it is understood that the Maoris now get a very good rental. Mr. Mackley went up the Grey river and saw the property known as the Waipuna station, which he afterwards purchased at Little Grey Junction. The estate has an area of 2,200 acres, and he has since resided upon it. Mr. Mackley claims to have picked up a few pennyweights of gold on a rock during his wanderings in 1859, while on his way to Nelson to apply for the land, which he subsequently acquired, and he believes he was thus the first discoverer of gold on the West Coast. At the Buller river he met a party of men who were returning, after having failed to find gold in that locality. After arranging in Nelson to take up his run, Mr. Mackley chartered a vessel, and took his family to Greymouth, and the late Hon. J. C. Richmond travelled with him as a passenger. Two years later, in 1863, Mr. Mackley travelled to Christchurch by the Ahaura saddle and the Waiau river, and, having purchased sheep, he returned to his station on the West Coast. On the occasion of this trip to Christchurch, Mr. Mackley wrote a letter to the Lyttelton Times referring to the West Coast as a goldfield. It was soon after his visit that the “rush,” to the West Coast set in, and Mr. Mackley claims that his letter was undoubtedly the cause of the “rush.” Mr. Mackley's property at Little Grey Junction has been developed from its wild, natural condition into a good grazing run, on which he depastures 300 head of cattle and 1,800 sheep. In the days of provincial councils. Mr. Mackley represented the Grey Valley on the Nelson Council for several years. He was married, in 1860, to Miss Trist, of a Devonshire family, and has five sons and six daughters.