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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Nelson, Marlborough & Westland Provincial Districts]

Woodstock

page 524

Woodstock.

Woodstock is situated on the main south road, about four miles from Hokitika river. The township, which at the census of 1901 had a population of 189, is a mining one, and is in the county of Westland, and in the electorate and provincial district of Westland. It has two hotels, four stores, and a public school, in addition to the residences of the settlers; a gold dredge is at work, and some hydraulic sluicing is still carried on. There is also a sawmill driven by water power. Most of the residents of Woodstock are connected with the mining claims of Rimu, about a mile further to the south. The business of the post office is conducted at one of the local stores. Church services are held regularly in the district, and there is regular coach communication with Hokitika.

The Woodstock Public School is situated on the south bank of the Hokitika river, about a mile from the Kanieri School. When it was erected, about twenty years ago, the river was unbridged, and it was used as a side school till the Rimu “rush” set in, when it was considerably enlarged and separated from the jurisdiction of the Kanieri School Miss Staines then took charge, with Miss Milner as assistant. The school so increased in numbers that it was found necessary to appoint a master, and Mr. Mackay took charge in 1886. The building, situated on a five acre reserve, with about an acre for a playground, has accommodation for 150 scholars, and as many as 120 have been in attendance at one time. The school has been extremely successful in mining scholarships, and as many as four have been held at one time. The annual examinations for some years past show the percentage of passes to have been very high, and for discipline the school has led the Westland district.

Mr. William Donald Mackay , Headmaster of the Woodstock Public School, is assisted by Mrs Mackay, with Miss Irwin as pupil teacher. Mr. Mackay was born in Skye, Scotland, in 1859, and went to Victoria with his parents in 1862. He was brought up and educated in Melbourne, and came to New Zealand in 1878. For nine months Mr. Mackay assisted at Kumara School, and was teaching for a similar term at Ross. Mr. Mackay is married to a daughter of Mr. Kildahl, solicitor, of Ballarat, Victoria.

Wells, David William, Draper and General Storekeeper, Woodstock. Bankers, National Bank of New Zealand, Hokitika. This business was established in 1895 by the present proprietor, who has successfully carried it on an extended its operations. Mr. Wells was born in Waikouaiti, Otago, in 1864. He was brought up and educated at Kanieri, and was apprenticed to the storekeeping business under the late Mr. T. Learmont, with whose firm he remained for over twelve years, and only resigned through being incapacitated by illness. Two years later he was appointed storeman to Mr. P. Hansen, of Woodstock, and retained his position until he established his present business.

Hansen, Peter, General Storekeeper, Woodstock. Bankers, Bank of New Zealand. This business was established about 1878, and taken over by Mr. Hansen in 1891. The premises are commodious and well adapted for the trade, which has a considerable connection
Mr. P. Hanse

Mr. P. Hanse

amongst the mining community. Mr. Hansen is well acquainted with the requirements of the goldfields, and carries heavy stocks of suitable general merchandise. Mr. Hansen was born in Denmark in 1853, and in 1873 came out to Auckland by the ship “Loch Harvey.” Being a tanner by trade, he worked for Messrs Ireland Bros. for three years, and was employed on the railway at Kaiapoi just before the Kumara “rush,” which he followed. Eighteen months later he moved on to Hokitika, where he again engaged in mining with renewed success on the Rimu and Woodstock goldfields, until 1891, when he gave up active mining, but is still interested in various good claims.

Woodstock Gold Dredging Syndicate , Woodstock. This company is a private one, and is the third proprietary which has worked the Woodstock dredge; the Woodstock Dredging Company, and afterwards the new Woodstock Company, having both been unsuccessful. The dredge is a large and powerful one-necessarily so, as a portion of the ground is very rough. The pontoons are 106 feet long by thirty-two feet beam. Power is derived from a twenty-five horse power boiler, and the main engine is of twenty horse power; the Payne winches are driven by a pair of Marshall engines. The ladder is seventy feet long, and the buckets have a capacity of four and a-half cubic feet. A complete electric lighting plant is installed, and both are and incandescent lamps are used. The claim is sixty-eight acres in extent, and the dredge has many years of work ahead of it.

Mr. Daniel Williams works on the Woodstock Gold Dredge, and is one of its owners. He was born in the year 1878, at Kelso, Otago, where he was educated, and brought up to farm work. In 1898, Mr. Williams started work in connection with dredges, and worked in Southland, on the Mataura river, and at Waikaka.
Ring, photo. Mr. D. Williams.

Ring, photo. Mr. D. Williams.

He afterwards went to Nelson, where he worked for some time on a dredge, in the Collingwood district. Later, Mr. Williams removed to the West Coast, to the Grey district, where he worked on the “Leviathan.” He was also one of a party who for sometime owned the Shellback dredge in the Grey Valley. In addition to his interest in the Woodstock dredge, Mr. Williams has a large sluicing claim at Rimu. As an Oddfellow, he is a member of Lodge Tapanui.