The headquarters of the association in its early years were situated at Wellington, where the secretary-treasurer, N. Von Sturmer, resided, but with the appointment of J. W. Cassin as secretary-treasurer about 1907, the offices were moved to Christchurch. In 1955 when W. H. Stewart became general secretary, the headquarters of the association moved to Dunedin. The report presented at the 1904 annual general meeting, presided over by T. M. Wilford, M.H.R., showed that 43 gun clubs throughout New Zealand were affiliated to the association. The association finances were considered good, there being a credit balance of £13 10s. 1d. in hand after making provision for all outstanding liabilities. Already it was being mentioned that pigeons were becoming scarcer and dearer. Shooters were permitted to shoot under assumed names, provided the name was registered at a cost of 1s. Well-known shooting names, such as “Starlight” (E. P. Graham, Dunedin), “Blue Rock”, and “Moonlight” appeared in press reports of the day.

Annual tournaments were conducted until 1915 when, because of the First World War, the association went into recess until 1919. During these years, however, interest in the sport was retained by clubs conducting minor competitions as circumstances permitted. The year 1920 found the association in good heart once again with T. Parker as president and W. Cecil Prince as secretary-treasurer. Already the Parliament of the day was debating the abolition of live-bird shooting and the name of D. F. Dennehy is frequently commended in old records for his work in fighting this threat to the sport. The other matter which concerned the association's council at the time was the rising cost of ammunition, which was a handicap to the progress of the clubs. This problem has remained to the present day.

1924 proved a milestone in the association history. After serving as an executive officer for several years, A. N. “Alby” Turner of Christchurch was appointed general secretary. He held this office for 31 years, during which time he saw the association grow from strength to strength. Not only was he an able administrator, but he was also a fine shot, his best effort being a South Island title.

During his long term of office A. N. Turner served under the following association presidents: Messrs E. F. Stead (Christchurch), A. Dobson (Auckland), E. Groome (Otane), D. F. Dennehy (Christchurch), T. S. Harrison (Methven), R. S. Taylor (Christchurch), and T. M. Glenn (Hamilton). Following the increase in popularity of the sport, L. E. Pole (Ngongotaha) was appointed North Island secretary in 1949. On his retirement in 1957 I. D. Jack (Hamilton) was appointed to this position.

The sport of trapshooting is now administered by the council of the association comprising the president, North Island vice-president, South Island vice-president, five members representing the North Island, and five members representing the South Island. Ninety-four gun clubs throughout the Dominion are affiliated to the association and membership, which is approximately 2,500, is evenly spread throughout the country, the interest in the sport being strong in all districts.

The association's official magazine, Gunshot, launched in 1958, is sent quarterly to all members of the association; it has also a considerable circulation overseas. The association recently affiliated with the Olympic Shooting Federation of New Zealand and it is hoped that New Zealand trapshooters will in the future compete in the Olympic and British Commonwealth games.

Evidence does not appear to be available to disclose the date of origin of the New Zealand Gun Clubs Association, but old records do show that the association was functioning in the year 1899. Since that date the association had administered the trapshooting sport in the Dominion and, like most shooting bodies, has experienced its ups and downs. During the early years of the century the sport was mainly confined to the shooting of trapped live birds, especially pigeons. Although scores registered at the 1899 New Zealand pigeon championship have not been recorded, the event was held at Petone and won by C. L. Mackersey. Pigeon championships were the only live-bird national events held until 1911, when the first sparrow championship took place. This match, shot at Christ-church on 6 July 1911, attracted an entry of 31 shooters and resulted in a win for 16-year-old Donald Fraser, of Hororata. Prior to the introduction of the national sparrow championship, the first clay-target championship was held at Dunedin on 5 June 1908 and was won by the versatile Duncan Fraser (father of Donald), who won other national titles in 1906, 1909, 1911, and 1920. In these early days clay-target shooting was not so popular as live-bird competition, the entry for the 1908 single-rise clay-target championship being only 13.

(1819–88).

Artist and surveyor.

A new biography of Gully, John appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

John Gully was born in Bath of a family to which also belonged the prize fighter, John Gully (1783–1863), and Sir William Court Gully, Q.C., who became Speaker of the House of Commons in 1895.

Gully was apprenticed to an ironfounder, and his skill in drawing led him from the workshop to the draughting department. After completing this apprenticeship he joined the staff of the Savings Bank at Bath and later became an accountant in his father's business there. During this period he took lessons in landscape painting, but except for a few further art lessons from a Bristol artist called Muller, Gully was entirely self-taught. In his early twenties, he married Jane Eyles, a widow with one child. In 1852, attracted by Hursthouse's book describing New Zealand, he decided to emigrate, sailing on the John Phillips. Landing with his wife and young family in New Plymouth, he took up farming in bush land at Omata, Taranaki. During this period he also painted a little, Mount Egmont being a favourite subject. He soon abandoned farming in favour of clerical work in New Plymouth. In the Taranaki War, he served with the Volunteers, but his delicate constitution suffered from the strain and exposure and, on being invalided out, he decided in 1860 to sail to Nelson where he obtained employment as drawing master at the college, devoting his spare time to painting. In 1863 he was appointed draughtsman and surveyor in the Provincial Service under J. C. Richmond whom he had previously known in New Plymouth. The two men were to become lifelong friends. During the time he was with the Survey Office, and particularly after his retirement in 1878, Gully made many extensive sketching tours, reaching as far south as Milford Sound and as far north as National Park, sometimes accompanied by J. C. Richmond, himself a fine watercolourist.

Gully sent five pictures to the Indian and Colonial Exhibition in London in 1866. He frequently exhibited in local New Zealand exhibitions and for some years sent to the Society of British Water-colour Artists. In 1871 he exhibited in the Royal Academy. In 1877 Henry Wise and Co., Dunedin, in conjunction with Marcus Ward and Co., London, published a portfolio containing chromolithographs of some of his paintings of New Zealand scenery, with descriptions by Dr Julius von Haast. Gully was dissatisfied with the production, and there was no reprint. A kindly man of genial manner, with interests in music and gardening, Gully enjoyed a considerable artistic reputation in his own lifetime, and his watercolours, many of large dimensions, were eagerly sought after. He died at his home in Trafalgar Street, Nelson, on 1 November 1888, survived by his wife and family of four sons and one daughter, two other children having died in childhood.

Gully was an artist of impressive output, and pre-eminently a landscape painter in watercolours. Particularly after 1868, he often worked on a large scale. His many pencil studies and quick wash drawings, in colour and sepia, reveal that his approach was most painstaking. He carried on the topographical tradition of earlier painters, frequently using many superimposed washes, with a free use of body colour. His insistence on the use of the best materials has meant that his paintings have lasted well. In its uncompromising fidelity to nature, his work is inclined to be overloaded with detail and suffers from a number of conventions of style, but Gully had a fine treatment of skies and distances and handled washes on a heroic scale. His subjects embraced rugged mountain and bush land, placid lakes and tranquil pastures. Many of Gully's works were purchased for galleries in New Zealand and some for Australia, and he is also represented in many private collections. His work can best be seen at Suter Gallery, Nelson, and most other galleries in New Zealand have examples.

by Thomas Esplin, D.A.(EDIN.), Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Home Science, University of Otago.

• John Gully — A New Zealand Artist, Lee, C. L. (1932).

Together with terns, seagulls comprise the family Laridae. Gulls are long-winged birds of moderate size with rather short legs and webbed feet. The bill is bent down at the tip, the tail short and nearly always square-ended, and adult plumage generally consists of grey or black wings and back and a white body and tail. In many species the bill and feet are brightly coloured. Sexes are alike. Their usual dwelling places are coasts, harbours, rivers, and lakes, and here gulls feed primarily by scavenging. They also feed on shellfish and on insects and worms obtained from ploughed fields. They take fish in coastal and fresh waters, the eggs and young of other sea birds, and occasionally attack weak or helpless lambs and sheep.

Gulls are always gregarious and breed in colonies, and their nests are generally made of seaweed, sticks, and grass, which, depending on the species, may be placed on sandhills, shingle banks, cliff ledges, or even in trees or shrubs. Eggs are usually shades of green, brown, or blue, heavily marked with darker colours. Incubation is shared by both parents and the young when hatched are covered with a mottled down. Flight is strong, dextrous, and graceful. The birds spend a great deal of time on the water. They are quarrelsome, especially when feeding, and their voices are harsh with querulous yelps or mewlings.

Three species of gull occur in New Zealand; the large black-backed or Dominican gull (Larus dominicanus), the red-billed gull (Larus novae-hollandiae scopulinus), and the black-billed gull (Larus bulleri).

The black-backed gull is the most widely distributed. The bill of the adult is yellow with a red spot near the tip of the lower mandible, and the legs and feet are yellowish green. First-year birds have a black bill, dark-brown feet, and a mottled dark-brown and white plumage. Full adult plumage of black above and white below takes three years to develop. Nesting colonies of the black-back may be found on shingle banks, sand dunes, rocks, or even tussock grasslands, and they may be close to the sea edge, well up rivers, or occasionally on inland mountain sides.

Red-billed gulls are predominantly coastal in distribution and are rather more common and widespread in the North Island than in the South. In the adult the plumage of the back and wings is pearly grey and the wing tips are mainly black, the two outermost flight feathers each having a broad white band near their tips. Feet and eyelids are blood red like the bill.

Black-billed gulls are roughly similar in size and shape to the red-billed gulls, but have a daintier beak. In the adult the plumage of back and wings is pearly grey and the wing tips are mainly white with some black markings. The feet and legs are black with a reddish flush. Black-billed gulls are predominantly South Island birds and prefer inland lakes. Unlike the other two species, this one is confined to New Zealand.

In the immature stages of the red- and black-billed gulls, there is some brown mottling on shoulders and wings, and a stage is passed through when the young red-billed gull has a black bill and the young black-billed gull a red bill.

by Gordon Roy Williams, B.SC.(HONS.)(SYDNEY), Lecturer in Agricultural Zoology, Lincoln Agricultural College.

(c. 1800–?)

Early whaler and trader.

Very little is known of Guard's early life. He was born in London during the first years of the nineteenth century and went to sea at an early age. In 1823, as a joint owner of the schooner Waterloo, Guard began trading with the Maoris and plied between Sydney and the Taranaki coast. Early in 1827, while on one of his normal trading voyages, he sighted a pair of baleen whales in Cook Strait. This discovery suggested to him the possibility of establishing a permanent whaling station in the district. Later in the year Guard brought a whaling crew from Sydney and established his station at Te Awaiti, on Tory Channel. This was probably the first European settlement in the South Island. By September 1828 Guard had formed a branch station at Port Underwood, which shortly afterwards was visited by the Friends, of Boston. This was really the Cyprus, a convict ship which had been seized by mutineers who were about to embark on a career of piracy. On 3 February 1830 Guard landed his first cargo of New Zealand whale oil in Sydney. While he was there he married Elizabeth Parker (1814–65), whom he brought to Te Awaiti. She was the first white woman to live in the South Island, and her children, John, who was born in 1831, and Louisa, were the first white children born there.

In October 1833 the Waterloo was wrecked on Waikanae Beach and pillaged and burned by the Maoris. This loss forced Guard to abandon Te Awaiti to Dicky Barrett. He apparently returned to Sydney, where he bought a share in the barque Harriet and resumed trading. On 29 April 1834 the Harriet was wrecked off Cape Egmont and Guard, his wife, family, and crew were captured by the Maoris. Twelve members of the crew, including Elizabeth Guard's brother, were killed and eaten immediately, but Matakatea intervened to save the others. The Maoris agreed to ransom the remaining captives and Guard was permitted to go to Port Nicholson to collect payment. Captain Morris, of the Joseph Weller, agreed to take the ransom to Moturoa, but his ship was blown off course and forced to sail to Port Jackson. Guard's story drew wide interest in Sydney and Governor Bourke decided to send HMS Alligator to rescue Elizabeth Guard. On 22 September the Alligator arrived off Moturoa, where the crew members were readily handed over. As Elizabeth Guard and the children were detained elsewhere, Captain Lambert took an influential chief on board HMS Alligator as a hostage and proceeded to the pa where they were being held. Apparently Guard's son was at a more distant pa and there was some delay before he could be returned. At length some Maoris came down to the water's edge, one of whom carried the boy strapped on his back. Captain Guard, with seven of his crew and a few sailors from the Alligator, went to receive him. According to the report published in the Sydney Times of 14 November 1834, “One of the sailors reached the boy first and, finding him fastened to the man's back by an old mat, took out his knife, and securing the boy, deliberately drew his knife across the man's throat. The crew of the Harriet, finding the child safe, now determined to take full revenge for the murder of their shipmates, and there being about 103 natives on the beach, we fired on them; and the soldiers on the hill supposing that orders had been given for firing commenced a discharge of musketry upon them”. This incident was investigated by a Committee of the House of Commons in 1835.

Guard returned to Sydney in the Alligator, where a public subscription helped to tide him over the ensuing months. In 1836 the Guard family settled permanently at Kakapo Bay, near Port Underwood. In 1838 he piloted HMS Pelorus during her examination of the Marlborough Sounds and, later, he accompanied Colonel Wakefield in the Tory on similar surveys. On 1 September 1839 Guard bought Oyster Bay from the chief “Ta White” and, six days later, he and James Wynen bought a very large tract of land on both sides of the Pelorus River from Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata. On 28 January 1841 Guard applied to Governor Gipps to have these purchases recognised, but nothing further was done and the claims lapsed on 3 March 1880.

Although Guard's fame rests upon his having established the whaling industryin Cook Strait during the 1820s, he also led a whaling gang at Waipapa, north of Kaikoura, for several seasons in the 1840s. After this he faded from New Zealand history. It is most probable that he left whaling about this time and farmed around Kakapo Bay, where his descendants still live. He was an important figure among the early whalers and should prove a very fruitful subject for a biographer.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• O.L.C. 204, 207, (MSS), National Archives
• Marlborough Place Names, Insull, H. A. H. (1952)
• A Personal Narrative …, Marshall, W. B. (1836)
• Historical Records of Australia, Series I, Vol. XVII (1923)
• Sydney Times, 14 Nov, 9 Dec 1834.

(1828–1901).

Pioneer Canterbury farmer.

A new biography of Grigg, John appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

John Grigg was born in 1828 at Brodbane, near Duloe in Cornwall, the son of John and Marian Grigg. Although he was a Cornishman by birth, his ancestors were of the Clan McGregor, who had been attainted prior to 1700. When, later, they moved to Cornwall they anglicised their family name to Grigg. Grigg, who was educated at the local “dame” school in Bodmin, was destined for a farming career, but an injury to his leg forced him to change his plans. For a time he studied theology, with a view to taking orders. But, despite his father's wishes, young Grigg turned again to farming and was apprenticed to his uncles Nattle. This training was cut short two years later (1847) by his father's death and Grigg returned to Brodbane, where he undertook to support his widowed mother, a brother and sister, and two step sisters.

Colonisation was in the air and Grigg was attracted by the challenge of large-scale farming overseas with its attendant problems. His decision to emigrate was hastened by the departure of Martha Maria Vercoe, the girl he intended to marry, who left Cornwall for New Zealand in 1848. In 1853 Grigg sold Brodbane and arrived in Auckland in 1854, where he obtained a lease of some land at Otahuhu. On 7 June 1855, at Trinity Church, Otahuhu, Grigg married Martha Vercoe.

Grigg was president of the Otahuhu Agricultural and Horticultural Society in 1861 and again in 1863 and 1864, when it had become the New Zealand Agricultural Society.

At Otahuhu Grigg began mixed farming — crops for export — hay for the army — and sheep breeding for exhibitions. He was particularly successful with sheep and exhibited as far afield as Dunedin. It was on these southern trips that he decided to settle in the South Island as he disliked the humid northern climate and, as an admirer of the Maori people, was concerned at the growing state of unrest among North Island tribes.

In 1864 Longbeach, Canterbury, was purchased. At least 2,000 acres were freeholded in that year and the remaining 30,000 acres were leased. It was not until 1871 that the whole 32,000 acres of “impassable swamp” of the survey plan was freeholded. The area, which extended from the Ashburton River to the Hinds, and 7 miles inland from the coast, contained some tongues of dry land, but in the main it was swamp — peat and silt on a clay subsoil. The Hinds River ran into the south-west corner and spread over the swamp area, as there was no direct outlet to the sea. Grigg was to spend the rest of his life converting this unproductive swamp into “the best farm in the world”. Development of the property began immediately, but Grigg lived at Avon Head, near Christchurch, until 1871, when the first homestead was built at Longbeach. At first he brought in cattle from all parts of Canterbury, fattened them, and each summer drove them over Arthur's Pass to the West Coast gold fields. He built miles of small drains through the swamp, and as it dried out he planted crops and commenced stock breeding. In 1867 a small area of wheat was planted and in 1869 the first sheep (5,000 merinos) arrived.

In 1882 Grigg's brother-in-law and partner, Thomas Russell, the banker, decided to withdraw his capital from Longbeach. Accordingly, the whole of the livestock and implements were offered in a historic sale which lasted a week and attracted buyers from all over New Zealand. The total amount raised was £35,000, of which Grigg himself paid £12,000. By this time, too, some of the original 32,000 acres had been sold and some 16,000 acres, in lots of 100–150 acres, fetched £9 to 15 per acre — which was a reasonable price as it had cost Grigg up to £4 per acre for draining the land. Generally such sales were made to Longbeach employees who wished to set up as independent farmers.

On his reduced acreage Grigg intensified his development plans. Tile drains were added to the existing open drains, a brickmaker was employed, and a brickworks manufactured drainage tiles on the estate. Each year some 40 miles of tile drains were laid, and by 1900 the total length exceeded 150 miles. During this time most of the farm buildings were replaced in brick and an imposing brick homestead was erected. Grigg was attracted by the possibilities of the export of frozen carcasses and, in 1881, he convened a meeting from which grew the Canterbury Frozen Meat Co., with himself as first chairman of directors. In 1883 Grigg chartered a sailing ship and consigned 4,000 Longbeach mutton and lamb carcasses for England. Unfortunately, the refrigerating machinery failed during the voyage and Grigg lost heavily, but even this setback failed to discourage him and he began to buy stock for fattening on a large scale. By 1894 there were 37,000 sheep on Longbeach, and in one season alone he fattened 80,000 sheep and lambs for export. Cropping was also intensified, and in one year over 5,000 acres of wheat was grown. A statement made in the House of Representatives in 1891 summarises these developments in terms of money: “Mr. John Grigg has spent £40,000 on improvements, he pays each year £4,000 to the railways for transport. His men save each year over £5,000. His place of 15,000 acres, was, when he got to it, impassable swamp”. The permanent staff at Long-beach usually numbered 150 and included not only farm workers but also a wide variety of skilled tradesmen.

In 1883 Grigg was attracted by the possibilities of dairy farming and he instructed his son, who was then in England, to procure for him the best dairy cattle in Europe. The black and white Dutch Friesian breed was selected and one bull and six cows were imported from Holland. In 1890 Grigg founded his last pure-breed sheep stud — the Southdown — and believed that this would be the sire for future export lambs. It was not for another 20 years that the Southdown received serious consideration, but for the last 35 years the breed has dominated export-lamb breeding in New Zealand.

Even while he was converting his “impassable swamp” into a highly productive model farm, Grigg found time for public duties. He served a term (1884–85) as member of Parliament for Wakanui, but was never entirely at ease in the political atmosphere of Wellington. He was a member of the Ashburton Roads Board from 1872–79, and of the County Council, which succeeded it, from 1879–99. At one time or another he served on the local school committee, the Ashburton Domain Board, the Hospital Board, both the Ashburton and Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Associations, and on the various stud-breeders' societies — and on most of these he was, from time to time, chairman or president. His interests in education found expression as a Fellow and Governor of Christ's College (Christchurch) and as a governing member of Canterbury University College.

A staunch admirer and friend of Bishop Selwyn, Grigg was a signatory of the original Constitution (1857) of the Church of England in New Zealand. For many years he served as a lay reader and was a member both of the Diocesan Synod, and of the committee appointed to provide a cathedral for Christchurch. In addition he built a small undenominational church at Longbeach to serve the little community. Grigg died at Longbeach on 5 November 1901 and is buried beside the church. He left two sons and five daughters.

An acknowledged leader of men, of hot temper controlled by a strong will, Grigg was reputedly an infallible judge of good men, and he certainly gathered about him a loyal band of highly skilled farm workers and tradesmen. Like Grigg, many of them spent their whole working lives on Long-beach. An imposing monument, provided by the public of Canterbury, depicting Grigg hatless, his heavy walking stick in hand, and with one foot on a field-drain tile amid the raupo reeds of the swamp, stands in Baring Square, Ashburton. A bas-relief below shows scenes of ploughing, harvesting, and shearing, and the four corners bear the symbols of justice, prudence, fortitude, and industry. But Grigg's most impressive memorial is the Longbeach area, which has been converted from a useless swamp into some 220 fertile farms, many owned by past employees and their descendants. The sentiments of his employees towards him is aptly expressed in the inscription they chose for the plaque to his memory in Longbeach Church:

“Who laboured for the common good
Large was his bounty;
His soul sincere”.

by Percival George Stevens, DIP.AGR., formerly Senior Lecturer in Animal Science, Lincoln Agricultural College.

John Grigg of Longbeach, Stevens, P. G. (1952).

(1894– ).

Professor emeritus.

A new biography of Griffiths, Thomas Vernon appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Thomas Vernon Griffiths was born at West Kirby, Cheshire, England, on 22 June 1894 and educated at Norwich Grammar School and Pembroke College, Cambridge. He was organist and choir master at Pembroke College from 1919 to 1922 and for the next five years taught music in English secondary schools. From 1927 to 1933 he lectured in music at Canterbury Teachers' Training College and founded and directed the College's music classes and festival for children. In 1933 he became director of music at King Edward Technical College, Dunedin, which post he retained until 1942. During these periods he edited Music in New Zealand for five years. From 1942 to 1962 he was professor of music at Canterbury University and, until 1961, dean of the faculty of music and fine arts. In addition to these positions he has held various appointments as organist, adjudicator, and conductor. He is also a member of the Government Bursaries Committee, the A.P.R.A. Advisory Council in New Zealand, and the Christchurch Civic Music Council. In 1957 he was awarded the O.B.E. On 31 January 1962 he retired from the chair of music with the title of professor emeritus.

Greytown is situated west of the Ruamahanga River on alluvial flats near the centre of the Wairarapa Valley. The town is on the main highway between Wellington and Masterton, the latter town being 15 miles north-east. Greytown is 7 miles north-east of Featherston and 5 miles south-west of Carterton.

The primary industries of the district are extensive sheep farming on the hilly country to the west, with fat-lamb production and dairying on the flats. On the outskirts of the borough and within its boundaries, market gardening and fruitgrowing are important. The town is chiefly a servicing centre for the rural community. Industrial activities include the manufacture of cheese, clothing, and softgoods, and the production of sawn and dressed timber.

Greytown was the first town site chosen by the Wellington Provincial Government under the Small Farms Association's settlement scheme. The first six settlers arrived at the town site on 27 March 1854. The camping place of this advance party is marked by a commemorative plaque and shelter in Main Street. The town was named Greytown after Governor Sir George Grey, who actively supported the association's scheme. The name later became Greytown North to distinguish it from Greytown in Otago. Later, Greytown South was renamed Allanton, and Greytown North again became Greytown. The cheese factory established at Greytown in 1883 by Coleman Phillips is believed to have been the first cooperative factory in the Southern Hemisphere. In July 1867 the Greytown Road Board was established to manage town affairs. This body was replaced by a town board on 7 April 1874, and on 21 November 1878 Greytown was constituted a borough.

POPULATION: 1951 census, 1,258; 1956 census, 1,429; 1961 census, 1,579.

by Brian Newton Davis, M.A., Vicar, St. Philips, Karori West, Wellington and Edward Stewart Dollimore, Research Officer, Department of Lands and Survey, Wellington.

Greymouth is situated on the northern part of the Westland Plain close to the south bank of the Grey River mouth. The main part of the town extends along a narrow coastal plain. Immediately east the country rises to bush-clad hills. The residential areas of Cobden, situated along the northern bank of the river, and Coal Creek Flat, east of Cobden, lie within the borough. The Christchurch-Ross railway and the Inangahua-Hokitika section of highway pass through the town. Greymouth is also the terminus of the coastal highway from Westport via Punakaiki and the junction for the Runanga-Rapahoe-Rewanui branch railway. By road Greymouth is 65 miles south-west of West-port via Punakaiki (94 miles by rail via Inangahua), 49 miles south-west of Reefton (47 miles by rail), and 25 miles north-east of Hokitika (24 miles by rail). Christchurch is 145 miles south-east by rail via Otira Tunnel. Greymouth is a river port with berthage and cargo facilities on the south bank in the town.

Sheep and cattle raising and dairying are carried on in the district. The most important primary activities, however, are large-scale logging and milling of indigenous timber, and coal mining. There are two compact groups of coal mines located in the vicinity of Runanga (5 miles northeast) and Dobson (6 miles east). Greymouth is the main administrative and commercial centre of Westland. Town industrial activities include the manufacture of concrete products, coal gas, joinery, furniture, clothing, beer and stout; saw-milling; timber treatment; and general and mechanical engineering. A milk-treatment station and railway workshops are located in the town.

The largest Maori settlement in Westland in the 1840s were at Mawhera (now Greymouth) and at the mouth of the Taramakau River, some 10 miles south-west. Sources of greenstone were located within the district and ancient overland routes converged on the area. Tasman's ships travelled northwards off the coast in December 1642. Cook followed in 1770 and d'Urville in 1826. Each regarded this part of the country as unfavourable. Small parties of sealers and whalers probably entered the Grey River between the early 1800s and early 1840s. The first explorers, Thomas Brunner and Charles Heaphy, with E Kehu, a Maori, travelled down the coast from Nelson in 1846 and were at Mawhera pa on 19 May. In 1847 Brunner visited Mawhera again and, on 25 January 1848, proceeded up the Grey River (which he named in honour of the Governor) in search of a route to Nelson. On the first part of this return journey he discovered the coal seam and the lake that now bear his name. In 1857 Captain John Peter Oakes and his brothers, Thomas and Joseph, brought their schooner, Emerald Isle, into the Grey River on a prospecting trip.

In 1857 and 1859 J. Mackay visited Mawhera and negotiated unsuccessfully for the purchase of the West Coast. The Maoris wished to retain the “greenstone country” enclosed by the Grey and Taramakau Rivers. Mackay returned in 1860 by way of a new inland route via the upper Grey Valley and, with James Burnett and S. M. Mackley, re-opened land-purchase negotiations. The deed of sale of the West Coast was eventually signed on 21 May 1860 at Mawhera.

In May 1863 a Provincial Government depot was established at the Grey River for surveyors and track workers and the relief of casual travellers. Charles Townsend was in charge and he is regarded as the founder of Greymouth. The town began as a small settlement around the depot. Following the discovery of payable gold in the Greenstone (Hohonu) area of the district, Reuben Waite, of Nelson, with a party of diggers, sailed in s.s. Nelson for the Grey River settlement, where he established the first commercial general store. The town site was laid out by Rochfort in 1865. Farming was begun in the Grey Valley in 1862 by S. M. Mackley and timber milling about the same time. Coal mining began at Brunner's seam in 1864. By the 1880s coal mining and timber milling had become the main industries of the district. Today gold mining is practically confined to a single dredge working not far from the once notable Greenstone Diggings. For a long time communication with Greymouth was chiefly by sea. In 1866 the coach road from Christchurch linked with the Greymouth-Hokitika beach route. A railway was built in 1876 to Brunner to serve the coalfield. The railway was opened to Reefton in 1894 and to Otira in 1900. The line to Christchurch via Otira Tunnel was opened for traffic on 4 August 1923. The Greymouth-Hokitika line was opened in 1893 and further extended to Ross in 1909. The Grey Valley line ultimately linked with a line from Westport in 1942. The main sections of the Runanga-Rewanui-Rapahoe branch system were completed successively in 1904, 1914, and 1923. Greymouth was constituted a borough in 1868. The settlement was first known as Crescent City, later Blaketown, then Greytown and, finally, Greymouth.

POPULATION: 1951 census, 8,865; 1956 census, 8,948; 1961 census, 8,877.

by Brian Newton Davis, M.A., Vicar, St. Philips, Karori West, Wellington and Edward Stewart Dollimore, Research Officer, Department of Lands and Survey, Wellington.

This north Westland river, 75 miles long, rises at the main alpine divide and flows generally westwards to the Tasman Sea. Its major tributary, the Ahaura, also rises at the main divide, but several other important streams join the Grey from the coastal Paparoa Range. In the 1860s a route from Nelson by way of a low saddle from the Maruia River near its head extended down the river to the gold-mining areas of the West Coast, but it has not become a modern route because of gorges in the middle reaches of the river. The Maori name both for the river and for the pa at its mouth was Mawhera, but in 1846 Heaphy named it the Grey, after the new Governor, Sir George Grey; the town of Greymouth now stands on the site of the pa. In the following year Brunner discovered coal on its banks a few miles from its mouth, and subsequent development of the Greymouth coalfield was largely possible because the river mouth provided a workable bar harbour. The wider terraced lower valley provides some farming land; the first was taken up on the West Coast at Waipuna by Samuel Mackley in 1862. Both in the main valley and in many tributaries, alluvial gold mining and dredging have left heaps of tailings as their memorials.

Greymouth (pop. 8,877) has a typical bar harbour through which much of the output of the Greymouth coalfield passes. It is often closed because of shallow or rough water on the bar, and frequent dredging is necessary to keep the berths free of the sand and gravel brought down by the river when in flood. The maximum recorded discharge is 250,000 cusecs and the minimum is about 5,000 cusecs, there being no well-defined seasonal flow. The Grey Valley serves as a communication route for both main road and rail traffic between Greymouth and Ikamatua.

by Frederick Ernest Bowen, B.SC.(DURHAM), New Zealand Geological Survey, Otahuhu and Richard Patrick Suggate, M.A.(OXON.), D.SC.(N.Z.), F.R.S.N.Z., New Zealand Geological Survey, Christchurch.