THE PIONEERS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 303, 30 September 1940, Page 3

THE PIONEERS

THE ASHBURTON HISTORY, PICTURE OF COLONISATION. CHRONICLE OF MUCH INTEREST.' An imposing addition to the collection of provincial histories produced by our Centennial year is “Ashburton, New Zealand: Its Pioneers and Its History, 1853-1939.” The author is John Brown, who has made a labour of love of his task for over three years (says the “Free Lance”). For instance, in his preface he mentions his study of the minute-books of the four' major local bodies: “I read every word of these, starting with the year 1864 and finishing with 1939.” Later lie says: “I have’travelled over practically all of the country described, and care has been taken to see that the facts are historically correct. In the stories I have given much of myself, and that is as it should be.”

To my mind, the major importance of the book is the faithful picture it gives of the British colonisation of New Zealand, its method and purpose. “Best Farm in World.” . Naturally, the famous Longbeach Estate is the subject of the opening story; history of the Grigg family is one of which any country can be proud. This far-famed place, known in the 1890’s as “the best farm in the world,” was described in a small map. in the Lands Office as “impenetrable bog” and was, as the author says, “a vast swamp of flax, toe-toe, raupo'and niggerheads.” The transformation of this area into some of the finest arable land in the world was indeed a shining achievement. I like the term “private village” for the establishment of workers who brought about the change. The army of people at harvest-time was imposing. “The bakers were turning out a thousand 4lb loaves a week and using from seven to eight bags of flour for making into harvest-cake. The butchers* were killing an average of 150 sheep a week.” During the 1896 harvest 33 binders were used, and the. railwayfreight bill averaged about £SOOO annuallv.

Following that about Longbeach is a series of articles dealing with the stud-farms of the district. This is an amazing array, as all the leading pastoral animals are represented in this county by studmasters of repute. Each study is complete in itself and each is full of its own distinctive interest.

As a colourful romance of outback farming in New Zealand I instance the story of Robert Buick and Client Hills. It has the vim of a “western” novel and the scene is every bit as wild and woolly. Here the owner had to fight the perils of snow, running shingle-faces, snow-slides, storms and 42 degrees of frost.

The section of the hook devoted to pioneers is packed with original yarns. I particularly liked the tale of Mrs Goorge Lambie, of Creek House, and Mrs Rutherford, of the Chorrv-Troe cutting: they lived “up tho gorge.” They had come out on the same boat and to deal with their problem of “deadly isolation” they “arranged to meet eacli other halfway between their homes, at a big stone trvsting-place. Each carried her baby and the wherewithal to refresh herself after a walk of several miles each way. “The billy was boiled, their darning was done, there was intimate exchange of thought and word, and then the long walk back,” { to he repeated in the following week.

.'Bho gallery of characters among the pioneers is a large one, and the historical novelist of the future may quarry plenty of good material out of these pages. Old Mill with Five Stories. Other activities of the settlers are also described fully. The Wakanui flour-mill was built just on 60 years ago. “The machinery was driven by an overshot water-wheel, 18 feet by Bft, with two four-foot buckets along the face.’’ This five-storied mill, with all its machinery, was moved whole into Ashburton. “The railway-line was crossed in the dead of night, with a gang of post-and-telegraph workers there to join up the telegraph wires which had to he cut.”

The chapters dealing with the beauty-spots of the county contain some notes on Samuel Butler. “Early in 1860 he settled there, tended his flocks, doubled his capital, and sold out late in 1863.”

We read also of “Pudding Hill, an unlovely name for a lovely spot,” where the first dam in Ashburton County was built. There is an oldtime air about the anecdote of J. C. Wason, M.H.R., avlio was very powerful and “lifted a man wlio was making a nuisance of himself at one of the Christchurch Assembly balls and stood him on his head in a dish of trifle.”

1 suppose the full collection of local histories will contain many items fairly common to all. One of these will be the usual battle about the first schemes for a water-supply. Ashburton had a minor civil war on this subject, and there was also for a long time a sharp conflict between the ’’Western fibre Brigade” and the Ashburton institution proper, which owned “The Old Steamer.” Mr Brown has done his work with great thoroughness and has also contrived to sustain the interest in this chronicle of 7">f> pages. Ffe has had a varied career in his district, ranging from teaching to fanning, and his affection for the district is obviously sincere.

Tlmrc is, by the way, a good index, and the illustrations are plentiful, containing many rare photographs from the early days. This is a Centennial history which will have a wide public outside the Ashburton area. “Ashburton” is published by A. H. and A. W. Reed, for the Ashburton

County and Borough Councils. Several other publications, including the “Now Zealand Listener,” “The Evening Post” and the “Otago Daily Times,’’ have also favourably reviewed Mr Brown’s hook.