TOWN OF DEFERRED HOPE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 107, 9 May 1927, Page 16

TOWN OF DEFERRED HOPE.

ONEHUNGA ON MANUKAU.

FINDING A DESTINY.

FIRST STEPS IN SELF-GOVERX-

MENT.

(By T. WALSH.)

Onehunga, celebrating Its jubilee as a borough and finding its place in the sun, may be pardoned for its exuberance of spirit and joyfulness at difficulties overcome; for the town laid out in 1849 as a military pensioner settlement has had a chequered career; a record of false starts on the road to progress and of overshadowings by its more fortunate neighbour on the Waitemata.

The formation of the 'borougli in 18.">" did not mark the first steps in self-gov-ernment by the village of Onehunga, as it was officially styled, for in 1848, under an ordinance just then issued, Onehunga was declared one of the "hundreds" of the County of Eden, and entrusted with the election of three wardens and empowered to make regulations for the control of the "hundred," mostly in the control of cattle, the registration of brands, and fixing of license fees. A section of the Royal Fencibles, under Major Kenny, werelocated at Onehunga in 1849, while other sections were stationed at Otahuliu and Panmure; and a liapu of friendly natives was induced to live at Mangere to form a cover for the right flank of the blockhouse line across the Tamaki isthmus. There were then many farmers occupying farms from the confines of the city (Parnell Rise) to Epsom and Onehunga, so that it was inevitable that the whole of the activities of the first self-government body should be concerned with cattle and land.

Governor Grey's Object. Speaking in 1849, when the first elections under the hundred's ordinance took place, Governor Grey said that "one of the important objects of the new regulations was to introduce, on a limited scale, the principles of self-government by means of representative institutions." The first three wardens elected for the Hundred of Onehunga were Messrs. Wm. Powditch, Thos. Somerville, and Jan. Magee; seemingly they early decided that the term "sleepy hollow" was not to be applied to their part of the provisos, for they issued a long printed statement to the electors (persons who paid license fees for the right to nm cattle on the waste lands of the hundred) exhorting them to value the privelege of self-con-trol politically that had been granted them, and explained their proposed actions and defended past ones. A ranger, Mr. D. Smale, was to be appointed at a salary of £10 per annum plus pound fees; a scheme to combine with the Hundred of Auckland .to erect a pound at the junction of Epsom and Tamaki Roads (now Newmarket) had lapsed. With a political candour that is quite refreshing, the statement ended with these words: "We shall be glad at all times to receive the opinions and suggestions of our constituents and would wish to follow any generally conceived advantage. But if in the results we have trod on the toes of any individual we have no apology to make, but to hope that it may induce him to add his experience to our knowledge for the benefit of future determinations." "Although the Crown lands are fast diminishing (and with them went the necessity of wardens for the hundred) there may arise many circumstances tending to perpetuate a representative system." The waste lands at Onehunga, over which the wardens ruled, comprised 20 acres at Three Kings, a few small unenclosed areas in the village, 30 acres "near Mr. Hart's," 110 acres of public reserve on One Tree Hill, Mount Smart, 450 acres "beyond Mr. Hart's place," and "Mangarie." The license holders and the electors were:—

Thos. Fleury, Jn. McGee, J. Beveridce. P. Kelly, Jas. Moonev, H. H. Kenny (Mayor), Chas. Moore, Geo. Farrall, Hy. Lavery, —. M'Cutcheon, —. Gillespie. W. Powditch, D. Lorigan, Jas. McGee. R. B. Lusk, Jn, Mander, J. Alexander. Atch. Price, J. McPike, Ed. George, T. O'Brien, W. Reece, T. Somerville, Capt. Haultdin, Lieut. Symonds, Hy. Hayr. P. Donovan, Joseph May, Adam Nixon •las. Hill, J. O'Keefe, Jas. McGee. Tas. Anson, G. Ormsby, P. Lundon, D McCarthy, S. Norman.

Between them they owned 605 head of cattle and horses; which was solid evidence of progress when it is remembered that less than 10 years had elapsed since the founding of Auckland.

Vision of Commercial Greatness. In 1850 the first coal won in the Waikato came to Auckland via the Waiuku portage and Onehunga; the cost vras 25/2 per ton, of which the transport from Waiuku to Auckland absorbed 14/. The enterprise of all was fired, and schemes were afoot to exploit the ?oal while Governor Grey had a survey made of the Waiuku portage to formulate a canal scheme. Onehunga was agog with prospects of becoming a big port. Then came the find of coal at Drury, the coal being hauted down the Manukau to Onehunga. The war in Taranaki diverted attention, and the following Waikato war ended attempts to get the coal. The war, however, made Onehunga a naval base, and gave it its first impetus as a port. In the slump years after the war a strategic railway was built to the Waikato and Onehunga instead of being at the door to the Waikato was shunted off on to a sideline and laungished until settlement began along the west coast.

The population in 1850, when the village first undertook self-governing responsibilities was 478 males and 389 females; the number of houses was 103; so that in 10 years the village had made a vigorous start. Land was being sold by the Crown at from £5 to £10 per acre in Onehunga, while sections of 26 perches in Grey Street, Auckland, sold for £20.

First Omnibus Runs. On a fine Sunday in January, 1851, expectant folk lined the Epsom Road and the main street of the village of Onehunga to welcome Mr. Hy. Harding, who had advertised that "he would run his "elegant new omnibus Exchange, to Onehunga every Sunday; leaving Auckland at 10.30 a.m. and Onehunga at 5 p.m." The importance of being favoured with an omnibus service was appreciated by the village; usually the transport was Shanks' reliable outfit; * ride in a Bullock wagon was a luxury and it was some years before even the gentry had horse drawn vehicles. Until the late fifties the women from Onehunga and Otahuhu used to walk to the fair at Newmarket to sell and buy. Harding's elegant omnibus passed by the Windsor Castle Hotel, in Parnell; the Royal George, near Hobson's Bridge at Newmarket, the Prince Albert, at Epsom, and the half-way house on Ep3om Road, and halted at the Royal at Onehunga, which supported the New Leith Inn and the Waterloo Inn aa well.

Attempts to open up the Manukau as a port for Sydney I>oats liad a temporary success and the eoniing of the steamers helped until time began to be an important factor and high-powered boats found it quicker to work the Waitemata. Ultimately came the amalgamation of the ports of Oneliunga and Auckland and the runalng of trams to connect the towns on boUi harbours.

Cinderella Happy. Though hopes seemed always to be dashed Onehunga kept on looking for the silver lining to the cloud of despair; it gave Xew Zealand its first lady Mayor, and sometimes grew the biggest pumpkin or landed the biggest schnapper. Felimongeries and woollen mills struggled on and three canal schemes were formulated. In the commercial boom of 1917-1925 the Manukau basin began to come into its own as a commercial manufacturing area while the concrete roads brouglut motor traffic to the district and population to the areas between the harbours. Oneliunga lost its isolation and found itj destiny as the western portal of the city on the twin harbours.