OLD BUFFERS

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 187, 9 August 1932, Page 6

OLD BUFFERS

They were four North Shore olcl boys whose combined ages amounted to nearly 300 years. On their way back from the cemetery, where they had been attending the funeral of one of their okl school mates, they pulled up near the Takapuna racecourse to discuss the days of their boyhood and to talk of the strange by-paths they had strayed into during the course of their long lives. One had known tho wide prairies of Canada, another, an engineer, had sailed the four seas and had visited the land of the midnight sun. A third had known the liot sands of the desert regions in lands where there was no twilight, and the fourth man had been a pioneer of industry in his own land. Where the racecourse is was the spot where as boys they had found some of their greatest pleasures, and a spot was pointed out where they used to catch some of the biggest flounders ever seen in Auckland, a place where there is now dry land for chains and chains. On a higher piece of ground was where they stole peaches, and at the inner side of the grandstand there was deep water where they used to swim and paddle in a big canoe which was launched there. Acres and acres of land had been reclaimed since then, and many houses covered places where the tide camo in. and flooded the area. Where young men am women were playing golf was where they caught big eels and in tho summer time exchanged them with the Maoris for big kits of peaches. Before the Lake Road was made the tide used to rush through into Shoal Bay, and when they were young it was readily believed that Captain Cook sailed through that way into the Waiteinata Harbour. They agreed amongst themselves that they were cailed "old buffers" by tho younger generation, but the youths who thought that would have to get up very early in the morning before they could emulate their devilment or their love of real outdoor healthy life, lived often under primitive conditions. What they did beat the youngsters of to-day at was fishing; they' caught great catches of fish and sold at six snapper for a shilling, and if there was a surplus for the limited market they would sell them at a penny each! Their chief recreations were out of doors, and they were hardly ever in a hall at night from one year's end to the other. A Punch and Judy show was about their limit, at Christmas time. There were many more picnics than the boys have to-day, and when meals came they always had to eat a currant bun before they got anything else to eat. True comradeship existed between boys. Most of them went to the same school, because there were few schools. They were very loyal to one another'and stuck up for one another through thick and thin. The loyalty has remained. —W.K.H.