MOKE OLD-TIME MEMORIES.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12683, 22 December 1906, Page 3

MOKE OLD-TIME MEMORIES.

(Bt C Stbwbjow UA.CKO-) Apropos of a «fJ"« 1..* raMitbr reached roe from New bwm token from *U» ew» iST.rticto describing tho "***»» ! wheat harvest operationsIbv tvpe-eetting work, which ha^I engaged hia. attention orcr five decades preVioualy; (2) «* endorsing «.ch material item in his 1 embracing on the ono band the busy in the tinj trboat field, «d on the tho fulfilment of his arduous dutie. on tho staff of the "Canterbury Standard'; (3) of appraising at a high valuation tho sentimonto evidently underlying G.R.H.'fl retrospective sketch, embodying lus earliest, and probably unconscious, endearonn. -lin common with wverAl other individuals (myself, I am proud to say, amongst tbo number) to test the -wheat, producing capabilities of tho plains— the results of which incipient experimental prooeeding-B in the region of agricultma have, 1 think, lon£ ago far exceeded the most sanguine .anticipations entertained by the origmal Canterbury Association's brave lrttle band of farming colonists, who have contributed so largely (I «y «t "> no bombastic spirit) towards m**«_-g. the city of Christchurch and the Plains generally, what theey «ro to-day, (4) h«t, though far from least, of plicing on Tecord my strong admiration of G.R.H.'s character. although, by the bye, his modestly abbreviated signature giving only thwe initials, entirely fails, •as from my own point of -new, to reveal his Identity—rather tantalising, is it not, to thi present writer, with whonf G.R.H. was nearly oartam to have been familiar, if not by petaonal acquaintance, by reputation. " I am not at all aurpnaeo. that G.R.H* is tbe only survivor of the little band who, in the early fifties, laboured at " setting up " not only the " Stami-ai-d's" type, but the sheaves owned by eorae oi- iter compositoia. Indeed, I would convey to him my aurprised o«i----grat illations that he is -still here to tell the tale, for I should think the Mrvivora of those who, like G.R.H. and myself, manually reaped corn with a sickle, and otherwise gathered in the kindly fruits of the earth in those faroff <days in or near Christehuroh, could be counted, at pnost, on tha fingew of both one's hands. Anyhow, I trust that G.R.H. may be spared to enjeoy life for a few years yrt, sind that, in tho meantime, he has shared-«ome of the prosperity which hi* own work in the city's infancy, combinefed _%ith that of other young ieMowa (indeod, such exertions were by no means confined exclusively to those of the "sterner sex"), was, in large measure, the in. direct means of procuring «n behalf of the present" generation of Plaitwiwellors at the Antipodes. I may add that, whilst two genenations back my own labpun amongst the golden grain, which, by the bye, well deserved such a nattering eoubriqufct on the score of its value (10b per bushel-at least), no less than its hue L strongly resembled those, of G.R.H., though without, in ray case, any V* ringing «f the Ganges'' in the an apprentioeahip in typosetting; I can well reatettber the dear old "Standard" from it* birth te its •demise. The paper first saw the light about 1854; and nut its regular coarse aa a weskly, and * very cr&ditable <ooe at that for those very primitive days, for fully ten yean. But it waa sadly handicapped from tta fimt inception to tta much lamented close by reason of at least droumstanoes confronting it.* Kwt; and mainly, the paper was hampered by tiie want of adequate <_B-f*tt_uV df_^>f a ?t there was stering the ''Stfutdard m the face, as it were, from' the fimt, its formidable rival, the ° Lyttelton Times," which had the start of the former journal Jjy fully throe yean, waa never, I think, straitened as to ita organisatkm by lack of "ways and means," and was engineered first,, by Ingram Shrimpton (« to ita mechaniosl departmeent, at any rate, I am not rare if he was editor), and for many ye_rs the late William Reeves and CTfebi* Ward. both, I think* men of Mfhstanoo and of great literary and politkau eminence. Thirdly, in the eighth or ninth year the " Standard.* '* life, there came anddenly upon the scene— uM a bolt from the blue,*the mighty James Fit-sgerald's "Press" newspaper.whidL, evidently comii-l to .stay, ,«» d .* ol€l s conducted by the highly talented, and exceptionally powerful pemnelity, running first as a wwkly, and _twc\ yearn afterwards jumping at once Mte a fnlUlowa daily, and "J*,™ 1 * meai*. the peer "Canterbury Standard . was/ exposed "te a raking CTOss-fiite of competition, the bwe little ten-year-old was oßliged, in about 1864, to .-an-, nounce her Set appearance in Pnblic. I well recollect, and have had in tho old, Mia far from raihappy, days many a plesaant "confab" with, several old identiSfe of Christchurch, wherewith G.R.HVmast hsve becd fittoiliar, and one% tfso of whom he | names, ac, for instance,*,: the fine, bright, Ridiand Packerv'toeping « ttore on the site of the D.tC,**nd liv/rig with jus son, the latter a gftsßt musician and an excellent crtt-en. But the contributor ia slightly in error aa to from whom the pastry for the harvesF pupper was obtained; the l|tt?- pastrycook's shop next door to Packer's store wis ran by one Kivw, who was, I fancy, succeeded by Rnddenklau .We used, when at Strickland's, to sell our. butter to Kiver, and many a -Uireepenny cake did we youths (my late brother ami myself) buy there when on our way to Papanui bush with dray and horses for timber, firewood, etc. .Gibbs kopt another estoro opposite the the fiitbeeq-entJy-bmlt Prorincull Council Chnmber, and Charles Wellington j Bishop a third, by Colombo street ' bridßo, and near tbe market place; C. i VT. B. also kept the post office. MyI mind retains vivify the cireumstancefl of " Frw's " must useful substitute f6r ia public dock, and ako the "jolly I good spree" whiech heralded the finst i lioi«ting of the flag, the flagstaff being situated on the south bank of tbe Avon, iat a plaoe for many years rejoicing in the nomination of "The Bricks," and, I think, nearly opposite the terv But I must not take up more i swi'ce with my reminiscences. Returning for a moment to the subject of the egolden grain cultivation. I believe that although, in the fifties, many prominent colonists looked wool-growing as being then, and likely to remain pormaneemtly, tho Tativelv staple industry of the Plains, and figuratively turned up their n«« at agriculture. The breadstuff department of Canterbury's industnea "leads tbe van" in forming tbe nucleus of tbe Plain's commercial magnificence. I must, in conclusion, anticipate the editor's forgiveness for having lengthened out my article somewhat mor- J -inaterv, and, with fervent hopes that the coming intercolonial fete, in the shape of tbe great Hagk-y Park Bihibrtion, will mark a great epoch in the ■colony's history, and will foe the means of bringing about an important revival of prosperity on behalf of New Zealand generally, and Canterbury in particular, I bid friends at the Antipodes my humble adieu. Chri-rtchurch, Hampshire, Nov. 3rd.