EARLY DAYS OF SETTLEMENT

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21328, 22 November 1934, Page 9

EARLY DAYS OF SETTLEMENT

STOCK and produce j PRICES ! ÜBJHMSCKM'Ri OF MR T. UKE; Q nc oi Hit original settlers on the Cheviot Estate after its acquisition by ' the Government was Mr Thomas Gee, s who is v, ' e " knuwn as a member of the Canterbury Land Board for many years. Mr Gee is a native of Christchurch. and when 21 or 22 years of age he took up a bush section in | Elretahuna in 1391. He spent two years | clearing the bush off his section, and ! when Cheviot was thrown open l'or ' selection he drew a section of 271 j acres, which he farmed for 12 years — | cropping- dairying, and finally sheepfattening. He then acquired a grazing run at Cheviot which lie disposed 0 f in 1922. Mr Gee has taken a prominent part in Cheviot arfairs, and was a member of the Cheviot County Council for about 16 years, and was chairman on two different occasions, the latest in 1922. Since 1912, with the exception of two years when he was on a visit to England. Mr Gee has been a member of the Land Board. Some of his reminiscences of the early 1 days on the Cheviot 'settlement Mr I Gee gave to a representative of "The Press." I An Early Inspection I The first time he went to Cheviot, Mr Gee said, was in June. 1894, about five months before the ballot. He stopped at the post office, situated just before coming to the bridge leading into what, later, became the township j He slept in a shed in the gully, but when the rain descended he was ] flooded out. After inspecting the country, he came to the conclusion that it'was a fine estate and that it would be well worth while to go in for a section. The only building on the site of the township was the land oflice, a building of wood, 1 Ift by 10ft. This building afterwards was removed to and still stands on the reserve of the Department of Agriculture on ; Caverhill roau. Ultimately Mr Gcc j secured a section and he was the ; second settler to pitch his tent on the j Waiau flat. J. Barnes, he thought, was I ahead of him. j Cash Not Plentiful Those were hard times for the agri- ' cultural and pastoral industries, as is i indicated by the prices then ruling. Produce was shipped from Port Robinson, which remained the only means of access till the railway was put through to Domett. Wheat had to be carted 10 miles to the port, and in his first year on Cheviot Mr Gee received 2s 6d a bushel for wheat and lOcl a bushel for oats. His first lot of fat and forward lambs he drove to Rangiora, the prices he got ranging from 2s 6d to 2s 9d a head. In those days most of the fat stock was bought by Mr W. B. Clarkson, and the settlers thought when, later, he gave 10s for , lambs, that their fortunes were made. f If they had been told then that still later lambs would fetch almost three times that price they would not have believed it. At the beginning of the settlement some of the runs were stocked up for Is a head; and some of the runholders sold their lambs at that price. I | Grazing Runs Net Applied For ' On January 2, 1395, Mr Gee went ; on to his section. At that time only a few settlers were on their sections, j but gradually they took up their residence. A man he had met in the bush < country in the North Island had drawn ! a section on Cheviot, near Queen Anne's lagoon. When Mrs Gee met him ana asked what he was doing, tile man said that he had looked ut the section, but it would not grow bush, and land that would not grow bush was no good. So he decided to throw it up. "It was commonly thought," MiGee said, "that if anyone drew a section in Cheviot he had drawn a fortune, but there were several sections that were not even applied for. There were three grazing runs never applied for, and the Lands Department asked the adjoining owners to take them up, and they did so. As a matter of fact they were really gold mines and were, and still arc. the cream of Cheviot." I I The Tenure Question \ To meet the objectors in Parliament \ to the lease-in-perpetuity tenure—the i »?9 years' lease—the Hon. John Mc- ! Kenzie, then Minister for j agreed that a certain proportion of the ! sections should be offered lor cash, i but only one person, Mr Robert Sloss, ! availed himself of the opportunity: 1 the section is still in the possession of lis family. When the Government ac- ; quired the estate, and before the se- 1 Jection and ballot. Mr McKenzie leased ! the area in 10,000 acre blocks to six I p ® r ?°, RS for one year so that the stock i could be retained on the estate and 06 available for the new settlers. The average price paid by the settlors for merinos was about ss; it would have tost them much more if they had not been able to buy them on the I estate. t , ln the then existing state of things lease-in-perpetuity tenure proved ti' ractivc - In addition to the hard 'mes, many settlers were afraid that r ?t .'n sheep would never be got in ( u ' was stam ped out, however, | ?ivi f 6 ycars - When the right was | itv t convert the lease-in-perpetu- I Jto freehold, only one settler took ! wantage of the legislation. With that j tin e * ce Ption all the sections taken j P under the lease-in-perpetuity ten- : »re are still so held. Later, the Mas- : mil overnmcn f gave the right to ac- ! th i , w ' lo ' c of the freehold of I aW ? ase "i n "P t -'rpctuily sections and sr-.,; the grazing runs. Three of the I |l n S runs were so converted within ; tW oil thrcc: montl ' ls - Mr Gee said \ J, of 'lie original settlers still ! upicd their holdings, cither the 1 t,„. or h's wife, and there were bej nnl eri £0 an d 25 children of the orig- i lion/th ?'" S at P'' csent occupying sec- ' thoiv L^, lr parents took up or which ne 'i children had acquired. Railway Communication S? e s P° ke of the long agitation : lot r-I s em barked on before they firat ay com niunication. When they thom a iu )l ' oac ' lec ' Scddon he told 30 . had boUsr wai t for 20 or ,J *' s an d then see him again. f-low-MinU* , re f en 'ed them to the then Wu ii T Pul; ' lic; Works, the Hon. . fsunTT les ' w ' lo received them j SUm and 12 months a I thp as Placed on the estimates for ! ev P r i lw / y - U was srjm e years, howpleted thc rnilway wa,s com ! wen.' less successful ! MckL y a PP r oachcd the Hon. John ; shouM T and askcd Ulal n license ; townch- granted for a hotel in the ' Mr 1W i?' . Scott having built one. ■Waitorf '' e cl " lc deputation thai he iv °" hlm in lllc °' d church, that licpn=o S u not in fa vour of granting a thaf ecaus c he was of the opiniu;i tnorp * ? u , ld not; hc 'p to di a any Hlore i i llolcs ' 0l " plough up any to advised the deputation Bettw. a year ° l ' two to see how the Hoiirn' 80 !' this day there is | c cnsed hotel in I his township. '