The Hokianga House

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31316, 11 March 1967, Page 5

The Hokianga House

(C ontributed by

W.E. MOORE)

This is the story of the house that Sam built. He built it five miles beyond Akaroa, just above the waters of the harbour, where a stream comes down between the hills.

A generation ago, Sam knew that a slump was coming. He did not intend that his family should drown in the flood that pakeha folly was bringing on the world, and so, a twentieth - century Noah, he made his plans.

First he needed an Ark. His house consisted of two rooms and a kitchen, not nearly enough. He had an axe, a saw, and a hammer, and he decided to build. He told his family that they were going to build 35 rooms, but I think he may have been pulling their legs. To others he said 15, a more modest goal, but still quite ambitious even if you have an axe, a saw, and a hammer. They levelled the site, they laid the foundations, the timber arrived, and they set to work.

Tucker Plentiful j Tueker was easy enough. They had four cows, and pigs, all good foragers from what one hears. They bought sheep at half a crown a head, and bullocks, cooked them, and sealed them! in their own fat in 40-gallon drums. There was plenty of fish in the harbour. At spring tides they gathered mussels, sacks of them, and tipped them out' among the boulders in front of the house where they would be available at half tide. They grew vegetables, enough for an army. 'They shifted their garden each year, moving the fences and digging up the turf with their shovels. There is not much left of their garden, but you can still pick figs and cape gooseberries Ithere. Did they really have 200 bags of flour? I have been told that a ship was wrecked off Tumbledown; she was loaded with flour, which the Maoris salvaged. When a sack of flour gets wet, a crust forms on the outside which protects the inside from harm. And 150 bags of sugar?

This is not an essay in historical research. If legends have crept Into my story . . . well, legends do not grow round little men. I hope, if you read to the end, you will have both respect and affection for Sam Hokianga.

Story Of A Whale They had a whale. This at least is no fiction; the whole Peninsula must have smelt it. They found it floating near the heads, and towed it home in their 16-foot boat They flensed it and rendered it in five-gallon drums, and won hundreds of gallons of oil which they used for lighting and heating. While they were doing it sharks came round. They caught them, sliced them up, dried them in the sun and stored them in one of the rooms. They tell me that if you chew quite a small piece of dried shark it is as good as a meal and you will not feel hungry all day; but I confess I have not tried it.

“The soup that he took was elephant soup, and the fish that he took was whale."

A Non-Smoker

Sam grew his own tobacco. Jack and young Sam (he’s not so young now) were harvesting it one day. Sam was suspicious; he thought some of his tobacco was disappearing; and he laid a trap for them. “Well, boys,” he said when he came home, “you've worked well today; roll yourself a smoke.” Young Sam smelt a rat. “No, thanks, Dad,” he said, “I don’t smoke.” Jack said “Thanks, Dad,” rolled a smoke and smoked it “Have another,” said Sam. “Thanks, Dad,” and he did. “Have another.” “Thanks—” “So it’s you, is jt?” And Sam grabbed a stick. So young Sam looked while Jack received the father and mother of a hiding. The curious sequel to this story is that Jack smoked all his life, but young Sam never smoked again, except maybe a cigar at Christmas. There must be a moral for parents and teachers. Perhaps if they caned only the good boys and made the bad boys look on. . . .?

A Stern Ruler Sam had a horse and a trap with iron tyres. Some times the neighbours’ kids heard him coming up behind them as they walked back from Akaroa. They got off the road and hid. They were scared to ride with him, for he drove like Jehu. One day the horse bolted and went for miles. When Sam caught up, there was not much of the trap left and it was just too bad for the horse.

Sam ruled his family with a strong hand, but nobody else might touch them. Aunt Penny beat the girls because they were going out with boys. The girls told Sam, and Sam beat Aunt Penny. “Noah he cocked his eye and said, ‘lt looks like rain, I think.’ Dentists and labour ers, clerks and company managers were building the Summit Road with shovels and a ‘ wheelbarrow. In Christchurch, ' families were dining on pumpkin and pull it. The 1 Hokiangas were doing very 1 nicely, thank you. If their diet • palled, there were muttonJ birds nesting on the Stony Bay cliffs; and out of their abundance they helped others. ’ They worked hard, but they played too. “Noah he often said to his wife when he sat down to dine, ‘I don’t care where the water goes if it doesn’t get into the wine.’”

Taipo Alarm One night one of the boys was walking home, rather unsteadily, with a five gallon keg on his shoulder. Tut tut, Hokl. The keg slipped off his shoulder and rolled down the hillside. He ran and ran until he reached the first house at the Kaik. He burst in, breathless. “Taipos,” he gasped, “Taipos. They nearly got me. They threw my keg over the cliff and they nearly got me.” But Sam died. He was buried in the cemetery at the Kaik. There were photos of him, but they were lost with the house. “He would give you the shirt off his back.” “He was a hard man.” “He was cruel.” “He was the kindest man that ever lived.” Perhaps he was all of these, but most certainly he was a man. His boys looked at each other. The force that had driven them was gone, the totara that had maintained their house was fallen. They had a large living room, five bedrooms, and a bathroom. The foundations were laid for more bedrooms and the frames were up. They took them down and were content with what they had.

So now Sam is gone and his house too. Wherever you are, Hamuera Hokianga, we hope it is well with you. And I hope you will accept this tribute from an alien who never knew you.