OLD FEILDING.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 734, 5 February 1910, Page 14

OLD FEILDING.

ECHOES OF THE LATE SEVENTIES. :]; PERSONAL REMINISCENCES.'; ! ' V/ [Bl'P. GALVBV JoUBNAMST, ■:■';:'■'■■■'■'■.■-:'■ .Wellington.] ■■. ; Thinking- that", a .few. .notes supple-: mentary to The Dominion's article on the •'progress of Feilding : might be, the means or arousing some further interest' in this. progressive settlement,''l. fancied that a few early, impressions might be jotted down in the hope /that others might be prevailed upon to do the same. Only those, who have delved, into, the history of the early struggle' of the pio.heers.know how difficult it is to focus the historical .camera properly. Towards the. end of last year I was asked,, by my old friend,the proprietorof tho Marlborough "Express," to do some delving into the early history, of Marlborough for a special jubilee number of that journal, and were it not for the painstaking' and laborious work of Mr.. T. Bindsay Buick,' formerly' member for that district," and now residing at Palrocrstbn North, whose book, "Old Marlborough," •is a mine of information,-my task would have been an exceedingly difficult one. T. : Lindsay Buick followed that _up, some years .later,. with "Old Manawatu," , a very valuable piece of historical,patchwork. .. What a pity the same -class ,of work.is not done .for 'the Rangitikei and Wanganui districts. .'Mr. John. Stevens, ' formerly. M.P. for the Rangitikei, is a walking encyclopaedia of 'information , for,; the. Rangitikei, Wahganui, v Manawatu, Otaki, .and ' Waikanae districts; Another name recurs to me— that of Mr. J. G. Wilson, president of. .the Farmers' Union, who ' also repre-, isented. theißangitikei: district-in Parlia- • ment. ... Mr. .Wilson could dol valuable 'Jus'tbrical'.work if he set ..his arm to the ; •plough, and ;_I. trust he will find; time from his various activities to do it one 'of ;these days. . ::-; :■ '.;.-•'!-'''■ IK

First Impressions. , '■ A. year-'or. two'"'after the "purchase of the ifanawatu "Times" by Mr. John Boulger Duncan, formerly editor' of 'the Oamaru and Ncw_ Zealand "Tablet/' ,1. received ;an invitation .-.to /join, him as sub-editor' and reporter, ,his idea being to open a branch.office, in' Feilding. and/place .me in ; charge,: if Isaw ray remaining in, the' district. In those' days, each :newspaper. had a free pass on the -railway .section in .which' it circulated,"',-the " quid pro quo being, free publication, of the railway time-table." . 'It was; a wise concession in those days, for hewsVwas, scarce. • and settlement sparse,■f'butvthe privilege was so much, abused that it was, withdrawn after a time.'' In: due • course "I (received my .free pass, and travelled up (and down the line' very..frequently, ,on'., the one hand to Forton, on. the' other to Feilding; and 'occasionally, .to Marion . and Wanganui. ; : Times' ■ lyere, free ~ and easy, • and the'.'travellih'gireporter':, who knew his .business ' had little;- difficulty in-obtainingjnformation; At.FoxtonJfive or. six columns were ; to ;be 'obtained/at least once' a .month,, for the, Manawatu County i l Council, whose boundaries : stretched from..the.Eangitikei River; en , the north'.''to,.,llfancy',' Paekakariki; :■ en the south, sat there once am into, 'and the debates' were many, and able, and: most ..of, the 'speakers, would- .not Have been out of place in the House of Kepre.sentatives.';: The proceedings, often lasted till .midnight,; and after that hour. .!■I •' a ■i When..■l.^first.-becarae -acquainted .withFeilding, in 1878, the population, of the town did'.not exceed. .300 -or- '400': at;'the; ;outside, .and. the rural settlers did not number; many more.- ,1 'do not think' town'and country numbered a thousand..

Roads'Bofbre Settlement. ..-What; struck a stranger;';.like myself,. !who hail travelled .hundreds of. miles in •Australia.without seeing. a yard of macadamised road.twas'-.'the excellence; of .the highways in. the i; .township'and outside of it. .Itl'wasv if cardinal-' principle—ahd\a very excellent, one—with the Manchester Corporation; i,to. make roads before .selling the land, and; pjitting'an.extra.charge on the land tocover the ,cost;of road-making. The wisdom'.of. tha,t policy, shown: by. the, prices', realised fpr.rural„land. during 1 rny sojonrhp'in the.-.district. ."/-Bush' 'landcould :be 'obtained.' at' that-;: .time.-Vnear. -Palmorston"at.from',£2 to ,£5 per acre; while at the sale conducted by Mr. John Stevens, for tho .Manchestor. .Corporation nil 1878 or. ram : 'not ; quite'fsure was in 1878) bush; land, realised £B; : £1; and • v£B ■ per/acre, -and in'.a .few,instances. as;high.;as £li ah acre; but in the'highrpriccd land there .was ; a;belt ; 'bf.very, fine totara'ready-for .the sawmill. ■' '..."/,■'■'■.".. ,-'.'■ ,'.■■ '•.'<;.. -, ■'" ;No: doubt, as stated in The. IJojmnoK, many /of the '.early.' settlers, •'like -most pioneer?,.would, gladly have, left'the district if'' , they--had : -'the .wherewithal: to shift'themselves and families'and belong-, ingsi.but iu the'.'days"..l 'speak of ,the Toujh-.places'/were' getting .'smooth,', and the reward. of unremitting toil ...was beginning to'.• manifest itself..;. .!;.-■ • '-.

Manchester Corporation. Officials. .. My'.Temembrance of-the.-Manchester Corporation'officials is-'that of a- set 'of 'the most kindly gentlemen ever sent out to colonise a district.' Mr. Halcombe, ,'who.was then the official■head-piece,.was ia regular' Sir; Charles Grandison. .He was a "nephew., of 1: Sir, William : Fox's; (or-his . lady), and', had .been secretary: to .the' 'Wellington 1 Provincial Council for some'! time. He,had.als'o'acted as editor of the lington. Independent" •in the days of Mr. Thomas' Mackenzie,, : who . is,. still, ;I ■. am pleased to say;, residing amongst us'in his old home in Ghuznee Street. I.ne'ver say Mr. Halcoinbeout of temper, and I often: severely, tried it myself in';, 'my efforts to extract news about. the .settlement. I often found him as-close as Sir Robert-Stout in,'tho, : days, of,,his'. Premiership..' :'Mr. Halcombe ; would 'have been in his element] in .the British House of Commons,, or he might have adorned the House oMords.. But, like many men of his stamp,: he wis "not afraid of hard 'work, when there was'need to do it, and I. heard of him in .later years as a pioneer -settler' in'ithe Urenui district, Taranaki, milking bows night and morning on-his dairy farm. ■ .. :J_ .1 .!_ His chief lieutenant was Mr. D.: H. Macarthur, a surveyor' by ' profession. His great ability was,generally, acltnow-ledged.i-He was chairman'of... the ManchestervHighway Board, a member'of the ManawatU;- County Council;.' .and, .in- later times, represented his;' district in Parliament for; about siiyyears.: He. was colloquially,referred to as'"Black Jack," but;for.'wn'at/ reason I '.'was never.;able to find out, .'foria; "whiter man" (though : of' sallow complexion),' in ' the best: sense .of- that. ; term, did- not; probably exist on .the..West Coast of v. the. North Island; .... Another . gentleman' of'the Sir Charles ■ Grandison 'Mr. ] Sherwill. Vln : my. ; time' he was/'notYan. officer" of the Manchester Corporation, though ,"I believe .he; had jbeeni;. !'.;■: He .conducted a general': commission, /agency business .in the'late' seventies; /.was! a fine cricketer, : a gobd.reconteur, 'and a-fine type of English' ; gentleman.. . ; ': ■.- '■ '. Another fine specimen of an. Englishman'was Mr. Goodbehere; it was always a pleasure to meet and. converse with him. His nephew, Mr. P. de J. Clere, architect, "set up his sign" in FeUding in those days; and those, who knew.him -as a young man wore .not-surprised' at his successful .'professional career in Wellington, whither he removed in the course of-a few years. ■ ',■ ■*' ' : . The paymaster of the Manchester Corporation- (Paisley,'/I; think, was his name) .'was.also, n.- courteous gentleman, with a fund of; good; nature and unruffled : temper, which even ■ the ,■ newspaper '■■ man failed, to deflect.,;,, ~'.-'

Early Business Men. Fending had a resident auctioneer" in the person of Mr. John Maesmoroj who was doing a. very good business in sheep and cattle, and, had a large'• two-story building in the main thorougbiare> For some years Mr. Maesmore has. been connected -with the 'Wellington District Land Office.. . \': : ; The stationmasteriaithose days was Mr: George Kirton, who afterwards became editor and part-proprietor of. the Peilding "Star" with Mr. A; E. Curtis, who recently died in Wellington, his native place. To say that Mr. Kirton Jar would' hardly fill the bill. He was tlio best of good fellows, and a friend of evcrybodyrs. -I think • he had 'neon on the .West Coast , goldflelds, ■::'. and that might .have .accounted .-;• for his jocularity, good-fellowship, and"', business noumon. I was "hrourfi.t • before

him" on one occasion by a strange guard for travelling. on: the' Now Zealand railways without my pass,, having forgotten, as:generally happoned,' to' 1 take it with me. .The strange guard was, ,1 fancy, rather non-plussed by the way 'in which the stationmaster treated the matter as a 'huge joke, saying he thought every-body.-from China to Peru knew the wellknown "figure of the tramp "reporter. for the "Manawatu" Times." I rarely carried my free pass,, and that was the only occasion L/was brought to book. I had been as far "as Wangahui on that occasion, and the guard was a,relieving officer, which ;fact accounted .for' my .being reported to, tho -Feilding, stationmaster.. One man ! who'stands 'out; prominently in my-memory-of those" early days was Mr..James Whisker, who was referred to in Saturday's DojiraioN. ', He had a large Maori leasehold, not ..far-from Feilding, and:was always more-or. less-at war with the' officials ,o£ the Manchester : Corporation. He'had,:'l. think,--been a'"■ golddigger in Australia'and New Zealand, and he was a grand'. specimen of the digger as well as settler.. But he could see no good work.proceed from the corporation; whose ways he more or less abhorred; and he was one of the thorns in the paths of the officials..' ' :

'•' Another thorn> was a Mr. H. E. Wright, who had been an officer in the English Army (Royal Engineers, I fancy), and practised as an architect in Feilding and ■Palmerston. He might have marched out of the pages of one of Charles Lever's novels—a kind-hearted, hot-tempered Irish gentleman. His wife was tho first., music-, teacher in Feilding, and an estimable lady. :'■'. .'•'.■. . ;'.''.;

There' was an ezcellcnt hotel in .the late 'seventies in Feilding. .It was kept by Charles Rowe,' and was' .'built, 'I think,' by Mr. Roberts, father, of the well-known Wellington footballer. Wm. Charles. Rowe's. father .was .landlord of Barrett's Hotel,, in .Lambton -Quay, in the very early days,' and the son,showed that, he: could conduct a-good hostelry as well'as the father. : .

There were many sawmills spread about the- district,': and Bartholomew Brothers had a mill in.the township. Later on Mr. Peter'^Bartholomew started; with Mr. Hector Bo6th as partner, a sawmill at Ashhurst, at,,the Palmerston side of the Manawatu . Gorge, and I walked out to report the event.' In later times Mr. Bartholomew transferred to.Levin, where I believe, he,is-now settled.' He; married a daughter.,of."Mr., Charles Itdwe. .'-.' Feildihg. hiid. several', good ' stores' in those days,, the-best-being Haybittle and Loudon's.', 'Mrs. Bradley, whom. I met many-years afterwards in Rotorua,' where her husband .established, a line of coaches, rah a store'and, bakery, and. did a.fah'ly! large business'.. .';. ~' . - : ;. ' There was,a bank,'a a chemist, a watchmaker .and- jeweller, and. nearly every'.kind of business'in: the five-year-old toyrriship. When I'told Mr. Macarthur I -was: returning; to Wellington he suggested that I' should start , a paper in Feilding.'.but I. thought' it- was then- a very; far. cry-to'Lochaber. Two or three' years later (in 1881,' I think). Mr.■■ George Wellington ' with 'a: small printing plant, which, had-done duty on the West Coast diggings,- and established tho Feilding "Star: Like most pioneers, Mr. Capper, who for many, 1 years: has been connected with ,the,''."Press", office in, Christchurch,-'where -he .'acted' aaVeditor' of-."Truth". for some time,, did not reap the reward which fell to the lot,of Messrs.; Kirton and. Curtis,-, or'to their successors, Messrs. Pirani and-Mills. ' But, in my experience, the pioneer seldom reaps the harvest. ;..■■■'■'; . .. .-:.■■■■.',".-. ' ' ' - ,

■ :My'-.best' wishes', go put.to.. those' early, pioneers who r have,.after passing througn times'of..great stress, managed to,hold on/ and who arcnow able' to ..sit; under their own apple. trees. They well 'deserve. their harvest. Only'those'who, like, myself, have eaten .'their,;bread, and; tasted their -salt, inbw .what'-a, splendid body of men. set their strong-arms and lion wills to the. reclamation; of .'the forest and;..the 6w'amp; -''.' '"■;. ''.■; ■:.'=.■