Meeting 50 Years Ago

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 154, 26 March 1938, Page 3 (Supplement)

Meeting 50 Years Ago

I was interested to read the note of C.F. (Tikokino), regarding the visit 50 years ago of six horsemen to inspect the proposed route of the WellingtonAuckland railway. Mr. Walter Buchanan, otherwise Mr. W. C. Buchanan, M.H.R. for Wairarapa—afterward Sir Walter Buchanan was, of course, well known to Wairarapa residents, where his name was a household word. He was cattle dealing from the West Coast of the South Island to Canterbury, and came to the Wairarapa to purchase the Tupurupuru Station, Gladstone, from a Mr. McMaster. It was always his pleasure to recount proudly when electioneering on the public platform, how he had “grown three blades of grass at Tupurupuru where only one grew previously!” The late Sir Walter was a great fighter at a time when feeling ran very high in the Wairarapa, and held in his time every public office that he aspired to. His record of length of continual service on the Wellington Education Board was a remarkable one, and at his retirement a public meeting was held at Greytown to commemorate the event.

If, as C.F. says, the Mr. Beetham who was one of the party was M.H.R. for Masterton, it would not be Mr. W. H. Beetham, but his brother, Mr. George Beetham who, when he retired from politics went home to England to live and passed away many years ago. His brothers, the late Messrs. W. H., Charles, and Hugh H. Beetham, who were included in the firm of Williams and Beetham, of Brancepeth Station, died in more recent years, but did not take an active part in politics. It is noteworthy that Tupurupuru and Brancepeth were neighbouring properties, though the homesteads were many miles apart, and both were always known as good stations. The firm of Williams and Beetham was dissolved a considerable number of years ago, and the properties divided among members of both families. This necessitated quite a number of new buildings, especially woolsheds, which were required at various points of the subdivision.

An interesting fact is that the first supply of electricity obtained for Wairarapa by the Wairarapa Electric Power Board, was from the Kourarau stream on the top of the Maungaraki Range. Kourarau is part of the original Brancepeth, taken over by the late W. 11. Beetham, and is still held by members of the Beetham family. The actual 'dam and power-house for the supply of electricity is on Tupurupuru, on the opposite side of the road. This part of Tupurupuru is still held by a branch of the Buchanan family. Wairarapa now receives its main supply from the public works, but Kourarau is a useful auxiliary and reserve supply, and is switched over to quite frequently to "carry the load.” — N.R.A. (Wairarapa).