ONE OF THE FIRST.

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 45, 21 February 1917, Page 11

ONE OF THE FIRST.

1A TREK OVER THE RIMUTAKAS

-I ' '. v't SETTLING IN MASTERTON,

'>! The history of Wa-irarapa towns is not v 'Jthe history of Wairarapa settlement. Set-'■-Itloment or, at least some display of it, ■i.|ra.turally preceded the establishments of ■.:.i'towns, although afterwards the towns ;', assisted settlement. Very few '„■ ,'\ot ..the original pioneers of Masterton > .jitself now remain, but one, whose mind ]j.'cis alert and memory good, is Mr. David •'.'-.jDi.xon, who has seen the place grow from "Jthe lime when it contained nothing more .."jthan one primitive shepherd's hut. Of :. it was not' Masterton: then. Mr. ;:?]>ixon claims that the' anniversary of ''.;'fMasterton is.the day on which the first / "{buna fide settlers arrived there. There •'.'Jwere four in all, namely, Mr. Michael •.-iSDixon, his daughter (afterwards Mrs. ';,'William Adams, and still' alive), Mr. 1 ' .sHenry Cole, and Mr. David Dixon. They •;.-'jtrekked over the Rimutakae from Wel- ■] Jlington, and arrived where Masterton.' ■■•Snow stands on 21st May, 1854—sixty'J.f three years ago. , - ' .

V 1 A LONG, LONG TEAIL. .•, j Besides the shepherd's whare which .".Jstood on a site where Trustee-street now '' .!is, the only other habitation was a Maori >->Vhare on the Worksop Estate, and it '■'■''. j.xras hero that the pioneers were hospitably '.',.5 received. For those who travel by train ;"£to Masterton nowadays it is hard to "■^i imagine what 'difficulties this early party ,v-'jTuet with.- They took with them 150 - ijhead of cattle, some for Mr. Dixon's father, who arrived a- few months later, ,'J'and the others for settlers who had al- '■'<: ready signified their, intention, of trying " 4 their luck around Masterton—Messrs. ••$ Chamberlain. Bentley, and Henry Jones. ' ciOne family followed another,- favourable ""■i reports regarding tho Wairarapa- being '•1 J" freely circulated. The names of Wood->-^Toofe, Dagg, Crane, Bermington, and ''jjKi^ley, are all the. names of worthy men -"■'Wlio laid the foundation of a prosperous *'jj district. It took Mr... ,Dixon and party, ■>jiwo weeks to reach Mastorton from Wei-' '/Alingion, yybich will give some idea iif_

the hardships which new settlers were called upon to face. Two weeks of bewildering uncertainty and anxiety ! On tho first day they got no further than Kaiwarra, but better progress was made the next, when Upper Hutt was reached. The end of the third day found thpra at Pokutai (Kaitoke), where they were forced- to remain for some time owing to: heavy rain. They then managed to cross the Rimutakas, it. being necessary to drive the cattle down the narrow track two abreast, winding- round and round in what seemed an almost endless journey. A stay at Burling's Hotel at Featherslon was greatly appreciated. This hotel, quite a small, primitive affair, was kept by the late Mr. Henry Burling, -who lived, for more than a hundred years. The next day the cattle were driven as far as Tauhe'renikau, and the following day to a spot just beyond Martinborough. Here progress was stopped for four days owing to a flooded river. Eventually the stock was safely swum across, and Mr. Dixon and party secured a canoe. The monotonous journey continued slowly, and arrival was made in Masterton on a Sunday on the date mentioned above.

MASTERTON AS IT WAS.

What did Masterton look like then? Well, it looked for all the world like an uninhabited area, of the King Country looks now. It was mostly in high bush with- some clearings in which a coarse fern flourished undisturbed. There were no settlers at all on the site where Masterton now- ' stands. The nearest were Mr. W.H.Donald ("Manaia" Donald) and ]\lr.\ Richard Collins. 1 Mr. Donald ran a cattle station at Manaia, ; on the south side of Mastcrton, in conjunction with Mr. R. Rhodes, of Wellington. Mr. Collins had. a-sheep and cattle station on the other side, at Te Ore Ore, where the Percy Bros, are now. That was all. But such a' peaceful condition did not last long, and in 1859 it is estimated that there were about 100 settlers in and around Masterton. THE OOACH SERVICE INAUGURATED. It was about this time that Mr. W. Hastwell inaugurated a regular ' coach service to Wellington, although, at first, he used a three-seated trap instead of a coach. Masterton people had to go to Greytown to catch the>coach, and it was. some time before Masterton was recognised as the natural starting point and terminus. Mr. Dixon stated with a smile that it was surprising how many people' that trap carried to Wellington on a single journey, and he still has recollections of being severely cramped in the few inches of space allotted to each traveler. "It was nothing for us ,to sit on the shafts all .the way," he stated, "and yet we hear people complain about uncomfortable railway journeys now Those are the people who should have lived in. 1860. Would that they could be forced lo put up with such, inconveniences fcr a short time now. ■ There would he less growling. These journeys to Wellington were merry occasions, everybody taking the disabilities in good heart. Accidents were as rare as they a.ro on the railway to-day. Mcry soon the trap was replaced by a "Cobb and C 0.." as the coaches were known, after the pioneers in the coaching services in New Zealand, and there was daily communications with Wellington, except when floods prevented it. The railway did not go as far as M'aslcrlon. until 1880, when it received a- fitting welcome from the people. THE FIRST FLOUR MILL. One of the most picturesque sights in old Ms.sterton. was -Renall's . water mill, which started in 1856. The site was directly opposite the convent, whero :O_'Lc&rx's blacksmith's i&op. now itsunds...

The late Mr. Alfred William Renall, the owner, who later became Mayor of the borough, was one of the most-enterpris-ing settlers the Wellington Province has known. -He arrived at Port Nicholson in the ship Martha Ridgeway in 1840. He immediately "plunged into the bush," as one -writer put it, and was speedily thrown into contact with the Maoris. About 1849 Mr. Charles Mabey commenced to build a water mill at Taita (near Lower Hull). Ibut, being unable to complete the work, Mr. Renall took the enterprise in hand. and ; in 1850, commenced the work of milling at what was the first water mill erected in the Eutt Valley. Prosecuting the industry with great'zeal, Mr. Renall ran the Taita mill for many years with considerable success. On 22nd January, 1855, the mill suffered severely as a. result of the memorable earthquake, but was promptly repaired only to be destroyed again by a' flood in which no fewer'than fourteen settlers were drowned. It was this flood which had a. considerable, though indirect, influence on the settlement of the Wairarapa. The settlers who suffered by it petitioned Sir George Grey to grant some relief, with the result that a large tract of land was set aside on easy terms of selection. An account of the operations of the Wairarapa Small Farms Association will be given in a later article, and suffice it to say here that Mr. Renall was among the number who went to the present site of Masterton. He chose the site long occupied by his mill, which he built after felling the bush. That, according to Mr. Dixon,

was in 1856. There was ample water power, and the wheel he erected was capable of developing 20 h.p/ Mr. Renall took to Masterton the remains of the Taita and Ngahauranga mills, running the new mill for many years. After it had been closed down it was destroyed by fire. . ' . OTHER EARLY BUSINESSES. j The first general store in. Mastertou was opened by Mr. R. Irons, but on his death it was taken over, about 1856, by Mr. Henry -Bannister. All the early settlers knew Bannister's store, which for a long time was the only business place in- Masterton. It was situated where the recently-vacated Kia - Ora tearooms now stand, alongside the W.F.G.A. Mr. Bannister was banker, postmaster (there was a salary of £5 per annum attached to this position), grocer, and chemist. The first butcher's shop was opened by Mr. Walter Perry some year's later, but not earlier than 1860. Settlers had been !in the_ habit of killing their own meat and distributing it, so Mr. Perry started in a vei'y humble way, but his business developed rapidly for he soon secured all the trade. Some time later still Mr. Edward Jones started a baker's shop, which was a welcome innovation. Settlers had been in the habit of grinding ont their own flour with a steel hand mill. For a number of years Masterton was without a resident doctor. Dr. Hilderhrand, of Greytown, used to pay periodical visits to Masterton, and other visiting doctors known to early settlers were Dr. Spratt and Dr. Smith. . The first resident medico was Dr. Boor, but he did not remain long. In 1874 Mr. C. A. Vallance was chosen as a delegate to meet the immigrant ship Delantar, at Wellington, and he induced Dr. William Hosting to settle in Masterton. Dr. Hosking is still there. PIONEER STRUCTURES-AXD AN EARTHQUAKE. Mr. Dixon stated that'the entertainments in the early days were not numerous, and the. place;,--,, was fairly well populated even before—dances were regularly indulged in: ■ His first recollection of an entertainment was one which took the form of a tea, meeting, organised about 1857 by some thirty settWs. These settlers eagerly assisted in the erecting of a building lift by I.Bft, which served for many years a? a church, a school, a social hall and a meeting house. It stood where Mr. Herons-store is now. in Hallstreet. . When the Maori (.rouble arose it was used as ■•>■ drill hall, although mpTcineut JLtuidc vyis xathar limited,. Tar

timber was hand-sawn heart of totara. Mr. Dixon states that the first weatherboard house erected in Masterton is still in existence^ doing service as a washhouse to a more modern dwelling in Hallstreet. This was built by one Edward Farmer Eaton. It was partly finished in 1855, and on the date of the big earthquake in that year it was here that the 1 settlers gathered in an endeavour to comfort one jtnother white the. ground fairly trembled and shook beneath them. "We did not expect to come out of that shake alive," said Mr. Dixon. "You have no'idej* what it was like to look out and see the earth quivering. There has been nothing like it since."