THE FIRST PLOUGH

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 111, 6 November 1935, Page 18

THE FIRST PLOUGH

MANAWATU EELIC

HISTORIC DOCUMENT

A. link with the early farming of the Manawatu has just been rediscovered. Lying behind the shelter shed at the Tiakitahuna School, which is a few miles south of Palmerston North, is what is claimed to be the first plough used in the Manawatu. Due regard is now being paid to this interesting agricultural relic of the past, for steps are to be taken by the Manawatu and West Coast A. and P. Association to preserve it for, posterity. The implement, which is.a single-fur-row swing plough, belonged to the late^Mr. David Rowland, an early settler of the district. Over 20 years ago it was dug up on the property of Mr. Rowland at Tiakitahuna, and it was subsequently presented to the local school where it adorned a tree for a number of years. The worthy suggestion that the plough should be ob-

tamed and be preserved in a glass case is to be acted upon by the A. and P. Association.

Another interesting relic associated with the plough in New Zealand is already in the possession of the Manawatu A. and P. Association. It is an original page from the diary of the Rev. J. G. Butler, who was in charge of the mission station established in 1819 by the Rev. Samuel Marsden. In this particular page of.his diary, Mr.

Butler records the first use of the plough in New Zealand. The extract from the diary, which is reproduced on this page, is as follows:—"On the morning of Wednesday, the 3rd of May, 1820, the agricultural plough was, for the first time, put into the land of New Zealand at the Kiddi Kiddi, and I felt much pleasure in holding it, after a team of six bullocks—brought down

by the Dromedary—l trust that this auspicious day will be remembered with gratitude and its anniversary kept by ages yet unborn— "Every heart seemed to rejoice on the occasion—l hope it will still conitinue to increase and in a short time produce an abundant harvest. J. G. Butler." . ' The Kiddi Kiddi referred to is now known as Keri Keri, in the Bay of Islands, and the Dromedary is believed to have been a British sloop of war, then in New Zealand waters. ROMANCE OF THE PLOUGH. The plough is one of the most romantic implements in the world. It has appeared in all ages, among all peoples, and its conception is apparently one of the natural instincts of mankind. Its history . goes back to the Egyptians, and the early Biblical writers were famliar with its use. The evolution of the plough may be summarised as follows: —(1) A pointed piece of wood dragged through the ground; (2) the same with wrought-iron protection; (3) the same with a point entirely of wrought iron; (4) wrought-iron point or share working with a wooden breast; (5) (end of eighteenth century) share and breast sometimes wrought iron; sometimes cast iron; (6) about 1803, breast of cast iron or steel and share sometimes chilled; (7) present-day breasts of all materials, including .cast iron, chilled iron, and steel of various qualities and polish, shares of steel, chilled iron, or other special material. It will thus be seen that this universal cultivating implement of the human race was first fashioned from the branch \>f a tree by the rough axe of the earliest cultivators of. the soil; then by the rude carpenter of early times; after that to come into the hands of the blacksmith; and, finally, to be manufactured by the trained engineer, assisted by all the modern appliances and scientific resources of civilisation. Following on these early days the British plough became famous the world over. The emigrants to New Zealand and Australia in the forties and fifties took British ploughs -with them. -