MEMORIES OF EARLY DAYS

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 13, 15 July 1936, Page 10

MEMORIES OF EARLY DAYS

Memories of Wellington in its early days come from Mr. Kilmister through a correspondent who interviewed-him. for the first time some fourteen years ago.. , . •

The correspondent recalls that when questioned about, his school days Mr. Kilmister arew himself up proudly and ma.de it plain that he had beenl thrown upon his own resources to earn his living when he was very young. He used to gather wood from the Town Belt, cut it up, and make it into small bundles, and often tramp all day selling it to settlers who were better off. On another occasion he was herding two cows on The Terl race, near the present Wellington Club, for a woman who kept a boardinghouse nearby. His father at that time was working on the site of the club and built a dam to harness the stream that ran down the hill, for the use of the brewery that was where the club now stands.

Mr. Kilmister's most vivid recollection of the Hutt Valley when his people lived there was the floods. The whare they lived in had bunks built in well above the ground level, and there was always a large iron pot in which dry wood Was kept in case of emergency. He remembered his father haying to light a fire there to boil the billy when there was two or three feet of water in the whare. When the family moved to the district that later became Johnsonville and took'up a small section to grow their own sustenance, young John's task was to turn the handle of a coffee mill to grind the wheat ready for cooking or making bread. Later, some of the neighbours contributed to the cost of a hand mill, and this was passed round as required. Mr. Kil-] mister's father at that time was working on the military road, and it was there that Mr. Kilmister saw quite a number of the Maoris, who had then given up the idea of fighting. Mr. Kilmister and his companions used to amuse themselves by staging sham fights, using their own methods against those of the pakeha soldier, generally with the idea of ridiculing the military men. "Anyone who has any knowledge of the country around Pahautanui and the dress or uniform of the period could understand," concluded the correspondent.