THE ORBELL DIARY

Evening Star, Issue 19762, 12 January 1928, Page 11

THE ORBELL DIARY

Humors of Early Dunedin

Excitement of Mails

No. V.

It was while working at this contract that Henry conceived the idea of applying for another 40,000 acres of country adjoining that which my lather had acquired. Before sending in an application wc explored it with Peter Napier, a fellow passenger upon the Mariner, and a great friend. The first night we camped near the summit of a hill which wc named Mount Napier, ft retains the name to this day. Wc collected some loose logs, made a roaring fire, rolled ourselves in blankets, and lay down in the tussocks with no covering. Wc used our saddles for pillows. The next ll, ’ght wc coiled up under a rock, boiled a billy, had supper, Napier sang a low songs, and wo turned in. Up again early next morning, as we intended covering as much country as possible. Wo spent a few days inspecting, and at last began to fix upon the boundaries of tlie run we intended to apply for, We carried a compass, and by tins means ascertained the bearings of certain prominent bills or landmarks several miles apart. The general features of the country wore noted, and a rough sketch made, which subsequently was left at the Land Office accompanying the application for 40,000 a pres. Shortly afterwards the Land Board met and approved a lease being granted for fourteen years at an annual rental of jd an acre. We had a few cattle wc had bought, and some on terms running upon my

THE STURDY MAILMAN

We sometimes found these gentlemen very useful. They gave ns the only chance ol sending letters to Dunedin or elsewhere. Shortly after the period of which 1. am writing a fortnightly mail was carried from Dunedin to Oamaru on horseback ,n saddle bags. Alter a while it was necessary for the postman to have a pack horse to carry the correspondence. ft took him three days going and three days returning. It was afterwards done in two days each way. f remember once seeing him cross the Waikonaiti River when in high flood in a fair-sized tub (a barrel cut in half), mails and all. He \vas pulled over by a rope: his horses then made to swim over with the rope attached in the same manner. He travelled over Flagstaff Hill, the Snowy Mountain (now called Swampy Hill), and over the rough country at the hack of Bineskin or W'aitnti. There was no track; he hadio follow the leading ranges until he reached Cherry Farm nr Waikouaiti, when lie got into fairly level country. In foggy or snowy weather it was a dangerous journey from Dunedin to Waikonaiti for anyone to go alone, and several lives were lost through travellers losing their way. As a rule many of them, rather than travel this country alone, would wait for Hutchinson’s (the postman’s) day that they might have him for a guide.

At the time we landed in New Zealand and for a year or two afterwards no reply was expected to an English letter under twelve mouths. Emigrant vessels carried the mails, and generally their return voyage Home was via some foreign port to collect a cargo, usually

THE MEI CONSTITUTION

For tho first, few, years a- large majority of tho emigrants were Scotch, and Captain Cargill, also Dr Burns, who was the leading minister of the Presbyterian Church, did their utmost to keep Otago for Scotch alone, hut this nonsense, of course, soon broke down. Nevertheless, their church secured considerable endowments from tho Provincial Government through the iniluenco of Cargill, who had a controlling hand in public business. Ho was intensely jealous of tho English and Church of England. When tho first Provincial Council was elected there was great excitement. Although there were but a few people to vote, quarrelling was very rife. Most amusing events occurred occasionally. In 1854 a constitution was granted the colony. What was called a “ General Assembly,” now Parliament, was elected, consisting of representatives from each province. This body had tho supremo authority; therefore Provincial Councils were subordinate, and there wore various matters upon which these Councils could not act without the consent of tho Assembly, and above the Assembly was the Governor of tho colony. Captain Cargill was a good fighter on public questions. AMr Kettle was the chief surveyor for Otago, and held his appointment from the Governor. One day tho captain wanted him to consent to dc> something that Mr Kettle objected to without authority from headquarters. Words ensued, and by some means the captain .got possession of the keys of tho Survey Department. Next morning Mr Kettle was refused admittance. A general row ensued, and, having to bo

BUILDING A HOMESTEAD

It was early in 1857 that we began to think of forming a homestead on tho run.. Our herd of cattle had increased considerably which necessitated more constant attention. It was arranged that Henry and I should proceed at once, and a site near a bush was selected, so wo started off with tools and provisions, which we carried upon our hacks. Our first work was to build a grass wharc. There was not much building about it; we cut a few small posts out of tho bush, put them into the ground, and tied with flax small saplings across them a foot apart. The roof was made in the same manner, tied with flax also. Then we proceeded to collect grass by pulling' the tussock up with their roots; this wo tied with llax again to the cross saplings, but with roots upwards to prevent it slipping down as it dried and shrunk. Wo lashed on a good handful of grass at each tie; it was fastened to each cross sapling, so that each layer would overlap tho other. Having completed the outside work, we erected our bunks, 2ft wide; this was done by driving forked stakes into the ground and lodging a cross piece in the forks, then placing small saplings as battens across, which formed the bottom. We procured fern out of tho gully and spread it over the battens, and it was then ready for occupation.

The dimensions of the fabric were Cft by 6ft. The two bunks occupying 4ft left us only 2ft in which to roam about. _ In this we lived for six months, and winter months, too. We had no chimney, and cooked everything without any covering under a tree in the bush a short distance away._ It was all right in fine weather, but in rain and occasionally snow—then it was fairly rough. Getting up at daybreak on a pouring wet morning to light a fire and cook the breakfast was not all joy, the firewood wet and difficult to light in consequence, and when we had to cook meat it rather spoilt the meat. We generally had a wild pigeon or two hanging on a branch of a tree ready for use. It was easier to cook them than fry meat in the frying pan on a wet mprning. The method adopted was to lay them open by cutting right through the breast, then sharpen the point of a stick, passing it through in such a

Home Building in the Waste

maimer that by press! ni? the halfbreasts back into a line with the backbone the whole bird was laid open; the other end of the stick was forced into the ground as near the fire as possible, and the pigeon roasted by giving it an occasional turn. We dug a hole in the side of the hill, in which we kept our meat, etc. Our first work after getting things into order was to make a saw pit to cut timber to build a three-roomed cottage, and also for other buildings. The bush was upon the side of a very steep hill, and to obtain suitable trees we had to go a considerable distance and cut a zig-zag track, up which we bad eventually to carry the timber.. To make the pit we selected two standing trees about loft apart, cut halfway through each, and made a scarf, upon which we placed a stringer, or strong pole about 20ft long, between the two trees; three posts with a strong fork (where two branches had separated) were placed in the ground firmly and made to reach the stringer, which lodged in the fork or top of post. The opposite side of pit was all made of forked posts, seven or eight inches in diameter, and another stringer was placed in the forks. The distance between the stringers, being width of pit, was about 3ft 6in. The height was 6ft, or sufficient to enable a man to stand. Two tressles were-lodged upon tbe top, squared or flattened at the ends to prevent them lolling. Then two fairly large trees for skids, about 20ft long; the ends of each were scarfed and secured upon the top of stringer opposite to the one that was fixed upon scarf in the two trees. These skids were placed, say, 12ft apart, and up them the logs for cutting were rolled on to the top of pit; after levelling the bottom of pit it was ready for use. We then felled the tree or trees for cutting, and hauled them to the pit with ropes and double blocks; tbe near ones we pulled without barking, as they ■were easier for the top sawyer to stand upon than when barked, but those further away we were obliged to bark, as it made them more easy to slide, and consequently to haul. When rolling them up the skids the inside of the pit was stayed with props to prevent its being forced inwards.

father’s run; some of the latter, twenty-one head I think was the number, belonging to the young man Durden to whom I have referred. He had expressed his readiness to sell them at the time he was living at Matanalca. It was' considered rather a big purchase for us, but it was arranged that we make him an offer, and 1 was hurried olf one Saturday evening; why I was appointed to make the deal 1 do not know. However,' L walked to Matakana as fast as 1 could, and completed the bargain, at which all hands were pleased. It was the largest investment we had made. 1 have forgotten the price paid. We continued to work on atHawkesbury, gradually increasing the cattle which were taken to run. The leases contained but one condition —viz., that we kept a certain number of stock upon the country. The number I also forget, but comparatively very few for the extent of country occupied. All leases of pastoral lands were let at a nominal rent to induce settlers to occupy and open up the country. . . ■ I. must now return to Hawksbury. We lived on much in the same manner. We had constant callers on their way to Dunedin. Unless weatherbound they seldom stayed more than one night. Notwithstanding all our experiences of hard work during the day, my sisters entertained us with music and songs nearly every evening, which helped to brighten up the household.

Callao. It may' surprise my readers to learn that an answer to a letter sent from Dunedin to "Wellington sometimes occupied four months. Mr Jones s schooner Scotia was the only regular trader between Port Chalmers and Sydney. Her ports of call were Uyttelton, Wellington, sometimes Nelson, and Auckland, and on to Sydney. She always carried a mail for these places. Hot return was via the same ports, bringing replies to correspondence. 'The arrival of an Fmglisb mail was heralded in Dunedin by a man parading the streets ringing a bell as loudly as possible, vociferating with all his power: “Arrival of the English mail.” Tlie whole village or town was at once in a state of excitement. The inhabitants, both men and women, would congregate in groups, wending their way to the Post Office. ‘Upon arriving there it not infrequently happened that they learned that the vessel had only reached Port Chalmers, which necessitated their waiting two or three hours. They never left the vicinity of the Post Office until the mail arrived there, so eager were they to receive tidings of their relations and friends at Home. I am reminded of the condition oi the streets in Dunedin as late as 1861. Princes street in wet weather was a sea of mud. "When it began to rain it usually continued for three days. Once I remember it poured almost incessantly for nine days. Crossings were made over tbc streets with long flax thrown down for foot passengers, and it was not an uncommon spectacle to sec young ladies carried over by their young friends.

referred, to . Auckland (the seat ol government), it“ took a considerable time to settle, but the captain had the worst of it. Any number of petty quarrels, as I haye"remarked, were continually cropping up. Then a journal or newspaper was published. This, of course, did hot add to peace, but made for war; but fortunately there was only one lawyer in the town, John Hyde Harris, so that any dispute was rather a one-sided matter. This state ol affairs did not last long, for soon a Mr T. B. Gillies, subsequently made a judge, started to practise as a lawyer, and between the two they made work for themselves_ in a very short time. Prior to Mr Gillies’s advent there was little or no court litigation, but this was soon changed, and instead of disputants settling their disagreements in private, they did so in public. Here ends our working for Jones’s contracts, and we aspired to something more profitable. My father’s run brought him sufficient revenue to live in comfort at Hawksbury; therefore he needed not our assistance, which naturally was a great comfort to him and to all of ns. And here I must say one word or two about Honi’v as the head of the family of boys or ns their leader. I consider that ho was an ideal son and brother during the hard times we had passed through. His character and precept in no small degree accounted for the unity that .prevailed in the family. His influence upon his younger brothers was undoubted, for all bis actions were marked by an uprightness that could not fail to have a beneficial effect. . • -

(To be continued.)

A DIFFICULT JOB ■ After getting the Jog on to the top, i f . hucl to be lined or marked to show where required to be sawn. These lines were made witli charcoal or piece of burnt wood, which was broken into powder and put in a pannikin with a little water. A piece of bobbing the length of the log was soaked in it, alter the bark had been chipped off the log where required for marking to show more clearly than if the bark had not been chipped. One would hold the bobbing tight at each end; one then lifted it as far as he could reach, while holding the end close to log. It rebounded ou the log and made a line. So far only one line had been made. The log had to be turned over to mark the other side; this was sometimes a difficult job, and required some skill on the top of the narrow pit. After getting it nearly into position we used a '•'bob" or a piece of string with a weight attached to one end, driving a wedge under the side of the log to bring it plumb with the centre, which we ascertained by using the bob. When this was accomplished four wedges or chocks Mere driven on the top of tressles and under the sides of the log. These kept it fairly firm, but not sufficiently so, for a man to stand upon the top"; but we also used foar iron " dogs," pieces of iron about 2ft long with points turned down and sharpened (two of these were used at each end) one point of the dog being driven tight into the tressle, the other into the log. It was then nearly ready for cutting" up. lf.it were a large tree as well as cutting it through the centre, we would take off both sides, leaving flitches Bin wide from the centre line, the width of ordinary weatherboards.

My brother had had some experience of sawing while at Hawksbury. I had not, consequently was a new chum at the work. The saw was 7ft long, with large hooked teeth, a foot wide at top end, 4in at bottom, on to which was fitted a contrivance called a box, with two handles, the saw sliding through it, and kept in position by driving in a wedge, pressing against the side of the saw. The broad or top end had an iron with handles fixed on, called a “tiller.”

All being ready 1 took my place upon the top of the log. It was not a simple thing when sawing off sides of log to balance oneself a considerable height from the ground; because 1 had to stand as near the centre of the Jog as I could and lean over, keep my eye on the line, keep the saw level or true, guide it straight, work it with the lightest hand possible to prevent its great teeth cutting too much at a stroke. If not worked with a feather hand, its own weight would force itself into the timber; therefore, although it was simple enough to lift the up stroke it required skill to let it down without a sudden slop and jerk, with the result that the tiller was certain to hit one on the nose. Many were the cracks i received until J had some experience. A few knocks upon the bridge of the nose Irani a tiller are a very good object lesson. It has to be kept in a line with the saw, so that the sight from the eyes is even on both sides, and so that it may be lifted exactly perpendicularly with the cut. H makes a great difference to the man in the pit, with'a good top man his work is not very hard, but with a bad one it is, and he is likely to use some big D’s. 1 know that I often gave Henry occasion to complain; but ho was very good about it. After cutting a few thousand feet of timber and splitting some shingles for the cottage, we had to carry it all up the steep zigzag track from tho bottom of the gully upon our shoulders. As it was all green or wet stuff it was a lough job, especially the long boards, which, after completing, we began to build the cottage. The walls were built with clay, the roof sawn timber and shingles. We worked steadily at it until it was reach’ to inhabit.