TALK ON OLD TIMES

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10392, 9 May 1927, Page 2 (Supplement)

TALK ON OLD TIMES

urn tac; FRSKINE AND HIS 50 J ylars m GISBOKM. WAGGON BOGGED IN GLADSTONE ROAD. THAT GRANDFATHER FLOOD. OF BOROUGH. Gladstone Road a broad muddy track suitable only for horse and waggon traffic, wide stretches of magrfo, tied to groups' clnittering! pleasant-faced Erskine when they landed in Gisborne over fifty y ea p a ® o ’ j i. a( j Mr. and Mrs. Erskine, who naa formerly resided in Belfast, Ireland, came out to New Zealand m 1870, landed at and spent fourteen days in Auckland, and then came down the coast to Gisborne in a sailing vessel, the “Pretty Jane,” winch made the trip in three days. . , » “It was a bewildering change, commented Mr. Erskine in the course of conversation on these “After our life m Belfast heie ' were landed into the midst of scrub and-mtul, with only a few letters ol introduction to various business pe - pfe in the township. loilunatelj, we had made some ship-board acquaintances in the cramped quarters of the old ‘Pretty Jane.

A PRIMITIVE HIGHWAY.Mr Erskine went cn to state that the quantity of scrub about was what struck them most. Gladstone Road was hut a primitive highway worn by constant use, but with no pretentions of foundations. In we weather, it became a sticky morass and travel on it then often became impossible, except for the pondrous bullock-waggons. Even these last, however, occasionally found it too baa and he recollected one instance when such a vehicle became hopelessly bogged just opposite.the site ot tlie present Royal Hotel. Everybody about was pressed into service ana it was only the united efforts of more than a dozen men and eight oxen tiiat finallv hauled the waggon to comparatively firm ground, that was, where the wheels sank into the mild only a matter of a foot or eighteen inches. Gladstone Road, in those times, reallv terminate! at the entrance to the old Albion stables (now the ahey-way 011 the western side of the Albion Club Hotel) and a short road, halt a chain wide, branched off at that point to lead down to Capt. Read’s store and business premises situated in the vicinity of the present hand rotunda.

Scrub stretched out on either side of Gladstone Itoad, Mr. Erskine related, and the Kaiti side of the river was an expanse of manuka right out to Pouawa. There, particularly, the scrub had flourished and had generally attained a height of fifteen or twenty feet. Mr. Erskine recalled that a horse belonging to him had strayed away on Kaiti. It was a valuable beast and strenuous efforts to locate it prored fruitless. Four years later, however, purely by accident, Mr. Erskine chanced upon the animal within a few hundred yards of the river and re-captured it. No sign of it had been seen during all that time, but it bad apparently been quite close at hand. White people did not then reside in that locality, but along the present Esplanade were quite a number of Maori whares, always a great source of interest to new arrivals. There were no bridges, of course, hut an old man with a row-boat, in the vicinity of the present Kaiti bridge. ferried anyone across at any time for a small fee. Whatanpoko was also a wilderness then. EARLY BUSINESS SECTION OF TOWN. . • “The business part of the town,” Mr. Erskine remarked, “was situated from Peel Street to the river and mainly about the present Albion Hotel, which, by the way, was then in existence and was conducted by the late Mr, Bradley. Captain Read. Mr. William Adair and I had other business places near the band rotunda and Dr. Currie's establishment adjoined the Albion. A brewery was in full swing in Lowe Street close To where the A i Pore Memorial now stands and nearby, in the half-chain road, Mr. 11. E. Webb issued the j “Standard,” a forerunner of the 1 “Times.” Later, however, Mr, Webb I removed further up Gladstone Road, j The. Masonic Hotel occupied it. pres-I cut site and next to Tattersall and J Bayly’s place the “Herald” was is- ; sued. Graham and McKinnon, general merchants, occupied Pettie and

Co.’s present situation. AVhem Bank of Australasia now is the was a nice grass square, with some patches ot scrub, where the Maori, used to congregate and camp on Lana Court days, they sat around there bad feasts and, generally, made mer ry. Between this green and the Ai~ bum was a sk.ttie-aliey which was , j very popular resort for visitors and townsiolk. j “Later on,” continued Mr - kine, “Captain Read sold out -A W AViliiam Adair arm, m»t lung p | this property had changed ban whole block was burned. R e f. • * f| building, they straightened out \ stone Road to its present posit, " j the small road at an angle beeomin, private property. Mr. Adair did not i fHjudd on the same site, hut moved 1 higher up Gladstone Road.” u ; According to Mr. Erskiire, Gisborne . even then enjoyed quite a good n n [ service when the seas were smooth | The only methods of travel overland were by horse or foot over roiml, j narrow tracks barely discernible'V | any but experienced bushrnen r on J sequently all goods and mails carne jby the boats. The n.S.P. Co 0 r ! Auckland, sent down two boat‘-’ > p er week, the “Pretty Jane” and the “Go Ahead,” according to schedule at least. Unfortunately, noth these vessels took a minimum of three dsns to make the trip and on one occasion the “Pretty Jane” spent si fortnight over the journey.' Nevertheless these two did good work and were nearly always able to come right up the river to the wharf. They would .stick in the channel sometimes and. on a lew occasions, one or the other tore part of her'bottom out. AYhen this occurred, bags of flour were almost always used to stop the leak, and these packed into the gaps in the hull’ were, of course, ruined. Thus, when the river was bad, Gisborne’s hour merchants had a prosperous time. The “Rangitira,” from Wellington, also visited Gisborne more or less regularly, but she always kept outside in the roadstead.

FLOOD TERRORISES TOAYXS- 1 1 PEOPLE. “AYhen the river rises a now,” continued Mr. Erskine, “pro- j'pie talk of the flood menace, but || there is little danger under the pre- 1| sent conditions. I always remember It January 6, 1876, when there is any a mention of floods. On that day. both rivers came down in continualiy-in-II creasing volume and. on the following 1 day, we had the biggest flood i have j§! ever seen. It did not afreet the town. || but many people were really terrified | that it would. Hundreds of head of stock were drowned, all small boats fg ori the river were carried out to sea § and for funy three days the Turanganui literally brimmed its banks, f Many of the settlers were hard-h't Ly fj tlie losses of stock and took a long jj§ time to build up their flocks and §1 herds again. “Another special incident that § stays in my mind,” he went on to I say. “was the second Te Kooti scare. I At the time, I think. Te Kou : had I been pardoned by the Government I and he decided to pnv Gisborne a | visit to see various relatives hue. He 1 belonged to this district and his visit § was intended to be purely 1 eacefui. § but there were too many relatives of j people he had killed living here. They § didn’t want him back and a great g outcry was raised Immediately. Ev- g eryone became seriously alarmed, for it* certainly appeared that, i; Te y Kooti arrived here, trouble would as- J| suredly follow. __ were. Bj therefore, called for. and, with Cap- |g tain (afterwards Colonel) Porter in |* command, set out to turn Te Kooti If back. They stopped his career _soinc- p where not far on th's side or AA haka- f| tane. __ „ 8 “I well remember,” said Mr. Lrs- g, kine in conclusion, “the excitement g| when the Brrough of Gisborne was M inaugurated in 1877. It was a splen- il did excuse for some of the wilder y spirits to celebrate in rowdy fashfcjn. || Ninety-two attended the imUJjpul ij banquet, which was held in a tin Hied gj belonging to Air. A. O Meara and gi hearty congratulations were showered |] on Mr. W. F. Crawford as the first Alavor of Gisborne'.”