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Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10392, 9 May 1927, Page 10 (Supplement)

- EXPERIENCES AT THE GJSBORNE TOST OFEAJG. MAILS' IN THE EARLY DAYS. REMINISCENCES OF Mil. “JOE” •FYSON. If one man more than another sees the varying phases of life in a country town, it is the postal carrier, especially when his experience extends over some thirty to thirty-five years. This is the record of Mr. A. J. T yson, now living in • retirement in Rutene Mr. Fvson has exceeded the allotted span by five years, out it is indeed difficult to "believe that fact. To outward appearance he looks considerably less cnan sixty years or age, and if/as is often said, a man is as old as he feels, Mr. Fj’son is still in the forties. Still active, and with all his faculties at practically their best, he is indeed a model type of pioneer who helped to raise Gisborne from a tiny borough into one of the largest towns in the Dominion. Mr. Fyson was born at Highham, near Bury Street, Edmunds, Suffolk, in 1852. " He was .educated at Bury Saint Edmunds, and then went on to Fram lingliani College, Suffolk. School days over, at the age of sixteen. he decided to follow the sea, and was appointed a midshipman in Messrs. Green .and Co.’s line. His first experience of life on the ocean wave was on the Clarence, a typical handsome full-rigged ship of those days, which left London for Madras. He remained on the Clarence for two more trips to India, and then the

sliip went to Melbourne. At the con- ( elusion, Air. Fyson, who had been studying his profession, passed his third mate’s exam, received his ticket, and like many others of those days, -deserted saii ior steam, being appointed to the St. Goo:ge, which tladed to the East, the L.ack Sea ports, the Baltic and the Mediterranean, also on one trip going to Canada. ( The young adventurer then deck!- ' ed to look to the new lands lor a ' permanent home, and de.idcd on New Zealand, coining out at the age of twenty-four as a passenger in the ship Tiiurniand Castle. (Jit arrival at Auckland Air. Fyson decided to work in the Waikato, but alter a few months there came on to Gisborne, arriving in 1877. In 1879 he was appointed, postal carrier at the Gisborne Post Office and remained there five years. In 1,822 he joined , up once more and remained in the Government employ until five or six Neat's ago. when lie retired on superannuation.

THE NEWLY-FORAIED BOROUGH IN 1877.

In 1877 Gisborne was a very small place compared with the town of today, said Mr. Fyson, m conversation with a representative of the Gisborne Times. The borough, for it was a borough then in its first year, did not contain 500 residents. On the Ivaiti side there were practically no Europeans living, the population there consisting of Alaoris. Gladstone Road was almost pure sand, and the dust that arose during even a slight breeze was enough to blind one- Bullock drays were common vehicles of transport in those days, and it was quite an impressive sight to see twenty to thirty bullocks removing a house on sledges. These bullocks were very powerful animals, hut even at times their task was beyond them. He remembered on one occasion seeing a bullock dray with a large team bogged in Gladstone Rd., just above the Royal Hotel, and it had to be dug out. The road near the Alatawhero Hall was very' bad in the early days. The route was past tlie Royal Oak, and not round towards the salevards ns now. At the end of the road the rider or pedestrian crossed the river and joined the road again just below the present bridge.

MAIL DELIVERY IN 1879. As stated above Air. Fyson entered the service of the Postal Department in 1879 and was the first letter carrier appointed in Gisborne. The procedure in delivering the mail was to put the letters in one’s pocket, meet the addressee up the street, and deliver the missive to "him. Later lie usedi an old bag to carry , the mail. He would go to the wharf on the arrival of the steamer from Napier, and often carried on his shoulder the whole of the southern mail (from Napier, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin). Later the mail was removed in a hand cart, which was -wheeled on the footpath.The Coast mails in the early days were carried by packhorses, and the journey from Gisborne to Port Awamii took three days. On occasions the mail .was considerably delayed. One week the mailman was due to leave again on the Monday, but wribn the day arrived he could not' be' found. The Postmaster inquired of Mr. Fyson the whereabouts of the mailman's horses, and was told they wore on the Tvaiti side . .of The river. He instructed they should "be caught and Air. Fvson should take: the mail lip the Coast, He protested: he did hot know the road,, but Jus objer,tioiis were lightly waved nside. Mr; ~

•Eyson set out on the journey, but to his delight was overtaken near Tolaga Bay by the mailman, who had arrived, on the scene alter Mr. hyson’s departure. THE OLD POST OFFICE. In those days the Post Office was at the back of the present building, but prior to that it stood where the present Post Offi.o clock is situated, it consisted of a lour or five room shanty, with a verandah and residents knocked on a slide for their mail. If the officer in charge happened to he busy at the time of the knock, and, it was repeated, his language when he came out was not always according to Government regulations. MAORI CORRESPONDENCE. The correspondence for -the Maoris was always a source of anxiety to the postal officials, and a simple plan was decided on. All the letters to Maoris were left on a heap on the counter and when a Native came in and asked for a. letter he was waved over to the bundle and went through it, and if any letters' were addressed to him, took them. Further iron hies were caused’ by the fact that Maori correspondents would address letters to pakehas by the European names translated into the Maori language, and many amusing incidents arose from that practice, sometimes all the small staff of the office being called in to assrst in saving the problems, and then the aid of a Native interpreter would need to be sought. A POSTAL PROBLEM. „ In the course of bis duties as a postal carrier, Mr. Evson was often called upon to exercise his ingenuity to decipher addresses. One day. however, A letter '•ame to the office which caused creneral consternation- as for some time no o-e could make lmad nor tail of it. The staff were called in and even the aid of outsiders

sought, but it was- almost useless. Air. Fyson put forward his theory, which met with general assent, but one line was stiff missing, and to this day, so far as is known, no one lias interpreted it. The address on the letter was as follow: Drawing of a boll, followed by the letters Eli, C/o the old Jew who taught Oliver Twist to steal, . 49 'Where Peary Went Street Fresh Place, Home of the Rarest Bird, * . New Zealand. Air. Fyson’s interpretation was as follows: Mr. Bella: - , ; C/o Mr. Fngin , 49 North Street, Newtown. New Zealand. “The Home of the Rarest Bird,’’ baffled all. The problem was solved so far as the Gisborne office was concerned by Air. Fyson writing across the envelope, “Try Palmerston North!” What the Manawatu staff did is not. known, but nothing further was heard of the letter. VOLUNTEERING IN THE EARLY DAYS. Volunteer corps were in existence in Poverty Bay before Mr. Fyson’s arrival, but about 1880 the J. Battery wa-s formed. They had a 6-pr Armstrong and drilled strenuously at this gun, under an insructor from Napier. One Easter encampment held at Roseiand Gardens, MaKaraka, about 1881, near the present railway station 1 , lives in Alt. Fyson’s memory. A picked gun crew of nine had been chosen to give an exhibition of gun drill. The gun had to be clis-

mounted, and with wheels, la,cl flat on t;.e ground, and titeii put together again.' Tiffs pm titular cv. u was very smart, and so keen in their work that at tne camp they praetkal.y s>p. under the gun. jhe exhibition had first to be given in s'.o.y t.me arid then in rapid time. in the latter c-asa one minute ior the complete dismounting and mounting was considered' a record, but the gun crew mentioned performed their task m 59 sec. Captain (a ter wards Colonel) Winter made a close inspection eff the gun after the operation, and there was intense excitement when he declared everything was correct. The gun crew were the heroes of the day and were rushed iff to the canteen. On parade at camp that day there were 110, including a volunteer corps at Ormond. Tim exact number is recalled by the fact that Air. Tyson, in addition to being a member of the gun crew-, was also quarter-master-sergeant. A well-known local resident was so pleased at the exhibition that lie insisted on '.‘slicutirg-

for al! the men in camp. Quarter-master-Sergeant Iyson ’.'as called in. an r l added up the total. and the bill ran to just over C2 10s. far one or two of the men did Hot accept the invitation. The iintorni of x!:e J. Battery in those days wn- a blue uniform, white pipeclay belts. and a blue iorage cap. \ EARLV DAY PASTIMES. Tiip chief pastime in the early days was billiards. There were on t.v fire hotels—the Albion, Argyll (now Coronation). Masonic, Mhamrork (now Gishorne), and Royal. Ihe lastnamed was on the site <:f the ]tresent building, and stood cpiite a long way out from the town. Every hotel had its billiard room and many keenly exciting grinds were played. There wars also ;in hotel at Milkaraka. near the old Kia Ora factory, two hotels !at Waerenga-a-hika, two at Ormond, where the Armed Constabulary were stationed, and one at Matawhoro. Keen interest was also taken in cricket, and many exciting games were played at Te Ha para, where .Mr. Rees had it proper pitch at his residence. FIRING THE NOON (TEN. Official time was recorded in Gisborne ir; those clays. Near the old flagstaff just close to the month, of ihe Waikanae stream stood a 24-pr muzzle loader, an old ship’s gun. Various hands of residents were in the habit of practising with the gun, firing shot and shell at targets in the sen. It was also used on the Queen’s Birthday to lire the Royal Salute. One of Mr. Fyson’s duties was to go down to the gun every Saturday and fire it at noun exactly

to give the residents the correct time. He always took with him two pounds of powder and the first procedure was to grease the gun well. Air. Fyson cannot recall how' the practice of firing the gun at noon started,, but the residents used to look forward to it. Afterwards the gun was removed, and the practice of course ceased. THE GUN, THE HORSE AND THE FARMER. The report of. the gun invariably caused consternation among the horses in. the vicinity and in this , connection is an amusing slorv. - There was.Sno, bridge over the Vai- : knnae. then and the residents had to ride or drive >across the stream, (hi Saturdays the farmers . always ■ came into town. On one occasion the late Mr. W. S. Green was crossing, the stream when his buggy stuck in The middle. Though he tried every means he could not got the horse to move the vehicle. Air. Fyson suggested to Air. Green that-ho should j ;ct - into the buggy nml hod;!, bn I

: tight when the gun was fared only • short distance away. Mi. • wanted to argue, but there «■*» J two minutes to go to noon. lUther . : sceptically, He g-t into the bug©, I and in a Jew minutes had the sur prise of his life- When the gun was • tired the horse plunged madly and a j ' second-later the horse, bug© ana . rider were on the bank. , LIVE shells in river. f The ammunition in those days was l placed in charge of Mr. I'yson, an i I on one occasion he had a very exwtintr. experience. One Sunday night a j tire broke out in the store ot Lair and Sons, mcicliants. He was at - church at the time, and a man near- , by said the Post Office was ablaze. Air. F'vson rushed down and saw that tor the present the Post Office was [■ safe, hut sparks were occasionally descending on the shingled roof, m ] a shed near the building were tWv live shehs. Deciding to take no risks he carried the shells away and threw them in the river near the present , Haiti bridge, and to the best of ins ' knowledge they are still ttiei-el PRISONERS JOIN BATHING . PAETj E.i. When he first came to Gisborne Air. Fyson stayed at a boardinghouse in Peel Street, near the site or the present Gisborne Garage, and with many others he spent much time on the beach. Opposite the boardinghouse was the prison, a yard enclosed wicii a palisade and fence, on the site of the present police station. On the j way to the beach the bathers would converse with the prisoners. Oil several occasions prisoners anxious to join the bathing party would implore their assistance m removing some of the battens, and the offender would go to the beach with 4?he party. Oil rhe return he would again enter the gaol, and the battens would be replaced. A ..GRUESOME FIND. A large number of Maoris lived near the mouth of the AVaikanae then. On one occasion when ij uie vicinity. Mr. Hyson found three skulls, apparently a relic of the olden .days. Another time when on his round as *a postal carrier he passed a Maori vrliare which was open, and _ saw something like a keg of ammunition. As lie was in charge of tiie ammunition of the district he investigated and found SCO rounds of the old long Enfield idle. He removed the keg. and took it to the store at the Post Office, but strange to say no inquiries were ever made on the matter. AIRS. FYSON'S NARROW ESCAPE FROM MASSACRE. A narrow escape in the Poverty Bay massacre was experienced by Mrs. hyson, who by the way was a catigl :tcr of Mr. Forbes, a wellknown local builder. He was engag■ed in constructing a woolshed at AVaerenga-a-hika when a workman said lie had received information that i the Kanbans were coining down. AH. . Forbes said he intended to stay, hut ! all the workmen thought otherwise ' and in his temporary absence, all left jin a body. As no good could be gained by remninin, Air. Forbes left and I with his family went to Auckland. A j few days later the Poverty Bay massacre occurred. It is interesting to note that Air. Forbes built the Catholic Church in Gisborne in 1878 or 1870, and also built a house on AA’hataupoko next to where Air. Lysnav is now living. That house is still 1 standing despite the fact that it must be sixty years since its erection. TARAAY EE A ERUPTION. Great excitement was occasioned in Gisborne on June 10, 18S6, on the occasion of the Tarawera eruption. A rather severe shock of earthquake ) was experienced during the night, and the residents had to breakfast by lamplight. Air. Fyson came into the street, and met Air. J. AA r . Nolan, who commented on the occurrence. The residents were undoubtedly frightened, and as all the wires were down no news could he obtained. Volcanic sand fell in Gisborne and especially heavy falls were recorded at Ormond. The steamer Southern Cross from Tolaga Bay to Gisborne had her decks covered with sand. It was noticeable that no vplwmic sand fell at Napier, and tin's was accounted for by the fact that at the time of the eruption the wind was blowing strongly across from the direc-. tion of Rotorua .y, WHERE ARE THE* MAORI CANOES ONE? One thing, that puzzles Air. Fyson is the absence of Ala or i canoes, which in the seventies, and eighties were common on the river. They were of rather a small pattern, but were seen in large numbers. They were in constant request by those desiring to cross the river. He assumes that they have cither been taken away or washed out to sea.