BACK TO THE '60's.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 10473, 31 December 1927, Page 5 (Supplement)

BACK TO THE '6o's.

TAKING- UP OF WHATAUPOKO. Mil. AVM. PARKER'S RECOLLEC--110 aN S. EARLY TURF ECHOES.

‘‘Early in 13-30 my pa«mff, " lt! ' their family of thl-oo children, of whom I tvns the eldest, my Uncle Henrv being another of the pnitj, came' to New Zealand m the clipper ship Red Jacket, commanded by oiw Reed ’ remarked Mr V\ m. 1 arker, of 'vlan'oipaiia to a Times inteiviev.ei. "Amongst the passengers were Thomas Po'.vdreli, his thiee o-i'o-.vn-urr children, Mary Ann, Minna and Henry. They wore friends ot my parents and came rrom Choslmre where mv father's people had resided for many generations. Other passengers included Mr John Eldon Gorst, who shortly after landing became a magistrate in Waikato and was very conspicuous in the early stages of the war there, and the Reverend von Dadelszon, the latter bringing large familv with him, one of whom was Otto, afterwards manager of the Union Bank of Australia at Gisborne.

AUCKLAND IN THE ’6o’s.

“The ship left Liverpool and first touched at Melbourne, where, amongst the passengers who disembarked was a Mi Stewart, whom I well remember because after going ashore, lie brought my mother a large basket of fruit to the ship. In due course wc loft Melbourne lor Auckland, and actually sighted The Three Kings within three days, but were

then becalmed, and from there to our distillation it took several days. Cn landing at Auckland, and going along the wharf, wc saw many Maoris, mostly rumen, who hail kits of produce for sale. We* made our way -c a hoarding-house kept by one Warne. I think it was about half a mile from the wharf, and, during our few days’ stay in Auckland, I. remember going with a party to the, top oi Mount Eden. To the best of my recollection there* was just a track from the hoarding-house to' tiie Mount. The sight on looking into the prater I’ve never forgotten. After a low days’ stay in Auckland, wo left for Napier in a* little steamer called “The White Swan.” I don’t know why wo made ior Napier, hut it was probably owing to the fact that old Mr Powdrell had 1 three sons (John, Samuel and Joseph) who had gone to Hawke’s Bay from Cheshire some years before. Mr Powdrell probably induced my people to go with him there. “Shortly after .our arrival in Hawke’s Bav, my father and uncle went 4 into partnership with a Mr William Rich as stodk dealers, shippers and butchers," and’as their business employed rnnnv hands, most ol whom came* from Auckland, there were some characters amongst them, and it was a pretty link shop* out of which it was most difficult for mv mother to ke p me. One of these characters whose nickname was “Doiinybvook” was, I think, the roughest f over came across. I saw him catch a horse in what is now known as Clive Square ride him away into the* country and 1 know he brought the Jiorso back a"a in at night and let him go again. The horse belonged' to a Captain Hunter. I think lie was a retired military officer, who kept a liverv-s table on the* site where the Cathedral now stands. Cr.pt. Hunter had to pass our premises every morning" to get to his stable. “Donnybrook” knew lu> had passed, and that the way was clear for him.

A SOU FFLE~— ANI > WHAT FOLLOWED.

“In Carlyle Street, N.npier, quite close to Clive Square, one day 1 saw a scuffle Into which Napiers only policeman got into grips with a big Maori named) Te Rangiiiiroa, whilst taking him to the lock-up, which was situated in Faraday Street. The Maori, when just opposite our place, got going some, and, as he was very wiry, was getting the better of the

policeman, to whose assistance my uncle rushed and at once drew a tomahawk from Bangiluroa s belt which was around a conspicuous led locket he had on. The tomahawk was thrown aside and the aboriginal was later locked safely in the lockup, which was more than half a mile away from where the scuffle took o . v R.an ,,; hiroa was dealt with the next dav before the R M 1 don’t know, but T do know- that, some three or four years afterwards, he was one of the leaders of a .party of Maori si (acting in concert with those who were at Omaranui, whose dt.were so summarily frustrated on the 12th October. I 860) n wren rhino- Rapier from the Petane side who were, met by a small force sent out to intercept them and that he ua. kille-l at Hen nolio. where the old public road between Napier and Ta.iiran through thr« nronortv then owned In- Oswald Carr and Edmund Carr two gentlemen who > jv| ,not lone: been settled there. William Airev (Bill) Richardson told me lie shot Rangihiroa there, . Jit altbouffo one or two others sa’d tliev; wjttkM him. it- war. cop efd^T, that Bill- Ricbni-dson put lus light . outOswald Carr, just mentioned had Keen a- captain m the Royal Artillery and lie afterwards lost his life at: Ruakituri with the forces then thp ruffian Te Kooti and Ins followers.

HOW wl Mi l occraKif AME T ° , far too much of the land m th " l ‘ 1 district was lying idle, /‘‘‘f ■ U them representing most oi tlic pun , einal owners of Wha tail poke, came tM Napier to scal'd, of Europeans wdioVUlo lake ,» land in Poverty Bav They were Henare Rum, lit I au y and another half-caste named Tom Jones. Pitau was the elder brother of Wi Pore, and Jones ie---’T‘eiited* p-ople who then lived on 'the southern 1 side of the Bay, of whom old Raharuhi Rukiipo (Lazarus) was the principal man. these men got into touch with my labliei and uncle, with the result that they were induced to occupy T\ hataupoko. My uncle came -with sheep, which wore brought by sea and landed at The Point—just where }t was proposed to have a swimming bath ioi Gisborne. The sheep had a very rough time within 21 hours after be- , inrr put ashore, many being worried to death by Maoris dogs, _ which | swam across Lorn the Kaiti side | and elsewhere. Kaiti was, so to , speak, swarming with Maoris at that' time. This unexpected knock , annoyed my uncle, who sought satisfaction by poisoning as many dogs around Tufanganui as he coim, s>c\- ( enteen taking the bait and ■:-"U ■ stiffened uitright. The Maoris were much upset at their loss and weie inclined to vent their wrath on my-' uncle, who thought it best to leave the Bay and he never rc turnon. j

PACK HORSE WINS FIRST H.B CUP.

Early in the ’GO’s there were among the settlors a good many who uere fond ot horse-racing. One "as William Rich, and another was my uncle Henry. On one. occasion the former, when Hunter s station, at Porangahau, saw a horse that had a pack on and it caught Rich s eye. fie remarked to William Hunter, one of the two brothers managing the station, that the pack horse might well be put to racing and ■suggested that Hunter should train and race him. Hunter did not feel inclined to clo so, hut Rich took him to Napier and had him trained. As a result, Mr Rich won tho first Hawke’s Bay Cup with the horse, now named Hurricane. Shortly afterwards, Hurricane was sent to Auckland to race, luit,' unfortunately, during training, lie broke a leg and tints his career was ended. He was a brown gelding well up to carrying weight and 1 believe l,is sire "as Riddlesworth. a horse that did service in the Wellington province loi several years. “TAKEN DOWN.”

My unde somewhere in Hawke’s Bay got hold of a brown gelding, a real good soft, that proved to be the cleverest stock horse he e\ei had. T don’t know where he came from, hut L know that his brand was a, horse-shoe on the neck. My opinion is that he came from the same district as Hurricane. Anyhow, my uncle won ever so many matches with him. He downed all his op ponents with one- exception. 1 ieliere a, horse from Auckland was readied up for him.by .dames > a well-known racing man of those days. The horse’s name was Brown Stout and, in all probability, he was procured specially to take my uncle down. Amongst the horses put through by Newton (that was my uncle’s racing name') was a. grey owned by one McNeill, a- brother ot McNeill, partner of Colonel A hitmoi e in several statons, the centre ot which was Rissington. Plus grey gelding rejoiced in the name o “Jimmy,’ and he was afterwards owned by one Richard) Plantagenet Giffard, who lived at Waitangi, near Farndon. Jimmy never distinguished himself on the turf. Giffard s brother though became most distinguished at the bar and was the first -Lord Halsbury who, perhaps, did more in the interests of law than any othei man in the British Empire during the last 60 or 70 years. Richard plantagenet died in Hawke s flay. J have no hesitation in saying that to this day no better liorso than Riddles worth'was ever imported to New Zealand, and I’m not forgetting

~, , a-!,,-, r-.-c:-. Traduce:]- and Musket* of last century, or the most .-crcssful of those imported during PCI ted to tins colony m l»4o, anu !, nv thoroughbred mare tracing to } *, i s ea-crly sought after by those who know what good thoroughbie.l stock arc worth. TRADUCER OFFERED FOR , SONG. j On one. occasion that my father took a ship-load ot cattle to Canterhurv, whilst in. Christchurch he was offered the thoroughbred stallion Traducer for £9O. lhm ho so had then acquired a reputation loi heinc- a man-eater and probably that was "the reason for offering him at such a low figure. My father ldused to huv the horse and ' tAva f s ate for the N.Z. turf that ho did However, he came to this island and was mated with a better lot ol mares tban lie could possibly have found i„ Hawke’s Bay, where there were then lilt few marcs worth breeding from for racing purposes. Most or the best racehorses in New Zealand in the seventies were by Traducer. ~,1(1 he left an ineradicable mark in the colony through mating with marcs outside Hawke’s Bay. In Central Hawke's Bay there was hardly a thorough bred mare to he found Old John Heslop had Young Althaea and there were a iev; by the Bishop of Osnaburgh, a horse* that left bu'j little mark on the turf. In Southern Hawke’s Bay, about Porangahau. there in«iy have been two or thiee Iliddlesworth mares, aud a few by

! Figaro, Frantic or Glendon—anyhow the marcs in that part of the P>ovine? came, from Wanarapa. In those days, there was very little communication between Napier and Portingrliau and marcs from the l latter place could not, under the circumstances he expected to he sent to Centra, Hawke’s Boy for mating jmjwjosos I My uncle took a great fancy tc :i chestnut owned !<iy a big Maor: and! - tried over and over again to get him, hut was unable to do so. Manama Tini, the owner, was the ISgjrost Maori I ever saw. His weight at that time was about twenty-four stcue sevcii lbs. Tini in tlm Maori hni<nia <r e signifies * 'lvulky' —and, withal, he was a very active man, Having won first prize for the best heavy-weight carrier at the first .Agricultural Show in Hawke’s Bay with a grey he called “The Squire,’ my uncle determined-once again to ‘try to induce Manaena to part with thechestnut. One day, knowing that Manaena was in Napier, lie had the grey saddled up and decked with the prize card dangling about the horse’s forehead, followed him up as

he was riding home to Pakonliai. Mv uncle overtook Manaena. beforc-o-etting to the Shamrock Hotel—about three miles out—and, as a. result the big fellow got off the chestnut and took The Squire, after changing saddles. Mv uncle rode the chestnut back to'Napier and at once put him into training. This horse he named Rataplan and. as the Hawke s Bay Jockey Club held a race meeting at Gieenmeadows shortly after,vinos-- I believe it was the first liejd by a properly constituted club in Hawke’s Bay—Rataplan took part in the Maiden Produce Stakes, but

whether lie or another horse named Nurna owned by Ashton St. Hr a very nice hay afterwards taken to Auckland and raced there with success- won this race, I really cannot remember, although >. saw it run. In looking over an old note-book or my fathers J see ih.it Calcutta Sweepstakes were in vogue ther and that IfatuuUni brought >.uma ~ 2s Gd 1 in one drawn w* this race, and th-is. m a similar sweepstakes on -he Farmers Purse Schamyl brought £4 10s and Rataplan £2 12s 6d. L* ! during 'the day Rataplan started in i the Farmers’ Purse and ran a dead I heat for Ist place with a grcy geldin^ ; szntrrth !'e wondeped at when he had been carrying over 23 stone •cgidaU'" |,o.ked hv Manaena. My uncle ap nihed Chapman with an offer to rlivid'* the stake, hut, as Chapman saw that Rataplan had broken down he naturally would not agree to the ivopoMi! This horse was Red m Ihe 1 Waiapu district and Manaena got him tiiere. _ I don’t think _ any better evidence is required to pioy that seventy years or more ago rea* lv good well-bred horses were raised in that part of the East Coast.

FOB THELWALL, THE ATHLETE.

Robert Thelwall, one of Uisliorue’s oldest living idenuues. arrived at Auckland in 1864 or 1860, on his way to Napier to my father and uncle, who were Ins first cous. ins. Before leaving Auckland he had a running match ior a fiver aside with a fellow passenger from England—Lieutenant Cutbill, or the 70th wlio had come out to join his re'dinent. The match was run near the wharf, where the ship was lying and Theltrail won it. He then made his way to Napier, staying there a short time. One day he v.-as out alter stock with two or three of our stockmen and, as ,T had a pony, formed one of the party. As we were returning there was a halt mile flutter along what was known as the little I-.each'”—a icclamatoin has covered' it up—and l viewed it from behind." the others. I helvall was iidjng a”grey mare, 'J'opsy, and had inside running, and being jammed into the water the mare fell and all 1 saw of Bub were his legs and leet, incised.' in long riding hoots, sticking out of the water. Topsy was brought to Poverty Bay when we came up in 1867, and was looted at the time of the massacre.