RIVAL CLAIMS OF PATEA LOOMED LARGE IN EARLY DAYS – TIME LEVELS OUT DIFFERENCES

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 7 November 1933, Page 11

RIVAL CLAIMS OF PATEA LOOMED LARGE IN EARLY DAYS - TIME LEVELS OUT DIFFERENCES

When we start to talk about the first agricultural shows in Southern Taranaki, we are fight back to the beginning of things,’ or in other words, tlie pioneer days. One thing is uppermost in my mind, as it will be in the niinds of many others, and that is what a central figure Major (later Sir Harry) Atkinson was in Taranaki. He not only put himself at the head of the pipneefs and \yas their captain when he led them against the hostile natives to quell the risings which were doing so much to hamper settlement, but when peace came no man did more to foster agriculture, which was the mainstay of the province. No person did more to inaugurate agricultural shows than Sir Harry. During his lifetime I think it is true to say that he was the only patron the Egmont Agricultural show eyer had. The Patea people had their show regularly for ten years before the Hawera farmers got going and it was just the same there : —Sir Harry never missed attending, if it could be arranged, every one of the fifteen shows Pater, had right from 1873 to 1888. At most of the shows at Patea and Hawera there were always Atkinson prizes offered for special classes. Few men know the settlers’ trials in the early daj's better than Sir Harry, who had been through every one of them himself, and who could drive a team of bullocks, ride a. horse over fences, milk a cow, shear a sheep, or fall a bush clearing with any man in the country. It is not going too far back either, to say that no man knew better how to treat a bully or a shirker with, his own fists than the M.P., who held the Egmont seat with increasing majorities each election.

This brings me to the point what a great centre Patea was before the day's of the railway. Not only had it nearly every government department represented by an office—and how it loomed as large in some respects as Wanganui and New Plymouth—but its public men were outstanding in a small community and the settlers possessed great public spirit. The town had only been shifted up from the heads a year or two when the towns’people and the settlers combined to hold an agricultural show in 1873; that was right at the very beginning of things as far as Southern Taranaki was concerned. We are told that many of those present, some of whom came from as Tar south at Waitotara and as far north as Hawera, walked the whole distance to and from the show.

It was indeed a small beginning, but

looking back over the intervening years we see now that it was the same spirit carried on down through the years which has made Southern Taranaki the envy of many other districts in the Dominion Between the years 1873 and 1888 Patea never ceased to have its yearly show and that fifteen years denotes the most glorious part of Pa tea’s history as a town. !

It is interesting to remember the interest in wire strainers at the show, for many of the settlers from out back knew nothing except posts and rails, chopped from wood on their own farms, just as they made shingles to cover the roofs of their 'houses from trees cut in the bush, and corrugated iron for roofs did not appeal to them, as they said it would be too cold in winter. How things v have changed!

LAST PATEA SHOW. The last Patea show was held on the Ist November in Harry Davis’ paddock. The day was cold and heavy showers fell in the morning and I when it cleared in the afternoon a coid i wind blew. There was a small attendance of the public; there were few people present from north of Mamitahi or South of Waverley. The show had been splendidly arranged under the able organising ability of the late Mr. C. E. Finnertv, after whom the Finnertv Road is called and whose son is Cr. Finnerty of Stratford. Despite all this, the show as an annual fixture on account of the competition in other places, had commenced to dei cline, and there were those further! ] north who pointed out the error of A holding more than one show per annum in Taranaki. With this end in view Patea settlers tried to meet Ha-

ÜBY W. K. HO WITT.)

| wera by offering to contribute £SO per annum, and have a show to be held at I Patea, Hawera and New Plymouth alternately in each place and delegates met to discuss the proposal, but np agreement was reached. It was argued that shows which have been held alternately in different districts in the colony had nearly always proved unsuccessful and that the fixtures either collapsed or reverted to the larger centres. Hawera people were very insistent that from its geographical position their town should certainly be the site for West Coast Taranaki shows,! as the gate money would always be a source of considerable revenue. Next j year, that was 1889, they said that they hoped that New Plymouth and Patea breeders would combine and show at Hawera. That keen feeling ‘existed in regard to the matter is shown by the fact that at the next show held in Hawera Mr William Wilson, the well-known sheep breeder of Whenuakura, did not exhibit his arimals and there was much regret that he was not an exhibitor as he was the foremost Lincoln breeder on the coast, with Mr. R. R Hamilton of Manutahi a good second. As it was Mr. A. A. Fantham swept the board in his breed of sheep, he being practically the only exhibitor in many classes.

In the cattle - sections Messrs. Gower Bros, of Whenuakura, Mr Hawes of Waverley, Mr. John Ross, Mr John Shield, Mr W. Arundel and Mr R. B. Pearce were the chief prizewinners

Messrs. Arundel and Ross showed the champion bull, Mussulman, for exhibition only. He was without doubt one of the greatest bulls ever seen in New Zealand and not only at every show at which lie was shown in this country did he take champion honours, but also scooped the pool when taken across the Tasman at the Australian Metropolitan shows. In horses the entries were numerous and such well-known breeders as D. lVJit hell, J. Johnston, Martin Laird, J. McCarthy, R. B. Pearce, Goodson, J. Shields, Dalziel, J. Dickie, AY. Gadsby, A. H. Williamson ana Duncan McGregor had entries. In the poultry section Adam Sergeant, William Balmforth, C. Honeyfield and Chariie Nicol were prizewinners.

In pigs R. B. Pearce was the only exhibitor. In produce Mrs R B. Hamilton took first prize for butter. EGMONT SHOW OF 1890.

j It is very fine to chronicle that a;, the show in 1890 all the rough edges had been worn smooth after the little bit of feeling which had been exhibited at the shows held in the two previous

years, between the settlers at .Patea and Hawera, and we find that the officials at the annual Egmont Agricultural and Pastoral Association were Sir Harry Atkinson, patron, .W. E. Dive, president, R B. Hamilton, vicepresident. and the' general committee were representative men from all over the district, Jas. Livingston, R. Lambie, M. F. Baird, W. Wilson, C. W. Babbage. R H. Nolan, D. Wilkie, A. A. Fantham', A. G. Brett, J. Robertson, W. Derrett Junr., E. Macßae, J. P. Lomax, A. W. Budge, J. O. Yorke, Jas. Davidson, J. Milne, Moore Hunter, R. E. Macßae, John Winks, G. McLean, Robert Hicks, F. E. Riddiford, A. Hastie and A. Bremer. C. A. Budge was secretary and R. L. McFarland treasurer. What a happy blending of names 1 No wonder during the years the Egmont show prospered, although the one blot on its administration is that it did not in the in-, j tervening years, clear off all its debts I which the wealth of the district fully' enabled it to do. There was an attendance of about 3000 at the show and Hawera’s own band played the music, which put everyone in a good humour. Settlers came from everywhere and if there had even been the suspicion of jealousy between the different districts, it was all wiped out at this show. The show was a success, the entries numbering over 500. The only flv in the ointment was that Messrs. Fantham and Ross had no entries in purebred cattle and this made this section of the show of less interest than usual. Cattle classes had too little competition. How different things are to-day, over 40 years afterwards, when cattle entries predominate!

MEMORIES OF 1889 SHOW. At the Egmont .show in November, 1889, a big forward movement was shown, a large stand, capable of holding 500 people, had been erected and was taken full advantage of by those, who wanted to see the leaping and trotting matches The leaping match for ladies was a thrilling event, the lady riders showing wonderful skill with their mounts Mrs Payne of Kakaramea was the winner. This rider had a very fine reputation in Southern Taranaki as a rider and it was a treat to see her following the hounds over high fences in the days when some of the finest hunters in the colony were seen following t-lie hounds. Maria Smith of j Patea also was a rider excelled by| few and her knowledge of horseflesh] enabled her to get the best out of her mounts. Slie was a daughter of Daniel | Smith, one of Patea’s oldest residents, i and later in life married Frank Sherwood, son of Patea’s first mayor. In the leaping match for ponies Mr J. Hayward’s Punch came first. In the trotting match H. Good’s horse won and in the pony class 0. Johnston’s Darkle came first-.

GREAT BUCK-JUMPING CONTEST. One of the finest exhibitions of skilful riding ever seen on a showground took place just fifty years ago at the Patea show, when Charlie Nicol challenged Dick Higginson to a buck-rid-ing contest. Both ridel's were superb horsemen and it is probabl- the case that nowhere in New Zealand at 1 that time was there a harder man to i shift from the saddle than Charlie Nicol. He was a stocky man of great strength and often stuck to a fractious horse for long periods. In a real test of endurance between horse and rider Charlie never came off second best. Higginson, too, knew all the points of the game and when the two men met to ride some of the noted buckjumpers in the district and also wild horses, which had been caught on the Wnimate Plans, the test was the severest possible. It is not hard to remember the excitement which prevailed in what was a thrilling contest It finally resolved itself into a test of exeptional skill and endurance and both men were cheered to the echo as they risked their lives with some of the wild steeds. Nirol, however, proved the superior rider in tlm neyer-to b<v forgotten exhibition of horsemanship. 1 RIVALRY AMONG SHEARERS, j Just about the time the Hawera! Show was inaugurated much more in- i forest was taken in the shearing con-1 tests and a new era in shearing had I commenced. Some of the shearing previously had been very rough, but! oine English and Scottish shepherds j .had come into the district and therewas keen rivalry between the two Mr. | William Gadsby had charge of • W. Wilson’s sheep at Whenuakurn. He : ame to New Zealand in 1879 and later farmed “Cloverdale,” near Patea. He then bought Wilkie Bros.’ farm of J 1000 acres at Manutahi, and is now I living at Te Ivuiti and will be 82 years •

of age on Christmas Ray. He was in his day without doubt tlie finest sheepshearer in Southern Taranaki. He was noted for the cleanness of his shearing and held an unbeaten record in any contest in which he took part. Gadsby had an uncanny knowledge of all kinds of stock and seemed to have an inbreff knowledge which enabled him to form a sound judgment. In later years he went all over the country in both Islands and at some of the smaller shows judged every class of animals throughout as sole judge, an achievement not accomplished by many men. Some of the old exhibitors in Hawera, including J. Perry, J. B. Sutton, Threlkeld, A. A. Fantham, R. B. Hamilton, J. 0. Yorke, Moore Hunter, and J. R. Lysaght, always gave Gadsby credit for being unsurpassed for the way he prepared his sheep for exhibition. It was the little details to their feet, their heads and their bodies which entailed endless work for weeks, which counted when they came to be judged. It was the training he got in Lincolnshire which stood him in goo 4 stead all through the years. There are many branches of his numerous family farming in various parts of Taranaki.

SOME WELL-KNOWN HORSES. Looking back over the years, there are horses which have left their names ] m my mind nearly fifty years afterwards. I remember Hailstorm, Mr. Powdrell’s horse at Kakaramea, Creep- : iiig Jenny, joe Chadwick’s horse. Then there was that horse President, < which left his stamp on all liis prodigy because of his colour. D. Mitchell’s Director and J. Johnston’s Mr Robert Bruce were fine animals. Martin Baird’s Puriri loomed large in the public eve. J. McCarty’s Native was a prizewinner. W. Gadsby,’s pony, j stallion. “Oh Dear”, was a little gem. 1 Charlie Nicol’s Tommy was one of the I finest hurdlers in Taranaki. Some of j the stallions would have graced any show yard in New Zealand. Here are. some of their names: Jim Whiffler, Foul Shot, Gipsy King, -Cocksure. Diomedes, and then some of the heavy horses, Glasgow Geordie, Young Banker, Jock and Chieftain. Never mind that produce was low and cheese unsaleable. The settlers kept on improving the breed of their horses and with vision we have not got to-day, realised that the tide would turn. The district was populated from the sea almost to the base of Mt. Egmont with a fine class of hardy setti lers, Avho were clearing thousands of acres of standing bush and open rough land was being rapidly brought into cultivation. The old wliares were giving place to neater and larger homes. Every settler had a desire to have a decent house to live in. There were no telephones and no wireless and the homes of the people were the places where neighbours met and discussed their common difficulties. The Taranaki farmers always had good pasture and after a bush burn some wonderful crops of grass were got and, although' they had hardly “a fiver” of ready cash to their names, they looked to the time when they would reap a golden harvest from their land. The annual shows helped them to a mark- I ed degree. WHEN WHEAT WAS GROWN. One of the prizes offered at the ; early Egmont shows was for the best • loaf of bread made out of flour made I at the Kakaramea, Hawera or Manaia mills from wheat grown in the district, j and there was always strong competi- • tion by the farmers’ wives. Mrs H. 1 P. Smith, Mrs Shore and Miss Smith < were amongst the prizewinners on a many occasions. Flour milling is dead f in Southern Taranaki to-day and little or no wheat is grown. With some knowledge of what I write, it can ‘ truthfully be said that this is all to 1 the people’s loss. When bakers say 1 that wheat grown in their own district ' is no good for bread making, it might ' be well to recall the success of the J Kakaramea mill established by Donald ■ Courts in the seventies and taken over £ by Mr Edwin Payne in 1878. For a s quarter of a century that mill supplied J a ton of flour weekly to the chief bak- f ei y at Patea. and a good amount also J 1 to Curtis Bros., at Stratinru, when they controlled the baking business t there. Mr Payne had for miller for v i long time Mr Clover, who previously fi n the earlier seventies, was miller for a that go-ahead farmer Mr Vavasour of s jakura (later removed to Nelson), who 1 ind a stone mill right down on the e loach. The flour was not so refined ' is roller steel mills, but the bread was 8 lie finest and the flour, being stone c ground, was full of tlie nutriment of u lie wheat. I) Mr. Payne had a fine old grey hors*' I lamed “Boxer” which did bis carting, J or over 20 years. The mill was driven j r iv water power which crossed road ] a nd was the drinking place for stock 1 a