EARLY DAYS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 53, Issue 32417, 12 April 1944, Page 5

EARLY DAYS

PAEROA IN GOLD BOOM 90 YEARS SPENT IN N.Z. MEMORIES OF MR J. PHILLIPS Life in New Zealand as it was some 90 years ago with reminiscences' of Paeroa when it was booming in the gold mining days can be recalled by Mr John Phillips, of Taylor Avenue, Paeroa. Mr Phillips who is still hale and hearty celebrated his 90th. birthday last Christmas Day. In the early days in Paeroa Mr Phillips was known as Farmer Phillips to distinguish him from a storekeeper of those days named John Phillips.

Born in Belfast, Ireland, Mr Phillips came out to New Zealand with his parents while only a baby in the sailing ship Cameo, one of the earliest settler ships to come to New Zealand. The ship’s first port of call in New Zealand was Lyttelton and here the Phillips family disembarked, settling in Christchurch. Mr Phillips was only one year old when he landed and he spent all his boyhood in Christchurch, attending school there. Schooling, recalls Mr Phillips, was not free as it is to-day and each child had to pay Is per week to attend. The first home which the Phillips family lived in was a cob house and was bult by the family from maize cobs and mud and thatched with rushes. While this house was being built by Mr Phillips’ father the family lived in a church. Farming In Canterbury Mr Phillips senior was engaged in farming on the Uanterlbury Plains growing wheat and othei’ grain after he had settled his family in a house and of course Mr Phillips was often called upon to help in these strenuous days. As a youth Mr Phillips describes a job he was often given to do, of towing the sailing ships up the Lyttelton harbour to the wharf with teams of horses. Sailing ships, not being manoeuvrable as the modern steamers, were unable to sail right up to the wharves and had to anchor in the stream and send a line ashore to ibe tow’ed up to a wharf. Mr Phillips, who has always been a very capable man with bourses, as a youth, thoroughly enjoyed this work. .Another job which Mr Phillips did was the whipping of the coal used for the first railway engine to travel on the Lyttelton to Christchurch railway. “Whipping” was the hauling of coal in Ibig baskets from the ship at the wharf. He was married in Christchurch to Miss Mary Jane Kennedy of that town at the age of 21 years and some two years later moved to Auckland, making the journey by coastal boat. In Auckland he turned his hand to any and whatever job was offering in those early pioneer days of that city which then was merely a village. Came To Paeroa 60 Years Ago

Some 60 years ago Mr Phillips moved to Paeroa, taking up a farm on the Paeroa-Waihi road which is at present owned by Mr G. Buchanan. Later he moved to the farm now occupied by Mr H. Whitmore and.still ‘ later farmed on the property at what is known as the Junction, being the area formed by the joining of the Ohinemuri and Waihou rivers.

Mr Phillips next moved his family to the present house in Taylor Avenue. In those days Taylor Avenue was not the attractive tar-sealed street it is to-day, nor were there the number of houses on it. The nearest neighbour, Mr W. H. Wick, was across a ti-tree covered area, his house being situated on the corner of Hill street and Puke road. .Shortly after the Phillips family moved to Taylor Avenue the late Mr Edwin Edwards, father of the present Mayor of Paeroa, built a two-storied house in Pye Lane. The only other neighbour was the late Mr James Silcock who then lived in Rye Lane. Able Man With Horses Mr Phillips, when he settled in the town of Paeroa, was engaged in contracting work and was employed by the Ohinemuri County Council to form many of the present streets in the borough. For this work he owned teams of horses which he could handle expertly and was responsible for the execution of many very difficult contracts. One of the last contracting jobs which Mr Phillips handled in Paeroa was the large excavations necessary when the Paeroa Railway Station was moved from in front of the Paeroa.Hotel to its present situation at the end of Taylor Avenue. Although Mr Phillips was an old man by that time, being nearly 70 years of age, he was specially sought out to do the job because of the high reputation he had earned for

carrying out efficiently large exeava-

tion works. Many strangers who were engaged on the work were surprised at the ability shown by so old a man as 1 Mr Phillips. Mr Phillips’ family, his wife having passed away some years ago, comprises three sons and two daughters as follows: —Mr R. Phillips' of Greymouth, Mrs Margaret Adamson 1 of Rama Rama (Waikato), Mr G. Phillips, of Australia, Mr W. Phillips, of Palmerston North, and Mrs D. McWatters, of Paeroa. Early Racing In The Town Mr Phillips when he first came to Paeroa was very interested in horse racing and can recount very interesting and amusing stories of early racing in the town. The first racecourse, he states, was in -what is now the centre of the town and the horses used to run round the hill which was cut away when the present Paeroa Post Office was built. Not only did Mr Phillips recall stories of these interesting days but old people who also remember these occasions say that Mr Phillips was a good horseman himself and in many a challenge race was the successful rider. A big job which was entrusted l to Mr Phillips in the gold rush days was excavating for the laying of the pipe to carry gas from Paeroa to Karangahake. Mr Phillips was the owner of the first tram service in Paeroa and used

to operate a horse-drawn passenger tram from the Junction wharf to Paeroa. Many were the funny incidents which Mr Phillips recalls in connection with this* service. Of interest at the moment is the item that Mr Phillips was the first man to plough Primrose Hill.

Competitions Won Ploughing While a youth in Canterbury Mr Phillips was recognised as one of the best in the area with a plough and won many competitions in this art. He also drove one of the first threshing machines to operate on the Canterbury Plains. Before these machines appeared Mr Phillips was a handy man with a scythe and working in teams of five cut many acres in that area. Mr Phillips is the last member of his family, his only living sister dying in Hawera recently.