KING COUNTRY PIONEERING.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXI, Issue 2341, 26 October 1926, Page 5

KING COUNTRY PIONEERING.

A QUARTER OF A CENTURY OF WORK. TE KUITI IN THE EARLY DAYS. HOW THE 1 ROADS WERE FORMED. (Contributed.) “Lest we forget,” it might be well to turn our minds back a lew years, and nut mi record .some interesting facts of earlier times. For the present let us treat of parts west of Te Kuiti, mainly from about 1911 onwards, leaving; to others earlier times still; especially the history of To Kuiti which here will be. little more than mentioned, so as not to cut the ground from another. About the year 1902 there were in Te Kuiti very lew houses. Among the most prominent were the railway station, the Grand Hotel, and another hoarding house near the station. The post office then was at the station. The railway only went as far south as Poro-o-tarao, and there were only three trains weekly. The railway station was in charge of an old man and his daughter. This young lady, Miss Moiling, was virtually statkmmaster, and the men about the station bought and presented to her a stationmaster’s cap, which she wore with a certain amount of pride. THE GREAT CHANGES. What a contrast now! Residences are mounting up the amphitheatre of hills surrounding the town ; the station is busy sending out and receiving at short intervals trains connecting the extremes of the island and all towns intervening. Churches and chapels of all sects are hero and there; a school with some 600 children; a police station with a sergeant and three constables; an up-to-date hospital, pressure water supply, electric light and power, well formed streets, the local paper and shops that would grace a much larger community. That there could be such changes in less than a quarter of a century indicates that it is surrounded by land richly endowed by nature, more especially when we recall the World War, its terrible ravages and set-back, and the aftermath much worse, commercially speaking, than the war itself. It took Europe some 40 years to settle down after the Napoleonic Wars, and although it is not going to take as long to do so now. she is still in a very unsettled and restless state. The main store in these early times in Te Kuiti was Green ami Colebrook’s. Mr Xieliolls had not been there long. In 190] Mr Webby had a store and boardinghouse at Rio Rio near the small bridge on the Awakino Road, just beyond the saloyards. Air Yin. Hattaway took it over afterwards. THE ARIA DISTRICT. At this time there was only a Maori track to Alia, through Roro Roro farm, now owned by Johnston Brothers. The Aloknu River was crossed by punt, then in charge of the T’angiliaero family, a charge of ninepoueo being made for the conveyance of a man and his horse. There was no Aria in these days, the part being known as Mokauiti, named so by Air 11. Al. Skect, the then district surveyor in chnrgje of the field operations of these parts. It is extremely interesting now to meet Air Sheet and chat over those early times and hear his description of them. He will question ytii about the existence of certain Alaori dwellings, the Totoro ford, certain clumps of trees that then existed, and whether the authorities have bridged the Alokau River where the natural buttresses face one another. Then he will lead you over the other side and refer to Kaoaea. It was lie who placed Aria, surveyed il as a Government township, urban and. suburban. He will tell you lie placed it there because of the fewer swamps and the proximity of the Mokauiti stream, lie named it after Eramia to Aria, afriendly native chief, and I think i have been told it was he, hearing of Air Hursthouse, the surveyor, being chained up by the natives near Hangatiki, formed a band of warriors and went and released him. Chatting with Air Sheet you are forced by an umder-currcnfc to see how deeply and sympathetically lie entered into the life of the Alaori and wliat a deep interest he took in these parts. He backed this up, too, by buying a section in the township, and if lie does not own it now, it is only- within the last few years that he lias parted with it. FIRST CROWN LANDS. In October, 1903, the first Crown lands wore thrown open for selection. The settlement was known as the Totoro Improved Farm Settlement, and each holder was restricted to 200 acres. The sections were allotted to workers under the Public Works Department, many of them having gone though arduous times ini the construvtion of the Alain Trunk railway from Auckland (o Wellington. Some of these sections were allotted four times before a settler actually took his section up. Practically these sections were meant for and given to single men, some 60 of them, among whom were Messrs R. 1). Smyth, the late I). .McDonald (KillarneyL E. W. Davis. In March. 1901, another block was thrown open for selection under T/.T.P. conditions, and extended from the banks of the river near Wairore to Tokarima on the banks of the Ob lira River, the nearest junction with the Wanganui River. Nearly all the successful applicants for sections within tin' vicinity of Aria were single men, and among tliem we may mention; — .Messrs U. Tolling K. Hegglin, F. Davidson, Norman McKenzie, W. and A. R, Keighley, A. Smith (married), and IL Russell (also married), also Riddle Brothers. In January, 1905. the third block was thrown open. These were sections on the Kohua, Mokauiti and Huiataika streams. Some of the successful applicants were Geo. Nelson. Afellor, Walsh, McAleekin, Northcotc, H. Houghton, Dugald AlcLimont. Williams, Tom Broupffi, A. Brough, AY. Bredenbeck, and Budd. As in former settlements, several of the sections were abandoned and others came forward and took them up. There was wisdom in allocating these sections to single men, though in the natural course of things it could not be expected that all the men would remain so.

These pioneers were a band of hardy and brave men, and the wives they afterwards I'd,and were even more so. They came back to the wilds many miles from civilisation, often shut away long distances from even a neighbour, and the journey in many cases was difficult, if not impossible at certain times of the year. No roads, no schools, and little or nothing to lend a. change from the sameness of working up a home week in and week out. NO ROADS FORMED. The access to some sections was more than difficult. Produce to go out and necessaries to come in meant high freights even in summer time; and although some carting was done in winter time it was through the muda heart-breaking business. The waggons, well horsed, seldom went singly, but in company, so that in case of being bogged in a quagmire one could by the help of the other’s leaders be pulled out. Each waggon carried a heavy tarpaulin with which to cover the goods in case of the waggon having to be left some days by the road. Lodging houses were many miles apart but the true pioneering' spirit was possessed by these settlers and the man in trouble and the weary, and often lost traveller, was never turned away. In some cases the kettle seemed to be kept constantly on the boil, for it was never known when someone in need of a cheering tVip of tea would heave in sight. Swollen rivers, without bridges, were often a great danger, and lives have been 'lost in fording them to save a long detour. FIRST MUI) ROADS. Even u]i to the year 1910 there was little metal on the Awakino Road, heaving To Kuiti you lost it about the fourth mile, and met a, corduroy road for a short distance. The rest of the road to Rio Rio and Aria was then unformed. Metalling was being hkirried along) as fast as possible. A small portion at the 14th mile was done in rubble and stood the test well. Mirahuia ’Mill was done, but the mistake was made in using spawls of limestone. A few years later these were all taken up and broken, and the road re-formed. The mistake was made from, some reason or other, of doing the three miles out from. Rio Rio in the winter time, and a most unenviable time Air Lindsay had in getting through with the mail car. In some parts the road out has a poor foundation owing to the papa formation. This is particularly so about the sixth mile, and is even yet giving trouble then 1 . The traffic caused by the settling of the country grew heavier year by year, this telling', its tale on the newly-formed road, necessitating the re-metalling in parts every other year.

This account would be entirely incomplete if reference were not made to the pioneer coach-drivers to Aria, among them being Air Rert Lewis, Air AY ill is and Mr" Dick Tract. Each of these did his best for. the comfort of his passengers, but the tirst named blazed the track, and so skilled a horseman was he that with his buckboard coaches, he made a track for himself across the fern-clad hills; and when one became too cut up he found another. You can well understand then that it was often a case of “hang on," and more than once the passengers on the front seat have been jerked on to the backs of the shatters. It took a whole day to reach Te Kuiti from Aria, another to do perhaps only a little business, and another to get back; how different now when you can leave Aria by service car at 7 a.m., have an hour and a half in Te Kuiti, and be back again by noon, bringingback with you the morning’s Auckland Merabi! A portion of the main road from Rio Rio to Aria was not metalled when the war started. The settlers put up with the mud until exasperated. They appealed to the Minister of Public Works, then Sir AYilliam Fraser, but he pleaded “no money." Not to be beaten, and still possessing the pioneering spirit they resolved to “send the bat rolund." £305 was subscribed' by those immediately .concerned. This was sent to the AYaitomo County Council. They put to it the same amount, making £6lO. AAdtli this the chairman journeyed to AATdlington, told the tale of the road to Sir AATlliam, who remarked, “when settlers help themselves in that way it is up to the Government to assist them ; I will give you another £610." Thus the road was completed. (To be continued.)