THE EARLY DAYS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 159, 7 June 1937, Page 6

THE EARLY DAYS.

RESIDENT’S REMINISCENCES, j Stating that when he first set foot in Palmerston North in 1874 the towiil —if such it could be called then —! consisted of three stores and four hotels, Mr F. C. Vette gave a “Standard” reporter to-day some interesting details of the early days of what has now become New Zealand’s biggest inland city. There were no roads — only a mud track here and there —and no railway, he said, while that portion of land which is occupied by the Square was covered with flax and toitoi. From ibe town boundary, somewhere near the Square down to the river there was standing bush, and it was not for some years that the river became spanned by a bridge. Mr Vette came to this country as a hoy of nine, with his parents, the late Mr and Mrs A. C. Vette. in the ship St. Lawrence. They landed at Lyttelton and immediately proceeded to Wellington, and thence to Foxton. “Our sea trips were all uneventful,” lie said, “except the one from Wellington to Foxton. I would never like to go through that again. Three unsuccessful attempts were made before the bar at Foxton could be negotiated, and we were pleased when we eventually landed,” lie added. The family travelled bv coach along mud tracks to Kareve, and then Mr Vette, senr., took up a section at Bunnythorpe under the Feilding Corporation settlement scheme. He had all the qualities of a true pioneer, but the grim hand of tragedy intervened. He was killed in the bush soon afterwards not a hundred yards from the slab whare which he had erected for himself and his family. The son, Air F. C. Vette, has lived in the district ever since and has played his part in its development. He recalled the excitement when the railway was laid and the first train arrived in Palmerston North. The station, he sa.d, was where the Soldiers’ Memorial now stands in the Square.