Golden Wedding At Houhora

Northern Advocate, 9 May 1940, Page 2

Golden Wedding At Houhora

At their home overlooking the harbour at Houhora, Mr and Mrs Joseph Evans, with their children and grandchildren around them, celebrated on Sunday the golden jubilee of their wedding day. The descendants are now widely scattered and some were unable to attend, but 26 met at the dinner table in the accommodating dining room of the old homestead, and none were brighter, happier, cr in better health than the aged couple who had faced stern realities of the early days, wrested success from the most adverse circumstances, and brought up a family of 14. History Recalled. Mr Evans was born in England and came out to New Zealand in company with his grandmother at the age of 10 to join his father, who in 1065, with two daughters and one son, had preceded them. His father came to New Zealand in the Andrew Jackson and the son Joseph made the voyage, which occupied 65 days, in the Hesperus. The first home was at Kaingaroa on the farm now occupied by Mr Geo. Atkinson. There they remained for 18 years. Mr Evans recalls the severity of the conditions on the land. After felling the timber, mattocks were the only implements of tillage. Wheat and maize were sown and the harvested grain was ground every evening in a hand-mill for the daily bread. In course of time a large orchard was planted and still remains. There was a veritable forest of peach trees and the fruit was canned in 21b tins by the. family on the farm for the Auckland market. The price obtained was as high as 2/6 per tin. Any outside work offering was taken. The first big contract was for the formation of live miles of road from Pamapuria to Takahue, and the next was for constructing a bridge at Double Grossing, Kaitaia. Another contract was for the formation and culverting of four miles of the Fairburns-Peria road.

At Waipapa.kaurl. The family left Kaingaroa in 1885 ' and took up their residence at Waipapakauri, where in 1890 the late Mr Joseph Evans (the father) established the Travellers’ Rest Hotel, a twostorey building with 17 rooms, and also set up business as a storekeeper i and gumbuyer. Branches of the store quickly followed at Awanui, Waiharara, Houhora and Te Kao. The gum-digging population, including 500 | Austrians, was estimated at 1000, and the late Mr Evans, in travelling over : the district, gum-buying, had an ardu- ' ous time. His payments were made ’ in gold and he carried with him on [ his journeys from 300 to "500 sovereigns, without any protection. He , was a strong, fearless man. On a Large Scale. : As showing the extent of his operations, his disbursements for 1897 amounted to £7OOO. A large ai*ea of ' land was purchased—6ooo acres of freehold at Te Kao and 6000 acres be* 1 tween Houhora and the coast. Success did not come easily, and before entering into transactions on a large scale he carried out, amongst other contracts, the digging of a drain three feet wide and three feet deep between Waimonone and Waipapakauri, with the aid of his sons, at 5/per chain, and the son Joseph recalls having dug a chain in two and a half hours, a feat which astonished even his father. Young Joe was in love and the chains of drain was the condition of his release for a trip to Mangonui. At Houitora. . In 1891, before the death of Ins father, young Joseph took up ins residence at Houhora and liked the place so well that, with the exception of about four’ years carpentering at Kaitaia, he has remained there ever since. When his father opened a hotel at Houhora, Joseph was placed in charge. At that time, 1898, there were about 30 Maoris in the district and the only Europeans were the Subritzky family. He remained in charge of the hotel till 1904. Before and after that he was associated with the gum business, and when there was nothing, doing in the gum sorting store he went out and dug gum himself. As there was no medical practitioner in the district, Mr Evans, as an all-round handy man, was called upon for surgical work and dentistry. Until quite recently he was the local undertaker. In one at least of his surgical jobs he saved a life. Accustomed to turn his hand to anything, stitching a wound or attending to other injuries was looked upon as part of a day’s work. The Evans family have been noted for longevity. The present Mr Joseph Evans was 77 last December and his mother lived to 104. Mr Evans married Miss Ellen Gallagher, then aged 16, on May 6, 1890. The ceremony was performed by Mr A. D. Clement, postmaster at Mangonui. To reach Mangonui Mr Evans started from home at 9.30 p.m. the previous day and stopped for the night at Waipapakauri before proceeding further. Mr and Mrs Evans had 10 sons and five daughters, and there are 24 grandchildren. The sons now living and daughters are: Mrs F. B. K. McArthur (RotOrua), Mrs W. Nicholson (Auckland), Mrs F. C. Reynolds (Kaitaia), Mrs Riley (Kaingaroa), Mrs L. Button (Auckland), Mrs S. Hutchings (Auckland), Misses Mavis Evans (Auckland), Mary Evans (Kaitaia), Ruby Evans (Houhora), Vera Evans (Auckland) and Messrs Val Evans (Kaitaia), J. T. Evans (Auckland) and F. J. Evans (New South Wales). At the dinner, opposite the seats of honour occupied by Mr and Mrs Evans, was .a huge decorated cake adorned with 50 candles, and when these were lighted Mr Evans, to the delight of the family, proved the soundness of his lungs by extinguishing them in a single effort. The toast-master was Mr Gailor, and, as daughters preponderated, many of the toasts were in their hands. The toast to “Mum and Dad” was accompanied with every token of affection. Mrs Evans, sitting beside her spouse, conveyed the impression that life had dealt very kindly With her and that the years had touched her more lightly than niight be expected with 'people who had lived a very active life, much of which was under primitive conditions. Mr Evans still works in his garden, and, apart from a little deafness, his physical and mental powers enable him to carry out the ordinary duties about his property. His stories of the past -are very entertaining and few caxi speak more fully with personal knowledge of the early days.