THE GERMAN SETTLEMENT AT PUHOI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4418, 11 January 1876, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE GERMAN SETTLEMENT AT PUHOI.

'~;:. l '"'''',' by Ajr'bTAbo visit'ok.! ,' : '.';'( "Sotr Have heard 'of. the,'" Waiwcra . Hot Springs,,!.which are , xisihg ,iutq fame. Tiie .German, settlement."m^the.'.neighbourhood ,'is"le"ss known, and. aii account','of", a Very, .'pleasant '.visit paid to '.it jby : par,tj;Of'.iis..frQm-.t'he Hot; Springs, may not .'be uninteresting"/ Hearing that jdiere was a church, service likely to be "held at Puhoi, ,we started, .from :thei'.Hot. Springs, Hotel, on Sunday morning," after. breakfast.' Crossing the Waiwera by the ferry,,we walked over a low saddle"on the" 'hills 'that' divide"the Puhoi from! the Waiwera-'valley, and "after 'half an hour's', easy .'travelling, found ourselves j at'! Te' Hemara's!.'settlement. The chief was asleepi' and , his people I did hot care to disturb him, but'!bur party, less .awed by his cMcftainly. rnajesty, roused him sufficiently to get a' ready assent! to the .use of. his boat to go,up 'the river. Te Heniara (which T take to be, hi English, siuiply James), is a remarkably fine specimen of the' civilised Maori.- Over six feet in height, and of fine presence, he-has/ built' for himself a very nice ; -wooden/ housej 'with • a ! neat verandah, and surroundings; On the verandah we saw'a Maori lady, neither young nor pretty it must be confessed, occupied in the careful'study of a large Maori Bible through a : primitive pair of horn spectacles/. - She preferred sitting on the floor of the verahjdah to the discomforts of an English chain Her clothes had'nothing of the Sunday-go-toi meeting'character about them. Te Hemara is r too proud of his. house to use it for ordinary household purposes, keeping it ayjparently for fashion's sake, but looking for solids comfort in an old- raupo shauty tilled with acrid wood smoke, vainly trying to escape through the roof. - Herein reclined the chieftain. A large ■ and happy family of chickens, 1 and afew- matronly hens, shared the building with him, and clucked about the floor with perfect freedom. In the next shanty there was one of the finest specimens of a native .sow, with a- dozen' piglings eagerly'draining ' her, that I have yet seen, Bipeds, feathered and unfeathered, mingled with-the baser four-footed'animals in perfect comfort, and gave'one a queer idea of the habits, when they'are'at home, of-these ; noble ; lookihg : tatooed chiefs whom I -see occasionally : in black suits and tall black hats ■ in-Auckland streets. However, Te Hemara was very obliging to us, is really a fine fellow, very much-liked by all the settlers, land, after all,'is living in a style not-much unlike-thatj in which our forefathers must have dwelt in the age of chivalry, over the loss of whose glories our poets and orators still weep and mourn. There were six of us in the boat. It is illustrative'oE the habits bf'these Maoris that although the boat was new and well kept they had trouble to find a cork for the venthole. Not that there had not been corks in the village. That was disproved by the mass of beer aud spirit bottles strewed about in small heaps. But among the whole crowd there had not been one provident person to set aside a few of the corks for the boat, and a quarter of an.hour was spent vexatiously: in vainly hunting for one. A wedge of some' kind of soft wood -was eventually substituted and we pushed off into the stream. Kowing for an hour and a half with the tide, with beautiful scenery around us, and a beautiful clear sky overhead, we'enjoyed the trip more than anything that has been in my way for some time. The air was delightful, and on arrival at Puhoi, the beer was none the less so. To our great disappointment there was, however, no church service. We found the settlement occupying some lovely gentle slopes, with a good school building, and, of course, a public-house —bitt ho church. The settlers told us that they were all Catholics from Bohemia, and that no priest had visited them for IS months or thereabouts, owing to their having been so much out of the road ; but that now it would be different, as they had. the steamer running regularly to the Hot Springs, so close at hand. . One of them —he was evidently hot orthodox—laughingly declared that he did not see what good there was in the visit of the priest at all, so far as, confession was concerned. He described humorously enough the troubles of the last visit, when the priest could not speak their language, and they eduld not speak his ; but he was obliged to admit, that they got absolution, and were very much the happier for it in their own minds since. . ;

Turning from things spiritual to things temporal, let me attempt a description of this interesting settlement. The hills and the valley /were covered with dense bush twelve years ago, when the idea was sug-; gested to the Provincial Government that the country, practically, inaccessible then, might be profitably occupied as a special settlement. •_■_, By the exertions of some .Germans here, arragements .were made to give . the land to a 4party of j Bohemians, i of ,whom about, 30 families ; arrived. : without money enough to pay their passages.; They were, moreover, from : a part;pf Germany where educational facilities";are; not -great, ,and brought with .them small families; as devoid of education as themselves. • But they were a hard-working, frugal, .and healthy people, and have in a few years cleared Y a very large quantity of bush, fenced in & : considerable quantity of land, built themselves very good houses, and —although, perhaps, they would be surprised if ypii told them so—they have succeeded, in making the : wilderness blossom as L the,;rose.;. We.. met "numbers of them (men and ..women), i all .well :i and, neatly dressed, strolling down to the township with healthy. ;and, chubby, children, gambolling about ;them. It.was • pleasant to hear their, taik in .this ; secluded and' unsophisticated .valley.,; They ,had ,their., capitalists;i,and social leaders, .their ;• eligible partis ; in' ; a marriageable' point of. view,-and the.same keen appreciation of wealth possessed by .the bigger world outside.' There .were Shollum, and Schiska, and/Eusachjiand names< strange .-to t wealthy their, jnost, Bary£juirie I hppe& jOn&iaa£4o acres Jin, cultivation,, andf hoped to,haveius^hole'rt2oo 4 cleared before heiad donWr,.He'alspinad v 2s L cattle ready_fpr;sale;, and, by-the-byej he was the happyjßwnerjof

a "house; V'.with.sa-brickil tho iothersiibeing all"of.ithei Colonial wattle-and-,dab order.i ;Thissbrick! chimney fleeavedire;garded')as the;most.mipressiye..outward=.sign idf greatness rby.iihe ...settienienjbjgenerally. JThey are'.undoubtodly.a- prosperous: and..a happy!peoplß!.all:round-rr-prosperpus beyond tho most happy dreams of full of appreciations fcuvtheir good; fortune. One> had:-actually £200 *to hi&.-.credit.iinitho bank. ;•;. Thei;officers of the. German niantpfwar Gazelle had paid.thema visit the-wftek .before J with,,a.,large party, from, the.-Hot Springs,' whom'.'they'took,with'them'in their steam " launch;Y, '. .Very unfortunately' there was aj'mistake'.as.to the' tiiho'.'.the'.' launch would arrive,' and'consequently a' ma]ority_6f the'farmers; were too late with their families to .'see' the .Herren. . It was''a terrible 'disapppmtm'ent, ,but.,those that; Were' there-did the,best they", could iri the, way of reception, ahd'.'the" schoolmaster, ..an. old "/Austrian officer) and a ( Gerinan University man)' 'did the 1 honours of the day.'.' To'these Bohemians inland people—the ' delight 'of' seeing real German sailors -must; have" been great Their necessities have, compelled, them' tolje jnqre familiar with .'the; sea." here,. an3'"tHo " frequent, visits.to the. Auckland market'with prpdueo' having all '.been by,boats hitherto, ' their," children are mofe .amphibious"'than 'themselves.'.', ',Theytiad 1 ' tli&r;h'eroesCtd.pre- | sent to the officers:,. "Th'ercwas •'old' Jose, ' who was a pilot iii the ..Turkish'' fleet in-1812 I' — very old' now) '■]' but ; and another nearly 'as -old 1 : and • very ;"much heartier) who was a, soldier 'in the 'Austrian Hussars' that occupied Prance in 1 1S14." The schoolmaster has only; been there 1 two or three years. ' With the help, of 'the settlers, who contributed eighty pounds iu-workand material, - and the, help, of' thfe'Boardof Education,- who : contributed- the sanie-'srim", they piit Up a capita! school'for'VQ'ihildreriandra neat'- schoolmaster's' ; house. ;:1 The teacher's : difficulty. |was' great" at first;-for he hadto teach them' to'speak -English instead' bfc.the Bohe'nuau -'yatow'.= :l 'Witn'th'e'old-' odes ; he could, of course, do.ribthing,butthe children all speak English, write' English well,'-and left some' capital .• specimens of; exercises behind ;them.. ■ The .inexpensive .yet efficient character of .-the buildings speaks weUTfor Auckland, and ; of :the;extent. ; tp.whicKthey manage to make .their ; money : .gp.iii". J tlieso matters ; but it must notf.be,forgptten, that the Puhpi isja timbered', the German settlers; are accomplishedi.axemen and shingle-splitters^^owing,.in : fact, to that,accomplishment much. of their ,■ present prosperity..;. I must- not,;leaye., without'describing a' very novel.mode.,of punishment invented: .teacher.. ,;■ He never used the cane,- but found, some of, the lads required. extra handling..,, So'.he provided, a loose sheet of zinc, and stands; it on end with the.boy. inside, ;whq,caunqt move without; knocking it down, aiid, ,so making .his'.movements known./ -Eaucj. v youngster standing in this, : with>his head: only -visible 1 The old foolscap and.bench are nothing, to , it; and) the apparatus be , patented without delay.' He. declares ~.that, ..theridicule attached to sheet is the most effective weapon: he could use-7-so;much, so,,that its .use is.seldom- or never ,required. He boasts t of,,the., truthfulness especially of his pupils—thai, they admit at once when they have done wrong, and are very manageable in all ways. .~; A happier or more successful settlement could not be imagined, than this at.Puhoi. They are,clubbing together to introduce,one or two of the best bulls they can get into tho district, and with that their happiness will, for the present ,at all -events,, be complete. Without-,.the bull, .they are;.dping .pretty well in the cattle,line;; You;may.suppose this when one of them, declared. ; hp ate, more fresh meat in"his L familyin one month than the whole, village from which heicaine did in a year. An equally pleasant pull back, and another interview with Te.Hemara, were the only incidents on our, return,to -Waiwera, but we had seen enoughto convince us that :if, the right kiud of settlers; are introduced into this long, .indented peninsula,, north of Auckland, there is rooin in it for many, a -thousand prosperous : families,;,, only - they must be of the right kind to suit the country —not large capitalists nor gentlemen , farmers—but bushmen; and labouring men, ' with the' habits, and-the expenditure:,;of labouring men., J?6r, such, men and; their families, this peninsula offers attractions in climate, in soo,;and uitimber, that arenot easily surpassed. . It needs, only roads,' and steamers. The gift of prophecy would,not then be . required ', to, say they , would, •bo followed by many a prosperous settlement, of which this at'Puhoi may,be; taken, as,an example. More or less, too, this seems to me the special character of 'all the Auckland Province. No great• areas of: open grass land aire ready for the sheep of the squatter, but the attractions offered by its timbered lands, when the access to a market can bo had from them, arc very great, 'and indicate that the future of the Province will depend more on men and muscle thaii on sheep and capital." A'.better basis for a noble and prosperous future no one'could desire for the Province,'and its liberal' land"-l'aws -are'designed to further this in every way.— -Otago Daily Times. ' .'