TRIALS OF A PIONEER COLONIST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 9027, 4 November 1892, Page 13

TRIALS OF A PIONEER COLONIST.

At the late gathering of old colonists there was present a very old settler, Mr. Thomas Churches, of Ellerslie. A year or two ago Mr. and Mrs. Churches celebrated their " golden wedding," an account of which appeared in our "columns. The following brief narrative of the experiences of the worthy couple in the olden times, will give the general reader a fair idea of early immigration, and what the immigrants had to endure.

In the beginning of 1842, Mr. and Mrs. Churches, and some others, engaged with a gentleman in the Old Country, to leave England for New Zealand to work on a farm, which he proposed buying in Auckland. Mr. Churches then resided about 165 miles from London, from which port their vessel, tho St. George, was to sail. The discomfort of himself and family began immediately on breaking up the home. The nearest railway station was 25 miles distant, which the men of the party reached on foot, while the women, children, and baggage travelled by an ordinary country cart. At the railway station they found no provision made for the journey to London, some 140 miles, other than an open truck in a luggage train, into which eleven persons all told were put, all bound for New Zealand. During the night's journey by rail, it rained heavily for four hours, forcing them to huddle together for warmth and shelter under the one umbrella they possessed, and as a frost subsequently set {a they reached Padding ton station, Lon-

don, wearing a very woebegone appearance. Their baggage was conveyed to the vessel, but they had to walk through the streets of London to the dooks, a guide accompanying them. Their rustic appearance created some amusement as the small procession passed through street after street. They halted awhile in the city to make some final purchases, and of these Mr. Churches' load consisted of a piok-axe, a three-legged iron pot, six pairs boots and shoes, in addition to his child three and a-half years old. Mrs. Churches also carried several parcels and a child sixteen months old.

Arrived on board the vessel, they found little or no food, and no preparation for the emigrants as to sleeping accommodation, as no bedding had been put on board. In a day or two things were put a bit shipshape, and the St. George started on her voyage. They had a long passage of fivo and a half months, calling at Rio do Janeiro (five days' stay) for supplies and fresh water.

On the 20th October, 1842, tho anchor of the St. George was droppod in the Waitomata, only ten days after the pioneer ships, Duchess of Argyle and Jane Gilford, had arrived. Although the St. George left England before these vessels, the passage was prolonged, otherwise she would have been the pioneer ship. They passed a vessel anchored in the Rangitoto Channel, tho Westminster, Mr. Churches thinks. Having landed, they pitched a bell-tent, twelve feet in diameter, in Official Bay. It had to accotnmodato a family of three, also Mr. Churches, his wife, and two children. After a month's stay in the tent, owing to his wife's approaching accouchement, Mr. Churches rented a room in a small, unlined cottage near Chancery-street. For this tenancy he paid seven shillings per week, only occupying a small room some ten feet square, and giving the right of egress and ingress through their dormitory to another family in the other apartment. His work took him away at 6 a.m. One morning, loavinn his wife in charge of a nurse, and the children at home all right, he returned at night to find his wife in great mental agony. The nurse had been called away about nine o'clock in the morning, and the children had wandered away in the tea-tree scrub. His wife had partaken of no food save some cold gruel, and her anxiety was great lest mishap had happened to the children, and they had been killed by wild pigs. A month afterwards he shifted to a small house in the Manukau Road. As he could not leave his work a lad was sent in the afternoon to guide Mrs. Churches and the family to their new home. Night fall without any appearance of them, and a search party was gob up, resulting in finding them in what is now the Government Domain, lost, and camping for tho night. At this time his employer bought a farm near tho Tamaki, and they removed there. Their goods and chattels were conveyed by water to Orakei Creek, and carried by hand over the hills. To purchase bread he had to walk six miles to the infant city of Auckland, often after a hard day's work, and on one occasion Mr. Churches gob lost with his load of provisions somewhere about the present Ellerslie racecourse, reaching home at daylight in the morning. Though now in the sere and yellow leaf, Mr. Churches has no cause to regret coming to New Zealand. Mr. Churches has had a healthy life, and a healthy family. His descendants at present number 66.