A TRIP TO PUKEKOHE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10908, 12 November 1898, Page 1 (Supplement)

A TRIP TO PUKEKOHE.

No. 111. [BY OUR special corkesfo.vdext.] In- the morning Mr. Alex. J. Laurie gave me a drive from his homestead up the Pukekohe Hill Road, and skirting the Pukekohe Hill, 011 the north side, we passed some fine farms, en route to Te Puni district. On getting to the flank of the mountain there could bo seen in the distance the comfortable homesteads of Messrs. Pilkington, C. Shepherd, and other settlers. It was in this district that a settler, as recorded in a previous article, cleared £160 per acre from a crop of onions. Mr. \\ atson, another settler, exported his butter to England on his own account, and got a penny per pound over his fellow settlers ill the English market. Another settler also exported his flax with satisfactory results. My engagements would not permit of my going through the whole district, but I was informed that there were some nice homesteads farther on, and a quantity of good land toward the coast. In the distance could be seen the Waikato Heads, glimpses of bends in the Waikato River, and Kohanga mission station, inseparably associated with the earlier life and mission work of the late Veil. Archdeacon Maunscll. There, as at many othei mission stations, " Ichabod'' has been written over all. I was told that the roof of tho mission buildings had collapsed a week or two previously. A line view was obtainable of the whole district westward, of Caniercntowu, the Onewhero country, Waiuku, Maului, and Patumahoe, etc. Retracing our steps wo journeyed back to Pukekohe proper, and for lunch to the Pukekohe Hotel, where Host Bleasel attended to the wants of tho inner man. PUKEKOHE TO MAUKU.

In the afternoon (the day being the anniversary of the Bald Hills engagement) I decided to visit the old historic lightingground during the Waikato campaign of 1863, where a detachment of settlers and the Ist Waikatos lost heavily, while inflicting severe loss on the Maori rebels. Mr. Johnston drove me out, and Messrs. Dell, Laurie, J. R. Hanna, and others also came. Mr. Dell was good enough to take over his own buggy, with a view of picking up Mr. Henry, of Patumahoe, who was a son of one of the volunteers in the campaign, and who would be able to point out to me the scene of the engagement, and the features of interest. We got into the PukekoheMauku Road, and at an early stage passed en route the Pukekohe West headquarters creamery, and the fine farms of Messrs. Eoulston, Wildblood, Gallagher, Goldsworthy, etc. The district is singularly well watered. A spring, rising in Mr. Gallagher's farm, runs out of a trench on the slope of the lull like a mill race, and across the roadway formed a respectable creek of delightful spring water. Mr. Seddon, in apologising for the eccentricities of the Government valuations, insinuated that the local bodies were undervaluing the properties to keep down local taxation. It so happens tuat the Government valuation is £2000 below that of Mr. Usher, the secretary of the Pukekohe West Highway Board, which effectually disposes of that charge. Pukekohe West boundary comes close up to the Mauku district. There is stated to be about 2000 of a population in the Patumahoe-Mauku districts, and 1000 in part of the Waiuku district, using the Pukekohe railway station. Mr. Keith, of Pukekohe, has a reaping and binding plant, two chaff-cutters, and traction and portable engine. He cuts and thrashes the crops of wheat and oats, and also cuts the chaff for the farmers of Pukekohe and surrounding districts.

THE PATUMAHOE AND MAUKU DISTRICTS. Patumahoe is an old settled place, and there is a public school, and also two stores near the junction of several roads. Just at this spot is the centre of the old native settlement if l'atumahoe. The farms in the Mauku district were first settled upon in 1853, after the first Government land sale of what was known as the Waiuku block at that time. It was all bush from Pukekohe through Mauku to Waiuku. Eight hundred acres of the Patumahoe block were retained by the natives for their own use, when the block was sold to the Government. This land was confiscated by the colonial authorities for the rebellion of 1863, and afterwards cut lip into five-acre and 10-acre lots —the former were settled by men brought from the Cape, the latter by immigrants from England. Passing into the West Mauku district there is to be found the usual country hotel, a store, and a butchering establishment, and no less than four ecclesiastical " pill boxes " are within rifle shot of each other, the Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, and Weslcyan churches. There are postal and telephone offices, also a public hall, originally erected as a volunteer hall. West Mauku has its public school, and its local creamery belonging to the New Zealand Dairying Association. The land here is watered with good streams of never failing water, is of fairly good quality, and will grow anything if properly cultivated. A good, deal of dairying is done, some of the settlers supplying the local creamery, but many do not see much in it at the pice, and make butter, several of them using hand separators. There is a daily coach to Pukekohe, connecting with the Pukekohe railway station, so that •the settlers enjoy their daily Herald. There are two energetic settlers, Messrs. Jacob and John Schleafper (Swiss). The former has a poultry farm, having 600 fowls, and sending in to the Pukekohe storekeepers several hundred dozen eggs per week. They also go in largely for sheep, one of them on part of Helvetia, the abandoned Swiss settlement, having some 3400 acres. Among the comfortable homesteads in the district are those of Messrs. Jas. May, Heywood Crispe, Wyilie, Garland, Bell, Brown and Sons '<mio go in for fruitgrowing), McDonald (sou of Mr. McDonald, Epsom, nurseryman), Dr. Giles, and other settlers. We called in to see Mr. Jas. Finlay, who is a very old settler in the district, and whom I bad known for nearly half a century. He is a practical Scottish farmer, who Ims seen all the ups and downs of colonial pioneer life.

A WATERFALL AND THE CITY WATER SUPPLY.

Mr Finlay has a splendid waterfall on his property, over which several million gallons of excellent water pour daily. The source appears to be near Cameron tow, on tte Waikato River, and it is flowing to waste into one of the estuaries of the Manukftu Harbour. The stream also passes through Mr. Wylie's property. Mr. Britton, formerly an Auckland contractor, but now of Sydney, was of opinion on visiting the locality that this stream would be a suitable one from whence to derive a suitable water supply for the city of Auckland. I suggested to Mr. Finlay the desirability of ascertaining the height of the waterfall above sea level, the daily quantity of water going over the falls, and of having an analysis made of the water with a view to placing the information at the disposal of the Auckland Municipal Corporation. The distance is about 25 miles from Auckland. This valuable waterfail and si&eam- will some day be utilised for water power for manufactories of some sort. The stream pours over a ledge of rocks, some 60ft in height, into a delightful ravine, adorned with native shrubs and ferns. It is a most romantic glen, and is naturally the resort of the district picnickers, bands of those couples who, even at Mauku, are bent on recounting "the old, old story." Dr. Hochstetter, the famous geologist, in his work on New Zealand, speaks of his visit to Mauku, and his stay at the hospitable home of the late Major Speedy, an ex-officer cf the Bengal armv, who had settled on land ill-the district. The doctor says: — Let him who intends writing novels about the farmer's life, of the colonists of New Zealand, take up his quarters here. There live the Specdys, the Vickers, the Crispes (of Stanlake), and other amiable families. Quite romantic is the situation of their snug and comfortable country seats at the edge of the bush—bush .alternates with moadoua, gardens, and fields, waving their rich, luxuriant grewth upon fertile baealtio ground. Upon the heights charming viewß open to the Manukau Gulf, and as far as the volcanic caves on tho isthmus of Auckland. In tho valley there are fresh-water brooks, whioh, as they plunge over columnar rocks of basalt, form cascades, bordered most beautifully with the richest vegetation of New Zealand ferns. But alas ! in a year or two after Dr. Hflchstetter had penned these ling?,, the,

scourge of war bad swept over the district, and destroyed all his idyllic visions. The settlers were driven from their homes, obliged to entrench themselves for safety in the very church. Out of the five or six original settlers, but one family remains. The heads of three families have been gathered to their fathers. Some have left the district, and Mr. Hevwood Crisps, of Staniake, alone remains of' the first settlers. A TYPICAL PIOXEER SETTLER. After a pleasant chat with Sir. Finlav, who gave me a heartv invitation to repeat my visit to the district, we passed 011 to the homestead' of Mr. Hevwood Crispe, the oldest and best known pioneer settler in the district, who, with his family, have stood bv the settlement from first to last, and through storm and sunshine. His house is one of the oldest in the place. He was an actor 111 nearly all the historic scenes of the war in the Mauku district. It had been my lot to have been acquainted with his late respected father, Mr" J. Crispe— "Old Practical" of newspaper correspondence celebrity, to whose public spirit and energy the district has been so much indebted, especially in regard to church matters. To my great regret I found that Mr. Crispe was away in Auckland attending the sittings of the Auckland Diocesan Synod. Mrs. Crispe, however, who gave "lis a hearty welcome, furnished such information as was in her power, and showed me some interesting pencil sketches of scenes of the war, more particularly a pencil sketch, reproduced by a friend from a sketch which her husband had taken by a private of the H.M. 70th Regt.. a detachment of that regiment having been camped there. It is about the only sketch extant illustrative of the scenes of the war. It shows the old church of St. Bride's, as it appeared stockaded, and the various corps as quartered in their bell tents around the post. Mr. Crispe and his family came to Mauku in 1856, and were among the first to settle at Mauku, and take up land at the first Government land sale of farms, in what was then known as the Waiuku block. During the war "Staniake" was used as a military quarters by Colonel Nixon, Major Von Tempsky, Major Rutherford, H.M. 14th, 18th, 50th, 65th, 68th, and '70th having had detachments there, and the Colonial Defence Force. Dr. Giles was one of the earliest settlers, but left at the war time, and returned to his farm some years ago, on his retirement as resident magistrate from the Auckland Bench. Mauku was then a wilderness indeed, not a path through the bush and fern, save a Maori track to Purapura, Waikato. The natives of Patumahoe, with their good old chief Apjrama, received the settlers cordially, and testified their welcome by gifts of kits of potatoes, kumaras, etc. For years the natives and the settlers livod happily together, without a dispute, when the native troubles of Taranaki (1860 war) began. One of their aboriginal neighbours, being himself a Ngatiruanui, went to visit William King, took up arras with him, and returned to Patumahoe to sow disaffection, and raise suspicion, distrust, and hatred to the pakelia in the hearts of his simple comrades.

AN HISTORIC SCENE OF THE WAR • ST. BRIDE'S CHURCH. Bidding adieu to Mrs. Crispe, Mr. Henry and I went over to the old historic cjureh of St. Bride's, which still remains loopuoled (although the apertures are covered over with zinc or pieces of wood), silent testimony to the troublous times, and the associations therewith, of the Waikato campaign of 1863. The building was commenced in 1859, through the energy of Mr. J. Crispe, who himself collected £120, obtaining donations from his friends iu England and in the Cape. One young man who had left the district sent £25 from China. The Rev. A. G. Purchas, who is " a workman who needet-h not to be ashamed," as architect, drew the plans and specifications. The church was left by Bishop Selwyn unconsecrated, in its early days, so as to enable the Presbyterians and Wesleyans, as they had then no place of worship of their own, to hold alternate services within it. The consecration only took place when these denominations were in a position to have their own places of worship. In a letter to Mr. J. Crispe, in 1870, dated from Lichfield episcopal place, Bishop Selwyn speaks with fond regret of the happy meetings he had had in Mauku church, and in Mr. Crispe's home. The little church had not been opened for a couple of years when the Waikato war quickly changed the aspect of affairs. The first volunteer corps formed at the Mauku was the Forest Rifle Rangers, under the command of Major Speedy. In 1862 when affairs in the Waikato began to look threatening, 25 men of Pitt's Militia were sent to garrison the church, and it was made a place of safety for women and children. It was converted into a regular stockade, by placing round it a lot of logs brought from the bush, split in half, and loopholed. Inside the church's walls were spent some anxious nights by the early settlers of Mauku, who had to take up arms in defence of their homes and families. After a time the women and children were removed by order of the Governor. The church was then occupied by the volunteers and detachments of the Imperial regiments that visited the district during the campaign. The vestry was used as a storeroom for rum, meat, and) rations of all kinds. There were 500 men camped in and around it at one time, as the district was a hot-bed of rebels, till they had severe engagements in September and October, 1863, with the volunteers and Ist Waikato militia —the latter being known as the engagement of the Bald Hills, on the Ti Ti farm, (Wheeler's), in which the military settlers lost Lieutenants Perceval and Norman, one sergeant, a corporal, and four privates. The officers and men were buried at the Drury cemetery, and I saw the monument erected to their memory in the Drury cemetery, on my way down from the scenes of the war on the Great South Road, in company with Messrs. Rutherford and Johnston, when going from Bombay to Drury, to catch the train there, en route for Auckland. Mr. Henry took me to a knoll behind the church, and explained the operations of the engagement, the ground on which the action was fought, the appearance of the Maoris at a bush clearing to decoy the colonial forces to advance, the advance of the latter, their being outflanked, and their retreat, overpowered by numbers, through the fallen bush to the stockaded church. As Mr. Crispe subsequently placed at my disposal his private papers, sketches, etc., relating to the Bald Hills engagement (October 23,1863), as also an account of his personal recollections of the first brush between the volunteers and the Maoris in the previous month, I hope at no distant date to place these interesting historical reminiscences on record. Mr. Crispe was also kind enough to ask me to revisit the district, and he would be happy personally to conduct me over the scenes of the war in the district. This invitation, I hope, early in the coming year, to accept. Darkness had closed in at Pukekohe before I again found myself, after a long- day's drive, under the hospitable roof of Mr. Alex. J. Laurie, of Pukekolie.