OLD COACHING DAYS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19197, 10 December 1925, Page 14

OLD COACHING DAYS.

WHEN DRURY WAS YOUNG. ACCIDENT ON A BRIDGE. BECOIXECTION3 OP ANDREW KAY. Joseph Yocmg, who was reared on a farm in Ireland named Archhill. migrated to Auckland in 1840, accompanied by his wife, two sons and one - daughter. They - acquired some 80 acres of land in the then back blocks and named the new farm Archhill, after their old home in Ireland. Between times, this emigrant worked as a labourer at the erection of St. Paul's stone church, the wages being 2s 6d per day. In the California gold year of 18-52 William John Young, the elder son, migrated to and worked on that goldfield, returning to Auckland with a little money and a great deal of American enterprise. He took up and farmed an area of virgin land at Drury, the then end of civilisation. Later he married a "daughter or Tom Runciman, rearing a family of nine girls. He built a fairly largo two-storey hotel and store, ran a blacksmith and wheelwright's shop, had sawyers cutting timber in the Huriua, and ran a coaching and carrying business between Auckland and Drury. in January, 1860, the writer took employment in this establishment as storekeeper, barman, book-keeper, accountant, general rousabout and handy, man. Later Bill Wins tone joined the employ as waggoner, and as such hauled all the goods required for the establishment and the few settlers about. Oar wages did not exceed 15s per week, from which Winstone managed to save enough money to buy a horse and walked off to found the firm of Winstone, Limited. How the Mails Were Carried. In 1860 a monthly mail left Drury for Napier and Taranaki. Maoris carried it from Drury to the Waikato on horse, thence by canoe to Te Rori, where the Napier bag was carried by horse, via Te Awamutu and Taupo. The Taranaki bag continued by canoe to Te Knit*, thence on horse to Totoro, thence by canoe down the Mokau River to the coast, and again bv horse via White Cliffs and Waitara.

In the early 'sixties Imperial troops began to assemble at Drnry in preparation for the conquest of Waikato, and were engaged in roadmaking from Drury southward;;. Young was then running a daily coach between Drury and Auckland. The coach would leave Auckland in the morning, arriving at Drary about noon and shout an hour later leave for Auckland. The coach-driver was usually a very popular and important individual. It was always the custom of the coaches to call at every wayside hotel to "oil up." The "coachie" required and usually had a great capacity for liquor; it was an offence to refuse a drink. The coach' driver had also to - talk to his horses, especially on some of the soft and. muddy roads when the. wheels began to sink. A yell or two and all pulling together would keep the coach moving and amuse the passengers. This all tended to develop a thirst. Collision With a Dray. On one occasion I was directed to drive the coach back to Auckland, The build of those coaches was fairly long, with an entrance at the back. There were two long seats, the passengers sit-' ting face to face. A covered-in roof with oilcloth sides was s provided to keep the wind and rain out. Colonel Gamble and his wife were proceeding to Auckland on horseback, ana their man-servant, carrying their year-old child, took passage in the coa-:h from Drury. The new driver felt a bit elated at being the driver of Her Majesty's mail coach. The bridges along the Great South Road were unnecessarily long. They were built by contract, at so much per running foot, this inducing'the contractor to make the bridges unnecessarily long to save earth works. At one of those long, low bridges near Burnside, on the far side I saw a two-horse dray loaded with scoria approaching. I was impressed with the idea that all traffic had to give way to the mail coach, and boldly drove down on to the bridge, believing that the cart driver would give way to ths coach. He did not, however, and the result was the coach and the cart met in collision. The. coach went over, turned upside down, with wheels all on top. One end of the coach rested on each bank of the stream and the, passengers were in the water. Just as the coach was. going over Colonel Gamble's man-servant threw the child out in a fiaxbush. He was not hurt, and his mother, coming along, him up and took him away on her horse. When tha coach was going over the driver and the two passengers on the box seat jumped down on to the bridge and escaped death. Passengers' Lucky Escape. My first impression was that the inside passengers were all killed and that the driver would be hanged. Curiosity prompted me to have a look under. I found the passengers all splashing is the water but unhurt. The most serious, incident was that one lady left her crinoline behind. We were close to the half-way house, where a spare coach was kept, and this was utilised to take the passengers and mails on to Auckland. A young girl of the Fisher family, who was a passenger in the capsized coach, but now in Cambridge, remarked that if the accident had happened two days later, when a flood was running, all" the inside passengers would have been drowned. 4 Later Mr. W. J. Young acquired a iivcrv and bait stable in Hobson Street. The 'mail coaches were despatched every morning to Drury. The establishment had a couple of covered-in carriages handy for weddings. There were then just two other su< V vehicles in Auckland. The writer was placed in charge. Wc also kept a few saddle horses for hire. Girls were frequent patrons. There was a good deal of spare time between the departure and arrival of coaches so I set up as a riding master and horsebreaker. My whola qualification was a Is book bearing on the subject, but the puWic are easily gulled and never knew that. I was just an upstart. It was verv common tor young girls to come to hire horses to enable them to visit friends in the country. Those town girls knew nothing about mounting or dismounting, or how to sit gracefully on a horse or handle the reins. I was thus enabled to collect some fees. Pest Office in Early Days. The Auckland post office, where we had to call for and deliver the mails, was a small, shingle-roofed, building with a narrow verandah. There was a porthole opening on to the verandah from where callers received letters. This building was situated about the top of Shortland Street. The mail coach would drive down and turn round the bottom ot' Queen Street, picking up passengers. It then proceeded up Shortland Street to the post office, then along Symonds Street southward. There was an opposition coach. . The mail coach could liot leave the post office until ■ 8 o'clock. The opposition , coach would start a few minutes before 8 and pick up. all the passengers. To cope with this we sent out two coaches, one to run ahead of the opposition, and on arrival at the Junction Hotel all our passengers were transferred tq one coach, the spare coach returning to the stables. When the evening coach arrived from Drury we usually sent the horses down to the tide, for a wash at a spot about where the railway station new stands. There were, usually some small boys waiting to get a free ride.