MEMORIES OF WAITANGI

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21468, 17 April 1933, Page 6

MEMORIES OF WAITANGI

iOHURA RESIDENT'S BOYHOOD GRANDSON OF A PIONEER Some reminiscences of boyhood days fet Waitangi 'are related in a letter to the Taranaki Daily News by Mr. A. E. Irving,• of Nihonino, Ohura. I\Jr. Irving states that his grandfather, Mr. William Irving, who was a boat-builder by trade and who settled at Waitangi, came to New Zealand in 1844 with liis wife and two sons and arrived at Kororareka when Hone Heke had just cut down the flagstaff there for the first time. The timber for his workshop building was Queensland cedar, which he brought over himself in his own boat fijom Australia on his adventurous voyage. He later built several boats, the first being the Chance. "There are now 15 cups in our family*" says Mr. Irving, "for different regattas which first started at Russell. On one side-of our family we are seafaring nieii. My father was an old whaler who knew the Pacific Ocean like a book. Zane Grey, the great American fisherman, always engages Mr. Sid Irving when in New Zealand. "Mr. Walter Irving in the good old days shipped goods from Russell to the head of the Waitangi Falls, from where they were transported in bullock waggons. My grandfather bought his land from Mr. James Busby. Mr. Busby brought out all his own cattle and sheep, etc., and had many acres of different kinds of fruits, including apples, plums, peaches arid lemons. "Bishop illiams and my grandfather were great friends. On one occasion Bishop Williams sent away for a bell for the church, but when it arrived after many months of waiting ho wos very disappointed to find it was cracked. My grandfather, . however, remedied the matter by sawing down the crack with a hacksaw. The old bell was-hanging there when I was a boy, but I could not say if it still hangs in its old place."