OLD CANTERBURY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22724, 10 May 1937, Page 6

OLD CANTERBURY

FORMER JUDGE'S MEMORIES CHRIST CHURCH 70 YEARS AGO A description of Christchtireh as it was 70 years ago was given by Sir alter Stringer at.a meeting of the Canterbury Club. Mr. ¥ K. Hunt, who presided over a large attendance, referred to Sir Walter, the club's patron, as Canterbury's greatest son, having attaint the highest position of the legal profession. Mr. Hunt said that he had never heard of any judicial decision given by Sir Walter that had been reversed by the Court of Appeal. Sir Walter said he was born in Christchureh SI years ago. and he recalled the time when Cathedral Square was little more than a gravel pit, where schoolboys learned to swim. The roads then were unmetalled and overgrown with grass, aud he had frequently seen bullock drays, hauled by teams of 10 or 12 animals, bogged to the axles, gangs of labourers having to be employed digging them out. Beyond the town belts the country was a swamp, covered by flax, toitoi and raupo. The site of Lancaster Park was then a raupo swamp. Before the Lyttelton tunnel was constructed all merchandise was transported by cutters from Lyttelton to Sumner and Woolston, and Sir Walter recalled the day the tunnel was opened, when all the schoolboys were given a holiday and walked through it. He also described; the early elementary schools, and mentioned that on one occasion some 60 boys' were attached to ropes and hauled the Presbyterian school from its original site, near St. Andrew's Church, to another locality half-a-mile distant. He claimed that the first game_ of Rugbv football ever played in New Zealand took place on Cranmer Square in 1867. Fine families flourished m those days, Sir Walter continued, some of them numbering 12, 13 and 15 strong, healthy children, mainly reared on potatoes and fish. During the evening musical items were given by the Rev. Walter Averill, Mr. Ronald Muston and Mr. Leu. Barnes, the accompaniments beins i played by Mr. Len. Elliott.