EARLY WANGANUI.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVI, Issue 2210, 19 May 1894, Page 2 (Supplement)

EARLY WANGANUI.

(Prom the Wanganui Chronicle.) "When the settlement was started, the bulk of the district, or, at any rate, all but the back portions, was covered with high fern and tutu bushes, interspersed hero and there with flax and raupo swamps and high manuka scrub, though there was a strip of dry pumice land along both sides of the river, where the ground was flat. The gullies were full of bush, and there were large patches of this in tho valley as well. There are' the remains of one of these patches still to be seen behind Mr Nixon’s house, and thence to near Mr J. McGregor’s, at Cherry Bank. Part of another remains on tho Gordon Park Estate, but in the early days it extended across the late Mr H. Churton’s property nearly to the river. There was another just behind the Brunswick road, another behind Aramoho pa, and a third behind Mr Robertson’s. house opposite TTpokongaro. On the other side of the river there were large tracts of bush at Waipakura, Pikopiko, a mile beyond Upokongaro and Raiwhaiki The large trees in these afforded employment to a number, of sawyers, of whom, in th,o fifties, if was said that there were at least forty pairs working, in the district. In fact, for,the first twenty years, timber formed the main export of the place, and was sent not only, to other, parts of the Colony, hut also, in large, quantities to Sydney and Melbourne.' In other ways the early. settlers showed that they were enterprising and not afraid of hard work. Cine settlor dug himself a honsa out of the pumice on the river bank, a little above the town, and roofed it with poles and toitoi thatoh, A great many chimneys, and even some houses, were built of roughly-, squared pumice, cemented together with day, though a kiln of bricks was burnt hear Mr Barn a saleyard for- the chimneys of the publio-honse which Mr McGregor built on tho hill shove. It was when visiting this publiohouae two or three years later that Mr McGregor was cut off by the Maoris and had to jump down the lower end of

Shakespeare’s Cliff and crouch under the bank to save himself from the bullets fired down from above. The Europeans opposite also began firing, and drove the Maoris away from the top of the cliff, when a boat went over and brought Mr McGregor away. Mr Matthews, the missionary teacher, also made a quantity on the town side of the river, just above the market place; and, later on, Mr S. Hentson started a brickyard at the lower end of Wilson street, and carried it on for many years. A windmill and a distillery were started near Castlecliff, and a small schooner was built at the mouth of the Tutaeheka stream just below Mr Field’s house. Land was cleared and brought into cultivation, but for a time little oouTd bo done in this way owing to a dispute between the New Zealand Company and the Maoris about the purchase of the district. Whan the Company’s agents arrived in Wellington they were told of tills district by an old whaler, who had visited it and spoke so highly of its suitability .ior. settlement that Mr E. J. Wakefield was sent up to report upon it. His description was such as to make the Company’s agents determine to buy it, and overtures for the purpose were made to a W anganui chief named To Kuru Kanga, who was visiting Wellington. The only interpreter available was the old whaler, and thus, while the Company’s agents supposed that they were buying the land near the coast, the Maori was bargaining respecting land belonging to his own tribe near Pipinki. Thus, when the Company’s surveyors came and began marching about with chains and theodolites, the Maoris were greatly astonished, and wondered what it meant. They probably thought it was some sort of incantation, but as it did not seem to hurt them or the land, they did not seem to trouble themselves to interfere. But when the settlers came, and began to build whares, and to cultivate the laud, the Maoris objected very strongly. Their tenure of laud was simply that every member of a tribe had a right to cultivate any part of the tribal laud that was not bom" used by any other member. Of ownership, as wo understand it, they had no notion. When they sold land to a white man, they supposed that they had merely entitled him to occupy it in the same manner as themselves. The Maoris had not even given the settlers this modified interest in the land, and so regarded them as trespassers. A Mr 8011, who broke up some land on the flat behind Mr Nixon’s house, had the honourable reputation of bein'* the first man who used a plough in New” Zealand, and a very good story used to be current about it. The principal owner of the land being ploughed was a chief named Pohi Turoa, and on hearing -what was being done he came down at once to stop it. He talked and gesticulated in an excited manner for some time before Mr Bell comprehended that he was objecting to the right to plough. When ho became aware o£°tho Maori’s moaning, he replied by referring the Native, in good broad Scotch, to the Company who had sold him the land, and meanwhile continued his ploughing. At length Pehi, finding that they could not understand one another, went away, after having set up a pole, beyond which the ploughing was not to extend. Coming again next day, he found his pole ploughed down and the ground turned up for some distance beyond it. Then followed another interview of a similar character, and this wont on from day to day till the Maoris grew angry and decided to drive the pakohas into the sea. When they tried this, however, they found they could not manage it. The settlers had come to stay, and meant to do so; and, in response to an application to the Government at Auckland, a small military force was sent here, and arrangements made for defence. Fighting went on in a desultory manner for some time, but the Maoris gained no advantage, and ultimately really sold the laud to the Company through the Government. The fighting consisted mainly of exchanging shots at Ion" range, sometimes with muskets and sometimes with small cannon, mortars or rockets. A gunboat on the river was employed against the pas at Aramoho and elsewhere above the town, but there was little damage done o.n either side. The only occasion on which the Natives actually got into the town was when they took possession of a house which Mr Churton had erected where Murray’s foundry now stands, and which had been evacuated because it was so commanded from the sand* hills below the stream as to be dangerous to occupy. No sooner, however, had the Maoris taken possession of it than some soldiers who had been sent down to, an old publiohonse called the “Commercial Hotel,” which stood at the corner of Taupe quay and Wilson street, began firing from the -upstairs windows, and one of the first bullets discharged went through the weatherboarding afid into the ‘ brain of Te Maketu, the head fighting chief, who was sitting down just inside. The Maoris left immediately, carrying the dead man with them- A little girl, who had wandered in this direction, was captured and carried off by the Maoris, hut the- missionary at Butiki induced them to release her again. On one occasion, tod, a body of Maoris came along the sand ridge from St, John’s Bush and began firing towards the Rutland stockade. The soldiers turned out to repel them, and a party of the settlers hurried up the river aide, crossed the swamp by the track which we have mentioned as constructed by Mr H. S. Harrison, ran along the hill-top, and began firing on the Maoris from the rear. Finding themselves placed between two fires, the Maoris plunged into the swamp on either side of the sand ridge, and disappeared. This, which was afterwards called “The battle of St. John’s Wood," was the most serious engagement during the war, and we think everyone will admit that credit was due to the settlers for the share that they took in it. Unfortunately, we have not been able to ascertain the whole of the names of those who formed the party. Messrs Harrison, Nixon, Nathan, Stent, Hair, J. Cameron, W. Paterson, W. Caines, Alexander, Jackson and J. McGregor are said to have been among them, but they seem to have numbered fully 20 in nil; a small enough body to effect so successful a diversion. After the conclusion of the war, the settlement progressed slowly, but even at the expiration of ten years from its foundation the census showed that there were less than 200 settlers in the whole region extending from Eangitikei to Kai Iwi, oven including women and children. Coin was so scarce that, for some, time, the circulation consisted of what were vulgarly termed “ shin-plasters,” 1.0.U.’q for so small amounts as a penny and twopence, and trade was carried on mainly by barter. The first school in Wanganui was one which Mr Matthews had started fqr Maori children, but to which tlipse of Europeans, were admitted. When Mi Matthews left, he and his, family tiayolled from here, to Hokianga in a, whaleboat; and he was succeeded by a," «Mli to, reside a,t Butiki.' in hjs ijirhp, a separate sobo6ifbr, se,ttlei;s’ chjldfeu, was kept by a Mir Craig, whose, scholars, tell very, amusing tales of its discipline., M|r Mjason lost his life, through his hpis,e going down in a quicksand, when fording tl;e Tnrakina River. nfiaf. its month; a %d ha, was succeeded by the Rev Richard Taylor, who was atatmqed ft* Putiki, and a Mr Telford, who took up his quarters at Pipiriki. In Mr Mr Taylor’s time, schools for Maori children were conducted at Putiki morning and evening, and for the European ones during the middle part of the day, in a clay house, where the Harbour Board office now stands. Mr W. Ronaldson, who was afterwards ordained as an Anglican clergyman, and whom we saw in Wanganui a few months ago, conducted both schools. When Mr Ronaldson left, a Mr Triss conducted the European schools, and a Mr. Freeth the Maori opo at Putiki. ’ Mr Tries was suo-. ceeded by. the late Mr P. Watts, who. had ; charge of the school till it was, superseded ; by, the one established, by- the Provincial Government under-A\i- George. About the year or. 1848, the Rev G. Stannard took np fits abode as a Wesleyan missionary at Waitotava, and Mr Kirk at a place called Ohinemutu, about three miles above Pipiriki, and the schools for Maori children were carried on at both stations, hut not for Europeans, there being none in either locality. Fathers Pezant and Lpmpilla, with some lay helpers, arrived here early in 1852; and the Rev J), Hogg, Presbyterian minister, a few months later still. We have gathered the above particulars, believfflSf that they will be of interest, not only to newcomers, but to the descendants of the early, settlers, who may be glad to have a printed record of matters in which their fathers took part.