PIONEER AND SPORT

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11652, 17 October 1923, Page 7

PIONEER AND SPORT

EXCITING DAYS RECALLED BELL-TOPPER, FROCK COAT. AND THE MAORI CHIEF. GOLD—AND BUTTER-FAT. Some especially stirring incidents of the early days of the gold rush in the Thames district, together with the etory of an exciting escape from Maori rebels, were yesterday related to a ‘‘Times’’ reporter b ( v Mr T. A. Aitken, of Auckland, who r is in Wellington in connection with a meeting of directors of the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows. HOW LAND GRANTS WERE MADE. He Wiw one of four children who landed at Auckland in 1862, with thoir father and mother, coming from England oil the 5.6. Shalimar. Immigrants who paid their own passages to the Dominion in those days received a grant of 40 acree per adult and 20 acres for each child over the age of three. One member of the familj' waa under that age, so that their total granl amounted to 140 acres. His fath«r was in the army, and had been in charge of military hospitals in India and South Africa, and upon meeting fciir George Grey, whom he knew, he wae placed in charge of the military hospital at Onehunga. This waa in the da/s of the Maori ware. The GovemIMtnt then decided to erect another hospital at Rangiohia, and the work wae to be supervised by Mr Aitken ’e father. WENT OVER TO REBELS. When the new building was about half finished the local natives decided to go over to the rebels, and the white people had to clear out at a moment's notice. Mr Aitken and his family owed their safety to the friendly offices of a Maori chief named Paul, to whom he had presented a frock coat and belltopper, finding them useless on arriving in New Zealand. Paul, however, was delighted with his gift, and waa the envy of the whole place. He gave Mr Aitken warning of what was pending, and, with the assistance of mem- ; bers of his family, provided two canoes, i conveyed the Aitken family to Puna ! creek, along the Waipa river to Wai- j kato river, and thence to Ngaruawahia. j Once on the way they were sighted, but on pulling towards the shore one j of the Maoris in charge told thorn I that there was fever aboard. That was enough, for the Maoris were scared for their lives of fever, and they dieap- 1 peared hot-foot. Showing Paul’s con- ! cern for their safety, he gave Mr Ait- i ken a Maori greenstone tiki, instruct- • ing him, when safely arrived at their • destination, to hand it back to the j man in charge of the canoes to return i to him, so that he would know they j had got safely away. This request was ! complied with. They returned to One- ! hunga, and later Mr Aitken, senr., was ! placed in charge of a military hospital i at Hamilton. ! DIVIDEND OF £700,000 IN ‘NINE | MONTHS. ; •Mr Aitken then proceeded to speak of the gold rush to Thames, which wan j when gold was discovered in 1867. ! “Thia was in August, and my father* Went there in November. It was a : tremendous rush, and the amount of \ gold that was got out in those days : was fabulous. Several very rish ' patches of gold were struck, and when j this happened it waa the custom toi 6tick up a flag. The flags on the hill- * eide became very numerous. The rich- \ eat, strike was the Caledonian, which! enabled the company owning it to pay ' a dividend of over £700.000 in nine • months. People flocked there from all; parts of the world, and the population ! rose from a few to something like 90,000. As the years went by the j patches with gold became fewer and J fewer, the towship lapsing into a hum- ! drum state between the discoveries. ( Often when a new discovery was made j there .would be a return rush of people, ! resulting in the floating of new mines, i mostly ‘wildcats.' The last large patch found was the Waiotaki mine. FROM SHADOW TO SUBSTANCE. **Ae the gold waa worked out the people began to look round for mor* stable means of existence and acquiring wealth, and they soon realised that they had apparently been grasping at the shadow and missing the substance, for the hills surrounding them, which had never been regarded as prospective mines, were found after being cleared of forests to be suitable for sheep farming. and they are now carrying thousands of sheep. Surprise has often been expressed at the poor class of buildings at Thames, considering the amount of wealth and money that has been circulated there, but the reason \& that in the early prosperous daye it was impossible to obtain freehold land, the usual tenure being an 18 or 21 years' lease. Under those conditions people would not erect buildings of it permanent character. During tiie last few years, however, since the freeholds have been available, developments have taken place on a large teals. AS GOOD AS GOLD.

“Close* to Thames were the Piako flats, and that far-sighted statesman, Sir George Grey, was ridiculed and laughed at when he said in Parliament, after visiting that district, that Piako flats was one of the finest assets in the Dominion, and would one day, when drained, become the home of a thriving and prosperous community. Those prophetic words have come true, for tin* old Piako flats, now known as Hauraki plains, owing to the drainago work which lias been done, have been : otind to contain some of the most fertile farming land in the Dominion. The progress of this locality in the last few Years has been phenomenal. Drainage work is still going on, and with it the commercial prosperity is increasing. Thames, once entirely dependent on the mining industry, is now a flourishing agricultural district, of greater value than in the days of the gold rush. Land, which a few years ago was regarded a.s worthless from an agricultural point of view, is to-day worth I €IOO an acre. I w*as working in the j post office at Thame? for many years, from 1575 to 1007, when I was transferred to Auckland ns accountant in j the money-order and savings bank branch Three years later I was pro- , motel to assistant-postmaster, and I j finally retired in 1915, so that I have had eight yeais’ holiday.”