THE TOKOMAIRIRO PLAIN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19066, 11 January 1924, Page 9

THE TOKOMAIRIRO PLAIN

The Tokomairio district, which is a prosperous farming centre, was originally laid out by the i\ew Zealand Company. It comprises about 26,000 acres, of which 20,000 acres are level. Two small rivers intersect the plain, which Is eight miles long and has an average width of four miles. These streams eventually join, and proceed to the sea through a gorge in the coast range. The land is heavy clay loam, and considerable portions of it were originally swampy as the result of rank vegetation and stagnant water. These conditions, however, have long been a thing of the past, and by tlie judicious use of lime and good management the whole area is now in a high state of cultivation. The original terms of purchase were such that little progress in the wav of settlement was made as the district was a long way from Dunedin. The absence of roads, and the fact that the Taieri River had to be crossed were serious obstacles. When selections of rural land were first made, and • : „ . practically neglected, but when the New Zealand Company surrendered its charter and new regulations for the sale of waste land were made oy the authorities it came in for its share of the benefits When the first settlers arrived the price of land was £2 per acre. A certain number of the properties, consisting of 60 acres of rural land, 10 acres of suburban land, and a town allotment of a quarter of an acre, were for sale, the price of each property being £lsal. The choice of land could be made in any district in the Otago block, which extended from Otago Heads to Nugget Point, and inland to an average distance of seven miles. There were certain concessions attached to the purchase of these properties, the allotment of which was made by ballot. Several selections of rural land were made in the Molyneux district, and on the Taieri Plain, but none in the Tokomairiro or Waihola districts. A crisis occurred by the New Zealand Company finding itself unable to carry out its obligations to tlie settlers sent out to New Zealand under its auspices. This compelled the company to give notice on July 4, 1850, of its intention to surrender its charter and relinquish all claims to land in New Zealand. On August 7, 1851, an Act was passed to enable the Crown to close and determine the affairs of the company s settlements. The company's action proved a good thing for the colony in the end, but it led to much confusion in the conduct of affairs for the next three years. It caused stagnation in public works owing to the lack of means to cany' them on, and hindered settlement in the country districts through th& want of roads. The passage of the N ew Zealand Constitution by the British Parliament on June Its, 1a52, enabled tlie Provincial Council to set about providing facilities for pushing on settlement by constructing roads and giving others means of communication and bv passing more liberal land laws. The arrival of more immigrants and the increase of stock led the settlers to acquire larger areas of land in the open country, and many of them sold their small holdings and went further back. The terms of purchase issued on April 1 1856, whe land was sold at 10s per acre, with a stipulation that £2 must pe expended on cultivation and improve merits lefore a title could be secured, were so attractive that a great impetus waa given to settlement, the whole of the kind on the plain being taken up within four years, and a real advance being made. "From that time the Tokomairiro P-ain has enjoyed the reputation of being a fertile and prosperous district. The success achieved has been due in no small measure to the abundance of lime in tne district, and to the judicious use made of it as a fertiliser, and as an industrial product. , . ~ The first settler on the plain was Mr Robert Martin, who came down from Nelson and settled at Pelichet Bay, where he had cattle when the first ships arrived. He purchased land on the west side of the road where Fairfax Government township now stands, and settled on it in 1850. He was a widower, with a family of two sons and one daughter. Mr John Martin, one of the sons, died at Clover HiH, Tokomairiro, on November 25, 1907, at the age of 70 years. Mr Martin left the Old Country with his father in the Lady Nugent, and arrived in Wellington in 1841, when he was only four years of age. After residing for five years in Wellington and Nelson the family came to Tiunedin, arriving here on February 23, 1846. On the Lady Nugent Mr Robert Martin had with him his motherless children, James, John, and Mrs Stewart, the only daughter. John Martin was only 19 years of age when he set out with his father and Mr Frank Chrystal with a mob of cattle to start a cattle farm on the Tokomairiro Plain. James Martin was left »n Wellington, and did not settle in Tokomairiro till some years afterwards. In 1850, Mr John Martin married Miss Jessio Sim Young, who had not long before arrived from the Old Country, and they bad a family of 11 children. With the'exception of periods at the gold diggings on the West Coast and at Gabriel s Gully. Mr Martin was never away from the Tokomairiro district except to visit friends. For many years he was a member of the Tokomairiro Farmer’s Club, and the Fairfax School Committee, and he was also an early member of the Bruce Rifles. The possession of cattle at such an earlv period in the history of New Zealand' must have been of great help to Mr Martin senior in starting on the land. It is assumed that he was influenced m the selection of his land by its proximity to the bush on the ridges near it. Although Mr Chrystal, who was a bachelor, ac:ompaired Mr Martin and apparently remained with him for some time, he did not purchase land when he first wont to the district. Some years later, however, he built an accommodation house, which he carried on for some time. After disposing of this he purchased land at Akatore, where he resided for some years, call’.ng the place Code my Lane. After' selling out there he purchased land at the coast, putting up a good-sized house and letting lodgings tc holiday parties. Owing to his cheery, genial ways, he was a great favourite. He died on February 22, 1893, at the age of 75

tin family was well represented by Mrs Duthie, Mrs Smith, Mrs Dawson, and the brothers Edward, Joseph, and William. Another brother (Thomas) settled at Te Houka. Most of those settlers took up land on the line of road where Messrs John Martin and Salmond had made their selections, but some chose property on the bank of the river below the junction of the two branches and up tire south branch. Mr John George Grey settled near the gorge below the present main road. The next was Mr George Lindsay, above the upper road, and southward in rotation were Messrs Joseph Dang, Thomas Dali, and John Salmond. Messrs William Black and Thomas Brooks settled on what is now called Brooklands, and Mr James Smith was on Springfield, opposite them. Mr Alex. Duthie was above Mr Smith, near the bush, and Messrs Edward Martin and John Dewe were on adjoining stations in the bush. Across the river Messrs Stuart and Robinson settled at Riversdale. Mr William Popplewell afterwards took up land between them and the river. Passing up the south branch of the river Mr Jas. Reid was the first settler. He died on January 22, 1854, and was the first person interred in what is now known as the Fairfax cemetery. His father, Mr Wm. L. S. Reid, was the first settler on the site of Milton. Other settlers in the district were luessrs Thomas Reid, Robert Murray, William Matheson, Clark (Clarksville). John Cargill (Meadowbank), Walter Millar, and John Hardy. Messrs Stuart and Robinson do not appear to have held their property long, selling out to Mr John Gillies, of Dunedin, and four of his sons, who carried on the place for some years. The sons, however, left one bv one to fill important positions in other places. Thomas, who was a lawyer by profession was elected to the general assembly for Dunedin in 1860, nnd held ministerial rank for some time. He removed to Auckland in 1865. and was superintendent of that province from 1869 till 1873. He was appointed a Supreme Court judge in 1875, and discharged his duties with singular ability until his death on July 26, 1889. Mr Robert Gillies, who was Government surveyor in Tokomairiro for some time, afterwards joined Mr .Street in business in Dunedin. He was elected to Parliament as the member for Bruce, but he died soon after his election. Mr William Gillies studied for the ministry, and was stationed at West Taieri, Timaru, nnd Tauranga, where he died several years ago. Mr John L. Gillies, who was ti gold digger both in’ Australia and at Gabriel’s Gully, was elected to the Provincial Council in 1861, holding the office of Treasurer until he resigned in 1864. He was again elected in 1869, and became a non-official member of the executive. He was elected Speaker in 1871. and held that position until the abolition of the provinces. He was elected M.H.R. for Waikouaiti in 1873. For many years prior to his death in 1897 Mr Gillies was secretary of the Otago Harbour Board. When leaving Tokomairiro he was offered a presentation of nearly £IOO from the settlers in recognition of his services, but he refused to accept it for himself, and handed it over to found a scholarship or bonus for a pupil teacher.

With the increase of settlement the question of deciding where the main road should be was keenly discussed, (rticre was some friction for a time between two factions, but the problem was settled by the Government proceeding to gravel the present road, which was opened for traffic about the end of 1860.

In the course of an interesting article in the Bruce Herald on October 15, 1906, Mr Alexander Brown, of Milton, described his arrival in the Tokomairiro district. “It was a bleak, cold, windy day at the end of September, 1856, that I had my first view of the Tokomairiro Plain,” says Mr Brown. “Mr Peter M‘Gill (my brother-in-law), my brother James, and myself had driven our cattle that day from Taieri Ferry, where we had lodged the night before on our way to settle on our new location, and, cold and weary with the journey, when we got through the Waihola Gorge, as we called it then, and saw the plain stretched before ns, my heart sank at the prospect. Coining from Anderson’s Bay, where we had been settled for nearly six years, with the ocean on one side cf us and the harbour on the other, with the evergreen bush clothing the Peninsula and curling to the water’s edge, the aspect of the plain was anything but cheering or inviting. Timbcrless, and without a gleam of water to relieve the eye, and with a large portion of the centre of the plain newly burnt and looking brown and bare, it had a cheerless look. There was only one house (Mr John Grey’s) near the Gorge then, and we had to hold eastward and come along the road that passes Springfield and Fairfax, the only main road then open through the plain and on both sides of which most of the settlers were located. At a store owned by Mr Thom —the only store then in the district —Mr M‘Gill purchased a few eatables, including a pot of marmalade, to supplement the provisions left by him in a house which he had put up. Letting the cattle wander at will, we entered the house tired and hungry and ready to enjoy a hearty tea when wc had it prepared. It soon transpired, however, that a man who had been engaged in building a clay chimney for Mr M’Gill had made a raid on the provisions. Worst of all was the fact that tlie tea bag -was empty. Wc agreed to try marmalade as a substitute, but I cannot recommend marmalade tea. I hated the taste of marmalade for years afterwards ”

The way in which Milton received its name is explained by Mr Brown. His '■ rather James suggested the name of M’Tltown, owing to the proximity of the mill, a'nd apparently this was agreed to. loiter on, however, the name of the town was changed to Milton, in honour of the poet, after whom some of the streets are named.

The fact that travelling in the early day also had its humourous side is illustrated in an account of a trip made by Messrs John Carg : ll, W. TI. Gotten, J. Macandrew and W. H. Perkins (published in Mr Wilson’s “Reminiscences of the Early Settlement of Dunedin and South Otago”). In the course of a journey which they made w th the object of” obtaining signatures to a petition for self-government for the colony, they came to the Tokomairiro River, which was in

years. The next settlers were Air and Mrs John Salmond and their family of two sons and one daughter. They came to New Zealand in the ship Dark-ins. winch arrived on September 11, 1819. Mrs Salnmnd was tbe first white woman who fcDM in Tokomairiro. Other settlers soon followed, and amon.sprt these the Mar-

SETTLED IN 1850. A HIGHLY PROSPEROUS DISTRICT.

flood, the water being up to the top of the banks. Mr Cargill plunged in without hesitation, and only his head and shoulders were visible occasionally. He got across safely, and Mr Perkins a-so managed to straggle to the landing place. Mr Cutfen declined to trust his horse, so he tied his clothes to the saddle and swam across beside the horse. Mr iVlacandrevv, who could not swim, and who was afraid to cross on horseback, was got over by means of a rope tied round his waist. Mr Maoandrew did not, like riding in wet clothes, so he took off all except his shirt, boots, and hat, his other garments being hung on either side of his horse to dry. In this garb he reached a settler’s hut, where he was greeted with violent laughter, v A good story is told about the first mailman between Dunedin and the Clutha —an Australian aborigine, known as Black Andy. After having dinner at Mr John Cargill's farm on the Tokomairiro River one day, he discovered a plum pudding boiling over the fire. Ho quickly appropriated the pudding, which he slipped into the sack containing his mail bags, and departed. A few miles along the road he was busily engaged in devouring pudding when Mr Cargill met him. Mr Cargill, who accepted a slice of the pudding, had a hearty laugh that evening when, alter Mrs Cargill had deplored the loss of her pudding, he was able to explain what had happened to it.